What is truth? Mark Passio says it is: “That which is; that which has actually undergone the actuality of occurring.” To know and understand the truth and communicate it with others is one definition of The Great Work. I have benefited tremendously in my personal quest to know the truth from studying the work of Mark Passio, at What On Earth Is Happening, and Richard Grove, at Tragedy and Hope and the Peace Revolution Podcast. Mark introduced me to the principles of Natural Law and explained the true difference between right and wrong. Richard reintroduced me to philosophy, the love of wisdom, and showed me how to apply critical thinking in my daily life. So I was very excited to consume the fruits of their collaboration via this wide ranging discussion, where they intersect their respective life’s work and boil it down to the essence: The Great Work. Hear them out, you won’t be disappointed.

Meanwhile, last Saturday, back at The Springs, I continued to pursue my modest version of The Great Work pulling and slashing weeds on the Sand Prairie. It was a gorgeous, sunny day, and I think my immune system is getting the upper hand on borrelia burgdorferi.

Blazing star on the sand prairie.

Purple lovegrass.

Melanie and Tara arrived just as I was starting to pull spotted knapweed.

They were joined shortly thereafter by Jim, who was carrying a new sign post for the Indian Spring. I was so busy the rest of the day, I never got a chance to checkout the final touches they made to the new set of trail signs.

I pulled spotted knapweed for a couple hours and moved on to the purple nightshade that is overrunning the hillside on the south end of the loop trail. The DNR 2-track access road that merges with the trail there was getting pretty overgrown, so I “mowed” it with the brush cutter and then spent the afternoon cutting weeds on the west edge of the sand prairie.

I’m trying to keep a huge batch of weed seeds from maturing and being blown up onto the sand prairie.

I’m still thinking about the fate of the Scuppernong River where it crosses Hwy 106, a bit north and west of Palmyra, and I went there to get a water sample for Doctor’s Data Inc. to perform a heavy metals analysis on. I already have the results from the Scuppernong Spring and there are no detectable traces of any heavy metals at the source of the Scuppernong River.

I parked at the boat launch at the Prince’s Point Wildlife Area, put my chest waders on, and walked upstream crossing the first two drainage ditches from Steel Brook, and continuing past the confluence of the Bark River, which was very hard to identify from the south bank of the Scuppernong.

I stopped on the way home to enjoy the sunset.

See you at The Springs!