Thoughts on dirt
January 22, 2012 § Leave a comment
I have just started William Bryant Logan’s book Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth and am already getting caught up in a sense of wonder and gratitude. This bodes well! This is the sort of thing we reader-types live for. Here’s an excerpt from the prologue:
How can I stand on the ground every day and not feel its power? How can I live my life stepping on this stuff and not wonder at it? […]
Recently, I have been reading Exodus, wondering about Moses and the burning bush. Moses, it is written, “turns aside to see a wonder,” a bush that burns but is not consumed. Throughout my life, I had thought this a ridiculous passage. Why should God get Moses’ attention by such outlandish means? I mean, why couldn’t He just have boomed, “Hey, Moses!” the way He would later call to the great king, “Hey, Samuel!”
Now I know why. The truth, when really perceived and not simply described, is always a wonder. Moses does not see a technicolor fantasy. He sees the bush as it really is. He sees the bush as all bushes actually are.
There is in biology a formula called, “the equation of burning.” It is one of the fundamental pair of equations by which all organic life subsists. The other one, “the equation of photosynthesis,” describes the way the plants make foods out of sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water. The equation of burning describes how plants (and animals) unlock the stored sunlight and turn it into the heat energy that fuels their motion, their feeling, their thought, or whatever their living consists of.
All that is living burns. This is the fundamental fact of nature. And Moses saw it with his two eyes, directly. That glimpse of the real world–of the world as it is known to God–is not a world of isolate things, but of processes in concert.
God tells Moses, “Take off your shoes, because the ground where you are standing is holy ground.” He is asking Moses to experience in his own body what the burning bush experiences: a living connection between heaven and earth, the life that stretches out like taffy between our father the sun and our mother the earth. If you do not believe this, take off your shoes and stand in the grass or in the sand or in the dirt.
The Greenhorns and the irresistible
January 21, 2012 § 1 Comment
Do you know about the Greenhorns, and their blog, The Irresistible Fleet of Bicycles? I have heard of them, on and off, over the past few years. And in my recent farm-dreaming and job-pursuing I came across them again and have subsequently been completely, delightfully drawn in.
In 2011, the Greenhorns released their documentary about the rise of, and challenges facing, young farmers. Here’s the trailer:
Has anyone seen the full film? What did you think? Does anyone else own it – or know where we can get a copy? Once I figure out where I’m living in the next few weeks, I’d very much like to host a film night/potluck. (Or persuade someone else to, and have them invite me.)
Oh, how I love this stuff! It always makes me feel that the world is good, and full of good people.
Give a cow for Christmas
December 14, 2011 § Leave a comment
I’m a little late on my annual intention to spread the word about Heifer International . . . but here it is, nonetheless. Heifer International seeks to overcome hunger and poverty by working with communities to establish strong, local, agriculture-based economies. How can you help? By donating the funds to provide a family with a heifer (hence the name), goat, bees, ducks, even a water buffalo! You can give the gift on the part of a friend or family member, or simply for your own sake – and by doing so, you equip the recipient of your gift to pass on a gift to someone else. Passing on the gift is central to Heifer International’s mission; as one person or family gets on their feet, they can then offer a hand to someone else.
What kind of giving, this Christmas season, could be better? I encourage you to look at Heifer International’s website, and consider giving the gift that keeps on giving.
Here’s a link to the site: Heifer International
Have you ever given or received a Heifer International gift? I’d love to hear about it!
Riding the Neighbors’ Horses – Ebook Release!
December 13, 2011 § 8 Comments
Hey everyone! My juvenile fiction novel is available as an ebook as of today!
You can purchase it here:
The book will also be available in hard copy, hopefully later this month or early next year. Updates and excerpts to come!
Synopsis:
When twelve-year-old Susan Abbot befriends Nan and Ralph Whiting, the children of the horse trainer down the road, she has the chance to ride some of the best horses in Minnesota. But her desire to ride conflicts with her father’s distrust of horses – and the next-door neighbors who own them. In a golden 1920s summer, Susan reaches for independence, and finds she must weigh her relationships alongside her dreams.
Small comforts
November 30, 2011 § Leave a comment
The November issue of Country Living – British Edition is in my house, with features like “Cosy Knits for Autumn Nights” and “Decorating Ideas for Rustic Rooms.” This room isn’t quite rustic, but everything has been cleaned and put in its place, and there is that peace of a well-organized home. I have finished one scarf (all knit stitch) and am nearly finishing another (all purl stitch). Such satisfaction comes with learning a new skill! And it has been good to remember how to learn, not expecting perfection but allowing yourself mistakes and time.
As I sit on my roommate’s couch with my computer and plans for tracking down that Right Job, and smile occasionally about how tricky life can be – still there are these things. These home comforts.
Dear readers! What are some of your home comforts? Comment on this post and you will be entered into a drawing to receive your own copy of Country Living British Edition – the December issue!
Also, the “Where do you create?” photo drive is still going on! Send a photo of where you create and you’ll receive a packet of blue pumpkin seeds as well as a chance to win a copy of Storey’s Country Wisdom Almanac!
