As children, we have our own hidden worlds. This beautiful conversation with children’s author Jon-Erik Lappano looks at being our innate selves, while finding pockets of wildness, writing, and wonder.

We talk about unmitigated and imaginative play in nature. We look at the joy of the creative process, and what it feels like to make something (like a beautiful book) that you can hold in your hands. We talk about good storytelling, what it feels like to have a secret language with animals, and how we each relate to the world, even if that is quiet or quirky. We talk about darkness—the painful fleetingness of time, being swallowed up by the forest—but also wonder and magic.

Jon-Erik Lappano is a Governor General’s Literary Award-winning Canadian author of books for children. He stays up unreasonably late working on things, and at his age, he should really know better. He lives in Stratford, Ontario, in a wild old house occupied by his wonderful, patient wife, three lovely, lawless children, and an unseemly number of pets.

His new book, The Language of Birds, was published this week by Random House Studio and is illustrated by Zach Manbeck.

Publisher’s Weekly wrote about The Language of Birds, “Two kindred spirits connect.…in this sensitive interpersonal portrait from Lappano and Manbeck.” Booklist says, “Lush illustrations glow with soft light, inviting readers into a warm world….where it feels safe to follow passions and interact on other terms. A refreshingly quiet story with a lot to say.”

This is a really special conversation—a glimmer of wonder in a dark time. You can listen at reseed.ca.

We can be helpers, we can be witnesses, we can refuse to give up. While the fragile ceasefire is cause for some timid relief, we can’t look away. Action needs to be sustained.

To mark the 50th episode of Reseed, this episode will be a bit different: here are 50 actions for Gaza.

Here are 50 actions to take—but the intent is to start with one action. This is meant to be helpful, afterall, not overwhelming. This episode is is also not meant to be perfect or prescriptive, but rather a map to help guide us as helpers when we get overwhelmed by grief and despair.

Actions are organized by learning, reflecting and discussing, in-person actions, donating, creating, advocating, caring, and praying or meditating. Listeners can pause anytime and take the action, and come back to it when you need more ideas. Some actions might be right for you, while some might not. Fortunately, effective movements are made up of people each finding their own unique role.

Whether you are an outspoken leader in this movement, or somewhat involved, or completely new and feeling out of place and uncomfortable: be a helper.

Find show notes and listen at reseed.ca.

This is a conversation about discovering sacredness and deconstructing empire.

Sacredness can be found in our forests, streams, parks, and backyards, rather than building walls around religion and isolating human beings from creation. That is why Church of the Wild brings nature, spirituality, and reverence together, regardless of specific religion. But many of us, despite feeling a spirituality in nature, are out of practice with prayer and have lost sacredness in our daily lives.

This episode of Reseed is a conversation about how to find sacredness, and how doing so is a rejection of empire building, patriarchy, and violence. As sacred creatures, humans can build refugia: havens of growth in the midst of unstable terrain.

Guest Victoria Loorz is a wild church pastor, an eco-spiritual director and co-founder of several transformation-focused organizations focused on the integration of nature and spirituality. After twenty years as a pastor of indoor churches, she launched the first Church of the Wild, in California, after which she co-founded the ecumenical Wild Church Network. She is the author of Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred.

Listen to hear more about how—at a moment where almost nothing is sacred—to find sacredness in our lives and in our wild world.

reseed.ca