What's making me smile these days:

• bringing flowers to my daughter's for dinner 
• visiting an owl's nest with binoculars
• hugging my mom + dad
• minimizing + redesigning my artsy/craftsy closet  
• checking in with what's popping up in the garden
• booking camp sites
• long phone conversations with my sister
• familiar walks 
• having a permanently set up space to stretch
• balcony seats for a dance/cello performance
• an afternoon to explore shops all by myself 
• lilacs!
• hibiscus tea

It's always interesting to me how mundane + obvious these type of lists feel in the moment. But when I come across them later, there is something unfamiliar + lovely about them. I think it would be kind of delicious to find such a list tucked into a book or in the pocket of a jacket next fall. Similarly, I often keep fortune cookie fortunes or tickets from a movie or boat ride tucked into a bag or pocket to come across later. They always elicit a smile + often a conversation. Why shouldn't good things + sacred moments offer smiles more than once?

It's usually more effective to team up with a species than to create a machine.
A plastic spoon in every brain.
The housing was sold at cost.

Hope your weekend involves some sunshine + some quiet moments. 

Much love,
Jane

As we enter a new stage of life this week (empty nesting!), we're looking for ways to lean into fresh starts rather than sad endings. Among other things, taking a fresh look at living lighter on the planet is attracting my focus + excitement. 

We're currently discussing + looking into:

• further decreasing our water usage :: with one less person taking showers, it's a great time to redouble our efforts toward taking shorter showers + noticing the cost savings on our water bill (which can motivate further water conservation)
• quitting trash + recycling pickup :: skipping the convenience of trash pick-up would give us added incentive to keep our waste minimal...sorting each item at our local recycling facility will make us revisit our waste output...knowing exactly what is + isn't accepted will prompt us to make conscious decisions about what we do + don't purchase 
• reevaluating our zero-waste shopping :: with different desires to consider for meals + comfort, we can make different choices
• using a solar panel :: we'd like to test out having a less expensive, small, portable panel to see how much of our needs it can meet + prompt our thinking about how we use electricity 

I'm having fun researching + leaning into these shifts. It's exciting to think about all the benefits that are possible here. Our choices would not only cost the earth less in resources, pollution and landfill space. They will save us money, increase our wellness and enhance our connection with nature. So it goes with most of these planet focused efforts. Why would we want to choose otherwise?

Love,
Jane

How are you feeling? I wish I could listen to your reply.

I'm horrified. I'm sad. I'm bewildered. I feel like we've been living in a state of defeat for years. I've been feeling like less words are necessary. I'm less interested in reading things that end up where I already know I am. 

We know that we need to dig in right where we are. When I feel like that's not helping, I try to remember the light experienced:

• having a short conversation made me feel connected...they probably felt that too
• going to a county dems meeting reminded me that there are others who think similarly, have already been hard at work, are paying attention, are fired up + ready to go...my presence probably did the same for them
• receiving a response from my representative reminded me that I can communicate + be heard...she may have received a bit of encouragement + strength from those words
• digging trenches for potatoes + settling each mass into the soil felt like hope for the future...this act was participation in the regenerative abilities already in each potato

We are here to participate in our mutual flourishing. Yours matters to me.

Much love,
Jane

I have been a hippy, a biker, a partier, an entrepreneur + am now a senior still working.
I've been a tour guide, vacuum cleaner salesman, parking patrol officer,
private eye, animal photographer, actor, casting director
+ always an explorer of the mind.
No job or part of my life has ever truly defined me.
These are just bits + bites, but they are big parts of what has shaped me.
I have learned that we are all one -
every living thing, every molecule + atom on this earth + beyond.
Knowing this has given me great strength + courage to live this life I've been given
with intention + gratitude.
​~ Deb Barnes

It is proposed that tomorrow be a buy nothing day as a show of collective economic power. Some say it is ok to make purchases from small businesses, if necessary. If you've come across this proposal, you've likely had some thoughts about it. I wonder how much impact a blip like this can have if purchases are just made on Thursday + Saturday instead. The snow days we've had in the past two weeks had a larger impact no doubt, because there was no opting in or out of them.

