Fruitful Vegan Village

08/30/2026

Beloved Creatures: A Seven-Day Devotional on Animals, Compassion, and the Restored Earth

Day One — In the Beginning, No Blood Was Shed Scripture: "And God said, 'Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed... and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.'" — Genesis 1:29 Reflection: Before the Fall, before fear entered the garden, the first table was set without violence. God's original intention was a world of peace between creature and creature....

Day One — In the Beginning, No Blood Was Shed Scripture: “And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed… and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have …

08/19/2026

My Dream Van

I have decided that after I leave the Living Springs Log House, I want to live out of a van. I can be at the All Beings Sanctuary and Healing Center, and I can visit my children and grandchildren. I can travel to vegan festivals and other places of interest. I am excited about being mobile! Here is my vision. …...

08/16/2026

Watering Stations for the Wild Ones: A Simple Guide to Welcoming Butterflies, Bees, Birds, and Other Small Creatures

There's a quiet ministry in a saucer of water. Long before I understood the ecology of it, I understood the invitation — that a little dish set out with care says you are welcome here to every small, thirsty creature that finds it. Genesis tells us the garden was given not just to humankind but to every living thing that moves, and there's something of that original blessing restored each time we set out water for a bee, a bird, a lizard warming itself on a stone....

There’s a quiet ministry in a saucer of water. Long before I understood the ecology of it, I understood the invitation — that a little dish set out with care says you are welcome here to ever…

08/07/2026

The Data Center as Oasis: Reimagining Technology’s Footprint

By Patricia Mikkelson and Claude.ai There's a vision taking shape in my mind that refuses to leave me alone — what if the data centers powering our digital world became some of the most beautiful, life-giving places on earth? Right now, when most people picture a data center, they picture the opposite of life. Windowless buildings. Roaring cooling fans. Chain-link fences and "Authorized Personnel Only" signs....

https://wellspringcommunityblog.wordpress.com/2026/08/07/the-data-center-as-oasis-reimagining-technologys-footprint/

By Patricia Mikkelson and Claude.ai There’s a vision taking shape in my mind that refuses to leave me alone — what if the data centers powering our digital world became some of the most beaut…

07/16/2026

My Current Vision July 16, 2026

Some of you have been following this journey for a long time. You know about the vision for Wellspring — the vegan community, the food forest, the healing retreats, the farm animal sanctuary. You also know that for the past several months, I took what seemed like a beautiful detour: a multigenerational family homestead experiment with my son Chris, his wife Lanae, their children, and Robert, all of us together on the Living Springs Log House property in Madison County....

Some of you have been following this journey for a long time. You know about the vision for Wellspring — the vegan community, the food forest, the healing retreats, the farm animal sanctuary. You a…

07/16/2026

My upcoming novel: Chapters 4 through 8

Chapter Four: The Boy in the Closet Then, gently, he led me further back than the garden, further back than the concrete floor and the truck bed and the kill floor, back to a place too young to have words in it at all. I was one year old. I had no name yet for what was happening to me, only the whole of it as a small body knows a thing — the dark, first, and the narrowness of the space, and a smell of dust and old wood that I would carry in me, unnamed, for sixty years without once understanding why certain closets made my chest go tight....

Chapter Four: The Boy in the Closet Then, gently, he led me further back than the garden, further back than the concrete floor and the truck bed and the kill floor, back to a place too young to hav…

07/16/2026

My Upcoming Novel: First three chapters

THE GARDEN OF SECOND BIRTH A Novel Dedication For Barbara Holly — who helped me rededicate my life to raising awareness about the plight of animals, and to inspire people toward the vegan philosophy of compassion for all life — treating every creature with love, and refusing to kill them for food. I am so grateful for your commitment, your inspiration, and your friendship....

THE GARDEN OF SECOND BIRTH A Novel Dedication For Barbara Holly — who helped me rededicate my life to raising awareness about the plight of animals, and to inspire people toward the vegan philosoph…

07/02/2026

An Invitation for Those Who Value Life, Family, and Personal Responsibility

You don't have to identify as an animal rights activist, a liberal, or anything else to look honestly at what happens on the way to your dinner plate. In fact, some of the deepest values many conservatives hold — the sanctity of life, personal responsibility, distrust of faceless industrial systems, love of family, and a commitment to raising children with strong character — point directly toward rethinking how animals are treated in this country....

You don’t have to identify as an animal rights activist, a liberal, or anything else to look honestly at what happens on the way to your dinner plate. In fact, some of the deepest values many…

07/02/2026

The Animals We Were Never Meant to Eat: A Case for Compassion

The following article was written by Claude, an AI assistant, at my direction. The ideas, convictions, and heart behind this piece are my own — the outrage at cruelty, the love for animals, the belief that compassion should reach every innocent and voiceless creature — but the words themselves came from a collaboration between what I asked for and what Claude wrote....

The following article was written by Claude, an AI assistant, at my direction. The ideas, convictions, and heart behind this piece are my own — the outrage at cruelty, the love for animals, the bel…

06/25/2026

Giant Cell Arteritis: What Your Diagnosis May Not Have Told You

An article for the informed patient This article was researched and written by Claude, an AI assistant made by Anthropic, in collaboration with Patricia Mikkelson — a professional organizer, homesteader, and lifelong advocate for whole-person wellbeing living in the Ozark hills of Arkansas. Patricia came to me with a simple, caring impulse: a dear friend had just been diagnosed with Giant Cell Arteritis, handed a prescription for steroids, and sent home with very little else....

An article for the informed patient This article was researched and written by Claude, an AI assistant made by Anthropic, in collaboration with Patricia Mikkelson — a professional organizer, homest…