Jan. 9, 2023, 8:49 a.m.
Nuances of Land Stewardship
In conversation with Murphy Barney
Monday Monday
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Today I am delighted and honored to share a conversation with Murphy Barney, the author of the Substack : Our Medicine
Murphy reached out to me after I shared about purchasing a home and five acres of land in Leelanau County, Michigan this past November. I did this as an artist on my income as a self employed teacher and writer, unpartnered, and with no generational wealth. I did a lot of money tornado cleanup, got an FHA loan, and bought a house in Cedar, MI with a wood stove, a fireplace, 3 bedrooms, and a big room for watching TV and quilting. The house is surrounded by a giant meadow, woods, a secret garden, ravines, and many many BIG trees.
Visions for a spacious barn to dance in someday, small structures to house resident artists, dreams of growing food, and so much more!
Murphy had also recently purchased land in Vermont and we wanted to create a container to discuss the complexities of land stewardship, Murphy as an Indigenous person, and me as a white person of Swedish and German descent.
We laugh and we sigh and we grapple and we get into it. May this listen inspire your own continued commitment to letting home ownership and living on stolen land feel sticky, but don’t let it get you stuck. May your actions match your hopes and dreams.
I am a sister, doula, storyteller, and community health storytelling nerd. I author a newsletter titled Our Medicine which is a weekly exploration of love, storytelling, and rematriation. My focus is on ancestrally-grounded community building, personal and collective medicine, and a collection of beliefs grounded in love and togetherness as a means of surviving, thriving, and building a more sustainable world. The core of my work is an exploration of the human tapestry of wisdom rooted in collective care. I am a steward of 2 acres of land in Middlesex, Vermont on a journey of rematriation.
Become a paid subscriber of Murphy’s Substack
Whose land are you on? : https://native-land.ca
My home in Cedar, MI is located on the Leelanau Peninsula, much of which is stewarded by the Leelanau Conservancy, and I share their Land Acknowledgement below. I look forward to the forever blooming of learning what it means to be a white land steward, home owner, and neighbor of a place.
We acknowledge the waters and lands the Leelanau Conservancy cares for and owns are located on the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary lands of the Anishinaabeg—the Three Fires Confederacy of the Ojibwe, Ottawa, and Potawatomi peoples. Since time immemorial, the Anishinaabeg have lived, worked, honored, and respected these lands. We further acknowledge that the land known today as Leelanau County is comprised of lands acquired under the 1836 and 1855 treaties between the United States and the Ottawa and Chippewa Nation of Indians.
⌇⋰ Website
⌇⋰ Email : info@marleegrace.space
or respond to this email, I love to hear your thoughts
⌇⋰ PO Box 252 Cedar, MI 49621
