Category: Dharma Journal

The trail to Proxy Falls (I’ve not been able to discover the indigenous name) is a wonderland of micro-life. The path makes its way through the rich soil of old-growth forest and basalt fields...

Today, I’m hiking along the Metolius River, one of my favorite wild places as summer begins to fade. The equinox is still two weeks away, but trees don’t care about human time lines. Vine...

Roger Tory Petersen, originator of the popular Petersen Field Guides, tells a story about discovering a clump of feathers in a tree. He was only 11 years old, and his youthful curiosity compelled him...

If you want to know how your mind works, just watch pollinators. If you want a regular up-close and personal experience, and you have garden space, plant some flowers that attract bees and the...

Tarn and I recently celebrated our 51st anniversary. Living together for so long has been an incredible journey. We’ve experienced all the ups and downs that a relationship can bestow and have entered that...

I think everyone should be a gardener, if only to tend a few pots in the window sill. Caring for plants is a way of caring for the whole planet. What we learn by...

The beach I am strolling is the last place I remember walking with my sister, Trish; the last place she could walk without support before her declining mobility claimed her legs. That was a...

Sometimes, when I awaken in the morning, I wonder who I will be that day. It seems we are invited to inhabit different roles as if we are actors in a play; we inhabit...

The fox’s den is nestled in a gap between basalt boulders that have broken away from the vertical sides of a ravine that hosts BNSF railroad tracks. I’m surprised she chose this spot so...

My sister Trish has a condition that involves, among other symptoms, a form of dementia that is slowly taking her from us. The decline is unpredictable in the short term, but consistent over time—and...