Our work is inspired by the work of the early bioregionalists in the mid-70’s—friends and family all—who restored our sense of the centrality of this ancient relationship between human culture and our watershed, our homeland within the interconnected web of species and elements. [link to Planet Drum, photos of covers of seminal work from Berg to Totem Salmon to Gary Snyder’s poetry]
The bioregional framework–whose seeds gave rise to 100,000 small and large watershed organizations—grew out of Sixties countercultural experiments in community and restoring an earth-friendly way-of-life perfected by our ancestors. Like bioregionalism, the restoration of ancestral cultural practices has entered the mainstream:
- Herbal and traditional medicine,
- Natural ways of birthing and dying,
- Integrated agricultural and husbandry systems: fibers, foods, medicines, sacramental,
- Education and childrearing,
- Housing and energy systems,
- Food, drink and clothing that arise naturally from our watershed.
- Respect for the four essential elements of earth, air, fire and water, along with wood and metal.
- Acknowledgement that we humans are one of the species of animals whose wellbeing depends on the synergy between the plant, insect, fish/reptilian/amphibian and fungal worlds, which we imperfectly understand.
