bee creative

word number eight: survival

Survival...it's a question.

Meyer lemons from the January farmer's market, locally grown in a greenhouse.  They need the greenhouse to survive here. I'm making salted lemons with them.

In Australia there is the last grove of Wollemi pines; a species that is prehistoric, that was abundant 34-65 million years ago.  It was loved enough that the effort was made to save it from the wildfires. 

Small sewing project #1

I am very close to finishing Terry Tempest Williams book Erosion.  This caught me last night:

"How to love this world? And share it? We must make time, take the time to allow for natural diversions in our day.  We have made a cult of busyness and in so doing we have forgotten the simple truth of paying attention to the view before us, between us, in a word, a cultivation of intimacy."

We have to support the things we love if we want them to survive.

word number seven: local + Wendell Berry

Look and See, it's the title of a movie.  Simply, a movie about Wendell Berry, but really more about what he believes and values.

One of Berry's essays I read recently from The Future of Nature, Writing on a Human Ecology from Orion Magazine included:

"The principles of neighborhood and subsistence will be disparaged by the globalists as "protectionism"--and that is exactly what it is.  It is a protectionism that is just and sound, because it protects local producers and is the best assurance of adequate supplies to local consumers.  And the idea that local needs should be met first and only surpluses exported does not imply any prejudice against charity toward people in other places or trade with them. The principal of neighborhood at home always implies the principle of charity abroad.  And the principle of subsistence is in fact the best guarantee of giveable or marketable surpluses." 

Local can be defined as where you are standing but is also dependent on what you are referring to. If we are talking about the universe, Earth is local.  A community can be global.

"Think global, act local."  It's become a little overused but is useful as a lens.

....

I so overestimated my ability to finish my sweater; still working on the yoke.

It will be finished when it is finished but it will be soon. I was remembering recently that this was reclaimed yarn.  The first time I used this yarn for a sweater, the sweater didn't fit so I pulled it all apart.

I did finish a tunic I put together using scraps left over from another project.  It is made up of six different pieces of fabric.

Very much designed using ideas from India Flint's class, "conscious clothing."

Choosing local can be as simple as choosing to do the labor or reusing materials...

word number two is the title of a book: Erosion

Sitting at the bus stop for 20 minutes will make a few things clear:

1. Most cars contain one person.
2. On a busy street, when there is a pause in the traffic of 30-60 seconds the silence is amazing.
3. On a sunny day bicyclists mostly look happy.
4. Given a chance a dog is always going to stop to say hello.

I took the scenic route home from the bookstore today. 

Along the water, towards the mountains.

I went to get Terry Tempest Williams new book Erosion.

 

It's next up on the reading list, although I've already dipped my toe in just a little bit.

Today's project: taking apart a fabric basket that I made a couple years ago and reassembling it into a smaller one.  It was too big to hold things well as I never put cardboard in the sides to hold it firmly. 

Smaller can be better.

 

 

word number one: gleaning

I am listening to Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli (checked out from the library) while I knit.  This is from an interview he did for On Being:

"The fascination of science is not what we have learned. It is the process of learning. It’s the discovery. It’s the wonder of what we learn: “Wow.” Then, the wonder creates more curiosity, and then we realize that there is so much we have not learned yet....There is so much to be discovered. And the beauty of the scientific enterprise is that we are in touch with the unknown, what we don’t know, and we try to make steps into it. So, that’s a strength of science, that it works out of beauty, out of intuition, out of imagination, but it has a very solid way, then, of checking. And which also means that some — many beautiful ideas turn out to be wrong."

This years wreath of windfall, gleaning and pruning...pine (from the neighbor's tree), ivy, rose hips, hops, and hazelnut. 

I will be choosing a word each day for awhile, randomly, just because...

spotty things

I think this is rock shield lichen.

Something new I've learned from Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer, is that lichens are a fungal/algal symbiotic relationship. I'm going to be sad when I finish this book but luckily have Gathering Moss to read too.

"When times are easy and there's plenty to go around, individual species can go it alone.  But when conditions are harsh and life is tenuous, it takes a team sworn to reciprocity to keep life going forward.  In a world of scarcity, interconnection and mutual aid become critical for survival. So say the lichens." 

From Braiding Sweetgrass

I'm cleaning up my stash of "fabric for work projects" and am making dinosaur pillows.

More details coming soon.

thankful

For shelter. 

It's 32 F right now.  The winds have been tapering off but  have been between 14-47 MPH.  The chicken's water is frozen this morning.

For food in the garden and on the plate. 

Photos of food are best in natural light but that's not always possible so I've been playing with filters. I recommend not using red wine for risotto.  It really isn't pretty.  Luckily it can be covered up with yummy roasted vegetables.

For the skills to make things. The fabric that I made this string from is a scrap from the dress I just finished making.

For found treasures.  I picked this up in a parking lot.

For a hot cup of tea and a fabulous book (really recommend this one).

And for everyone who comes by to visit. 

It's another kind of neighborhood....

#11 almost didn't happen

Tonight it was a struggle to make my daily pairing...

Dinner was a cucumber yogurt smoothie.

Glad it was just me to feed tonight.

I'm reading Pressure Cooker Why Home Cooking Won't Solve Our Problems and What We Can Do About It by Sarah Bown, Joslyn Brenton and Sinikka Elliott.  I'm about half way through and still in the section of why feeding a family can be so difficult. The link above is to an interview with one of the authors. The suggestions in the interview have more to do with low income families, although the book profiles a variety of income levels. I'm very curious what other solutions they have in mind. Unfortunately, I suspect that food as an issue is a symptom of a bigger problem. An illness of culture.

Examples of what I've been harvesting from the garden the last couple weeks. I am thankful it is something that I can do, that I have the knowledge, the space, the resources. 

#10 primary

Most referenced cookbooks (Enchanted Broccoli Forest is by Mollie Katzen), still sorting out which ones I find most inspirational.

Pairing number 10.

h is for hazelnuts, hummingbirds, here, and hope

Here... Home but altered.

"Here" a poem by Pablo Neruda that I want to stitch into the robe/jacket that I am making. It's in The Sea and The Bells.

Here, there are hummingbirds in the hazelnut trees.

And squirrels. They climb out to the tips of the branches, causing  the tree to bounce, shake and shimmy.

Not much hope of there being anything left to ripen. 

I can hope for other things though...

b is for books, bags, and blueberries

1.  It was a rainy, windy morning...seemed a perfect morning for blueberry-lemon muffins.  Recipe from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics. It's a great cookbook although not so "new" anymore.

2. I have three bags under construction.  I decided to work on this one this morning:

The complete text I am adding is "Wildflowers don't care where they grow."  Dolly Parton

3. The one assignment I have some hope of catching up on and finishing this year would be the pile of books I picked to finish reading.  I am still reading Seaweed Chronicles. It's beautifully written and I am learning new things. For example, sheep will eat seaweed.