Plant of the Day

Wednesday 11 December 2024

In the shelter of the compost heaps at Great Dixter, Sussex (complete with thermometer) can be found growing Malva arborea 'Variegata' (tree mallow). This is a large biennial or short lived perennial that looks impressive through the winter and has masses of purple flowers in summer in its second or third year.

A homily for the New Moon on August 4, 2024.

Dearly Beloved,

A very blessed New Moon to all of you! This month we have a very fiery New Moon, with both the Sun and the Moon in the second decanate of Leo, and given this most fixed of elemental Fire, I am moved to speak on the mystery of death and life, I am moved to speak of rot and growth…I am moved to speak upon the warmth of the compost heap.

I must admit that the poet within me comes to the fore in these moments. While I take my pastoral duties very seriously and deeply believe in the value of both the reading and writing of homilies for those living the spiritual life, my topics come from the deep resonances I feel with the changes always occurring within the natural world. I am a pagan through and through and, as such, I see the Divine in the processes and features of nature, Their holy will expressed in literally every particle, every wave, and, yes, in the beauty of the compost heap, in the luscious decay, warmth, and life created within a pile of rotting organic matter. This is what I see when I look at the world, and what I see inspires me endlessly.

Countless living beings, every one of them hungry and eager to express their instincts to live and grow, make their happy home within the compost pile. The heat created by all of this teeming life can build to such an intensity that the pile can begin to smolder and even (rarely) burst into flame. The nutrients created by all of this life can then go on to give rise to even more life in the form of the fruits and vegetables that will go on to nurture humans and other animals.

And all of this amazing life that will give rise to even more amazing life? Every bit of it came from death. It all came from the endings that had to occur so that we could have new beginnings. Every bit of life that exists now can only thrive and grow because other bits of life died. The past dies to make fertile soil for the future.

And this is the secret, the lesson, of the New Moon. Every month we go through the cycle…the Moon grows fat, waxing in light and beauty as our possibilities for that month ripen into actualities. Those possibilities grow and we grow with them, only to reach a crescendo as the Moon grows full. Then the waning of the light begins and we are compelled by our bones and our blood to look within, to the things in our life that have to die and fall away to make fertile soil for the growth of the next cycle.

That is what this moment, the New Moon, is all about. Our old actualities have to fall away so that our new possibilities can take root. Life, like the Moon, is in shadow, hiding away in the dark. But in that shadow grows new possibilities, teeming and warm, thriving in the dark.

We can thrive there, too.

Blessed New Moon.

In love,

Soror Alice

Compost

Today it was even warmer than yesterday and when I went to check on the compost heap it was 65 C (150F) inside!

Plant of the Day

Tuesday 31 October 2023

The large compost heaps at Great Dixter, East Sussex, UK, formed an excellent growing area for pumpkins (Cucurbita pepo) and gourds. These tender annual plants thrive on the humus rich heaps being warmed by the heat of the decomposition.

“You will take bits from books you’ve read and movies you’ve seen and conversations you’ve had and stories friends have told you, and half the time you won’t even realize you’re doing it. I am a compost heap, and everything I interact with, every experience I’ve had, gets shoveled onto the heap where it eventually mulches down, is digested and excreted by worms, and rots. It’s from that rich, dark humus, the combination of what you encountered, what you know and what you’ve forgotten, that ideas start to grow.”