Today was - as is quite usual now - a range of the extreme and the banal... From a glorious breakfast on our 'terazzo' to chatting with a very lovely woman from Amsterdam who is coming to view our Arthouse For Sale next week, to finding that two large boxes of my most precious fabrics have been ruined by damp, to the most fabulous stamppot that dearest @vincentnijman made for lunch...
Just another day on our #sovereignhomestead - full to the brim with insights, inspirations and catharsis! It was almost entirely sunny, so we even managed to get an 89% charge on our wee powerbank, which is a big improvement on recent days. Phewee.
And we finally got a good bit of washing done, laying tablecloths and towels out on the long green grass to dry, but having to take everything back in before bedtime, as a roaring gale picked up.
We spent time examining all the new growth dotted (profusely) around the property. Identifying trees by their lush buds popping up here and there - peach, hazelnut, cornelian cherry, walnut. New wee plants of burdock, artichoke, onion greens. And the woodland flowers...
So very many bright dots of colour each day, meeting us along every edge, across every grassy slope, and under every tree...
I turned back to look at the house and saw - because the sun was behind me - all the big white daisies facing me out of the green lawn-ish meadow. Quite a perfect sight.
The blue sky lifts our spirits and gets us out chopping wood and thinking up exciting building dreams. We even began this evening on the first cutting of young trees for a woven-building kind of a project (we'll document it to show how it goes).
Spring brings with it the challenges of the dramatic weather, which we're still racing to defend ourselves from at times. Selling my old house will certainly make it so much easier: we can invest in more materials and tools, comfort and ease, rather than having to improvise and economise so much.
And yet...
When we have the least, we always quickly come to recognise our riches: time, energy, focus, natural resources, skills, huge imaginations... There really is no limit to our creative potential here. Unless we make it so.
Even my loss of beloved fabrics - lace pillowcases and tablecloths, thrifted and gifted to me over many years - if there are losses, they simply make the space for more, better things. And often, having less literally is more: too much is hard to keep track of, and here is hard to store safely. It makes me more focussed on my sewing, knowing that I might lose my fabric stocks if I don't use them up.
We try to be grateful even in the most disappointing or isolated or suffering moments, because the Universe always throws us something next - something extra beautiful or extra satisfying or fun. The delicious mess of highs and lows are always well balanced - rarely falling too much into the negative!
We give thanks for our stove, our dry (free!) wood from our land, our full happy bellies, our clean drinking water also beautifully filtered, each other, the (mostly!!) solid roof over our heads, the fact that we have another house to escape to - which might even sell soon!
I pray extensively morning, afternoon and night time. More with gratitude than not. It is a vital practise to keep us grounded and humble. Spring is a time of taking stock, feeling into what we have for the coming year (tools, seeds, ideas, energy, equipment).
And of pacing ourselves in an entirely new rhythm; getting stronger, breathing better, resting more deeply. Getting our shit together - and stepping in it too (hehehe!) Listening to our bodies, whilst pushing them further. Letting all that wants to be expressed, out. Big work, inside to outside!
Wishing you well this spring, wherever you are homesteading, subsisting, adventuring. Sending love from Molise, Italy 🪷🌼🌷
