Connecting with Nature in a Deep and Intimate Way with Marlene Bottenfield

The Voice of Change welcomes Marlene Bottenfield to the program to talk about her amazing connection to the natural world.  Marlene and her husband Cliff are stewards of 38 acres of pristine land in northern California where they have put in place an array of sustainable living practices. 

 While they primarily grow specialty mushrooms on their land, they also have rows and rows of vegetables and fruits as well as a host of chickens, goats, and lambs.  Two or three years ago when Marlene was harvesting mushrooms in their mushroom house, she heard an inner voice say, “Ask the mushrooms what they want, what would make them happy.”  That she says was the beginning of real listening to and honoring their nature friends.  Marlene says she and her husband had always considered themselves “nature” people, but this was different, this was the unfolding of a deep awareness.

Marlene has been drawn to nature since childhood.  She has been gardening since she was a young girl and as a high school and college student went backpacking in the Sierras almost every week-end.  She is
the mother of 4 daughters, two of whom were born conjoined.  These girls lived to be 7 years old and were raised in an environment that told them anything was possible. AND they proved this to their mother over and over again.  Marlene’s personal integrity has brought into her life many additional extraordinary experiences, such as drawing several profound pieces of art by simply calling on the “unseen world of artists” to direct her.