I like the word caregiver (care + giver) and if I must have a job title, it's the one I want.
Someone who maintains something.
Five years ago I started attaching heart squares on to a blanket in need of much mending. I called it my Mending Heart blanket.
Last weekend it was cut apart, what hearts I had attached cut off and I am now in the process of mending those hearts again, perhaps to reattach them to each other and make a blanket that way.
I imagine I could mend my blankets over and over for years to come. Reusing bits that are still good, sometimes adding something new. Knowing that I would be following a tradition of frugality.
Who pays attention.
Spring is coming. The pulmonaria (lungwort) is always one of the first things to bloom.
I saw the heron again. This time in the evening. He croaked (you can listen here to what it sounds like) a couple of times as he flew by underneath an almost full moon playing peek-a-boo with the rain clouds.
I saw a towhee in the garden again. I've realized that I only see them here during the winter.
Record rainfall this week.
Who is concerned.
I am re-reading Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv for a group discussion at work. Many of us are concerned by how little some children interact with nature. We want to do something.
Louv defines nature in Last Child as "natural wilderness: biodiversity, abundance-related loose parts in a backyard or a rugged mountain ridge. Most of all, nature is reflected in our capacity for wonder. Nasci. To be born."
Last week the teachers for the 4's and 5's at the center I work at took the children down the trail to visit the nurse log they check on each week. They are watching the changes in the log, the insects, worms, birds, squirrels, or deer they might see.
Who will take responsibility.
Farmer's market today.
We are on the once a month schedule for January, February, and March. There was a glorious assortment of things to get today, especially considering it is February. I've noticed that a lot of greens that usually die back have survived the winter. We've had a few cold patches but nothing lasted for long. I have Swiss chard, broccoli, and sorrel that I can pick in the garden. Plus herbs. I am eating a lot of the things that I preserved last summer and fall.
I also have eggs from Mom and Dad, hopefully my chickens will be laying again soon.
Thinking about all the ways we can take responsibility for the world we live in, big or little.
Tomorrow I'll plant a fruit tree, a few seeds and some flowers for the bees.
I'll be a caregiver.