During this time of pandemic and PanDeepening, the land at Prairiewoods remains open to visitors. Whether you’re a first-time visitor or a many-time visitor, we’d love to see what you’re seeing at Prairiewoods and hear about your experiences. Here is our map of the beautiful 70 acres, as well as our photo scavenger hunt: Trail…
Prairiewoods is pleased to announce the release of a new book of poetry, Outstretched Boughs, that celebrates the spirituality of trees, especially those found on the 70 acres of land known as Prairiewoods. It was created in loving memory of Kathy Decker and Betty Daugherty, FSPA, and features original poetry and photography from more than…
“Conversation is perhaps our greatest hope not only for healing the rifts in human understanding but also for restoring and reinspiring our relationship with the natural world, which is our first and most profound home. Care of the world is always essential, and care arises from conversation.” —Thomas Dean, Introduction, Tallgrass Conversations: In Search of…
I’d like to begin by stating the obvious. Chipmunks are adorable. It is impossible not to fall in immediate love with each one of them. However, my dearest love is a feisty three-inch tall beauty with long dark eyelashes, who lives in a hollowing piece of wood. (My house is next to hers, and I…
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.” —Joseph Campbell These summer mornings I love waking up during the pre-dawn moments before the “robin concertmaster” sounds the first pitch of the morning symphony waking up a sleeping world. She announces…
A couple of years ago I had two special people in two separate conversations suggest the book Braiding Sweetgrass to me. Sister Nancy suggested it one day when we were talking about books and then not long after that my friend Sara happened to be at Prairiewoods with that very book in her hand. She’d…
Last week, when the rain came, I found myself awash in its energy while also dry-of-foot. I walked through the gardens and trails at Prairiewoods and found the message I needed in that moment. Donning my waterproof boots, straw hat and little blue umbrella, I held presence with the rushing stream, the dripping canopy, and…
A few years ago, our associate director, Laura Weber, wandered out to the garden here at Prairiewoods and took a photograph of the compost pile. Thus began one of the all-time great ongoing arguments (alright, more a good-natured verbal sparring than an actual argument). Laura saw the image as deeply beautiful, indicative of the work…
Dear Prairiewoods Family, Hello and much love to each of you. This is my last blog post as the ecospirituality coordinator at Prairiewoods. I have been thinking about this post all week, and it is hard to find the words for all that I am feeling as I take my leave of Prairiewoods as the…
I am practicing nature photography as a prayerful experience and I’ve learned so much from two wonderful books by Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul’s Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred and Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice. Both books are excellent. I’m also deepening my contemplative photography practice…