Coming to Fruition

 I'm going to combine two (and a half) rather different topics into one today. The path will become clear in a bit.

Braiding Sweetgrass and My Garden

I was in a very long line on Friday so that I could renew my passport. (I should have listened to my husband, who warned me way back in January that travel is not always possible when your documentation is due to expire soon thereafter.) As I waited, I finally had the chance to catch up on some reading. I've been trying to read Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults for months, but I just didn't have the time. There were a lot of parts that made me want to record them so I don't forget. One part came on page 105. The author, Robin Wall Kimmerer, says:

People often ask me what one thing I would recommend to restore the relationship between land and people. My answer is almost always "Plant a garden." It's good for the health of the earth, and it's good for the health of people. Something essential happens in a vegetable garden. It's a place where if you can't say "I love you" out loud, you can say it in seeds. And the land will reciprocate, in beans.

Robin is right. To my husband's great surprise, I have taken an even keener interest this spring in gardening. Last year, I grew a few cucumber plants as an experiment.  In July, I actually harvested enough cucumbers to make several Greek salads. We decided to plant a bit earlier than we did last year so we went to the local garden center and bought a wide variety of seedlings. We have three different kinds of lettuce, strawberries, peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes. We are even trying to grow strawberries and lavender from seeds instead of seedlings.

I wanted to cover my little plants with chicken wire because I was worried that wild animals would eat them before they had a chance to grow. I'm feeling rather protective of them. Hubby advised me not to be so hasty. Turns out his advice fit with some more information from my reading of Braiding Sweetgrass. One section talks about "The Honourable Harvest". Here are the principles:

These principles make sense. In another section of the book, the author learns about weaving baskets. She is schooled by John Pigeon from the Potawatomi Gathering of Nations. She quotes John when he explains:

"People think it's 'just' basket weaving, but 80 percent of the work comes long before you weave. With finding the tree, pounding and pulling, and all, you barely make minimum wage" (page 119)

This unseen effort that leads to beautiful results is what leads me to the second portion of this blog reflection.

The Art and Culture Concert

Thursday, May 23, 2024 was our Art and Culture Concert at school. It went very well. I shepherded the kindergarten performances. At our last concert, all the kindergarten students performed in one large number. This time, to get a closer glimpse at smaller groups of students on stage, we arranged for three performances. It was a mix of drama, dance and music combined. The students performed very well. The secret to our success was that we have been working on this performance since February! We needed the students to be comfortable and familiar with the song and actions. It also took us a while to assemble the costumes and build the props. Big thanks to Matthew Malisani, Thess Isidro, and Jenny Chiu for the extra hours of practice, fittings, and in some cases, financial contributions.

It took a long time for all this preparation to "bear fruit". Often, you can only tell that hours and days were poured into polishing something when it doesn't go smoothly. I didn't spend as much time as I should have with our stage crew, and it was evident to me and some of the teachers, even if it wasn't to the audience. You get out what you put in, I guess.

Other Braiding Sweetgrass Takeaways and Anime North

I wanted to leave this post-script as a place for me to add other insights from the book that didn't necessarily fit in with the structure of today's blog post. 

• "the cure grows near to the cause" (page 197)
• "how does one become indigenous to place while upholding the rights, dignity, and teachings of those indigenous to the land?" (page 189)
• "we have constructed an ecosystem where we perpetuate the illusion that the things we consume have just fallen off the back of Santa's sleigh rather than ripped from the earth." (page 174)
• "I think we are called to go beyond cultures of gratitude to once again become cultures of reciprocity" (page 172)
•  "to be heard, you must speak the language of the one you want to listen" (page 136)
• "if we use a plant respectfully, it will flourish. If we ignore it, it will go away" (page 135)
• "what would it be like to live with a heightened sensitivity to the lives given for ours? To consider the tree in the Kleenex, the algae in the toothpaste, the oaks in the floor? To follow back the thread of life in everything and pay it respect. How would it change the way you interact with those items and your world in general?" (page 131)
• "we should consider this a Four Sister garden; the planter is also an essential partner. The ones who clear the land, pull the weeds, pick the bugs, and save the seeds over winter to plant them in the spring" (page 117)
• "it's a liberating idea that the earth loves us back. It would mean the earth has agency. It also opens the notion of reciprocity that with that love and regard for the earth comes a deep responsibility" (page 104)
• "wild strawberries fit the definition of gift because the earth and sun create them naturally. Grocery store berries do not because the relationship is between producer and consumer" (page 44)

I also wanted to include some photos I took of my own children as they prepared for Anime North. My daughter is an avid cosplayer. On Saturday, she and her brother dressed as Luffy and Buggy from the Impel Down arc of One Piece and on Sunday, Mary was a character from Delicious in Dungeon. The assembly of the costumes, the learning of makeup techniques to apply, the collection of wigs and accessories, all of these also come to fruition for a brief time at the convention.