Monitoring Bird-Window Collisions at the Monastery

Amy AlstadUncategorized 1 Comment

Since the Fall of 2021, volunteers from Madison Audubon and Holy Wisdom have been monitoring windows at the Monastery and Retreat & Guest House for bird collisions. The volunteers detected 21 window collisions during fall 2022. This was more than the combined number of collisions documented during the fall of 2021 and spring of 2022. The greatest number of collisions occurred at glass doors at the Retreat & Guest House courtyard. Dr. Amy Alstad, the Director of Land Management noted “This is a protected area with vegetation that is attractive to song birds. As soon as it warms up, we …

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“Restoration and Care for the Earth,” The Holy Wisdom Podcast

Brooke MoriartyCare for the Earth, Podcast Leave a Comment

Want to be the first to hear every new episode? Click here to sign up for email notifications! What does it truly mean to “care for the earth“?  In this episode, take a deeper look at what “care for the earth” means from two leaders of our natural restoration efforts – retired Land Manager, Greg Armstrong and his successor, Amy Alstad, PhD. Both our guests share their knowledge of the restoration work that the sisters have done over the years.  You’ll also hear about Friends of Wisdom Prairie, one of our volunteer communities, and their amazing contributions to the land at …

Spirituality on the prairie

Lynne Smith, OSBCare for the Earth, Living in Community Leave a Comment

“When we enter the landscape to learn something, we are obligated, I think, to pay attention rather than constantly to pose questions. To approach the land as we would a person, by opening an intelligent conversation. And to stay in one place, to make of that one, long observation a fully dilated experience. We will always be rewarded if we give the land credit for more than we imagine, and if we imagine it as being more complex even than language. In these ways we begin, I think, to find a home, to sense how to fit a place.” – …

Prayer and work

Lynne Smith, OSBCare for the Earth, Living in Community 2 Comments

It was 73 degrees in Middleton on Monday, April 8, 2019. Since Monday is a day of leisure for the sisters, I spent a large part of the day outside. I raked up the sticks dropped by the oaks during the winter in the front yard at Bingen House and listened to the birds. This will be the last week of free meals for the birds. The squirrels have learned how to climb down onto the feeder from the roof of the house, hang from the upper perches by their back feet and eat their fill from the lower seed …

Rodent wrangling and ambiguity

Holy Wisdom MonasteryCare for the Earth, Living in Community Leave a Comment

This week, on Tuesday morning, a group of us headed over to the garden. We hoped to beat the day’s heat and get some weeding and other work done before it became unbearably hot and humid. Sister Paz Vital and I were working in a fenced-in garden plot that contained rows of okra, cabbage, radishes, kale and a huge grouping of tomato plants. Suddenly, I heard a rustling in the corner of the garden near where we were working. The many, many weeds in that corner shook. A rabbit emerged, bounding through the garden. “BUNNY!” I yelled to Sister Paz. …

Friends of Wisdom Prairie dinner lecture with Claudio Gratton

Car McGinley Leave a Comment

Native Bees and their Conservation in Wisconsin’s Landscapes Enjoy a reception and dinner at the monastery and learn about bees and the role they play in the ecology of Wisconsin’s landscapes from Professor Claudio Gratton of the UW-Madison Entomology Department. Cost: $40 Register: Registration deadline: August 1, 2018 There is a 50% refund before the registration deadline, no refund after the registration deadline. Register online Download registration form Return to: FWP Holy Wisdom Monastery 4200 County Road M Middleton, WI 53562

Caring for Common Ground

Car McGinley Leave a Comment

Interfaith ecological restoration training at Holy Wisdom Monastery People from different religious traditions and spiritual practices are invited to learn together how to do ecological restoration that helps to heal the land, and to share how their faith perspectives inform their care for the environment. Join and become part of an interfaith restoration community of practice! Workshop Topics: Concepts of ecological restoration, including hands-on skills for planning and implementing a restoration project Activities for engaging others in ecological education and restoration practice Dialogue about intersections of faith, ethics, and environmental care We Welcome Participants Who: Are interested in taking land …

What does the Earth Ask of Us?

Car McGinley Leave a Comment

With Robin Wall Kimmerer | May 16, 2018, 5:30-7:30 pm “We are showered every day with the gifts of the Earth, gifts we have neither earned nor paid for: air to breathe, nurturing rain, black soil, berries and honeybees, the tree that became this page, a bag of rice and the exuberance of a field of goldenrod and asters at full bloom.” “Though the Earth provides us with all that we need, we have created a consumption-driven economy that asks, ‘What more can we take from the Earth?’ and almost never ‘What does the Earth ask of us in return?’” …

Wisdom Prairie Workday

Car McGinley Leave a Comment

Volunteer with the Friends of Wisdom Prairie at an upcoming workday. Help improve the ecological health of the land, meet new people, work outside with old friends and have fun. Meet at the monastery building entrance at 9:00 am and come prepared to work outside. Wear sturdy shoes, long pants a hat and gloves. We will work until noon, but will take a break mid-morning with a snack and conversation. Bring your friends! Register 1 days before the workday(s) you wish to attend. Register online

Wisdom Prairie Workday

Car McGinley Leave a Comment

Volunteer with the Friends of Wisdom Prairie at an upcoming workday. Help improve the ecological health of the land, meet new people, work outside with old friends and have fun. Meet at the monastery building entrance at 9:00 am and come prepared to work outside. Wear sturdy shoes, long pants a hat and gloves. We will work until noon, but will take a break mid-morning with a snack and conversation. Bring your friends! Register 1 days before the workday(s) you wish to attend. Register online