The songs of the Robin and The Cardinal, called to me this morning.   I felt a stirring within. The Crows and the Blue Jays invited me too, beckoning me to notice their adventures.  So I stopped, I turned away from the computer, put on my shoes, grabbed a cup of coffee and began my first official Native Eyes Walk of the year.

Day Lilly Shoots - Carol Wingert

The snow from one of the most snowy winters in my lifetime was melting, I could see the shoots from the Day Lillies coming up, right outside my front door. Soon I’ll be nibbling on them, enjoying this amazing natural edible that nature offers to me.

Later this year, I will be sharing them with friends and new friends who come to our spring courses, seeking to learn native ways, and edible / medicinal plants.

After a short walk, I am near the waterfall, enjoying the flowing water, feeling it pulsate through me, awakening something that has been dormant for some time.

I turn and notice one of my favorite edibles, Garlic Mustard is growing nicely already. Nearby I see Wild Strawberry Leaves, and leaves on the wild Rose bushes too coming along nicely.

As I walk along the path, I notice the wild onions growing, and I feel drawn to begin my annual 28 day “spring cleaning”, where I eat mostly what I can gather, along with a tiny bit of grains (or grain bread) and meat everyday.

“28 Days of eating, directed entirely by nature.  It’s a great way to get back in tune with what is, and notice more of what is possible.”

In just a few days, we will begin to experience “The Budding Tree’s Moon”, the first moon of the year, according to one of my mentors.   I am looking forward to it, and I am looking forward to sharing it with you.

Come back tomorrow!

Mr Twenty Twenty  -  He Who Walks with The Deer.

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January 10, 2010

We spotted these tiny little wonders, walking through 14 inches of snow on one of the pathways we use for our Edible Plants walks and Native Eyes Trainings.

Rose Hips: If you know where to look, and EXACTLY what to look for, they are plentiful, even in the middle of winter. They are high in vitamin C, and will keep you healthy, strong, and warm, when you steep them in hot water and make tea.

Your entire life will transform, as you learn the 7 basic Native Wisdom teachings we share in our trainings.  Here is one to remember, “What you need, always grows close to your home.” The secret is, you’ve got to know what to look for. How many people would walk right past these amazing gifts?

As I sit here this morning, enjoying a nice cup of Rose Hip tea, I can’t help but give thanks for the elders and mentors who shared their knowledge and wisdom with me, and for the elders of the future, who come here to learn these wisdom traditions.

I hope to share more with you, and see you soon at a Native Eyes Training in Pennsylvania.

Mr Twenty Twenty

Twenty Twenty

Let’s make some TOGETHER!

Take about 8 cups of water, add in 2 BIG ONIONS from the garden, some GINGER ROOT – wild preferred, a few hot pepper flakes and boil.

After about 10 minutes on a soft boil, with you lovingly giving thanks all the time, pout about 6 cups of the liquid into a bowl. Add in honey. Keep stirring with love in your heart and mind. Stir in honey. Stir in honey.

Drink the 2 cups left over broth and eat the goup, she always said it was good for you.

Let the syrup thicken. If it is TOO THICK, Make more broth, and add it in.  Drink the left overs.  Remember, it’s good and good for you!

As you can tell from the recipe, Grandma wasn’t big on EXACT AMOUNTS.

She was big on ALL the ingredients.  Don’t leave ANYTHING out!

Ingredients:  Onions.  Water.  Ginger.  Hot pepper flakes.  Honey.

Did I miss anything?

Oh yes, the MOST IMPORTANT ONES.

“Remember, the love and the thankfulness.”

Maybe that’s why it works so well.

Mr. Twenty Twenty
Join us on our next training adventure!

Grandma used to say, “Share some Tobacco”.

PS: I am not a medical doctor, so this is not Grandma’s Secret is not intended to treat or cure anything. Let’s just say it tastes good and is fun to make.

PPS: Maybe I will get Carol to take a photo of the finished product. I know Grandma’s Secret Syrup is not as beautiful as iPhotographGod material, but you might enjoy it too!

