What Are Your Winter Holiday Traditions & Rituals?

Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate it

and 

Happy Winter & New Year to all that don't

The past few years have had me thinking a lot about holidays and traditions. I have thought about the joy they brought me as a child, the disappointments, the expectations, the longings, and the way I connect with them then and now. Since I don't have any kids yet and live so far from my sisters and their children I most often find myself skipping holidays or just minimally indulging them as an excuse to have a dinner party with friends. Yet still I have this longing for tradition & ritual. The old traditions just don't seem right though. Christmas, for example, has turned in to this monster guilt driven, money centric beast. This time of year people are stressed, out-turning their pockets, buying meaningless gifts for everyone they know just so they can have SOMETHING to hand over. It is a lot of pressure and takes away from what this time of year is supposed to be about. Gifts, if given, should be something one gives because they want to, not because they feel they have to. It should be something you feel reminds you of the person, something that makes you happy to know the person has, or something you made with that person in mind. These are the only gifts that matter.

I find that I connect most with the observation of nature, changing seasons, and the cyclical passing of time. Celebrating this time of year as a way to honor what is happening around us makes sense to me. I can connect with this. The Winter Solstice marks the shortest day of the year, and thus, the return of the sun and gradually longer days ahead. This time of year also signals the cold winter ahead when we tend to spend more time indoors with friends & family, have more time for self reflection & goal making (new years resolutions anyone?), eat hearty warm foods, and settle in to a slower, sleepy time like the plants and animals around us. These are the things I want my winter holiday rituals to focus on & honor. These are the things that are real and truthful to me. Not the new soda maker or hot dog bun toaster that wastes precious resources and never actually gets used.

In my search for new, meaningful traditions I decided I needed to first look back to my childhood and the traditions & rituals I had and loved growing up. How can I honor those traditions and achieve those feelings of joy through new traditions that I can feel good about.  My list reminded me that being around people, friends and especially family is so very important. Making seasonal crafts was always something that I looked forward to. I remember making garlands and ornaments with my sisters and I know I want that to be a part of my holidays forever. Sharing seasonal food is something that I found holds a lot of emotional weight with me. My memories of Christmas morning quiches  and cinnamon rolls bring me such joy I will definitely find a way of working them in. I have also been searching out other peoples traditions for ideas I can adopt and am finding so much inspiration out there. One I especially find heart warming is to have your family sit in a circle and have everyone tell the family member on their right a positive wish or hope they have for them in the upcoming year. I love how this act shows nothing but love for the receiver with no hope of anything in return (since the person you give your wish to is not the person giving you a wish). It's lovely.

Your Turn!
I would love to hear about YOUR Winter Holiday rituals. What do you look forward to every year and how do you choose to celebrate? Is it something you created yourself, something that evolved naturally, or a tradition that has been passed down in your family from generation to generation? What specifically do you do that represents this time of year for you?

Teaching at my first Workshop this weekend!

This weekend I will be teaching at a FREE Intensive Workshop on gleaning, starting your own community food based swap events, & lacto-fermentation (I will be teaching the last two)

-Lunch & childcare included!

Saturday Sept 22nd
10am-4pm

For more information and to RSVP by Sept 18 (sorry for the short notice)
Contact

 Aryeh Shell or Carla M. Perez

Movement Generation 510.649.1475 oraryeh@movementgeneration.org

http://www.movementgeneration.org/mg-fall-equinox-weekend-sept-22-23

Heading in to Fall

I am starting to feel the change of the seasons in the air.

As Autumn comes around each year I am filled with the sense of a fresh start. My body feels different; my eyes seem to see things in a new color palate. I get the urge to make lists, scheme up exciting new hopeful plans, and organize my home. (edit: I have been researching a bit what the ancient traditions of this time of year are and have found it is/was common to do fall version of spring cleaning for your home) I prepare, re-evaluate, and make decisions. The months we are heading in to are the ones in which I shine. 

Perhaps it's because the fall marks the beginning of a new school year which itself represents a fresh new chance to remake yourself & start anew.  From here we can see the door start to open up to the holiday season which itself is an exciting time. The ancient Celts had two important holidays this time of year. Alban Elved (or Mabon) on Sept 21st is the Autumnal Equinox and is the time for finishing the business of Summer. The Celts considered the end of fall their new year (Samhain) and spent much time, from now until October 31st, harvesting, preserving, and preparing for the cold months ahead. But it wasn't all about looking towards Winter, both of these holidays are also a time to celebrate the harvest and indulge with many feasts and festivals. 
For me, this time of year brings my birthday (it was on the 6th) and reminds me that I have a whole new year ahead of me to look forward to and fill with experiences. 

