Renewal, Anishinaabe Prophecy and Hygge
As I sit at my computer right now, I overlook my little homestead enjoying a refreshing cold and windy shower.
My sunroom is warm and full of houseplants and a steaming beverage wafts spiced scents in my direction. The candles lit from this morning's prayers are burning low. On cold and rainy days like today, the animals stay in the comfort of their shelters until midday, as do I. There is no rush to greet the cold and a brief visit outdoors is all that is called for as coziness is the spirit of the home in January.
Today my roommate Jose taught me a word that perfectly describes the deep winter spirit of my homemaking:
HYGGE (/ˈh(j)uːɡə/).
When said in an American English dialect it sounds like hyuga. Hygge is a Danish and Norwegian word for a mood of coziness and comfortable conviviality with feelings of wellness and contentment. The word originates from the old Norse words hug and hugge. Hug: soul, mind, consciousness. Hugge, a 1560's word which means to embrace. The concept of hygge includes an everyday form of togetherness and a pleasant experience of safety, equality, wholeness and a spontaneous social flow.
Though the January garden guide is ripe with thoughtful tasks, it really all is pre-preparation and none of it is completely necessary. If you do these things, you'll have a lighter load come March. If you don't and you embrace hygge another month or two, you will be busy indeed come March and you'll have more premade products to purchase.
If your goal this year is to produce as much food as you can, do everything.
In fact if your goal is to do it all as regeneratively as possible, do everything. If that is not your goal, give yourself permission to just dream of this summer's garden and just get out to tinker when the sun peaks its head out from behind the clouds.
My personal goal this year is to embody regeneration in every area of my life and work.
I see the broad definition of regeneration as solution oriented, life affirming, love in action.
While the garden rests on the surface, I know that down deep there is a lot of activity going on. This is a great metaphor for us. Go deep. Slow down. The case can be made that the January activities correlate to a slower way of soil building that is the most regenerative. Building Hugelkultur beds, and quick and dirty beds is least disruptive, no till method that produces fantastic rich loamy soil, but they take months to break down and not everyone has the time. I feel it is of vital importance that we are mindful of our own personal cycles of sacrifice and renewal (more on that this spring!). So with that in mind, I want to urge you to do what feels good, not what you feel obligated to do. I hope that no one would shame anyone else for buying a bunch of bagged soil and planting in it.
Let's bear in mind that we all inhabit richly diverse bodies, land access, and economic privilege.
My hope is to share some best practices and increase awareness. I do not buy in to the idea that our consumer choices are going to make a big enough impact to matter all that much coming up against more than 200 years of industrial production. Consumer choices are a matter of economic privilege, therefore we must have another way to intervene in destructive systems that are accessible to all, not just the middle class. I do think, however, that tuning your own antennae to the greenest and most life serving path TOGETHER with all living kin will slowly grow a revolution. Combined with focused attention on accountability for corporations that do the most damage, the potential is there to reshape our food landscape.
In a talk given in 2020, Winona LaDuke speaks about an Anishinaabe prophecy in which it is said
"One path will be well worn, but it will be scorched. One path will not be well worn and it will be green. It will be our choice upon which path to embark."
As we approach a new year and a new opportunity I would encourage you to listen to Winona's talk and consider its relevance to our current social, political and environmental climate.
In the spirit of slowness, let's consider the many benefits of slowing down before the hustle and bustle of spring approaches and possesses us into constant motion. Do you know about the slow movement? I'd like to plant the seed of mindfulness about THE WAY we do things this year and you'll find a ton of resources on the International Slow Movement website.
Speaking of seeds! Look what's coming up this month on Patreon!
I'll be teaching you about selecting and ordering seeds. I will go over seed catalog basics as well as other places to buy seeds. Then I'll be teaching you how to make your own seed starting soil mix, giving a tour of indispensable gardening tools and how to maintain them and the first of a 3 part series of garden planning tutorials.
Warmly,