Two days ago during a brief burst of lunchtime sunshine, I was high in an apple tree pruning to my heart\u2019s content when the scent of skunk wafted through the orchard.\u00a0 Vicki was also outside and remarked, \u201cI really don\u2019t mind the smell of skunk? Do you?\u201d\u00a0 I nodded in agreement before noticing Sheba, our beloved resident terrier mutt, tear across the yard like a bat out of hell.<\/p>\n
Vicki\u2019s comment about Eau de Skunk<\/em> was just about to be put to a major test as Sheba had taken a direct hit from a skunk from close range.\u00a0 Her coat had an actual substance on it, and the smell was so potent that when I picked her up my eyes watered.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, I didn\u2019t get a chance to pick her up before she shared the experience with all of us.\u00a0The doors of house and office had been open when the skunk sprayed. It was a balmy 35 degrees and that felt warm enough for some fresh air.\u00a0 This open door meant Sheba tore across the yard straight into the house and office then raced through every room rubbing herself on every last rug.<\/p>\n A number of vinegar baths later, Sheba was free from the worst of the spray but not so much the house and office.\u00a0 I think we\u2019ll all be smelling skunk in here for quite awhile.<\/p>\n After accepting that we\u2019d all smell of skunk for the indefinite future, I spent the next several days thinking about skunk medicine.\u00a0 This was partly prompted by one of you suggesting I try and see the spray job as \u201cgood luck\u201d and partly because the animals continue to be the professors of this Green Hope Farm school without walls.<\/p>\n Skunk is the Algonquin word for this North American native and one of the few Algonquin words in the common vernacular.\u00a0 This time of year female skunks are getting set to move from their winter dens where they semi hibernate to their birthing dens. The male skunks are getting ready to take a long walkabout after they have done their business with the ladies.<\/p>\n This time of year there is often a bit of a skunk smell on the wind.\u00a0 This is because during mating season, \u00a0female skunks are happy to give ardent suitors a blast of their perfume to get the fellows to back off until they are good and ready.<\/p>\n Skunks sometimes scurry across our gardens at dawn, but mostly they navigate the gardens with a regal insouciance.\u00a0 No creature with an ounce of sense ( besides sweet Sheba) would tangle with a skunk. \u00a0And their insouciance suggests they know this to be true.<\/p>\n Skunk medicine is not only the self esteem of knowing one can handle just about any threat, but it’s a deeper self knowledge.\u00a0 Skunks know the truth and the truth is they are bad asses- quite literally as their rears are where their spray glands are.<\/p>\n As I embrace skunk medicine, I will seek to embrace what I truly know to be true about myself. I will honor my genuine gifts and forgive my failings.\u00a0 I will try to carry myself with confidence, even insouciance. \u00a0I will refrain from spraying unless I have stamped my feet like skunks do to give fair warning.\u00a0 But I will spray to protect what needs to be protected if necessary.\u00a0 Mostly I will remember that knowing who I am carries its own power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two days ago during a brief burst of lunchtime sunshine, I was high in an apple tree pruning to my heart\u2019s content when the scent of skunk wafted through the orchard.\u00a0 Vicki was also outside and remarked, \u201cI really don\u2019t mind the smell of skunk? Do you?\u201d\u00a0 I nodded in agreement before noticing Sheba, our … Continue reading Skunk Medicine<\/span>