Today I indulged my ancestors (my last name means apple). There is an old apple tree in my neighborhood that is very tall so it is impossible to pick the apples it produces. Every apple on this tree comes crashing down to the cement parking lot below it bruising & rotting. I decided to salvage what I could, so I rode my bike over and ended up picking enough apples off the ground to fill up my pannier. Pounds and pounds of apples. When I got home I washed them, cut off the wounds & brown spots, cooked them with some lemon juice then canned them. Out of these poor rotting unwanted fruits I was able to get 5 jars of apple sauce. I think that's pretty cool. 

How does Autumn affect you? What are you doing to prepare for the upcoming months?

Beautiful Inspiration

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story. 

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.


Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.

These days

We've been working hard on our other property getting it fixed up and ready for a new tenant. This process is taking much longer than we expected but we are slowly making progress. I'll get pictures up when its ready but that might be a while still.
Other than that I have been busy with my earring line, swap group, and the garden of course.

Food:
Eating a lot of greens out of the garden. Mostly tree collards and perennial buckwheat greens in my morning smoothies. We also have green onions, various herbs, broccoli, calendula (I like to mix a little in to baked goods & smoothies) tomatoes, and salad greens.

Fun:
Sticking close to home these days. Finding great pleasure in "keeping house", listening to audio books, and working on small projects around the house.

Music:
anything by Ayla Nereo
http://www.youtube.com/user/AylaNereo

Speeding Back Up

Slowly, I've been speeding back up. There is a LOT more to do here than my lazy days on the farm in Maui. The good thing, though, is that I really enjoy just about everything I am doing (even if it does make me a bit frazzled sometimes).

Since I was away in January, the Winter Homemade Food Swap didn't happen. Now it's time for the Spring swap, so I have jumped back in to planning & organizing events. To my surprise, I was almost out of spots just two days after opening up registration for the swap. So luckily, this time around, very little time needed to be spent advertising the event. Now I'm just fielding emails, attempting to build a new website for the swaps, and trying to decide what to make for the swap myself (besides those jams I made last fall).

My earrings are a whole other story. I'm struggling to get back in to the major production mode required to stock all my empty stores. So far I have only managed to stock the one down the street from my house and I've been back 3 weeks already.

As always there are tons of projects around the house(s) as well. Some pretty major, lots of work involved, projects. I'm feeling the need for a schedule to plan my time well and make sure it all gets done.

For a little bit of fun, some friends and I have planned a ladies weekend bike trip at the end of the month. It will be nice to spend some real time on the saddle again and ease myself back in to riding. Three months in Maui without a bike has left me a little rusty.

Fun In Maui - Pictures

Swimming at Venus Pools

Climbing out of "Secret Beach"

Hiking the Kings Trail

Crazy Banana Baking Day:
banana cream pies, banana custard, banana breads, peanut butter banana cookies.

Hiking the Pipiwai Trail through the Bamboo Forest

Makahiku Falls 

It's my thing

looking over the cliff of the Infinity Pool

The top pool of that waterfall (the Infinity Pool) is where we were. 

Haleakala Crater

Maui Lessons: Choosing to be happy

Maui Lesson: Choose to be happy and see the positive in every situation you are in.

This lesson is cliche yes, but oh so important to get a reminder in every now and then.
The reality of being surrounded by the same people ALL day and ALL night, living AND working together, actually depending on eachother helped drive home this message for me. It helped me really have a chance to practice it and begin making it a habit of mine instead of just an ideal.

The first month or so while in Maui, I found myself getting sucked in to other peoples bad moods and creating a few myself. I gave in to the strange pleasure of complaining with those around me while trying to hide my shame in doing it. I would feel wrong and but also feel complelled to do it. Somewhere along the line (with a little reminder from Dan, and an awesome perpetually happy couple who stayed on the farm with us) I decided this wasn't making me happy. I felt like these actions were ruining my amazing Maui experience. So I made the decision to actively change. My feelings of discontent still arise but now I make a point to stop my negative line of thought when I realize it I remind myself about all the positives as well. All those little things we think are so awesome when we first realize them but then take for granted as being things we are owed after we have gotten used to them.

