The cutest carolers you ever did see
With all the darkness around us, our inner light shines ever brighter ever stronger.
Gathering us together around the home fires.
Going inward, unraveling old thoughts and re-routing
Letting the eastern dawn guide our way
Sharing our inner glow with our dearest
New paths unfold before us
New blooms unfurl
So we savor, we rest and we dream ahead.
Happy New Year, may you rest well and emerge in your own perfect way as the days grow before us.
I must admit, the older I get, the more I enjoy, or enjoy again, the holidays. The glory kind of faded in my teens and twenties, when the consumerism and commercialism became so distasteful to me I simply couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t tolerate much of this culture then, come to think of it! A little older now and a bit less righteous, I feel myself softening into my being & the wonder of the world again. I still am deeply annoyed at what our fine country let’s pass for Holy days, but I find my own way rather than trying to change everyone else’s. Having a little creature to tend, who is not only magical himself, but completely and totally impressed with the whole world, helps the wonder seep into every moment. 
In creating our own family rituals, this season is starting to come alive again, I even look forward to it. Re-claiming is always liberating but the deeper I look, the more I see the depth, symbolism and opportunity in what these winter holidays bring. Laying things to rest, being still in the darkness, and of course bringing in light to illuminate all this darkness.
Sometimes the magic just happens, the world around turns white, sparkles so bright no one can resist the joy and delight of the season.
Other times, the ever magical world looks simply, full, overwhelming even bleak. I am learning, with my little one watching closely, that it is in those moments most of all that we must create the magic ourselves. Sledding, songs, even the simplest lighting of a candle can calm the heart and make the mundane perfectly magical. So here’s to you and yours making and witnessing the magic that is the essence of this season.
It is migration season, the birds are heading south, seeking warmer weather to regroup, gather and connect…if you know what I mean. Though I am not leaving town, I am doing the same, some sort of internal migration inwards. The tomatoes are canned, the seeds saved and now I can look beyond what is right on front of me, screaming for my attention. I see the more quiet, still sides of myself that haven’t gotten as much attention lately, my inner thoughts and processes. My bird friends are here to remind me; rise high, seek the big picture and always keep moving. Just this weekend I saw a beautiful golden eagle on a cross, a Western screech-owl on my lane as the full moon rose and a huge flock of Sandhill cranes heading south, dancing together in the sky above Ojo Caliente. The birds always lift up my vision, help raise my focus and remind me, to not lose sight of myself in the busy mix of life.
Golden Eagle on a cross overlooking Chimayo, NM
As I do this settling in, there is a simultaneous kind of taking flight. In this quiet, I have chosen to write more, in fact this post will be #100 on my blog since it’s inception 2 years ago. It has been a humble effort, sporadic and random at times, but really a great creative outlet as a stay at home mom, gardener, maker and thinker. I have reached a few folks and even gained a fan or two and just last week this little blog of mine got ‘picked up’. Have you heard of Peggy O’Mara, she was the editor and publisher of Mothering Magazine based right here in little Santa Fe for 21 years!! The very month I got pregnant Mothering published their last issue and went online to Mothering.com which Peggy founded. Luckily and friend gave me her stack of well-loved issues and I devoured them throughout my pregnancy. I still have them and hope I will read again sometime during my mothering journey. Recently Peggy started her own site called Peggy O’Mara.com which is a beautifully curated collection Family, Health and Justice articles from writers all over the country. Recently a friend (thanks Kathleen) connected us and Peggy asked me to write for her sight! It is a humble little step, but exciting to be connecting with a wider web of community. Check out her site, it is well worth the trip, and Thanks Peggy!!
Sandhill Cranes
So happy 100 posts to Seeds and Stones and a heartfelt thank you to all of you who have read my words and supported me along the way. Now that I have a moment to pause, where or where to begin with my huge pile of ideas? Who knows, but so glad to have your company along the way.
Yesterday we swapped, today we ate…homemade sourdough bread, fresh goat cheese, pear ginger butter, and homemade cultured butter…yep, all in one bite!! 
I know, I should save all these goodies and slowly dool them out over the year, but hey, it feels like time to celebrate. Not just the food, but the efforts, the thought, the attention that when into all this bounty. Everyone one who came this year put so much time into their offerings, and some serious creativity. 
I am talking tinctures that have been steeping for months made from wild crafted herbs, cheese made from Almonds, Mushrooms gathered from the mountains, Mustard made and labeled by homeschooled hands, homemade, frozen and indivdiually wrapped cinnamon buns that just need to be heated up on that special Sunday morning!!! I mean really, this was above and beyond anything I ever dreamed of when I was staring at my pile of green tomatoes wondering who, oh who might be willing to trade for something, anything!!
