The Saints' Page
All religions honour special people to whose lives they look for guidance. Among the God's Gardeners, these people are known as "Saints," and they are honoured for their contributions to the environment.
Many Gardener Saints are mentioned in The Year of the Flood. Click here for the list of Gardener Saints and Festivals.
Readers and Blog commentators have suggested many additions to the list of Gardener Saints and Festivals. Click here to see their suggestions.
Is there someone you’d like to honour privately with Gardener Sainthood, while at the same time help to support the work of our chosen environmental organizations? Order a Saint scroll for them, below.
Add is their name, their Saint's Day ( a birthday or anniversary), their country, their jurisdiction - for instance, for "Saint Rachel Carson," the jurisdiction is "All Birds" - and the action that has earned their sainthood. Then download the Scroll and print it out, and/or or email it to your own chosen Saint.
Payments collected by O.W. Toad Ltd., percentage to go to our not-for-profit environmental organizations.
Scroll Down to See a Personal Saint Certificate You Can Send!
SAINTS AND FESTIVALS in The Year of the Flood
| FESTIVAL | SAINT/DAY |
|---|---|
| All Fallows’ Eve | |
| Creation Day | |
| The Feast of Adam and All Primates |
|
| The Festival of Arks |
|
| Saint Euell’s Day |
|
| Mole Day |
|
| April Fish |
|
| The Feast of Serpent Wisdom |
|
| Pollination Day |
|
| Saint Dian, Martyr |
|
| Predator Day |
|
| Saint Rachel and All Birds |
|
| Saint Terry and All Wayfarers |
|
| Saint Julian and All Souls |
|
List of Saints Provided by Commentators on the Propose-A-Saint Blogposting: Thank You All!
- Saint Helen Caldicott of the Nuclear-Free Future (the brilliant Dr. Helen Caldicott is the voice for all of us who wish for a brighter future of peace.)
- Saint David Suzuki of Balanced Nature
- Saint Senator Gaylord Nelson of Earth Day
- Saint Hayao Miyuzaki of Environmental Crisis (He is an Asian movie director who deals with the concept that, ’while the environment is mostly...fragile and waning, we see hope if we employ our technology in a way that does not harm nature, there can be coexistence and harmony.’
- Saint Edible Todmorden (Saint Edible engages in guerilla gardening, and encourages everyone to plant vegetables, fruit trees, and flowers in any bit of unused soil they come across.)
- Saints Randy Paynter, Matt McGlynn, and Camilla Eriksson - founders of website Care2.com
- Saint Thomas Hardy of Antivivisection and Prevention of Animal Cruelty
- Saint Alice Waters - founder of Chez Panisse and promoter of the Slow Food Movement.
- Saint Norman Borlaug- Father of the Green Revolution
- Saint Julia Butterfly Hill- an activist who spent 738 days in the top of a Redwood to save an old growth forest from clearcutting
- Saint Aldo Leopold- author of Sand County Almanac- one of the seminal books on ecological thinking. Leopold does a marvelous job of illustrating the interconnectedness of the natural world.
- Saint Shelia Watt-Cloutier of the Arctic Chill
- Saint Wangari Maathai- founder of the Green Belt movement in Africa
- Saint Raffi- whose children’s music and whose organization “Evergreen, Everblue”, have inspired many a child and parent to care for, and protect, the Earth. Also nominated for his work in Child Honouring.
- Saint Roger Peterson of Bird Identification
- Saints Robert and Maria Rodale of Organic Farming, Gardening, and Research
- Saints Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson, Gary Snyder, and Calvin Dewitt (no reasons provided.)
- Saint David Orr - for coining the term “environmental literacy”.
- Saint Vandana Shiva- for being a great voice in the art of “stepping back and taking a closer look.” Specifically her work on GMOs - not because she thinks the “science” is necessarily evil, but because this science casts a wide wake in societal, economic, and cultural waters.
- Saint Tara Cullus (I see David has been mentioned a few times, but let’s add his better half- DSF [David Suzuki Foundation?] is her baby too.)
- Saint Wade Davis- Botanist Extraordinaire
- Saints Thomas Berry, Joseph Sittler, Saint John Denver of the Rocky Mountains
- Saint John Mellencamp of the Family Farm
- Saint Judith Collins - the Wandering Gypsy
- Saint Sasha Rakoff- founder of Object, who campaigns against “sex object culture”.
- Saint Mike Holmes of Home Renovations and Green Innovation
- Saint Pete Seeger - for making music that breaks down barriers
- Saint Linnaeus- Saint of Taxonomy
- Saint Terry Tempest Williams- author of Refuge : An Unnatural History of Family and Place and Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the Field. She is speaking the truth about nuclear testing in the American West.
- Saint Michael Pollan - Saint of gardening, foraging, cooking, writing, and an all around good guy.
- Saint Greg Mortenson - builder of schools for girls in Pakistan, transforming the region- one town at a time.
- Saint Ken Saro-Wiwa- suggested Saint’s Day November 10. Martyr saint of Indigenous people living on poisoned land.
- A general Saints’ Day suggestion for: All elderly ladies with a green thumb and a heap of compost (such as the writer’s granny: Georgette Durou)
Suggested Feast Days
- The First Tomato of Summer
- The Feast of Seed Saving
- The Feast of Canned Apple Sauce (for December)
- The Feast of Preventing Waste (Recycling)
- The Feast of Used Goods

