February is a Ripple
radiate with intention
February is my least favorite month. Great way to start out, right?
The last few years it has actually brought me a lot of joy, though. This will be our third February tapping our maple tree for syrup. We don’t get enough to brag about seeing as we have one tree to tap, but it’s such a rewarding process. Like a vine ripened strawberry in June, the flavor just doesn’t compare to anything you can buy. Three Februaries ago was the worst one I experienced, riding the wave of finding out we were pregnant for our second child only to lose the pregnancy the next week. The next year was a rollercoaster of trying and failing to get pregnant, until I was laying in the sun on a warm February day when my husband started the fire to boil maple sap and had the urge to test. Now, Durham is 16 months old and his existence will always be tied to February and maple syrup for me.
This year I’m hoping to pass through February with indifference. I’m not as pessimistic about it’s forecast as I was three years ago, but I’m not quite optimistic enough to believe it will bring all my dreams. Instead, it’s a ripple.
This month we’re:
Kicking off our kids’ gardening series with a winter sowing class on our homestead
Having a skills exchange afternoon in Cleveland with my friend Jackie of Native Soul Farmstead. She’s sharing her secrets to sourdough baguettes and I’m walking her through the steps of soap making
Tapping our tree to collect maple sap
Starting a bulk of the seeds for our garden
Traveling to NY for a family wedding
Finishing the 21-day holistic garden planning series
I finished the book, The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer, in January in preparation for a book chat with my friend Rebecca of Happy Heart Gardens. The timing felt perfect. This small book is a continuation of many of the themes and stories shared in Braiding Sweetgrass, with a more concentrated focus on the gift economy and cultivating abundance on a large scale. This book provided a language for so many of my thoughts and the shifts I’ve noticed within my social circles. I plan to share more about this book later this month.
I’m sure I’m not alone in having my social media feed flooded with no-buy or low-spend tips for 2025. I’m called to challenges like this, especially with money being tight and in light of climate disasters that seem to highlight the effects of overconsumption. I gear myself up for these challenges only to fall short. I see advice on avoiding fast fashion, reducing reliance on amazon and other subscription based services, cooking from scratch and avoiding unnecessary processed foods. With a few exceptions, this is how we live on our homestead everyday. It’s not a challenge for me, it’s my reality.
While I’m not proclaiming a no buy 2025 for my family, I find myself inspired by the movement. I’ve been thinking endlessly about the ways in which I can cultivate abundance through underconsumption. I see this with my children - the more toys we have out the less they play with them. We (as society) tend to throw money at problems and challenges, even when it comes to intangible things like depression. The initial answer always seems to be MORE. More money. More stuff. Bigger spaces. Newer. The mindset shift, which I was given words for in The Serviceberry, of applying value around abundance as opposed to scarcity has resonated deeply with me.
This inspired me to initiate a seed exchange instead of buying new seeds. You can add your own abundance and needs here to connect with fellow gardeners. It’s a great way to share your seeds and fill in gaps in your collection.
I’ve always been drawn to content creation for the community. I have recently gotten caught up in the data related to engagement on my posts and have failed to see the value in the reverence I’ve cultivated in those who have engaged. Like many others have expressed, there’s a deep sense of overwhelm, anxiety and doom going around that is often difficult to push through. I’m ashamed to say that I find myself asking, “what’s the point?” on what is becoming a frequent basis. But these posts are like a ripple, and one impression can easily turn into a garden. One garden can turn into a street full of children learning about growing food. Soon an entire generation is growing food in their front lawns.
Your actions may feel like pebbles instead of mountains, but pebbles create ripples.
The lessons I’m choosing to focus on this month are
Being intentional is better than being grand
Good things take time
Actions I’m committed to this month include
Skills exchange
Repairing instead of buying new
Choosing the slow way, within my control
Making time for one hand sewn item this month
Sharing the love: giving shoutouts to small businesses
Using less electricity
hang drying clothing (inside for now)
unplugging
Questions I’m asking myself this month include
Why are we here if not for each other? Are my actions radiating compassion?
What ripples will this decision result in? Are they aligned with my goals and visions?
Does it bring me joy? Does it bring others joy? Then it’s worth it.
Water has memory. At least that’s what Olaf from Frozen says. We may not ever see the effect we have on someone else’s life, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. As my friend Jackie said,
🌊 If you need a ripple to join, let me be that ripple 🌊
Continue & Ripple
This year I’m taking it back to my word of the year each month. As a recap, this is what my word of the year means for me:
For me, continue is a gentle reminder that I can trust my intuition. I have had a winding and circuitous path to realizing my purpose in life, and I am far from embodying it fully, yet I know how I want to spend my life. It is also a reminder that the opinions of others are welcome and can provide a much-needed perspective ( I easily get tunnel vision with my personal experiences), however, we do not need to change ourselves, our path, our actions, or our intentions based on the thoughts of others. I can continue.
The connection between continue and ripple is clear for me this month. This month is about honoring the impact of small, intentional actions. We’re throwing out the “go big or go home” mantra, and reminding ourselves that small steps in the right direction are more productive than big leaps that lead to detours. What we do this month will radiate through the months to come.
Things Worth Reading
- Podcast, Modern Hysteria, especially this episode on Postpartum Care:
This piece by
on attention as related to content creation and social media had me shouting internally.Here’s an excerpt. It mirrors one of the main questions of The Serviceberry - what is the bridge between the cutthroat capitalist society we all live in and the community based economy we strive for?
“These market demands are accepted, in a no-nonsense fashion: “Business culture is human culture.” Build the platform. Do the advertisements. Throw the parties and success will come—but what is success anymore? It’s exhausting, a road to nowhere. Not even the slightest flicker of a question, of the notion that perhaps we should take all these tools and build a better collectively run media: Collaboration rather than competition; changing the terms of the game so it’s not a constant reification of hierarchies that privilege whiteness and value only capital. Writer-owned outlets have emerged as one piece of this puzzle, but the tools of the game, of the share? A subscription-based model is only as good as everyone’s bank accounts; it remains that every dollar must be fought for, in the battle of eyeballs and clout. Obviously, I am here, part of this. I am thinking through the possibilities.”
Laura, the February fertility piece hit me right in the heartstrings. Thank you 🙏🏼