Well, my good people, it’s now appearing that, like in April, we had sooo much happening in June, we didn’t quite make it to the blog. Khong co gi — Vietnamese de nada. Writing currently from Red Lodge, Montana, we’re enjoying a soaringly high July, having taken a well-deserved, mid-summer, 2,585 mile (so far) healing journey to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument (alpha code LIBI). Me and big RoZie on a healing journey? Indeed, with several hundred new stories to tell. We’ll excitedly be getting back to LIBI in this space soon, but for now, although 1,587 miles from South Haven, Michigan, let’s discuss all the great work we did in May getting our garden on at The Higher Haven, taking it all to glorious, green new heights. Or maybe, ‘cause it’s a garden, new depths.
Dig it: Friday, May 22nd, I received a Facebook memory post that reminded me it was exactly eight years ago to the day, a Sunday in 2016, that we ran our first day event. Such was the start of Higher Haven Sundays, an action-packed afternoon of Yoga + Meditation + Ceremony, and the birth of our community. Almost a decade later, there have been some significant developments on many, many levels, especially the formation and upward evolution of The Higher Haven’s Tiospaye (family) or Tribe.
Our garden has grown, blossoming from a few rows of weed-infested peppers to blooming vegetable beds, along with perennial plots of healing herbs. This season, we employed the assistance and double green thumbs of my friend Jan Hunter, master gardener and master mind behind Naturally Native Nursery in South Bend, Indiana. Big Jano, whose moniker has recently been upgraded to Great Big Jano (GBJ), turned us on to punking our place out with native plants, growing sweet corn from seed, and forming authentic Native American style dirt mounds that hold the three sisters — corn, beans and squash. We’re churning the earth and taking possession of our land in a new way, fostering a mini Native American plantation.
Along with putting in big butterfly attractors like Common Milkweed and Dotted Horsemint, GBJ also informed us one off the most reliable deer deterrent around. You can spray sprays, plant Marigolds, and buy guns — Tôi đùa (I’m joking) — but the only thing that really deters Bambi and crew is a tightly wrapped fishing line around the perimeter. Deer hit that wire, don’t like that vibe, and equate the spot with a place they’d rather not frequent. Other than keeping deer off our starter plants, we of course welcome and adore our flora and fauna, as we uphold a natural space of healing and wholeness for folks attending our Ceremonies and our retreats.
Turning truly tribal, however, means more than employing the agricultural practices of America’s First Nations. A tribe is a social group united by shared ancestry, language, culture, or historical traditions. It typically consists of multiple families or clans living together under recognized leadership, often with strong community bonds. Marketing visionary Seth Godin popularized the concept in his 2008 book Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, marking the shift away from traditional, broad mass marketing to a focus on leadership and finding a group of like-minded people with a shared passion, uniting them under a common goal.
For almost a decade, we’ve done that here, at The Higher Haven, with the shared passion of true spiritual practice and the common goal of a truly united, loving family. And we have it, this we have achieved, by our Sadhana (the work we do for ourselves) and our Seva (the work we do for others and the world). Dreamers of the day, we have acted our dream with open eyes, bringing it all into being. That said, you’ll now, and with increasing regularity, see:+ Inner Circle Ceremony + No Longer Open for Public Registration posted on our events, meaning exactly what it states:, that our July Way of The Contrary Weekend is a closed, Inner Circle Ceremony.
How do you join our tribe and Inner Circle? Simple. Come out for a class, a new Dark Sky Event, a retreat like our late August Deep Summer Yoga Weekend, or a Fall Ceremony weekend, and you’re IN. More from the Road That Truly Leads Somewhere soon, as RoZ and I are off to enjoy an afternoon cruise thru Yellowstone National Park, with hopes for no horns!
