A Gift for Christ the King

When the three kings journeyed to meet Christ, they came bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. On the feast of Christ the King this year, He (and our community) received a special gift with the entrance of Mica as a postulant. Joining us from Saskatchewan, she entered just after Terce in order to be with us in choir for the Eucharist later that morning.

 
 

A few weeks ago, on the commemoration of All Souls of the Dominican Order, we received another gift with the re-election of Sr. Claire as our prioress for the next three years. Originally from Alberta, Sr. Claire (above photo, left) entered the Order of Preachers in France before being called back to Canada to join our community in its early days in Langley. Our prayers and joy are with her as she continues this time of service.

Finally, we also want to mention the upcoming release of our community’s first-ever calendar, which will be available for purchase through our online and physical gift shops around the beginning of Advent. It features photographs taken by our sisters of the natural beauty which surrounds our monastery in the Upper Squamish Valley, and includes dates for the major Church feasts and civic holidays of the year. We’ll let you know when it’s available to order. In the meantime, you can see a bit of a preview below:

 
 

As we look forward to the preparations of Advent, we continue to carry you and your loved ones in prayer. May this season be one of joy for you, and may the gift of our Emmanuel fill your hearts with peace.

Sr. Marie Thomas Lawrie
St. Francis of Assisi

Living where we do in the beautiful Upper Squamish Valley, our fellow mendicant St. Francis of Assisi has unsurprisingly left his mark on our Dominican community! Apart from a statue of him in the garden, this little friar from Italy is with us particularly when we praise God for the beauty of the mountains and local animals; when we celebrate the liturgy accompanied by the ever-changing song of local and migratory birds; and when we do our best to live simply and care for creation.

This year, the little saint’s feast was particularly special for us as we celebrated an official blessing and open house for our Pilchuk Creek Micro-Hydroelectricity project. Over ten years in the planning and building, this system now powers our monastery with clean, renewable energy, and was intentionally built to minimum impact on the creek and on the local forest. After a hymn, blessing and ribbon cutting, sisters and invited guests were given a tour of the facility. The celebration then moved up to the main monastery building, with a cake cutting, exhibit of the construction process, and a chance for those involved in the project to share stories and give thanks. The celebration finished with a duet on the koras, followed by Vespers.

It would be impossible to list here every one who contributed to this project, but we say to all of you: “thank-you.” God will reward your generosity, and your faith in our growing monastic community. We would like to express our particular gratitude to project leads Peter, Ron and John, all of whom were involved in the project on a daily basis with a truly extraordinary generosity of time, talent and effort. You are all, as always, in our prayers.

 

Celebration

Construction

 

Recently, St. Francis has been making appearances in our community’s life in other ways too. Historically, lower Pilchuk Creek (significantly downstream from the hydro project intake) is a spawning site for salmon. After approximately six years without a significant fall run, we rejoiced to welcome a large number of “pink” salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) this September. The fish move too fast to get a precise count, but we noticed at least three to four spawning sites with significant activity.

 
 
 
 

Finally, we also have our eyes on the heavens in a new way thanks to a telescope donated by a sister’s family. To give the community an introduction, we tested it out at recreation one night by learning to focus it on the glaciers; it has also been used to examine the surface of the moon. As the days grow shorter and nights grow longer, we’re looking forward to having more time for stargazing. There is almost no light pollution in our valley, so it should be possible to get clear views even of the other planets in our solar system. In an added nod to St. Francis, who (according to G.K. Chesterton) apparently had a dream about Assisi hanging upside-down off the earth, the system of the refractor telescope’s mirrors means that viewed objects actually appear upside-down!

 
 
Sr. Marie Thomas Lawrie
How Does One Make Horsetail Tea?
 
 

Since we sent our most recent newsletter, we’ve received numerous responses from friends both near and far. Many of these responses included a question: how exactly does one make horsetail tea? And, once made, how can one use it to help decrease horsetail in the garden?

For those of you fortunate enough not to know, horsetail is a very ancient plant, related to the fern family. It grows in abundance in our region. That would not be a problem, except that it appears to be fond of our monastery’s vegetable garden, and risks to crowd out the actual vegetables. It is very difficult to eliminate by weeding, but a local organic gardener taught us a solution. Horsetail is very high in silica, and it thrives in soil that is poor in that nutrient. By steeping horsetail in water to make a fermented “tea,” and pouring this solution on the garden, one can enrich the soil enough to decrease or suppress the weed’s activity. No chemicals involved!

Here are some simple instructions on how we are using this tea to help transform our garden:

·      To be very clear: this “tea” is not for human consumption, but for use on garden patches only. This point will become self-evident once the brew is fully fermented (read on to find out why).

·      First, gather up an armful of horsetail (either with or without the roots), and put it in a large bucket with a good lid. Leave about ¼ inch of space at the top.

·      Fill the bucket with water so that the horsetail is fully covered. It will float a little. After this, you will want to cover the bucket with the lid because in about a week it is going to begin to smell. That’s a normal part of the fermentation process.

·      Let it ferment for several weeks. We’ve been letting ours ferment for two to three months, but it doesn’t need to be that long. If you don’t like the smell of the tea, let it brew for longer. It will eventually get to the point where it doesn’t smell anymore.

·      When your tea is “brewed”, strain out the horsetail. Dilute the tea solution to a concentration of 1 part tea to 10 parts water. The tea will do damage to your plants if you pour it on undiluted. Apply to the garden using a watering can.

We have applied this remedy several times throughout the summer, but not more than once a week because it is very strong. So far, it appears to have helped! If you try it at home, we hope that it works for you too.

Sr. Marie Thomas Lawrie