OK, I admit, I do have some amazing friends, but it is not just that. What amazed me the most is that all of the swappers stepped off the hamster wheel of consumer culture, stepped into their creative capacity, whipped up some magic and yes, gave it away!! All in the name of sharing. To give and receive comes so naturally to us human beings, we work so hard with our children on these fundamental human skills, and yet when I look around in most of the messages our culture is sending us, I see very little authentic generousity. It’s mostly ‘ get yours’ ‘every man for himself’ and ‘you gotta look out for your own’ which all negate all that we learn in kindergarden about ‘doing unto others as you would have them do unto you’. There are many days that is feels hard parenting a child to share in a world that may later tell him otherwise. But yesterday, It felt so good to see reciprocity in action and to know that at least for today, we are setting a good example.
I just want to say Thanks to these folks who came out on Sunday morning with their arms full of their precious handmade and home grown to share. We all left with boxes full as well, all mixed up with herbs, spices, seeds and fruits of other peoples labors of love. I am starting to see a tiny glimmer of new economies, new possibilities, new options. Sorry Whole Foods, I don’t see hand rendered Beef tallow on your shelves!
After some of the sampling I had a brilliant idea…. to make a Santa Fe Harvest Swap Cook Book, but then I quickly realized, no I don’t want Lisa’s Mustard recipe, I want Lisa to make my Mustard, and Sarah to make my pepper jelly and Kyce to make my medicine and Becca my butter!! I want us to nourish each other deeply and truly like we did yesterday. I want that for all of everyone and all of our children. I will do whatever it takes to make that happen, weather it put on more swaps, weave more webs, or construct more soap boxes….I see now my true passion is bringing our gifts, our talents, and our hearts together, because all this goodness needs to be shared and spread, onto a piece of Ty’s homemade bread!! If you are up for more learning, sharing and co-creating, make sure to check out what else we are up to here.
Last year at this time, fruit was falling from the trees faster than we could pick it. The old abandoned apple across the road that was breaking bows under the juicy weight now stands solemn with one lonely apple. Noticing these cycles just reminds me that there are fruit years and there are root years, there are times to work outward and times to go in, as is said through many faiths, there is an in breath and an out breath to all life, each as important as the other. I may miss the baskets overflowing with sun ripened bounty, but I am not in mourning as there are so many other things to reap and process, both inside and out this year.
digging roots
My garden has been slower, more steady some how this year, struggling in ways, longing for more sweet rain water, but self-sufficient in other ways it hadn’t been in the past. My composting, de- weeding, cultivation and care are now showing an independence and more resourceful roots. inseparable am I from my eathern ground, this growth is reflected inside my own being too. Now 2 years into motherhood and finally finding a stride, after much heavy watering and tilling up inside, this earthen woman is setting roots and showing signs of another bloom.
growing up
So in the spirit of gathering, swapping and sharing ourselves and our harvests, as our work, our hearts our offering the Harvest Swap is on this year. It is an opportunity to meet each other where we are, for us to gather what we have in excess and receive what we may be needing. This effort is to celebrate the wealth we have collectively and shift ourselves from an independence to an interdependence.
gathering together
I come forth with herbs, both wild and grown, maybe because the medicine I need is in them and encouragement to slow down the coffee pot and sip more tea!! What is it that you have been tending and reaping this year, what do others have that you need? Can’t wait to swap and share, grow and gather in our inner and inter wealth and gratitude. Sign up for this year’s harvest swap here.
“In these times of hyper capitalism, it is a radical act to harvest apples from my yard, preserve them and trade them for eggs with my neighbor down the street, to rely on each other in place of the current systems. [The swap] stimulates the part of us that remembers those bygone times when economies of scale and self-reliance were the norm. The part of us that knows that social capital via community connections are at a premium in times of social, ecological and economic turmoil.”- Sarah Ghoirse Harvest Swap 2012
Wild plums and Calendula
Labor day has come, the end of summer, yet somehow the harvests just seems to be rolling in. Now I have to pick daily instead of weekly and the abundance feels well-earned after a long wait. I spend Labor Day setting up the outdoor canning station…Canning on the Coleman keeps the heat out of the house and in the yard with the rest of the radiant sunlight.
Canning Peaches on the Coleman camp stove last year
The tomatoes have finally decided to show their true colors and I just have to keep up!! The pesto is being processed by the case load in preparation for the Santa Fe Harvest Swap Oct 20th!! (Yes we are doing it again, but have yet to send out the sign up…coming soon of course!!, stay tuned) Summers gifts are carrying us into fall and I am grateful to finally have some food to put by! Hope your summers have been generous and filled you up to carry us into the new season and may your Labors be those of love.
I just thought I would share the my job at SFCC Culinary Arts Garden is going quite well. Back to school next week and the garden looks….well awesome!! All the food is planted, cared for and harvested by the students and I and all of it goes to the Culinary Art Department for cooking classes and processed for the Student Run Cafe. I even started a blog to give it voice and scope and I am hoping to connect lots more students to growing good food this fall. Check out the blog and if you have free time and want to learn to garden from me, volunteer afternoons are Tuesdays from 3-6pm and open to all!!
