Your comment about your zucchini plant resonated with me. Our Hungarian wax pepper plants and our jalapeño peppers have produced but because of the cool weather and vast amounts of rain, they aren’t “hot.” We can plant and we can plan but what comes up and how it grows (or doesn’t) is often not ours to decide
I’ve been deeply impressed by Stolen Focus by Johann Harri about technology and manipulation in an attention economy. I found The Center for Humane Technology through this book, which lead me to the vitally important podcast Your Undivided Attention with Tristan Harris and Asa Raskin. These are such important resources for understanding how coding, big money and data are dominating daily lives and have become defacto government.
I recently finished that book and I loved it as well. The resource I gravitated to was the Let Grow movement, which encourages parents to give children more space, independence, and unstructured time instead of micromanaging their attention constantly!
Thanks for mentioning The Let Grow movement because I investigated and love it! As a retired teacher, I see the wisdom in the idea and many connections to how I taught Art for 38 years.
It is the year of the Cucumber for me in the Pacific Northwest, which is so strange for us! I've failed at beans again, not sure if it is me or the seeds, but it is really sad. I worked on incorporating more flowers into the garden this year, the sunflowers and sweet peas are bringing the pollinators as well as the dill, lavender, thyme flowers.
I'm headed for a week at the lake and am bringing Refugia Faith by Debra Rienstra, which I'm looking forward to reading.
I am currently reading Amanda Held Opelt's book as well. It strikes a chord in me so strongly. As I read it slowly, it is helping me understand myself a bit more and that helps me let some things go that have shamed and mystified me for years. I can't recommend it highly enough.
I love how you wrapped up your gardening thoughts. "This is the reality of our existence, at once reaping and readying. All at once, we try to give thanks for the growth that has happened, to delight in the present moment, and to prepare for what’s to come." When I read your words, I emphasized the word TRY since that is what I want to do each day. For the growth and the delight of just this moment. These are good words Jeff. I also loved your take on hope and the two authors that write so beautifully. We need these conversations about shame and pain along with hope.
I am reading "The Inner Work of Age by Dr. Connie Zweig with great hope because she is giving me lessons on seeing the shadows in our lives and I am seeing how I have internalized ageism. As I played pickle ball with new friends in my new hometown, I was able to talk about it and that made me happy to connect with other over 60 women and see how our words matter in how we view ourselves. I am grateful to see both my past shame on getting old AND my current appreciation of how well my body can still give me pleasure playing. I can hold both.
I just finished Diana Butler Bass's book Grateful and Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass....they are wonderfully compatible, and they invite a deep consideration of what it means to be rooted in a culture of reciprocal gratitude, how ritual and ceremony nurture reciprocity, how we should understand the nature of gifts, and how embracing a "language of animacy" can restore our relationship to the earth.
Amanda Held Opelt will be visiting my church on September 9 & 10! I'm so excited to meet her. I've got a copy of her book that I'll start in the next day or two.
We have 7 or 8 surprise corn pop up around the yard this year! I can’t believe how well they’ve grown (thank you Squirrels). What we’re learning this most this year is how important sunlight truly is! There were spots we thought got plenty of sun but actually don’t, and plants are struggling to grow. Sometimes darkness isn’t as obvious as we thought, teaching us to step back and take in the full picture, and adjust accordingly.
I’m deep in tomato harvest too. Every counter covered with ripening colors. And kids sand buckets and a frisbee as bonus makeshift containers. I started last year and I’m planning to do so this year - freezing rather than canning. I made pasta sauce and tomato soup. We used the sauce for countless lasagna and pizzas and all sorts of dishes. I just threw whole sheet pans of tomatoes in the oven to roast, every variety together, along with a big onion, garlic, salt and pepper, sometimes red chili flakes, and garden herbs. It was very scientific obviously, but after it all roasted, I tossed it in the blender in batches, added more seasoning to taste, the soup got some chicken stock added. Then I froze them in quart and gallon bags, laid flat on cookie sheets, labeled with sharpie. Once each batch was frozen hard, they stack beautifully in the freezer, taking up minimal space. Just pull out a bag and thaw in the fridge or on the counter as you need them. I could make batches a few evenings per week rather than having a massive canning day. I still maintain that only our spiced peach jam is worth the effort of canning.
I just started reading Circe after finishing The Explosive Child.
I planted a peach and an apricot tree 2 years ago. Last year, was a bust with only a few pieces of edible fruit. This year, both trees were heavy with fruit. Despite doing all the recommended spraying of natural things to prevent worms, 95% of my peaches have worms, and almost all of my apricots fell off the tree before being close to ripening. It has been incredibly disappointing. I have to wait an entire year to try again and I find that so frustrating. Your garden successes and challenges remind me to slow down and be patient and try again.
I just finished Holy Envy by Barbara Brown Taylor and recommend it highly! I particularly loved her description of the Holy Spirit as the mothering of God, and they way she described it reminded me of an essay you wrote a few weeks ago where you wrote, “Be like water.” The mothering of the Holy Spirit is indeed like water. It’s been a beautiful way to see God these past few weeks.
Thanks as always for your beautiful reflections! What I am reading....'House Lessons' by Erica Bauermeister and 'All the Beauty in the World' by Patrick Bringley are two excellent memoirs I've read this summer; beautifully written and my mind continues to be drawn back to what I read.
