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Merry solstice.
I am drawn to earth-based holidays (such the solstice) and am just beginning to explore the rituals that help me celebrate it.
Even though it means increased energy consumption, we string up lights each year. I love the symbolism of bringing light into the world in this dark period, and on my evening walk home from work love to see the neighborhoods lit up.
This year we moved a small fir into our front yard, and it has been our Christmas tree (or solstice tree). We gathered snowberry and rose hips and strung them together as ornaments. The snowberry browned a bit after our spell of below-freezing weather, but I still enjoy seeing the ornaments and one of the squirrel's who visits our yard has done a bit of munching on them. Next year I think I will decorate with more ornaments/wildlife food.
I could go on for a long time about gifts. The short of it is that I don't like buying for the sake of buying, but that I do love coming across something that really suites someone. A few days ago I came across a prize that my partner would enjoy at the Menu for Hope raffle, where proceeds go to a new initiative called Purchase for Progress, which enables smallholder and low-income farmers to supply food to the UN global food operations.
By way of introduction...
I have always loved plants and growing things. In part this was related to my broad interest in biology - wonder at either learning about the inner-workings of a cell or at observing a cherry tree over the course of a year. My interest in gardening (but not necessarily food gardening) took root early.
The other domestic arts (cooking, cleaning, preserving, sewing, finances), well, that is another story. In large part I think I was a child of my times. Growing up in the 80s/90s, there was a lot of emphasis on women's equality. I heard this message from my parents, and so I had the notion that the world was open to me, particularly in what my chosen profession would be. At the same time my parents modeled a fairly traditional (for lack of better word) gender roles. I observed that these gender roles at times caused strife between them. And I also received the message that the solution for women's liberation was to outsource the domestic work. Or to try to be super-woman.
A few things happened that made me question the outsourcing/super women model and to realize that the approach that worked the best for me was one where life balanced professional and domestic aspirations, and that the work was shared. One experience was going on a 3-week long wilderness course when I entered college - and seeing how central the need to feed and shelter one's self is, and how fufilling this work can be. I also started to cook with friends for social past-times, and through these experiences to learn about a wider world full of spices. I am coming to realize the important nexus of food - health - environment, and how we greatly impact these elements in our daily choices. And I am concerned about the impacts (both on the planet, and on ourselves) of a consumer-heavy life-style.
So I am starting this blog, not as a super-crafty super-woman (not even a crafty woman). But as a women exploring, as Ursula Le Guin writes, "living well, with skill, grace, energy - like carrying a basket of bread and smelling it and eating as you go." I am interested in sharing thoughts, and lessons learned about what Le Guin refers to as the low arts, "for instance, the art of making order where people live." For me this includes a wide range of topics such gardening, permaculture, marriage, cooking, preserving, personal finances, simple living, and also poetry, yoga and other things that bring beauty to our lives. Anything that helps us live well, with skill, grace and energy is fair game.