I just got back from doing my morning spirit walk, kung fu, and giving thanks. It’s the best way I’ve found to become a little more native every day.

“I honor my spirit, enjoy and move my body, and align my mind with gratitude.”

As I was walking in the door with some plants to dry, I remembered a teaching given to me years ago from a trusted elder.

“What you need grows close to home. Notice.”

“Close to home” means close to you physically and close to you in time.

This year, I have gathered and dried more COMFREY and BONESET than I have in the past 5 years combined. They are both growing like wildfire “close to home”.

I don’t know if it has anything to do with “the swine flu”. I do know that it has something to do with me.

Another quick plant teaching, “Don’t ever treat disease, treat people.”

I could tell you what comfrey and boneset are good for. At least I could tell you what I learned in Naturopath school, or what I have since read in books.

I would prefer instead to just notice. My two friends, comfrey and boneset are growing close to home. I will give thanks, offer tobacco, gather, and share. My attention is on me, and my world, and the wholeness.

If you were to shift your perspective from disease to wholeness, following what I did here, what would happen in your life today? What would happen to change for the rest of your life?

Let me know. 2020@exhostage.com

And join us for one of our upcoming events.

The Way of The Scout Weekend

Sponsor a Native Eyes Walk.

It could be really fun! And enlightening!

Your friend,

Mr. Twenty Twenty

Comfrey by Carol Wingert

Bonset by Carol Wingert

I look around and notice things.

Too me it seems as if most of the world has gone crazy. Trading what is natural and real and what is right in front of them, to chase something that they never seem to reach.

A bit about the shallow and the deep.

Years ago I was a regional assistant director in one of the big networking organizations. They taught us to have people use a formula to get to know one another. Shallow.

Here is what professional networkers were taught to do

The F.O.R.M. method.

Family: “Are you married? Do you have any kids?”

Occupation: “What do you do for a living?”

Recreation: “What do you do for fun?”

Move on. (You’ve gathered INFORMATION, now it’s time to trade cards, make notes, and move on to the next new friend.)

Total time invested, maybe 7 minutes max.

Real connection made? Hardly

Something beautiful…

The Sacred Pipe Alternative.

The Sacred Pipe was smoked often in an Indian’s life. One of the key times we smoke is when you met someone you wanted to get to know better.

Join me for a moment. Imagine…

Two men walking along a path. They see each other at a distance. As they get closer, one gestures to the other, they both stop, one of them offers tobacco, the other loads it into his pipe. The pipe is smoked and shared.

About 30 to 90 minutes are spent together, sharing life, sharing tobacco. It begins with a silent moment, then the lighting of tobacco. Sitting, mostly in silence, just being together. Connecting beyond words. Noticing what shows up. Noticing the feelings inside. Noticing each other.

We here share tobacco with many people. Most of the time it’s an invitation to sit and enjoy a cigar together. It could be with someone we meet, after we eat lunch in the park. It could be after a day of training a group. During that time together, we may share a story or two, but mostly we share lots of quiet time together.

While smoking what my elders call “the thank you plant”, we get to know each other at the level of essence rather quickly.

You get to share YOU, not what you or I do, not what you or I have, not what you or I are chasing.

You get to share, and to be with you.

It’s like holding hands with the divine within. It’s like holding hands with the divine within you and within them.

If this appeals to you, join us at our next event.

Special Events with Mr. Twenty Twenty

Way Of The Scout

Your friend,

Mr. Twenty Twenty

Share Tobacco

I just got back in from the local woodlands, and while I was out I gathered up a treat for you!

Spicebush twigs and leaves!

Spicebush - Photo by Carol Wingert

Spicebush is a loose bush, that often grows alongside the trails here in the mountains. It has alternate leaves, which are lighter green on the bottom, and have a really cool shape.

The crushed berry and leaf both smell like allspice.

Spice Bush - Photo by Carol Wingert

If you want to enjoy some great Spicebush tea, gather up a bunch of leaves and twigs. Just add them to boiling water, cover, and remove from the heat.

