Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
We need to increase localized food production. We need to feed the hungry and eliminate food deserts. We need to revitalize our communities and rebuild life systems. We need to work our bodies more and connect with the more-than-human world. We need more color and flavor in our lives. Always. The solution to all these… Continue reading Guerrilla Gardening
We regularly hear about the gender wage gap. We know about glass ceilings and barriers to advancement. We wring our hands over leadership roles filled mainly by men. These are all vital concerns. But today I’d like to address a disparity that doesn’t get much press — women in agriculture. Women farmers embody the merger… Continue reading Women in Agriculture
Eve woke up with the birds each morning. The piping and burbling of thousands of little brown birds in the reeds, so numerous in kind they’d not even managed to name them all. The deep thrum of the lake birds rising in unison, swirling around Eve’s camp on the edge of the marshland in vast… Continue reading Eve
Last week I talked about the things that you can do. I think a follow-up is necessary. These are the things we need to build into society, things we must do collectively. This list is just as important, but it will take much more work. Very likely a good deal of pain. These are problems… Continue reading Tear It Down to Build It Up
I realized I haven’t made anything for a couple weeks. So since I had to make ricotta cheese anyway, I thought I’d introduce you to this easy and delicious recipe. I make this almost every week and use it as a sandwich spread, on toast, as cottage cheese with fruit. I use the whey in… Continue reading Making Simple Ricotta
Political cartoon by Dr Seuss, signed as such. (Copyright Marshall Field 1942, The Newspaper PM) This week white America finally noticed the disturbing racism of Theodor Geisel. I submit that it’s not merely the appalling cartoons he made for adult audiences, but the complete lack of any human skin tone other than white in all… Continue reading Whiteness
Today is Town Meeting day in Vermont. For the uninitiated, this is the day when Vermonters pack themselves into school gyms and various meeting halls to vote on town governance for the upcoming year. Officials are elected. Laws are debated and passed. Budgets are assigned. If there are complaints or disturbances, these are given voice… Continue reading Of the People in Vermont (now with more goats)
March is upon us once again. An Old English name for March was Hlyda, meaning “loud”, presumably referring to the roaring March winds. This name survived as Lide in the West countries. Eat leeks in Lide and ramsons in May, And all the year after physicians may play. — proverb from western England Ducks wan't… Continue reading Lion and Lamb
She was fourteen. She’d spent the last eighteen months rocketing from childhood to adolescence, growing over eight inches taller and billowing out in all sorts of unwelcome ways. Unwelcome to her, that is. She did notice that others found her new curves not at all objectionable, but there was a new awkwardness in these boys… Continue reading Snow Moon
We need to renovate our entire culture. But where do you even begin? There are so many things that need doing and so many opinions on priorities. But I’ve yet to see a practical list that an average human can afford, that someone with little agency or influence can expect to accomplish. So I’ve been… Continue reading The To-Do List
