Safely tucked away in my cozy little cottage my son Ogden, his mom and I watched the snowflakes fall while preparing our Thanksgiving feast. On the busiest day of the year for many folks, nature forced her hand once again as the animals and humans alike were forced to hunker down in their safe abodes nestled in a tapestry of early white. When the frozen sun broke through the clouds on Thanksgiving day, we finished preparing our meals, vegan for me and more traditional for the others. We gave our givings of thanks for the bounty of nature which provides us with our sustenance.
I prepared my “spirit plate” by piling up a small sample of everything onto a plate then offering a prayer and taking the plate to the magical birch tree in the back as an offering for the ancestors and nature spirits. Then we very unceremoniously pigged out in typical western fashion during this annual harvest feast now known in modern times as Thanksgiving.
During the weekend, nature became the popular topic of conversation. Everything from the beauty of the land where I live to the topic of “turkey attacks” nature was on our plates (turkeys are very territorial and have been known to attack humans). A discussion of using nature for survival should I ever get cut off here from civilization, good old fashioned snow ball fights, and a walk around Cooper lake rounded out the nature themed Thanksgiving for this year.
Today a big hawk swooped over my creek, a mother deer and her yearling crossed the road and the crows were cawing as a large group of geese flew southbound in chevron flight overhead. I’m grateful for so much, but living in the beautiful Catskills with her pristine woods and learning how to live more harmoniously with nature is at the top of the list. Nature Rules!
