telling new stories - power as connection

The morning spills across our covers. The light is still stained pink from the sunrise.
Our daughter sleeps between us. She often comes in during the night. I love that. I love waking up next to her. In that moment, the world is singing. Every day I've been working hard to hear the song. Hear the song and not collapse into fear, dread and blame. It's tough, but important work.

Seedlings growing on a window ledge

It is easy to be caught up in fear and blame during these shifting times; climate change inaction, general greed, global pandemic, economic recession beckoning... in all of this there is a temptation for us to turn to our old ways. We can blame those with power, those with influence for the state of the world, for our collective and individual problems.

Can I tell you something- that is how we got here.
We passed the buck. We all did.

Macca stirs the Biodynamic preparation to help heal the DDT in our soil.

We made action someone else's responsibility. We bemoaned inaction on climate change while complaining about petrol prices in the next breath.We discussed how horrible factory farming is, but bought $5 bacon anyway because bacon is so nice. We blamed the government, the Illuminati, those right wingers, those people over there for the way things are.
And essentially handed them the very power we were complaining about them having. If things are the way they are because of those people... they must be very powerful indeed.
We created some strange narrative where we were not members of our ecosystems(natural or social). We weren't part of nature, we weren't active constituents, we didn't have the time or the energy to make a difference, it was someone else's job.

Kelsie giggles with me over an abundance of strawberries

It's time to tell new stories. In this time when many, many people have taken personal responsibility by self-isolating to flatten the curve, it's an opportunity to ask: how can I actively construct a world I desire to live in?

Lux is a champion broad bean sheller.

It's time to tell stories about grass roots community ventures. It's time to tell stories about sharing and giving. It's time to tell stories about the power of the collective when we act as community. It's time to start re-villaging. It's time to tell new stories about what it means to live a life. A life not based around winning or comparison. A life not based on stuff. A life not based on waiting for someone else to take action... (because why should we miss out if others don't). A life based on knowing where your food comes from and what farming practices we are supporting by buying an consuming it.

A life where we see and acknowledge the ecosystems we rely upon and think about what we can give back to them. In nourishing these systems that we rely on, that feed us both literally and figuratively, we nourish ourselves. 

Macca bottles beer we brewed

At the close of the day, as we turn inward, returning to our dark nest I've been trying to be grateful. The night closes in around us, folding like wings. Our bed is warm and there are books to read if I feel so inclined. There is time to breathe in deep. There is time to think about what I am looking forward to tomorrow. There is time to brush my hair and feel the covers against my skin. All of this, these moments, they are mine to collect. In the rush of the normal every day we lose these moments, just as we have lost our way through inaction. Our lives are so full of stuff and busyness, where are we in all of it? Where is our sense of self? Where are the personal actions that we take based on our values, rather than our convenience?
There is time to find ourselves now. We have that time.
What will we do with it? Perhaps we will tell new stories.

What stories do we hand our children, about their power in all of this mess? Lux and Sofia look over a bee friendly garden.