Living World

A Prayer to the Land

~ Nicholas Tippins ~ 4 Comments

Photo by Pablo Garcia Saldana

Our car comes to a halt before a log in an inlet beside a back road. The log is used to stop off-roaders from tearing up the earth, but this is not our intention, so we gather our things and step into the bristling scrubland. We look to the shelter of a large mound of earth, and clear a space beneath it. Just earlier, I had been listening to a story of a reporter who was stranded in Afghanistan, hunted by the Taliban. There are no bullets flying at us now, yet I do not feel entirely alone, or entirely safe. Continue reading →

Why Almond Butter Is So Expensive (And That’s A Good Thing)

~ Nicholas Tippins ~ 1 Comment

Why is almond butter so expensive?

Why is almond butter so expensive now? This is what I thought as I returned the glass jar to the shelf of the co-op last summer. It was my first summer working full-time on a farm, and I watched my newfound perspective inform my reasoning. California… drought… almonds… aha!

Almond butter is so expensive because there’s a drought in California, where most of America’s almonds are produced. A no-brainer for anyone connected to their food. But I was just beginning to learn the consequences of the food choices I was making, and most Americans are still in the dark.

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The World is Alive!

~ Nicholas Tippins

            “Many Indians have told me that the most basic difference between Western and indigenous ways of being is that Westerners view the world as dead, and not as filled with speaking, thinking, feeling subjects as worthy and valuable as themselves.” 

–Derrick Jensen

The World is Alive! Photo by Michael Fertig.

Isn’t it interesting that as we become more civilized, we surround ourselves with more things that are not alive? Continue reading →