We have been gone for 2 weeks, traveling to the verdant valleys of Vermont and Coastal Maine. It was lush and luscious, drinking in the green and being totally present to play with my little guy and (big guy), wandering the rivers, lakes and playgrounds without a care in the world. Now that we are home our world has transformed too, from desert dry to jungle garden green. I am so happy to be home, feeling like this is the start of a new year, fresh and ready to begin again….but with this renewed energy just don’t know where to start…shall I prune the tomatoes, make pesto, pay the bills, write my upcoming class curriculum, …….or just finish that book I started on vacation? Well, those decisions can wait till tomorrow. For now, just a glimpse of the places we went and the fun we had so I can savor the beauty we were blessed by and remember to savor the sweet slowness of life when you are simply taking in all in.
Jaengus just HAD to sit on every idle tractor in Vermont, he even found this one just his size at the Von Trapp Dairy Farm
The abundant Waitsfield Famers Market
Every Eco- Homemakers dream- Hand Made clothes pins that hang on tight! Vermont Clothes Pins claim to be the only MADE in AMERICA clothes pins left on the market- yes I did treat myself to these fine and functional gems
Jaengy found another cool piece of farm equiptment at Knoll Farm to sit on and take in the views
CENTER FOR WHOLE COMMUNITIES at KNOLL FARM
Our talented and hardworking new farmer friends, Helen and Stan giving a localvores tour on their new Elderberry & Herb Farm- Three Springs Farm-Yes the Echinachea IS waist high!!
Then off to Glover for world best circus in the sun- Bread & Puppet!! Totally nostalgic for me, as the last time I attended was, well, half my life ago and it seemed perfectly the same, preserved in time, old New England hippie style- some things really shouldn’t change!
En-route we found an amazing nursery burgeoning over with blooms called aptly
the ‘Labor of Love’- run by a woman who seriously knows her blooms
We even made it the Atlantic to kiss the sea on Bailey Island and the Driftwood Inn
We were blessed with a perfect dawn over the ocean on our last day- the perfect end to our trip and begin again, refreshed, reminded and
re-ignited
I can’t tell you the relief I have been feeling lately in the garden. We have had 5 days straight of evening thunder storms, which considering it has been over four months with no rain, we are beyond grateful. I kind of gave up in the garden, once the tomatoes (and overzealous 100 plants this year) were in, and the irrigation on, I was too hot and losing faith…so I just prayed for rain. You see, no matter how much well water you pump from 100 feet down up onto the garden, nothing nourishes desert plants like water falling from the sky.
And then it came, downpours of beautiful abundant water, and with all that precious water came a huge strike of lightening that hit our neighbors tree and carried under ground to blow our well pump!!
Yep, so now we have water from the sky but not from the ground. The garden is thriving and we are doing just fine with our rain buckets full, but I must ask, what kind of divine comedy is going on around here? For those of you who know the story of our little house and it’s remodel you know water plays a huge role around here…( there were frozen pipes leading to a three-day flood in the middle of the winter we first meet). The water made way for a lot that probably would not have gotten done otherwise.
Joel set to work tearing out flooring and replacing walls, inserting windows, adding radiant and all kinds of beautiful touches and I helped in that process making this my home too….The water washed away the old and made way for the new, though Joel worked his butt off doing it!! And now Joel is out replacing the well pump right now, taking in stride the ongoing efforts of owning and caring for a homestead. 
Bless his heart and hands for having such skills, patience and perseverance! I had no idea how well I chose such a crafty DIY guy, in fact today he got a letter from our local hardware store saying..
Yep that’s my guy.
So heres to my hubby and the mysterious, powerful, ever-flowing Waters above, below, within and all around us.
There has been lull in the gardening around here. Once everything got planted, t-tape set up and timers on I have been on to other things– mainly sewing in the cool house and hiding from the sun. But this weekend the rain finally came!! Two days in a row and the world was changed!! Finally braving the outdoors again, I am greeted with abundance of Beets, Chard, Cota, Calendula, Carrots, Basil, Kale, Lettuce…just to name a few!!
Gardening with friends has been my greatest blessing this week. Rejoicing in the bounty together, gabbing all the way. Folding Cota together in the rain while our sons and husbands play around us.
Here in the desert the rains bring us so many gifts, not just much needed water, but relief, reprive, revitalization of our sometimes hot, heavy hearts. I often feel like the rains bring the new year, a place to start again, the reset button as a friend likes to call it. The rains wash us of all we are carrying, allow us to set everything down to go out into the desert and call up to the clouds, “Thank you! Welcome! We have been waiting & waiting & waiting for you and now you have answered our prayers!!”
In thanks for the rains that fall and the garden that grows, these simple miracles remind me new life is always sprouting up around and in us–
Happy Rainy season, may it linger long and abundant this year!
Seeds & Stones 