Growing up in Florida, I spent most of my days outside, playing with friends, doing yard work, or riding my bike anywhere I wanted to go. My entertainment was a lot of fishing and hiking, and sometimes even camping. Florida is a great place to experience the wonderful gifts the Earth Mother has granted us. I became a truck driver in 2012. This career gives you the gift of experiencing Mother natures treasures more than i have ever thought was possible. When you leave Florida, land of forests, swamps, and Orange Trees, and head towards California, many things change. As you travel west, you see the land change before your eyes, from flat terrain to mountains far and wide, to deserted land as far as the eyes can see. My driving route currently has me driving at dawn. I travel over the Tennessee River where the mountain walls are hugging the river as the sun is rising, fog is drifting low over the waters, it is a breathtaking view. 

After moving from Florida to Tennessee, it is a slightly different ecosystem. In Florida, we get our waters from the Zephyrhills Aquifer, in Tennessee, we get our water from the Elk River, which flows into the Tennessee River. I used to go fishing often living in Florida. No doubt it had to do with a lake being almost a stone’s throw in any direction. After moving to Tennessee, I never had the chance because i was working for a company that kept me out for 2 to 3 weeks at a time, with 2 days of being home. Until recently when I got my fishing license and drove out to the Elk River. On that day, the river was flowing rapidly as we had a rainstorm the day before. A Great Blue Heron was hunting off to the side of me as I cast my fishing pole lure. Being out in nature reminded me of what I was missing, communing with nature. My goal is to go out more often in my spare time and cast my line and commune with the Earth Spirits and leave an offering to the Earth Mother.

 After starting the Dedicant Path, I started thinking about what I could do to make a difference on the ecosystem myself. Any minor changes do not seem like it would make any enormous difference in the grand scheme of things, but my reasoning is anything is better than doing nothing. Regarding sustainable energy, my city has large banks of Solar panels to harness the energy from the sun, but our primary source of energy comes from Hydroelectric Generators using the Tennessee River as a power source. I often thought of what i could do to save energy. In my house i have changed from incandescent bulbs to all led lighting, replaced my toilet’s and appliances with high efficiency models hoping to save water and electric usage. In my hometown, household garbage is picked up using a local refuge service where they sort thru garbage to sort recyclables from waste. The garbage company then sales those recyclables to companies who use the plastics, metals and other recyclables to make their own products. I have hauled several of those loads in my career. We also have a recycling center in which residents can use, which I feel would have a greater feeling of doing my part if I brought sorted recyclables on my own. Every Year I try to grow my own vegetables, tomatoes and peppers. This year I made a small plot on my land to have more room to grow more harvestable, with the goal of sustaining my needs without using pesticides. In the future, I want to grow medicinal herbs. I always had a cliché for the healing arts. I am a Reiki Master, studied massage therapy, and now I have the desire to learn about healing with herbal remedies. I’ve also made a few smaller lifestyle changes, including switching from nonstick cookware to using cast iron. It gives me the impression of going back to a simpler time. The substantial gifts of the Earth Mother are all around us. We just have to take a moment and look and do our part to preserve her gifts.