Judith Browning

You do not need to chant all night in a temple in the Himalayas.
You don't have to be the newest incarnation of Mary Magdalene.
It is not necessary to read or write spiritual books.
You are not required to know the difference
between Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism
or memorize the Beatitudes.
All you have to do to walk the path of the ordinary mystic
is to cultivate a gaze of wonder and step onto the road.
Keep walking. Rest up, and walk again.
Fall down, get up, walk on.
Pay attention to the landscape.
To the ways it changes and the ways it stays the same.
Be alert to surprises and turn with the turning of the seasons.
Honor your body, train your mind,
and keep your heart open against all odds.
Say yes to what is, even when it is uncomfortable
or embarrassing or heartbreaking.
Hurl your handful of yes into the treetops
and then lift your face as the rain of yes drops its grace
all over you, all around you, and settles deep inside you.

Mirabai Starr
(1961 to pres., author, philosopher, counselor,
teacher of contemplative practice and inter-spiritual dialog)

Eric, any ideas you think of are helpful whether we manage to do this this fall or wait until spring....and certainly helpful for others following this thread.

We were spreading some chips this afternoon and will continue over the weekend.
By then we should have a location picked out.

I haven't ordered anything yet.

The pile of chips is getting nice and warm inside...not hot yet but it was green wood so I expect it will get hotter before we finish spreading.
Years ago we were leaving for a six week train trip when a chip pile just delivered was really putting out some heat so we knocked it down into a flatter low pile.  I always wondered if that was necessary?
Will it get hot enough to combust?

thanks mk and eric!

still considering,...seeing as a 5# bag of sawdust spawn is $28 and will inoculate only 25 sq ft Í think we are leaning towards waiting until spring or even next fall when our risk is less?

Looking for the best location now though.

I wonder if I stored some of these fresh chips in under a roof if they would be better for starting wine caps rather than naturally weathered for the next several months?

I think maybe, once again, I'm trying to add a new project to an already long list of 'undone' 🫤

“There are men and women who make the world better
just by being the kind of people they are.
They have the gift of kindness, courage, loyalty, or integrity.
It really matters very little whether they are behind the wheel of a truck,
running a business, or bringing up a family.
They teach the truth by living it.”

James Garfield

great thread!
We have an abundance of fresh chips at the moment...is it too late in the year to inoculate? ...next window might be late winter into spring for zone 7ish?

a link to historian Heather Cox Richardson for Human Rights Day.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-10-2025

Today is Human Rights Day, celebrated internationally in honor of the day seventy-seven years ago, December 10, 1948, when the United Nations General Assembly announced the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

.....the final document began with a preamble explaining that a UDHR was necessary because “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,” and because “disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind.” Because “the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,” the preamble said, “human rights should be protected by the rule of law.”  

 The thirty articles that followed established that “[a]ll human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights…without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status” and regardless “of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs.”  

Sadly, because our culture has devalued the feminine,
we have repressed so much of her nature,
so many of her qualities.
Instead we live primarily masculine values;
we are goal-oriented, competitive, driven.
Masculine values even dominate our spiritual quest;
we seek to be better, to improve ourselves,
to get somewhere.
We have forgotten the feminine qualities
of waiting, listening, being empty.
We have dismissed the deep need
of the soul, our longing,
the feminine side of love.

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
(1953 to pres., Sufi Mystic)

The ultimate touchstone is witness,
the privilege of having been seen by someone,
and the equal privilege of being granted the sight of the essence of another,
to have walked with them,
and to have believed in them,
and sometimes, just to have accompanied them,
for however brief a span,
on a journey impossible to accomplish alone.

David Whyte

We had almost spread our first load of chips and today they brought us two more!
Winter Work😯

I need to read Eric's thread on winecaps..we grew them once successfully but did not have chips or straw to continue.

M Ljin wrote:Wonderful photographs and looks like a beautiful area! Arkansas, from the maps, looks as if it’s a wilder area than most, based on sattelite at least. I was surprised to see so many floodplain forests. Here they are mostly converted to farmland, though there is a protected ancient pine grove some distance away.

Is that river cane in the background?

thank you💜

Arkansas has a lot of deep woods in the Ozarks and even farther south in the state....many hiking trails.  There are a lot of cattle ranchers and hay fields but not so many farm crops.
Many gardeners though!

The wildness is what attracted so many of us in the early seventies.

Yes, rivercane...lots of it here along creeks and rivers.