In the seventh moon of my land-based learning journey, seasons are changing and the land seems filled with peace.

As I walk down the path toward my special place, the most interesting awareness arises. I feel like I now have a friendship with the land. Friendships are made out of special moments shared together, and as I walk along I think:
Look! There's the place where we rescued the (non)injured baby bird!
Oh! That's the spot my children gathered when they saw the minnows in the creek and sat together in the summer sun.
Wow! The orange brain jelly fungus is still here, but it has shrunk so much.
There seems to be more and more places where I have built memories with and on the land, and stronger connections developing here. On a recent River Valley Walk, Dwayne Donald mentioned that being known to the land is a powerful, important thing. I feel like I'm on the way to being known on this land, in this place. So the first thing being communicated to me this month is friendship. I perceive it with the warm feelings that come as I walk through, look at, and spend time in specific places filled with memories on the land. I interpret it as a deepening relationship, and the start of reciprocity which I am seeking to foster.
The next thing communicated to me is learning. This includes both how important it is to learn about the land, but also how very much there is to learn! The brain jelly shrunk, and I am curious: will it stay there all winter, hidden under the snow? These new fungi appeared, and I am confused - what are they? Where did they come from? And why oh why does the brown thread-like one look so cool, but feel so disgusting? (I cannot describe how gross it felt. It was like an alien life. Soft but sticky, clingy and rubbery. I did not like how it felt to touch it).
At home, I discover that the round brown ball is either an earthball fungi or a puffball. I did not want to disturb it, so didn't cut it open to make sure. It's crazy to think that there are 25 varieties of these in North America! The brown fungus that looks like threads and feels repellant is probably stemonitis, or slime mold. It is truly fascinating to learn even a tiny bit about these living things. I also learned that the remnants of the jelly fungi freeze in the winter, but the organisms that created them remain alive, waiting for spring to come again. And I discovered that during this moon that there are porcupines in the area! A few trees have suddenly become stripped of their bark, seemingly overnight. I knew porcupines live in Alberta, but so many? Right here? Or is there only one? Where do they sleep? The more I see, the more I want to know. Especially because I just read that this could be squirrels, not porcupines!
So I am perceiving a deep sense of and need for learning that is being communicated to me, through the fungi and the trees. I also learn that there are so many berries still looking fat and ripe, clinging to the trees in red, white, and blue-black bundles. I struggle to remember all of their names: High Bush Cranberries, Common Snowberries, Rosehips, Mountain Ash, and ... what is that black one? Not a saskatoon, not a chokecherry (I don't think?), maybe a black currant or a black hawthorn? I didn't carefully study the leaves or the branches, just honed in on the berry, and even with helpful sites like this it's very hard to tell for sure. The leaves look like chokecherries, but the berries look like black hawthorn. Also, I am learning more about just how much plants change over the course of a year. They get bigger, grow leaves, bloom flowers, form berries, start to lose their leaves ... and the berries themselves appear, then start to shrink as they dehydrate. A plant in the spring looks completely different in the summer, fall, and winter. I didn't know how much I'd want to look closer until after I'd already left, and now I can't wait to go back!
The last thing communicated to me was relationships. Relationships with the land, relationships between humans that happen on the land (interesting that two of my clearest memories involve my husband and children), and relationships fostered by spending time on the land. I think about all the happy people I have seen here - runners, joggers, dog walkers; parents with babes in arms or toddlers in tow, people of all ages riding their bikes. Today there was even a huge bike race close to my special place! A sense of peace is conveyed to me by the land, and I really think it helps all kinds of relationships to grow. Human need to be in touch with nature to thrive. That's what I think.
Friendship, learning, deep relationships, and peace. Those are the things I perceive this month. They are communicated through my eyes and heart, and through memories built over time. I interpret them as an invitation to learn more, but also as an invitation to come back. To spend time here, and deepen my connection and friendship with the land. I express what I am learning with a new set of peg dolls for this Leaves Falling Moon.
The peg dolls I created for my winter are some of the simplest yet. I still adore them. October is an unadorned month; a month for paring down, not for dressing up. The 3 little peg dolls represent the blue-black, white, and red berries I saw on the branches: chokecherry (or black hawthorn!), snowberry, and mountain ash. I took care to match their body color to the color of the last leaves left on their tree or shrub branches. The big peg doll, the maternal-looking one, is wrapped in a robe of decaying leaf. I love how the color of the leaf has seeped away, and how the green of the peg doll allows the intricate webs and designs of the leaf to stand out. To me, the little berry peg dolls seem like they are in relationship, friends playing and learning on the land. The big peg doll could represent the relationships of families, or with those beings larger than us. I cannot possibly pick my favorite peg doll this month. I love them all, and they seem to be an inextricable set.
Ideas for Having Fun with Leaves
What better to do in the fall months than playing in and with the leaves that drift down and gather in piles all around? Take advantage of the gifts of falling leaves with some of the ideas below!
1 - Leaf crowns
Get crown paper or long strips of construction paper. Staple each to the size of every child's head, and add double sided tape. Then, head outside to decorate! Let the children gather their favorite leaves and press them on. Easy and beautiful! #leafcrowns

2 - Leaf glitter
Instead of using artificial glitter, which is sparkly but environmentally hazardous, make leaf glitter! Crumple up very dry leaves to use in creative art activities. Bonus points for making different colors of glitter by grouping fall hues of orange, yellow, red, and brown! My favorite way to store homemade glitter is in a salt shaker of old spice shaker with big holes (like cinnamon). #leafglitter
3 - Rake leaf piles and jump in!
This is so simple but so fun. I find that every time I do yard work, like shoveling snow or raking leaves, children are eager to join in, so I keep child-sized rakes and shovels on hand. I never force children to rake, but they are always excited to help out! After you rake but before you bag or use the leaves as mulch, have some fun in the big piles of colorful leaves! #leaffun #fallfun
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