In about 45 minutes you’ll have a great tasting summer drink, that is high in iron and tastes great!

Have an amazing day!

Come join us for an event!

Your friend,

Mr. Twenty Twenty

The Naturalist who changed his name to the number of perfect vision, because you living yours matters!

Yesterday, a friend of mine, Buz McGuire replied to a post on our discussion  group.  What’s wild is that I forgot he was in that group.  Four of us were having an “online conversation”, and then Buz stopped by to say hello and share what was on his mind.

Our lives, rippled into his. His reply got him rippling into ours.

“All life matters. Your life matters.  Your life, ripples into the lives of those around you.  So if you shave today, wash your hair, be polite, choose to improve your life, home or neighborhood, it all ripples outward.”

On the other hand, if you choose to give up HOPE, not give a crap, cause commotion, or walk around like a zombie, you invite others to do the same.

What kind of ripples will you generate today?

Let me know, don’t just read this, leave a comment.  Leaving a comment is sort of like making a commitment.  And commitments ripple.  Hugs and whooo yah!

Your friend,

Mr. Twenty Twenty

PS: In The Native Eyes Weekend in June, we explored how to move invisibly – silently in the woods.  The quickest way you can become invisible and silent is
to become nurturing.

“To become nurturing, move with awareness and appreciation.  In the old days, that got you much closer to dinner.  That’s why the indian way of hunting involved getting right next to the deer, not shooting it from half a mile away.”

If you can become more aware and appreciative, you’ll get  closer not only to “deer”, but more people will become  ”dear” to you.

Think about it. Make a commitment. Leave a comment.   We’ll all benefit from it, forever.  Here’s a huge thing, I learned deeply in the woods.  Your  life RIPPLES! (That’s why your life matters!)  How we live here in Pennsylvania RIPPLES out!

It ripples into your lives.   And into the lives of those who your life ripples out in to.

Note: In Way of The Scout, we explore RIPPLES in a few ways.  Simon loved learning the Language of The Birds back in the first June Way of the Scout Weekend.

Those who train in the old ways go from “looking at” to “seeing more”.

Seeing how a mindless human sends out ripples into  the forest. Ripples that are of alarm . Ripples of disturbance.  Seeing how a mindful and aware human sends out very different, subtle, supportive ripples.

What kind of ripples are you sending out today?

Whooo yah!

Click here! Join us!

Compared to the pond, it’s quite small.

Yet if you drop it in the middle, ripples will spread out in all directions, ripples you can see.

Ripples you can feel.

The elder asked me, “What kind of stone are you?”

We moved invisibly through the woods.   Silent.  Moving as nature does.  Discovering ourselves and our world.  Exploring moving naturally.

“Years ago I learned if you tried to sneak through the woods, the birds would tell on you.  Some birds, that’s their main job.  To let everyone know that someone is sneaking.  So being a sneak backfires, both in the woods, and in life.”

Sneaking through the woods is about as effective as sneaking through the mall, all you do is get funny looks, way to much attention, and as a bonus you get to be “out of the flow”.

Let’s get in the flow – naturally instead.

Because, if you are out of the flow, your experience of the woods, isn’t gonna be the same as a native, someone who lives there.

You’ll be an alien, instead of being natural.  You won’t experience a world of wealth and abundance, you’ll struggle to survive.

I invite you to explore becoming more natural.

In contrast, we’ve been walking on floors that are level, flat, and hard – wearing shoes that are shaped funny and remove us from the earth. We’ve been doing this “unnatural thing” so long, that low back pain, and blowing out your knees – not to mention being under constant subtle structural stress because you don’t move naturally, well all that is considered normal.

Here are a couple tips to getting you walking (and being) more – naturally.

Let your body be long. Being long invites you to feel the whole way down to the earth.

Let your steps be shorter than most, about 14 to 18 inches – like a deer.  Longer steps require you to fall all day long.  Touch the earth, don’t hit it.

Let your feet roll from the outside to the inside with every step.

