Hello friend!

I imagine my readers are experiencing the approaching Spring 🌱quite differently this year: temperature swings, record imbalances of highs and lows, extreme flooding in Europe, deep snow in US Northeast, thunderstorms in California. So, as tender shoots begin to push through the soil and song birds return with their songs, we find ourselves at the threshold of the Spring that arrives with both familiar rhythms and unprecedented patterns as our planet navigates climate shifts that touch every living system.

Riding the Energy of Spring in a Fire Horse Year

This year, Spring arrives with particular significance as we've just entered the Year of the Fire Horse 🔥🐴 in Chinese astrology. This powerful combination of Fire (representing transformation and passion) and Horse (associated with movement and freedom) creates a dynamic energetic landscape for our renewal practices, but it’s also a combination that speaks profoundly to our current moment. 

The Fire Horse brings qualities of adaptation, resilience, and responsive movement. The Fire Horse encourages a transformative awareness, reminding us that resilience often requires both deep rootedness and the courage to adapt. The Fire Horse brings a spirited, adventurous energy that amplifies Spring's natural momentum. It calls us to move beyond merely planning new beginnings toward actively pursuing them with confidence and determination.

If you've been feeling a surge of motivation or a pull toward breaking free from constraints, you're in harmony with this potent combination of seasonal and astrological energies. The Fire Horse gallops forward with purpose and passion, inspiring us to transform stagnation into movement and hesitation into decisive action.

What action have you decided to take?

1. Join a Community Science Project

• Sign up for the Nature's Notebook phenology observation program through the USA National Phenology Network.

• This citizen science initiative allows you to document seasonal changes in plants and animals in your local area. Your observations contribute to a national database helping scientists track how climate change is affecting biological events like flowering, migration, and leaf emergence.

• Visit usanpn.org/natures_notebook to create a free account. You'll receive guidance on selecting observation sites (even a single tree in your yard qualifies), identifying species, and recording simple observations through their user-friendly app. Commit to just 10 minutes weekly to create valuable data while deepening your connection to seasonal changes.

2. Participate in a Spring Ecological Book Circle

• Gather 3-5 friends for a 4-week reading of Robin Wall Kimmerer's "Braiding Sweetgrass" or David Abram's "Becoming Animal", or Suzanne Simard’s “Finding the Mother Tree”.  These and many other books offer profound perspectives on human-nature relationships that complement spring's awakening energy.

3. Adopt a Watershed

• Take the "Watershed Conscious Commitment" through your local watershed alliance or River Keeper (Mass River Alliance) organization.

• Spring rain carries everything from our yards, driveways, and streets directly into local waterways. Making even one household change significantly impacts water quality and aquatic life during this crucial season of renewal.

• If your area doesn't have a formal program, organizations like the Waterkeeper Alliance (waterkeeper.org) offer universal pledges and connection to local water protection initiatives.

• If you prefer a direct approach, commit to the "River-Friendly Living" pledge through the national River Network (rivernetwork.org), which provides specific seasonal actions tailored to your bioregion's needs.

The Liver is Your Body's Spring Messenger

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Spring is associated with the Liver. This organ system is responsible for smooth energy flow, adaptation, and resilience. As our external environment experiences unprecedented fluctuations, our internal environments require additional support to maintain balance.

The Liver's wisdom becomes especially relevant now:

• It teaches flexibility without breaking (like a bamboo 🎋 bending in strong winds);

• It governs our capacity to process not just physical toxins ☠️ but also the emotional impact of witnessing ecological change;

• It supports clear vision 👁️, both literally (it’s linked with our eyes) and in terms of seeing new possibilities amid shifting conditions.

Many of us are experiencing what ecophilosophers call "environmental grief", which is a response to ecological disruption that can manifest as Liver Qi stagnation: irritability, tension, frustration, or a sense of helplessness. ➡️ Supporting our liver function becomes not just personal health care but a way to maintain our capacity for meaningful response.

Bioregional Bitter Greens Recipe

Support your liver function while you connect with your local ecosystem by incorporating locally growing bitter greens into your routine. Dandelions are often dismissed as weeds, but they are actually resilient herbal remedies that support liver function. Their deep taproots bring up minerals from subsoil, making them nutritional powerhouses in changing growing conditions.

• 🍵 Create and drink a tonic with foraged (or purchased, locally grown) dandelion flowers. Add 2 cups of cleaned flowers (yellow only) to 6-8 cups of water, ½ cup of honey (again, from local bees if possible - bees that are navigating the same shifting bloom times you're experiencing) and 1 cup of lemon juice; let it steep in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours or overnight. Strain out petals before serving. Drink this in the morning for best results, or anytime during the day.  

• 🧑‍🍳 Blanch washed and cut dandelion greens in hot water for 10-15 minutes. You can save the water to make bitter ice cubes to be used in the heat of summer or as a soup base later this week. Then saute the blanched dandelions in olive oil, add some salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste.

As we align with Spring's energy of growth and renewal, remember that the Fire Horse teaches us about balanced momentum; knowing when to gallop forward and when to conserve energy. Honor your own natural rhythm while allowing the spirited energy of this year to inspire movement where you feel stagnant.

If you'd like to explore these Spring renewal practices more deeply, join me locally for the upcoming Library workshop, "Pulsing with Spring" on March 3, 2026 where we'll dive into comprehensive detoxification practices for body, mind, and environment.

Or, if you are interested in experiencing an embodied ecological shift, I’ll be facilitating a Deep Time Walk in Western Mass later this Spring [exact date TBD], where we'll walk and practice embodied ecological awareness. 

"The world is not a problem to be solved; it is a living being to which we belong. The world is part of our own self and we are a part of its suffering wholeness." — Joanna Macy

Wishing you vibrant health as you awaken with the season.

With love,

Judit