Hi, I’m Kate Wilburn, the woman behind Phoenixes Rising.

I have been in love with the wild land since I was a child, roaming the thickets, forest & stream near my home and finding profound delight and solace there with the wood thrushes, the shagbark hickories & white oaks, the dogtooth violets, the partridgeberry, and the silk of milkweed pods. 

In my lifetime, I’ve roamed the lands of single parenting, of homesteading 110 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains, of living in intentional communities and collective households, of teaching in public schools, of engineering and sustainable building design, of guiding rites of passage, of the gift of cross-generational listening circles and work.  All these weave into the fabric of who I am now.

Here is what lies close to my heart: devoting my life, skills and energy to enact change with others towards a sweeter and kinder future for all our peoples; nurturing community across as many divides as possible; standing beside and behind all the young ones who are coming next; celebrating and replenishing the ecosystems of my beloved planet through teaching, writing, and the land I am able to tend.

I advocate for political & cultural leaders, economies and human networks that support social equity, the health of the planet, all species, future generations.

Now I find meaning and belonging in Missoula. Living in the city, though, I feel the alienation that traffic & pavement outside my windows creates for me, and between me and those who zoom past.

“Vocation is the place where our deep gladness meets the world's deep need.”  Frederick Buechner

I know the growing preciousness of potable water, and the damage our petroleum habits are doing to our air, our soils, our climate.  I've seen the chaos of climate & ecosystem collapse coming for decades and was sure we would have shifted it long ago.  I grieve the legacy we are handing the ones who come next.
 
So I began to imagine my patch of urban yard as a vibrant water-conserving wild place, as a carbon sink and as a rich refuge and seedbed. A home for native plants, insects and birds, instead of a water-consuming lawn manicured by petroleum.  An inspiring alternative to neighbors & passersby of what could be. Then I imagined a patchwork of such spaces throughout the city, spots of habitat as connecting links.

So many are asking themselves:  “What can I do?”

I believe that restoring ecosystems together in our cities creates beauty in our lives, modeling and inspiration for others, and the growth of significant community and resilience, fostering hope. When we learn and work collectively to create urban landscapes as patches of vibrant life and food, we regenerate wholeness in critical Earth and human communities towards greater resilience and local sovereignty.  I hope my living honors the culture and resilience of the Salish and Kalispel peoples whose traditional territories since time immemorial I now share.

This is where I find meaning and humanity in these times: stewarding & tending Earth systems, living more lightly on the planet, nourishing human relationships & community. 

What might we co-create?!