The story I would like to tell is how I came to be the Steward and Resident Human in 2013 of these enchanted seven acres on the northwest corner of the Catskill Mountains in Upstate New York. It began with words that followed me out of a dream one Spring morning: “Light Spring”. I was unaware that I would be soon searching for my Forever Home, which indeed I did that Summer. By August I had looked at a dozen or so country places in New York’s Southern Tier and Northern Catskills.

None seemed “right” until this woodsy property with its modest house came to my attention. I’d forgotten about the two dream words until just before my first visit. Then an epiphany of recollection—Light Spring—when I stepped onto the land on a golden September afternoon. Before me a hemlock grove across the farm pond and the sound of running waters. I hurried down to the waterfall at the edge of the woods to be greeted by a wonderful resident, a Barred Owl. I walked into the hemlocks and knew I was Home.

By the winter solstice I’d moved in, feeling with each passing day the warm welcome and delight of the Elemental Beings whose Home this already was. And by then I knew that Lightspring Glen had called me, not just to be the Resident Human, but for opening a healing center for other two-leggeds to come to, and for establishing a base for my ever-evolving work as an Earth Healer and eco-activist.

These seven acres are the corner of a one-time small farm tucked up on the foothills of the northwest Catskills here on the edge of the Susquehanna River’s vast watershed and that of the Chesapeake Bay. At the top of my hill the waters flow south towards the distant ocean through the Delaware Bay’s watershed. Also at the top of the hill—straddling the two watersheds—is the Sidney Landfill Superfund Site. Not long after meeting the Barred Owl and realizing I’d “come home”, on our drive around the neighborhood my realtor and I were greeted by the large sign that announced the Site….a sobering moment, but further confirmation of why the Land had called me.

As an Elder of now some 73 years, I have devoted much of the last 25 to eco-activism around Water and its healing: the anti-fracking movement (ultimately successful here in NYS!), gatherings for the healing of Onondaga Lake so deeply sacred to the Haudenosaunee, and more-metaphysical work in Glastonbury, England, ancient Avalon.

I’ve made many videos for my YouTube Channel where you can wander about Lightspring Glen enjoying its sights and sounds. There are two playlists to enjoy, Between the Realms, and another devoted to poems of Mary Oliver recorded in the Summer of 2019, the year following her departure from this Earth plane. Do come for a visit via the Inter-Web!