Who would consider starting a tree farm the year the earth sets a record for the hottest summer temperatures ever recorded. Of course, it makes sense. This is what we do. Who doesn’t love a challenge! As much as I love a challenge, I also decided I needed a little help from above. You see the average rainfall for July in this area is 1.65 inches. That is not going to work if we want to see some real growth with the trees. We water every three days, but a nice rain shower was needed to be in the cards.
About a month ago I was having dinner with a couple of old friends (old as in I’ve known them most of my life, not old as in age! We are still young 😊). We started talking about Feng Shui. One thing led to another and I mentioned that before we planted our first acre of trees, I bought some sage so that I could smudge the space for good energy and growth. Unfortunately, I got so excited about planting the trees I totally forgot to do the process of smudging the land! At the beginning of July, I was determined to go back to perform the smudging ceremony.
So, what exactly is smudging? Smudging is cleansing a space to bring in positive energy. Normally this is done by burning white sage (or other herbs or resins) in a space to cleanse it of negative energy. You can also smudge an item or a person. Smudging has been around for thousands of years. It is practiced all over the world and part of the culture of the Indigenous people of the Americas. Smudging is an ancient and sacred practice. It is commonly used in a house to clear the negative energy and bring in positive energy. When you do this in a house you open windows and doors to let the negative energy out. I was in an open field so no doors to open! I did make sure to walk the entire acre while smudging the space. (I also talked to the trees as I was smudging but that is another blog post for another day 😊.) As I was doing this my main hope was to bring rain to the field.
Now, I am not taking credit for this but we did receive 5.45 inches of rain in the area for the month of July! That is more than 3 inches more than the normal average rainfall. My concern about rain now is that if we do not get enough rain during the summer months, we will not get snow in the wintertime to continue to provide water to the trees.
I want to thank once again everyone that has helped with the start of our little tree farm and thank Mother Earth for providing rain!
Come Grow with Us!
Susan Whitney
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