Your comment about your zucchini plant resonated with me. Our Hungarian wax pepper plants and our jalapeño peppers have produced but because of the cool weather and vast amounts of rain, they aren’t “hot.” We can plant and we can plan but what comes up and how it grows (or doesn’t) is often not ours to decide
I’ve been deeply impressed by Stolen Focus by Johann Harri about technology and manipulation in an attention economy. I found The Center for Humane Technology through this book, which lead me to the vitally important podcast Your Undivided Attention with Tristan Harris and Asa Raskin. These are such important resources for understanding how coding, big money and data are dominating daily lives and have become defacto government.
I recently finished that book and I loved it as well. The resource I gravitated to was the Let Grow movement, which encourages parents to give children more space, independence, and unstructured time instead of micromanaging their attention constantly!
Thanks for mentioning The Let Grow movement because I investigated and love it! As a retired teacher, I see the wisdom in the idea and many connections to how I taught Art for 38 years.
It is the year of the Cucumber for me in the Pacific Northwest, which is so strange for us! I've failed at beans again, not sure if it is me or the seeds, but it is really sad. I worked on incorporating more flowers into the garden this year, the sunflowers and sweet peas are bringing the pollinators as well as the dill, lavender, thyme flowers.
I'm headed for a week at the lake and am bringing Refugia Faith by Debra Rienstra, which I'm looking forward to reading.
I am currently reading Amanda Held Opelt's book as well. It strikes a chord in me so strongly. As I read it slowly, it is helping me understand myself a bit more and that helps me let some things go that have shamed and mystified me for years. I can't recommend it highly enough.
I love how you wrapped up your gardening thoughts. "This is the reality of our existence, at once reaping and readying. All at once, we try to give thanks for the growth that has happened, to delight in the present moment, and to prepare for what’s to come." When I read your words, I emphasized the word TRY since that is what I want to do each day. For the growth and the delight of just this moment. These are good words Jeff. I also loved your take on hope and the two authors that write so beautifully. We need these conversations about shame and pain along with hope.
I am reading "The Inner Work of Age by Dr. Connie Zweig with great hope because she is giving me lessons on seeing the shadows in our lives and I am seeing how I have internalized ageism. As I played pickle ball with new friends in my new hometown, I was able to talk about it and that made me happy to connect with other over 60 women and see how our words matter in how we view ourselves. I am grateful to see both my past shame on getting old AND my current appreciation of how well my body can still give me pleasure playing. I can hold both.
I just finished Diana Butler Bass's book Grateful and Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass....they are wonderfully compatible, and they invite a deep consideration of what it means to be rooted in a culture of reciprocal gratitude, how ritual and ceremony nurture reciprocity, how we should understand the nature of gifts, and how embracing a "language of animacy" can restore our relationship to the earth.
Amanda Held Opelt will be visiting my church on September 9 & 10! I'm so excited to meet her. I've got a copy of her book that I'll start in the next day or two.
We have 7 or 8 surprise corn pop up around the yard this year! I can’t believe how well they’ve grown (thank you Squirrels). What we’re learning this most this year is how important sunlight truly is! There were spots we thought got plenty of sun but actually don’t, and plants are struggling to grow. Sometimes darkness isn’t as obvious as we thought, teaching us to step back and take in the full picture, and adjust accordingly.
I’m deep in tomato harvest too. Every counter covered with ripening colors. And kids sand buckets and a frisbee as bonus makeshift containers. I started last year and I’m planning to do so this year - freezing rather than canning. I made pasta sauce and tomato soup. We used the sauce for countless lasagna and pizzas and all sorts of dishes. I just threw whole sheet pans of tomatoes in the oven to roast, every variety together, along with a big onion, garlic, salt and pepper, sometimes red chili flakes, and garden herbs. It was very scientific obviously, but after it all roasted, I tossed it in the blender in batches, added more seasoning to taste, the soup got some chicken stock added. Then I froze them in quart and gallon bags, laid flat on cookie sheets, labeled with sharpie. Once each batch was frozen hard, they stack beautifully in the freezer, taking up minimal space. Just pull out a bag and thaw in the fridge or on the counter as you need them. I could make batches a few evenings per week rather than having a massive canning day. I still maintain that only our spiced peach jam is worth the effort of canning.
I just started reading Circe after finishing The Explosive Child.
I planted a peach and an apricot tree 2 years ago. Last year, was a bust with only a few pieces of edible fruit. This year, both trees were heavy with fruit. Despite doing all the recommended spraying of natural things to prevent worms, 95% of my peaches have worms, and almost all of my apricots fell off the tree before being close to ripening. It has been incredibly disappointing. I have to wait an entire year to try again and I find that so frustrating. Your garden successes and challenges remind me to slow down and be patient and try again.
I just finished Holy Envy by Barbara Brown Taylor and recommend it highly! I particularly loved her description of the Holy Spirit as the mothering of God, and they way she described it reminded me of an essay you wrote a few weeks ago where you wrote, “Be like water.” The mothering of the Holy Spirit is indeed like water. It’s been a beautiful way to see God these past few weeks.
Thanks as always for your beautiful reflections! What I am reading....'House Lessons' by Erica Bauermeister and 'All the Beauty in the World' by Patrick Bringley are two excellent memoirs I've read this summer; beautifully written and my mind continues to be drawn back to what I read.