In the desert, water is felt deeply. It is celebrated. A small and rare desert spring nourishes countless plants and animals. Tracks mingle near the source, pack rat, deer, quail, snake, hawk, coyote, mountain lion, bear, human… Rain is rare, and we feel it coming, our bodies responding to even slight changes in moisture and scent. Some of us pray and dance for it, our 5 to 17 inches of rain a year. Laughter and awe bubbles up, birds call, and we go outside to feel, taste, touch, hear, and smell it when the rain arrives, washing the land clear of the old tracks, sinking deeply into our roots, carrying the smells of great basin sage, juniper, pinyon, and damp earth.
Honoring water, and assisting the land’s ability to hold the life giving water it receives is an essential part of our work at Quail Springs.
For information and inspiration, visit Occidental Arts and Ecology’s Water Institute Website: http://www.oaecwater.org/
“What you people call your natural resources our people call our relatives”
Oren Lyons Faith Keeper of the Onondaga
“Watersheds come in families; nested levels of intimacy… As you work upstream toward home, you’re more closely related. The big river is like your nation, a little out of hand. The lake is your cousin. The creek is your sister. The pond is her child. And, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, you’re married to your sink.”
Michael Parfit, National Geographic
For more on Water visit our blog.
