It’s a good thing I got the recording on this episode of Kinward finished up yesterday, because today—the day of the new moon solar eclipse in Libra, the wide-opening door to my birthday moon—a big wind is shuddering through the aspen trees and rattling branches on my office walls. Although it’s warmer this morning, we got our first big freeze of the season just a few days ago, and my body is still feeling the push of bringing in the plums and squash and runner beans.
For the equinox on September 22nd, our family dressed the altar with a rainbow of late season abundance (all frosted now). We gathered around a fire with friends to set intentions for the dark part of the year, and name gratitudes harvested from this growing season. And my partner wove us a Cailleach with the last of our rye stalks and other senesced plants from the garden. The Cailleach is the Gaelic crone goddess of winter and storms.
At this big turning threshold time of year, and in this year in particular, I’m welcoming in Crone energy, for equilibrium. Crone holds it all, and has seen it all. Winters come and winters go. There’s always more to any story, soundbite, and even harm.
Although Andy Huber and I didn’t talk about Crone during our conversation in his home full of crystals (FULL of crystals) on his little volcanic mountain (which is also, he told me, full of crystals), that deep sense of equilibrium, of holding it all, is everywhere in his philosophy, demeanor, and stewardship practice.
Andy Huber established the GROWISER native plant preserve in Summerville, Oregon in 1992. The preserve began as 160 acres of prairie and forest “with a 360-degree view.” Today, its lovingly tended 275 acres are home to 209 species of native plants, including 10 species of orchids; a broad and boisterous complement of native fauna, including Great Grey Owls and Sasquatch; and one of the largest collections of crystals in the Pacific Northwest, including several that weigh more than 1,000 pounds. As you wander the preserve’s trails, listening to woodpeckers and breezes, you’ll turn a corner and a huge quartz perched among the trees will say hello to you. If you go into the house, be prepared for a cosmopolitan cacophony of minerals.
GROWISER is an acronym. It stands for Grande Ronde Overlook Wildflower Institute Serving Ecological Restoration.
GRO WISER is also an invitation.
Andy Huber says that people who visit the GROWISER preserve come away happy. He credits the trees, who are “always talking to us,” the fulfillment of the need that everyone has to reconnect to nature, and the crystals scattered through the volcanic basalt of his little mountain. I’m not sure Andy gives enough credit to himself, as the wise, patient, and cheerful custodian of this place and its relationships.
Andy’s background includes a childhood on a Wisconsin dairy farm, two years as a Trappist monk, a PhD in crop science (focused on photosynthesis in wheat), and decades of teaching. And he’s been the caretaker of the GROWISER preserve for thirty years, during which time he’s seen some trees die and others grow thirty feet taller; learned to propagate many of the native perennial wildflowers, including the beautiful Mountain Lady Slipper orchids (you can watch a great short documentary about this on Oregon Field Guide); and rescued a family of Great Grey Owls after the male was killed (by a Great Horned Owl).
This was my second time visiting the preserve. The first time, it was spring and I was there with colleagues and my baby son, who made friends with the very soft needles of the larch trees. This time, I went with my mom, Joella, who was excited to see the place, the crystals, and the birds. Before we sat down for our interview, Andy took us on a walking tour of the nest baskets he’s put up for the Great Grey Owls.
The immersive first third of this episode brings you along on that walk, so that you, too, can get a feel for the crackle and birdsong of the GROWISER preserve in early autumn, and for Andy’s gentle, curious teaching style in this place he’s been learning from for thirty years.
If you would like to visit GROWISER with your whole body, not just your ears, and feel the crystals, listen to the trees, and get happy, visit growiser.net and get in touch with Andy. Tours of the property are free. The best time to see the flowers is from mid-April to mid-June. Tours to see the crystals are available all year.
“The preserve is for Everyone,” Andy says, and everyone is welcome.
My conversation with Andy, the drive back and forth with my mom, and our walk on the preserve were a steadying balm for me in a crazy threshold moment. I hope you, too, grow a little wiser as you listen to this episode.
My birthday is on October 12th! If you’ve been enjoying Kinward Podcast and you’d like to give me a birthday present, I suggest sharing this or another episode with four or five friends, and/or, if you have the means, becoming a supporting subscriber for $7 a month. Thank you! And thanks so much to those who already support this labor of love and kinship financially and in other ways. It means a lot to me and my family.
Gratitudes for this episode include: to Andy, for thirty years of slow multi-sensory conversation with his place; to my mom, for visiting the GROWISER preserve with me; to the many beings who made themselves known as we were walking and to all, including any Crones out there, who are holding our family in this sensitive and vulnerable time; and to my son, for cracking open the beans, but only the crackly ones. And thanks everybody for your attention. Be well.
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