A Personal Note

This blog has been trucking along for a while now, so I thought I’d check in with a personal note on the goals and philosophy for this space. It might seem a tad erratic with herbal tutorials here, food recipes there, and ready-made product information, but to me the goals are the same. My main interest is to empower people with the knowledge of what is out there in the natural world, whether that means their garden, their spice cabinet, or their natural food store, that can enrich their life and enhance their health. I’m a big believer in the idea that we are advancing in technological ways faster than we can humanly adapt, a concept that has been around for decades but has been mostly conveniently ignored, and this is my small way of grounding myself and anyone else who is interested back to the real world, the actual earth we inhabit, the roots that have brought us to this crazy point, and the traditions that have made us communal creatures. So much is lost each day to isolation, stretched schedules, imitation foods, and processed products, that the richness of life is threatened in the push towards better, faster, easier. But for what end? The Slow Foods Movement is a beautiful example of people taking a stand and saying we’ll take the more nutritious meal over the faster one, and that same idea can be applied to just about every aspect of life. Technology, and especially social media, are pushing images and information onto us and into us at an ever-increasing rate, leaving everyone a little on edge, if not completely frantic, and feeling always and forever behind. The laws haven’t kept up so how could our long-evolved emotions, our sense of time and space, our ideas of community, morality, humanity? They haven’t had the time and the future certainly isn’t carving out space for us to collectively take a time out and regroup, unless something major happens which certainly wouldn’t be pretty, so the best thing I can think to do is to try to be mindful of it all and not get swept up and away into the vacuum of a false reality. For humanity’s sake, for the plants’ and animals’ sake, and for the earth as a whole, we need to remain thoughtful. Humans are so darn proud of their capacity for higher thinking, yet we collectively choose to dull it on the regular. We must be mindful caretakers of each other and the earth we inhabit because it is quite simply our birthright. We can step up, or not, but the consequences of ‘not’ are unfortunately extreme.

I engage in social media reluctantly, which is why I don’t do all the regular things bloggers generally do. There is a formula for it actually, the whole blogging thing, and I’ve studied how it’s done as is my nature, but I’ve decided against the things that do not resonate with me, which is most of it. This may very well mean this space will have to evolve into something else, but for now I’m happy to connect with people in a way that feels somewhat natural though it does involve the very technology and social media that I just now protested. It’s a complicated world and a strange time to try to fit into it in an organic way that embraces long held values, addresses fears, and is done in an effort to try to share in an authentic and positive way, but this is what I’m working towards. I guess this is just a meandering way of saying what Shakespeare said so succinctly: “Though this be madness, yet there is method in ’t.” Hamlet (2.2.204-09).

Thank you, very sincerely, for being a part of my world and allowing me to be part of yours. You are a true gift and a treasure.

All the best to you and yours.