Thankful
November 23, 2011 § Leave a comment
Periodically I’ve sought to cultivate gratitude by making daily lists of things to be thankful for. To make a practice of counting my blessings. I start with the best of intentions, and eventually fall out of the habit. And how easy it is to look around and unconsciously count reasons for discontent.
Each day of the month of November, my friend Amy has been posting something for which she is thankful. Can I just say how refreshing this has been? Facebook frequently becomes so rampant with complaints, questionable and controversial political or ideological statements, and (at least in my circles) details of parenting frustrations and bliss that I can hardly stand it, and wonder why I continue to log in and scroll through. Amy’s posts have made me stop and feel glad for at least a few seconds of each day. (Thanks, Amy – I’m thankful for you and your November postings!)
I could give you a long list of things I wish I had, things I wish I’d done differently, things I feel I rather deserve after working my bum off throughout college . . . and high school . . . and middle school . . . heck, even elementary. Life does not seem fair at times and it isn’t. But then, there are people suffering from much greater injustices than mine, and there is much that I have and perceive as “normal” that is really a privilege. So. This is the day before Thanksgiving, and I am not home with family, and I am not hosting anyone, and I am not following around darling babies wearing booties I made for them. But I can be glad, and grateful.
And here are some of the reasons:
1. I have wonderful family members who love each other. I speak to all of them at least once a week. With my mother, almost daily. And all of them put up with my big ideas, my joyous hopes, my disappointments, my ramblings that dissolve into tears. What a fortunate thing it is to have a father who lets you cry in front of him, a mother who counsels you through despair and encourages your dreams, a sister who gets excited about various projects and ideas and often jumps in, a brother who can fix anything and doesn’t mind just talking when you’re lonely, and another brother who is so happy to hear your voice he just has to keep telling you how much he likes having you as his sister.
2. My sweet dog. I can’t tell you how many times I am stroking her soft ears and looking at her face and thinking what a good girl she is, and how much she has gone through with me. She is my constant friend. She goes where I go. She runs with me. She sits close to me on dark nights. I am so glad I didn’t listen to everyone who said it wasn’t wise to get a dog when you were in graduate school and you weren’t settled. Especially a big dog. This dog was meant to be mine, this happy, triangle-eyed, tennis-ball-obsessed golden retriever.
3. New things to learn. Thank you to all the people who have encouraged me to look at the world with curiosity, and to try out what it had to offer, and even to look beyond what was to see the possibilities of what could be.
4. Good food! And the people who are dedicated to it. Farmers, chefs, single guys and girls in apartments, dads and moms feeding little ones. Those working at food banks, soup kitchens, and community gardens. This national excitement about food is, I think, about to significantly change our society. I can feel it. I believe in it.
5. Nonprofits. Isn’t it great that there are places that can employ us to do good things?
6. Horses. They’re just beautiful. And I get to visit them, handle them, appreciate them almost every day.
7. My friends! Did I really wait till Number 7 to think of this? How lucky I have been to have gathered dear friends almost every place that I have lived, and how lucky that many of them have kept in touch, despite the different directions our lives have taken. I appreciate you guys! Thanks for sharing your lives with me. (And especially thanks to Amanda and Tyler and Tyler’s family this Thanksgiving, who are inviting me into their circle so I won’t be alone on this day of feasting.)
8. Co-workers that I like and get along with. This can’t be overlooked! I find it makes such a difference in daily life.
9. Clothes to wear. Kinda cute ones, even. It seems silly, but it isn’t.
10. Poetry & art. Keep spinning those words, writers. Keep snapping those stunning photos, photographers. Keep painting and stitching and scrapbooking and doing whatever you all do to make something expressive and gorgeous for those who know you, and those who are lucky enough to discover you.
11. And finally, most importantly, my faith. I know it isn’t something everyone will share, and I wouldn’t presume to make anyone feel they ought to. Belief in anything is so personal, and everyone must work out what they believe in their own time and in their own way. But I can’t help mentioning how glad I am for grace, and for a God whose primary purpose is to love us and teach us to love each other.
So then. Thank you, world. It feels now like the natural and right thing to do is help give other people reason to be thankful. Doesn’t it?
Feast well, friends. Love even better.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Yarn on the table
November 22, 2011 § Leave a comment
Girls’ nights can be such good fun. This weekend a friend came up from Denver and we spent most of our time around the table. The dining room table is not just for dining in this apartment; that’s probably its purpose perhaps a quarter of the time. The rest of the time it holds the mail or the groceries, displays flowers or candles or whatever the season suggests, serves as a writing-and-planning desk, and now, especially most recently, it is a hub for crafts.
When my friend Amanda came up last Saturday night we had hot chocolate, a baguette with good butter, and beef heart cooked with potatoes and carrots and garlic. How glad I was to have her here! She wanted to sew a tote and I finally got my sewing machine out – the sewing machine I got for my birthday last May and have simply been too tired from working to do anything with. Just now I am waiting for fabric to arrive so I can put some ideas into action. But that night, I was happy to let Amanda have at it. She sat down without a pattern and out came the cutest little denim satchel with a mustard-yellow strap. That girl has creativity in her fingertips.
