Seeds

There are very few things in life more magical than a seed! A mystery, a treasure, a fortune, a wish... they are all things and nothing. They are our history, our heritage, our ancestors, our heirlooms, our future, present and our past all in the palm of your hand. There is nothing more mystifying then preparing the earth, placing the seed in the ground, covering it with soil, blessing it with your hands, quenching it with water and offering it to the great sun. Then you wait and watch life unfold before your eyes. For me it is the closest thing to pure joy and enlightenment I have experienced, helping this new green to unfold it's little arms out into the world.

Maybe I'm just on a gardening high. Holy mother! It's been a long haul this week getting these plants in. The Quack grass had taken over! I spent 4 days working these beds, weeding and cursing and fighting back the glorious weeds. At one point I said, "perhaps I should learn to grow and harvest these native beauties. They seem to take to this place." This will be my 4th year with my own garden and I have learned a lot. I swear, there are few people that impress me more than farmers. What incredible work and knowledge it takes to grow food for the people!

Okay, so I have a confession, I don't even really know if anyone will read this, so why not hey? In my frustration with my raised beds and with the weeds and the entire situation being less than ideal, I escaped for a day to go and buy organic matter to aid my soil. Well, I live in Lake City and unfortunately I just went to the big ol' box store of Home Depot in Cadillac to roam around. I was gawking at cultivators and especially looking at this little one I had read about online... when this Home Depot man came up and asked me if he could help me. Well I thought, "I'm going to indulge my curiosity right now and cheer myself up". I asked him if he'd tell me about this little machine. He gave me the scoop and sales pitched the hell out of me. I said "well what if it's not strong enough for what I'm aiming to do?" He said "then you just bring it back", I said, "if I use it I can bring it back?" He says "Yeah, and by then you might even have all of your work done" He winks at me! My mind starts racing... so long story short... I'm borrowing my cultivator from Home Depot. Is that lame? I don't know, maybe, but that's what I did, and man was it helpful.

Every year I take a week off to garden, I've got a round plot with 5 beds. It's a sweet little spot. I think I like sitting out there more than anything else. There are always moments where I'm using every ounce of my weight to yank out one dang weed and I say "is this really worth it?". Every time I harvest fresh food and cook it up for my honey I say, "what in the world could be more worth it?". Every year I'm amazed and thankful that it all works... the whole plant a seed and grow your food magical journey. Every year I am more amazed and in awe of farmers. Thank you Michigan farmers, for making magic happen and taking care of our future!

love,

May

Writing Down the Bones

When I was 14, my older sister gave me the Rainer Maria Rilke Book "Letters to a Young Poet". I would take the bus to Ann Arbor, from my small home town of Big Rapids and sit in coffee shops and parks and read. I would imagine each letter written to me. This book helped me to understand my love for words and stories. I began to write more and I began to love to write. I wrote songs, stories, poems, dreams and emotions and they filled journal upon journal.


I was also given the book "writing down the bones" by Natalie Goldberg. In this book Goldberg takes you on a journey where you learn to abandon your self critic and write without cation, thought or limit and let your heart pour out onto the page. Writing from the marrow of your bones. Recently I found out that they make some black ink from bones. This reminded me that magic and alchemy still exist. From bone to bone and written out on the bones of trees.


Now, I'm 28, I am a musician and I travel all of the time. I am always looking at my computer, my iphone. I still write every day, and I always have the need for ink and paper. I find though that most of my magic is in letters to others, or e-mails and other than the songs I write, there isn't much more in the pages of my journals. Now I believe in the power of will, and I also believe that you can instill magic in anything, even a computer screen. So perhaps this blog is my way of finding the alchemy in the new world of technology. Perhaps I am hoping that I will write more and that the stories will flow. Perhaps these are letters from me to... you.


love,


May