The Domino Devotion of Bird Song

Listen to the Song in the Audio ↑

Read the Story Behind It (and join me!)↓

After my grandma died, I took the 80 across the desert into the valley where the mountain met me with a hot pink sunset and birdsong. Though the fall fruit had already fallen, I was still welcomed by starling murmurations who were delighted to find the unwanted crab apple left on barren branches outside my window. They looked like black birds at very first sight, but iridescence is something you have to look for to find. 

Still, I was tired.  Sad. Lonely and lost (I think I was also scared). 

But the birds were there.

As the winter landscapes turned from brown to white, the birds sang to me and grieved by my side. They were my window witnesses when I was sick for 3 weeks; coming out of hibernation, they still sang to me. When I arrived to the valley,  my heart was raw and empty, but their steady song warmed and filled me. 

It's one of the side effects of being so lonely: I've begun to notice how the birds love me. As they serenade me, oh so reliably, I've become a fountain  that's overflowing: Loving the birds means  loving the cherries that feed them, and loving the cherries means loving the ground beneath them. Still, loving the ground means loving the water and loving the water  means loving the roots that filter -which has meant planting clover to nourish the soil, and to feed the bees too; it even grows birdseed from drought-resistant roots. 

Still caring for the roots means protection from the voles,  which is tricky cuz they’re on the team that aerates the soil. So, it’s not an option to get rid of them completely;  in fact, to keep the voles in balance, requires still more caring. 

It can feel daunting: to love ourselves is its very own challenge. Then, to love one more 
is a whole new balance. Then, to fully realize the connection of it all can feel intimidating, an overwhelming call: every single part has its own considerations, all of which depend on its own conditions, which are always changing -if nothing else by the season, sometimes just by the sky. 

Gosh, this love is a vulnerable thing! Caring for one is like pulling a string of all our connections, the easy and hard; as everything that offers help also has its threatening parts. These webs of connection can be tough to manage, especially when my heart has felt drained and depleted. But as the birds sing to me (even as I stumble and trip), I've have more energy cuz they give me something to give. 

It's been a domino of devotion, a cascade of care, a chain reaction from the roots to the air, where being loved is the just start of growing the love that we all are, not as a obligation but as a gift that keeps on giving as I'm given it 

-to give it right back to you, my dear song bird.

Through all the stages  of the moon, may your love be heard through and through. 

---

Join Me in Love’s Domino of Devotion

You first!

Discover all the Ways that Life Loves You with

I Spy Love: Practice of Creative Reflection

---

Now, let’s share This Love

Tree Guilds: Building Backyard Ecosystems

If you’d like to experience the full glory of love’s chain reaction, you can build a tree-guild¹ in your own backyard (or even on your porch -just make sure you get a potted tree that’s short 😉).

A tree-guild is a permaculture practice in the art of mini-ecosystem building. Here’s how it works:

1. Pick a tree that you (and the ecosystem around you) really love. Native and fruit trees have so much to give.

2. Build your tree a family. Make a list of all the tree’s needs, and find plants that serve them perfectly, including:

   1. Pollinator support: with flowering native plants

   2. Pest-control: with herbs²³

   3. Soil-support: with mulch or ground covers that preserve soil moisture, and prevent weeds and erosion. Many mulches⁴ and ground covers⁵ also add nutrients to the soil⁶, so pick those if you can.

Make sure all the plants in your tree guild get along. They’ll all need to like:

1. The shade under the tree

2. Similar amounts of water

3. Similar kinds of soil

Also, when building your tree guild, keep in mind that it’s just the inciting incident to the domino of devotion in which you get discover the delights of our interconnections through step-by-step experiments. This is to say: there’s no one recipe, and you might not get it right at first. It’s a slow process of trying things out, and then seeing how it goes. Don’t be surprised by surprises as they’re almost guaranteed (like the voles that moved in to eat the roots of my cherry tree 🙄).

Remember: each new element that comes into the picture is a door opening for the heart to grow bigger. Even pests have a place (and finding balance is what grows my grace).

---

Subscribe to Make Sure that You Never Miss a Post

1. https://www.tenthacrefarm.com/how-to-build-a-fruit-tree-guild/

2. https://earthsally.com/gardening-basics/natural-pest-control-herbs-to-keep-bugs-away.html#:~:text=Many%20aromatic%20plants%20can%20deter,4:%20Sage

3. https://www.sugarmaplefarmhouse.com/companion-planting-flowers-herbs-that-help-repel-bugs/

4. https://www.gardenninja.co.uk/mulching-your-garden/#:~:text=Organic%20mulch%2C%20such%20as%20compost%20or%20recycled,application%20of%20mulch%20in%20Autumn%2C%20and%20Spring

5. https://permacultureplants.com/functions/nitrogen-fixer/#:~:text=Clover%20is%20one%20of%20the%20most%20used,can%20become%20weedy%20if%20not%20controlled%20properly.

6. https://www.americanmeadows.com/content/clover-grass/inspiration/9-reasons-clover-lawn#