And me? I had just – JUST! – taught myself to knit earlier that day. I now know how to cast on and do a basic knit stitch. Yay, me! So while I had planned that evening with ideas for felt flower bobby pins and charmingly decorated seed packets, I couldn’t set down that yarn. My fingers wanted to practice. What a nice little feeling of accomplishment it is to see string turn into a length of fabric!
Though, I’ve pulled out most of those early stitches and have now set the brown yarn aside until I can decide what I actually want to do with it, after all. Instead, a pretty pink little scarf will be my first completed project, and I’m proud to say that I’ve got a couple of feet in length already. Knitting once seemed impossible to me, or at least not worth the trouble. After a failed attempt at learning to crochet in college, I avoided what I saw as the “needle arts,” waving them off with the excuse, “I’m too impatient.”
Yet as I get more and more into sustainable agriculture, along grows the desire for self-sufficiency, and that means becoming capable of new things, acquiring the most basic of skills. Including those slow-moving, detail-oriented needle arts. I want to grow, do, and make whatever I can for myself, and for others. Why? That, my friends, may be a much longer post. For now, I’m following the instinct.
Just now I have a half skein of yarn on my right, and a half-completed scarf on my left. Occasionally I get up to wrap what I have around my neck and smile at myself in the mirror. I avoided knitting until it seemed silly for me to not know how to do it. Until I started taking on real challenges on purpose, instead of only going towards things where I suspected I could most easily succeed. Now it’s like an addiction. That seems hard? Or not like me? Let’s see if I can do it. This approach has made life much more interesting and occasionally humiliating – or maybe just humbling. Certainly more satisfying. I dare you to try it!
The day after our evening of crafts, I came home from the horse barn to see the remnants of our fun on the table. The late-morning light and the first clementines pulled everything together and I had to stop, to pause in that small bright moment. It was a good thing to come home to.
Where do you create?
November 17, 2011 § Leave a comment
Keep sending in those photos! I’m curious to see the places that you claim for your creative projects. (Click here for the initial post about this request and giveaway.)
You might also mention what specific kinds of art, crafts, trades, and projects you like to do in your creative place. . . from making snowflake cookies in the kitchen to shaping wooden spindles in the back shed, from sketching in the office to collecting scraps of fabric from thrift stores.
What’s in it for you? Why take the time to snap and send a picture? In addition to building the artistic community simply by sharing with one another, (1) the first people to submit will receive packets of blue pumpkin seeds, and (2) each person who sends a photo or two will be entered in a drawing for a copy of Storey Publishing’s Country Wisdom Almanac: 373 Tips, Crafts, Home Improvements, Recipes, and Homemade Remedies. Send your photos to birchbark (dot) erica (at) gmail (dot) com.
I’ll be checking my inbox . . .
Amen, sister!
November 14, 2011 § 2 Comments
That’s what my roommate said when I read her this excerpt from farmer/writer Jenna Woginrich’s blog, Cold Antler Farm:
The morning started with a two-hour interview with a journalist from New York City. She was writing a book on the resurgence of domestic arts and DIY culture across America and the role of homemakers. We had a good talk, and I showed her around the farm. By the time she was packed up and waving out the driveway, I realized I had never thought about many of her questions before she asked them. She wanted to know about my thoughts on feminism and homesteading, about the role of women, about trend in suburban moms getting chickens and herb gardens. Some of the answers surprised me, and I realized how much of a traditionalist I am at heart. I might be a woman with her own empire, but at the end of the day I just want to be taken care of, and take care of things. I want this because I feel like it’s my biological right as a member of my sex, and because it makes me happy. I don’t think wanting to be a wife or mother makes me any less a feminist than wanting to be a welder or an Air force Pilot. Nor do I dare say my desires should be anyone else’s. But when it all comes down to it: I’m a simple gal. If I ever find the right man I’ll happily get hitched, take his last name, and stay home to take care of the kids and dinner. I got the 14th amendment and a mortgage with my name on it. I’m all set.
I think I smiled and repeated that Amen. You can read the rest of the post here.
Here’s a somewhat related magazine publication: Darling Magazine
And here’s a hardly related, but totally darling song: Amen by Eden's Edge
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to play with two dogs, make a loaf of pumpkin bread, feed and water 34 horses, buy some paint, and craft a display to go over the fireplace.
A November poem
November 9, 2011 § Leave a comment
Here’s one I wrote a couple years ago, back home in Iowa.
early november
the corn tilts
in the garden.
the dog bites at
empty shucks,
pulls them toward
her until a light
crack breaks the stalk.
I glance over from
where I am digging
the last of the carrots,
the soil wet as clay,
the snappy orange and
purple roots still smelling
fresh as spring.
.
she tosses her head,
tears open those crisp
tawny husks to find
a crumbling white
core. noses and huffs
at the chaff. only
leftover failures.
all the sweet corn
has been savored.
all the colored popcorn
lines the windowsills.
.
and certainly, this is not
the fat golden field corn
that she and our other
dogs steal from
the neighbors, to sit
down with the bright
yellow between their
paws, to chew off each
dry, dented kernel with
a hunter’s satisfaction.
Kinds of Honey 