If we use a day like this as motivation for curiosity, thought + learning toward making different choices, however, I think there is value here. There are so many things we can be doing + choices we can be exploring for ourselves + together. Things like:

• starting a vegetable garden
• joining a co-op
• repairing our clothing + other items
• driving less
• having potlucks 
• recognizing enough 
• using the library
• sharing tools or renting them
• creating connections + amplify voices
• getting off our phones 
• learning a new skill 
• embracing secondhand everything
• experimenting with "less" (clothing, toys, furniture, cosmetics, kitchen supplies...)
• embracing reusables 
• becoming makers
• going to the farmer's market
• creating our own sharing economies
• imagining solutions to what we are missing
• starting conversations

Ethical + sustainable actions enable us to form longer term networks of mutual flourishing. Wouldn't it be incredible if all of this upheaval leads to a vast movement toward sustainability + meaningful connection? This is our time to redouble our own efforts, to dig into our knowledge + experience, to invite others to join us + to do it all with joy! We have the opportunity to share the compounding benefits of the shifts we make. Benefits like:

• lower costs
• enhanced wellness
• more connection with each other
• enhanced connection to land, food, clothing
• less waste 
• more joy

I do feel that there is hope here. Less complacency. More love + care. The power to touch each other is still in our hands. 

Love,
Jane

Having a garden revealed that there are people in this world who refuse the offer of homegrown strawberries + tomatoes! I had no idea, and I am not one of those people.  :) My friend offered these homegrown tomatoes to me in the midst of our home project. We did not eat them all fresh, but I happily froze them. Today there is snow on the ground. Temperatures are struggling to reach double digits, and I'm putting sunshine on our plates.

I'm trying to embrace the beauty of cooking (when I remember) + today I didn't miss it. Whizzing these beauties in the blender released their summery scent even as tomatoey slush. The scent deepened with their color as they simmered. I can't wait to taste their brightness on our plates with root vegetables + veggie burgers topped with freshly grown sprouts! 

I'm putting a loose recipe here mostly for my own remembering. I remind myself that recipes like these (this doesn't apply as much to baking) are mostly just guidelines + inspiration. Often the spice ingredients used are what the author had in their kitchen at the time. I don't need to go out + buy each ingredient on their list. 

Homemade Ketchup

4-6 cups whole, little tomatoes
1/4 cup vinegar
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp chili flakes
dash of cinnamon
dash of cumin

Blend tomatoes. Heat over medium heat until reduced to desired consistency. Mix in remaining ingredients + heat a little longer. Place in a jar. Refrigerate + use within 3-4 weeks.

Hope you are experiencing the sensory beauty of cooking these days too! Light a candle. Put on some music. Dance. Sing. Laugh. Taste. Share.  :) 

Love,
​Jane

Simple has become one of my favorite words. Making my clothing simple, my home simple, my skincare simple...each one of these endeavors has influenced my thinking beyond the scope of the project itself. As things become more simple, fog lifts, priorities shift + values come into focus. Over time this can offer a sort of settling to the mind. I long for simplicity to inject all aspects of my life with this sense of peace.

And yet, I find that much of what feels unsettled within has to do with two opposing forces pushing + pulling. There is goodness to the practice of slowing down + focusing in on small moments that bring us joy. A tiny, new leaf in spring or a smile from a stranger can flood our spirits with elation. At the same time, there is goodness in zooming out enough to understand our smallness. A giant cumulus cloud or bright light near the moon (that must be a planet!) can jolt our gloom into perspective.

I like using my creative skills + passion at work. It makes me feel like I'm creating beauty, contributing to a team + have purpose. And I need blocks of gentle, spacious time to refuel + to use my creative skills + passion in different directions. In order to find wellbeing, I need to stay engaged with thoughts toward where + how I am spending my energy.

I've been coming to realizations like this over + over again. There is no simplifying to the point of settling some (maybe most) things in this life. Being alive involves almost constant readjusting, rebalancing + rethinking. Knowing my simple, overall objective (love!) certainly helps move me toward peace, but I cannot simplify myself into complete stillness + rest. Life is engagement with things like:

• zooming in + zooming out
• focused work + gentle, spacious time
• movement + rest
• effort + acceptance

Ram Dass wrote, "You can do it like it's a great weight on you, or you can do it like it's part of the dance." I guess I'm also trying to remember that the dance is not optional.

