With a little help

Since first moving the Peace Bus onto the property, Windgrove, in 1992, I have planted one tree for every day that I have lived here. What I call my Earth Tithing.

Each year the accumulated debt is accounted for in the month of September when the winter rains have softened the soil and the moist earth takes in the young trees more easily. With this year being the eleventh year completed, the total should have risen to 4,015 trees.

I say “should have” because the expenses ($3,500) associated with organising the Parliament House Vigil last month wiped out the remaining credit on my credit card. With no money currently in the bank and no way to charge seedling she-oaks and blackwoods on plastic, I have been hard on myself these past few weeks as I ponder whether or not I did the right thing in financing a vigil to stop the cutting down of Tasmania’s old growth forests instead of putting money into planting this year’s trees here at Windgrove.

Once Pastor Bob’s bench arrives in America the remaining money owed will simply go to paying off the cash advance for the vigil’s advertisements in the newspaper and elsewhere. Having taken a vow of simple living, I don’t mind not having a closet of fashionable clothes and have learned to coddle a 16 year old truck with slack steering, but I do mind that the hill behind me is remaining barren simply because of a lack of money.

Let me quote from David James Duncan’s book “My Story as told by Water”:

“What is a modern-day spirit offering? I’d say that now, as ever, it is anything we truly value.

Our energy, our focus, the hours of our days. Anything we respect so much that, as we pour it out on the finned, feathered, and four-legged peoples’ behalf, we kind of hate to see it go. Maybe single-malt scotches from the literalists among us. Prayers and mantras from the mystics. Money, time, and trouble from the capitalists and activists….

The big blockade to change is lack of passion. And the birth-house of passion is the heart. A spirit offering, then, is anything we can offer with a whole heart — any song, dance, phone call, plea, letter, insight, gift, or prayer that helps determine the way we, and other humans, continue to create our world, rivers, hills, and forests.”

So, dear readers, offer up your version of a spirit offering to Windgrove so that the healing of this particular land can continue. Prayers of abundance are definitely welcomed. As well, slip ten dollars (or a new pair of thick socks, size twelve) into an envelope and mail to: Windgrove Centre, Roaring Beach, Nubeena, Tasmania 7184, Australia.

I’m reaching out for help. We all need the trees.