Notice the flow – the rhythm around you – and allow – invite – your body to match it.

Something really cool happens when you do these things. For some reason you start feeling better, your mind clears, and you have more energy.

As a bonus, you start seeing nature at rest and at play. You’ll see animals, birds, even bees in a more natural state. They won’t be alarmed by your presence, they will be invited because of it.

And if you come more – naturally from the core – connecting more fully with the earth – for some reason, even the people around you will relax, and play and be like the deer I almost touched this past Monday.

I wasn’t stalking him – the deer.  I wasn’t even camouflaged. I was just moving naturally, and I walked within 6 feet of a feeding deer in the woods.

Just because…. I wasn’t a stone – I wasn’t moving like I was stoned. I wasn’t dropped into a pond. I was in my element, exploring and enjoying my world. Discovering me, and you, and life, in the moment!

Twenty Twenty Gathering Nettles

Your turn!   Expand your world!  Join us at one of our upcoming events!

You’ll become – more – naturally

Your friend,

Twenty Twenty

The guy who really changed his name to the number of VISION, because giving you the tools and experiences to help you live yours matters!

Join us at our next event! – Click here!

Learning plant identification skills.

Hey mate,

Yesterday, Carol and I hosted our monthly wild edible plant walk on the Youghiogheny River Trail in Connellsville, PA. If you were in the neighborhood, you should have stopped by to join us!

Carol did take some amazing photographs, enjoy them and tell a friend!

Enjoying Wood Sorrel.

We all had a blast, taking a short 2 hour walk on the trail, identifying some amazing plants including Garlic Mustard, Ground Ivy, Wild Violets, Jewel Weed, Nettles, Plantain, Dandelions, Wood Sorrel, Red Clover, Tree of Heavan, Sumac,  and Wild Grape.

Yesterday’s Four Favorite Finds included:

The Nettle Patch.

Wild Grape Tendrils and baby leaves which are high in vitamin c and make a great trail nibble..

Red Clover Blossoms which every woman should learn about, they are very tasty too. All you have to do is make tea, or learn the secret method of sucking out their nectar.

Garlic Mustard which is great as a nibble and one of Carol’s favorites to cook with.

Learning edible plants - Enjoying the trail.

And finally Jewel Weed, which is great to neutralize any exposure to poison ivy or the nettle stings.

Tank you , Carol, Jenn, Adrienne, and our very special, tiny little guest you can see below. It was a great afternoon, and introduction to the Native Eyes world.

Your friend and Native Eyes guide,

A very special guest.

Click here – Join us on our next event!

Hey mate,

Today we enjoyed something AMAZING for breakfast. For about a week now, Carol Wingert has been enjoying smelling the beautiful scent of Black Locust blossoms.

So I decided last night, to surprise her with our world famous, Blue Corn Pancakes with Black Locust Blossoms!

It is by far, one of our FAVORITE Native Eyes breakfasts!

Black Locust Blossoms - Ready for mixing!

Enjoy the ACTION SHOTS, and as with all Wild Edibles – be absolutely certain that you are harvesting the correct plant, and give thanks.   I always offer some tobacco – as I have been trained to do – as a thank you offering when gathering plants for food and medicine.

Giving thanks – by offering tobacco.  It just seems to make the meal that much more amazing.

If you are in the neighborhood, join us for our next special event, learn how to correctly identify what grows in  your neighborhood, and discover the native wisdom traditions too that make connecting with nature even more special..

Blue Corn Pancake Batter

And if you are enjoying our writing, feel free to share some tobacco!  We greatly appreciate all of your gifts, emails, and your referrals!

Have an amazing day!

Your native eyes friends,

Twenty Twenty and Carol Wingert

PS:  In many of the kitchen photos you can see an amazing cutting board we just love. It’s from Kleppin’s Wooden Kitchen – Click here to visit.   Take a moment and enjoy Bob’s work, and pick one up for someone special today.  His cutting boards and utensils make a great gift, are extremely heavy duty, and just plain beautiful!

Just Right! Dig in!