Love,
​Jane

Winter is doing its thing...and we're growing sprouts. I love that we can grow fresh, delicious nutrition even during the coldest months. Just a little reminder that with a sprouting lid + a big jar, one teaspoon of seeds will yield a jar full of sprouts in 4-5 days! We're enjoying ours on tacos, sandwiches, burgers, pizza, salads + in smoothies. Yum!

Love,
​Jane

The ways we use the spaces in our home are based on how we want to live. I'm not captive to someone else's assumptions about how a space should be used. I am of the opinion that reimagining is glorious fun + am not opposed to having a thought + moving quickly to try it out. I try to have only what we use + to have an easily accessible place for each of those things.

This is the sort of thinking that prompted this particular project. I want to make it easy to take simple, weekend camping trips + envision our downstairs closet being set up to facilitate that (along with holding the few things we keep to make Jo's dog comfortable when he spends time here). ​

Here's what we've done to move toward the desired results:

• pull everything out of the closet
• laugh at how the closet's contents somehow fill every inch of space in the room + bolster confidence by congratulating self on obvious closet organizing skills  ;)
• sort stuff into piles: things we want to keep in this closet, things that can be placed elsewhere, daughters' things, things to offer daughters, things to put into the car right now + drive to donation spots, recycling, trash
• ​organize the closet so that the things we actually want to use have spots + are easily accessed

This last step involved measuring things + planning where each item would go down to the centimeter. We ended up removing almost all of the closet system that came with the house, because it just didn't work for these items. Habitat for Humanity was happy to take the components. We took the time to patch + repaint the inside of the closet + purchased an Ikea Ivar shelf. This single shelf fit our closet + our things like a glove.

Before starting this work, almost none of the things I actually wanted to keep in the closet fit into it. This closet is now a functioning part of our home, rather than a mere storage space. The things that are in this closet now are the ones that will enhance our ability to connect with nature + each other. That's how we want to live!

Love,
​Jane

The other day, my lip balm tube was empty + in need of disposal. Throwing that leftover, cardboard tube into our compost bucket rather than into the trash felt good. 

A few hours later, I heard that a plastic straw ban had been rolled back. Plastic straws are totally unnecessary + totally ubiquitous. Ubiquitous means "present, appearing + found everywhere". Yep, straws are found in coffee shops + gas stations + on sidewalks + in ditches. They are ubiquitous until they are banned, and then we learn to drink from cups again.

It's been a horrifying couple of weeks for all of us in so many ways. Let's just think about the regenerative nature of compost for a moment, shall we?

Sometimes it can feel like an inconvenience to choose the compostable option. Sometimes the compostable choice costs a little more, is more perishable, or requires carrying that banana peel back home with us. I get it. I also find that the feeling of inconvenience is vastly outweighed by the satisfaction I experience knowing that the waste I've created will not be preserved in plastic in a landfill for the rest of time. 

One of the cool things about backyard composting is getting to see what we put in completely transformed into soil. A few of the things I've seen turned into soil in our back yard leaving no trace of their previous form:

• fruit + vegetable peels, pits, seeds + skins 
• spent organic cotton underwear sewn with cotton thread + natural rubber elastic
• natural fiber dryer lint (we only machine dry 100% organic cotton sheets + towels)
• food soiled paper
• hair + nails
• coffee grounds + loose tea
• spent, natural fiber, cleaning rags
• compostable lip balm tubes
• compostable bandaids
• leather scraps
• bamboo toothbrush handles + silk floss

(Look out for non-cotton thread when composting fabric items. If unsure of the fiber content, cut them off before composting. Compost non-plant-based food scraps in municipal composting to avoid attracting pests to backyard compost.)

​I've noticed more collective, composting options in my area lately. Yay! A neighboring city is now offering a free compost drop-off site, and there is a bucket drop-off/pick-up program available close by too. It might be worth investigating options again, if there has been a barrier to composting in the past. A little inconvenience now saves a future mountain of garbage...for each of us.

Love,
Jane