Everything can and will change. It doesn’t matter if it is our own hand that sets change in motion, it can still be a bit discombobulating when it descends with one fell swoop.
I was swooped by change, which I set in motion, on Friday. The swoop came in the form of a job — wage pay — which was something I had hoped to be done with when I left the plant nursery last autumn.
It’s only part time. It is at a bookstore, thankfully. It will eat up some of my writing and living hours. I’m ambivalent, but right now a wage is integral to survival on our own terms.
Wish me luck.
Writing Updates:
My weekly piece on Medium is live. I took it easy this week and simply polished and printed one of the rambling pages from my journal. If you read it, you can see how I tend to organize my thoughts on paper when I think no one will ever read it.
How Can We Opt Out of the System That Is Killing Us All?
Most of my words this week, those not destined for my personal journal at least, went to my friend the Ragman. Literally. He finally stepped out of the shadows fully alive and ready to chat. Over the course of thousands of words, he revealed who he was (mostly), how he was, and even a bit of why he was. Not all of it, of course. A fellow has to keep a bit of his mystery.
He showed me the rules for his universe and introduced me to the web of hope, which stretches out along the Ley lines that connect time and place, moment by moment. I finally understand the world he has been inviting me to see.
I don’t really understand him, but I’m not sure if anyone really can. I’ll share a bit soon, but not yet.
Reading Updates:
I finished Katherine Hibbert’s Free. I will no longer link to it, nor will I give it further press after this. It was an engaging read, but something about it was setting off alarm bells. Perhaps it was the way that she scrounged after money the entire time she was squatting. Perhaps it was her refusal to hold any sort of ideology beyond getting whatever she could for free. Whatever it was, I decided to look up the author.
Ooooh boy. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. Seems to me that she is a sell out and traitor of the worst kind. Apparently, her squatting adventure was simply a buildup to launching her own “guardianship”company, which has been in the news for fee/rent-gouging “guardians,” who are basically tenants with absolutely no rights who are “hired” to live in empty properties to keep squatters out. Hired in this case means unpaid. In fact, the guardians pay a fee (rent, if we are honest in our nomenclature) for the privilege of “guarding” the property. I find it sickening.
For nonfiction, I’ve moved on to re-reading two books: The Moneyless Manifesto by Mark Boyle, and Living the Good Life by Helen and Scott Nearing. Since I have read these both before, I can already recommend them. Both books have some issues. Boyle’s only issue is that one needs a healthy dose of idealism when reading his words, which is only a problem if the reader lets the idea of perfect get in the way of good enough. The issue with any of the Nearing’s writing is well known, and based off the fact that they glossed over some important details on how they financed the “good life,” but there is still so much good information in there (and I believe their hearts were in the right place), that I still recommend it as foundational reading.
As for nonfiction, I am still working through Sanderson’s Elantris. As I mentioned last week, I am on a nonfiction kick, so I am only reading a chapter or two a day.
Survive & Thrive
Beyond a wage job, we’ve been thriving a bit around here. The rhubarb wine gets siphoned into a demijohn today so that it can start its long ferment.
I’m working through the last of the fruit I canned last summer. A jar of blackberries went into two batches of scones, which I shared with some friends when I attended a get-together at one of their homes last week. I also present these friends with some jars of jam. As for me, I came home with a bottle of nice sparkling wine.
The garden is planted. Unfortunately I didn’t start any seeds this year, since I was unsure how I was going to garden with no existing beds and a deer issue. The procurement of the raised deck beds from the local Buy Nothing group solved the challenge. I planted lettuce, spinach, peas, cucumber, beans, carrots, and zucchini from seed, as I always have luck direct sowing these plants. Our older son’s partner gifted me tomato starts (and I returned the favor with some young raspberry canes and plant pots).
I visited a local grower for the rest, and did well. For minimal cash outlay ($8.71) I was able to get eight cabbage starts, four pepper starts, and 24 onion starts. We already have garlic growing in the raspberry and blueberry beds, as well as a healthy strawberry patch. For herbs we have sage, thyme, rosemary, parsley, basil, and tarragon. There are also elderberry and currant bushes, although these are still young and not very productive yet. I’ll expand more next year, but this is a good start.
We are still harvesting nettles and rhubarb, of course. Life is good, with the only thorn being the need for a wage job. That is the cost when one is on rented land, though. As much as I despise it, cash — not effort nor personal worth — is king.
Yours in hope,
Jenny Wren 