I'm not perfectly happy & smiling all the time (if that is even possible) but at least I feel like I have actually gotten on the path to positivity instead of just turning my head to look at it every now and then.

Maui Trip: The Farms

On our trip to Maui we stayed at two different farms. Two VERY different farms. Each one had it's own lessons to teach us. I plan on making posts going over some of the lessons I encountered but I thought first I would introduce you to our two farms. 

The first one, you have already had a little picture introduction to in previous posts:
Hana FarmsThis farm is a business. They have a banana bread & fruit stand right on the Hana Highway. All WWOOF'ers work trade hours go towards helping the business in one way or another. You either help make the products, work the stand, or work the land which supplies some of the ingredients & fruit for the stand (though not many people are allowed this position). I also helped a little with their facebook page & website as well. 

Hana Farms offers one of the most generous work exchange set up's we came across. Which is why we chose to go to Maui instead of the big island where you will find the majority of Hawaii WWOOF farms. 

At Hana Farms we happened to come at a time when they were low in staff so we had our pick of a few different cabins. The work trade hours were minimal (25 hours a week which includes 6 hours of "garden time") and all of our food was paid for. The food set up was awesome and anytime someone had a complaint I thought about all the other WWOOF farms where they give you only bare bones minimum (some rice and beans). Heck, they even went out and bought us special things like goat yogurt & special cheeses. One thing I can say about the owners of this farm is that they are generous (but of course are weary of being taken advantage of). The farm is on grid. They have water supplied by the city, a clothes washer & dryer, an actual toilet, & a propane heated shower. The kitchen, clubhouse, and some of the cabins have water & electricity in them. The clubhouse even has a projector which allowed for many "movie nights". To us, this place was very luxurious. 

We were very grateful for our time at Hana Farms but also wanted to experience some of the more sustainable practices we would love to implement in our own home. Because of this, we decided to switch farms for our last 3 weeks in Maui. (you can see more pictures of Hana Farms in my previous posts HERE)

 The second farm we stayed at was in the next town over Nihiku. I won't name this farm since I will be talking about some of their very awesome & sustainable yet somewhat illegal practices. 

The Nihiku farm was 3 acres with around 30 chickens, 5 goats, completely off grid powered by solar panels, rain water catchment, composting toilet, solar hot water shower, grey water, etc. The farm is a sustenance farm for the residents. No food or farm products get sold to the public so our work there was very different than at Hana Farms. Here, our work trade was about 15 hours a week, & we were encouraged to come up with our own tasks to work on. The residents there had some cool projects started & the garden could always use weeding & tending. I loved spending time with the animals and really enjoyed spending time with the goats. It surprised me how affectionate they could be. One specifically loved rubbing her head against mine which was the cutest thing ever. The community dynamic at this farm was very different as well. Here we ate meals together with even the owners & their children. It was really nice to have that time together instead of having it only be about work. That simple act did wonders to make it feel more like a community. Food costs were shared by all the WWOOF'ers. People would just take turns purchasing the food & all items were open for anyone to eat. It created some small issues but I was surprised by how well it actually did work. 

Here are some pictures of the Nihiku farm:

Looking out on the goat yard

chickens & gardens

Solar hot water heated shower (with propane as a backup)

one of many ponds

Bamboo tool rack Dan built

Solar dehydrator Dan built

Day 1, HOME from Maui

I'm HOME!
The amount of gratitude I am feeling for this place is surprising even me. It's overwhelming to be back but it feels so good.
There is so much to do and so much to say. This post will be short but there is plenty more to come. I don't know if I can do one post to sum up the last 3 months so it might be broken up in to a few over the next week or so.

Day 1 home. Today's agenda:
*catch up on emails.
*get together earring supply tools and prep for production (excited to see if any new designs come to me)
*explore the changes in the garden. There will be weeding! And HARVESTING!
*declutter (after living out of a backpack for 3 months you realize how little you really need)
*call the fam-bam & tell the same stories over and over

I think that's about all I can handle for the day.
I can't wait to share all my Maui photos with you.

End of week 2 at the farm in photos

"Farm Day"

Pulling Weeds

Dan cutting Comfrey

The Kitchen & The Clubhouse

One of 8 resident cats on the property

Paths lined with papaya trees

Jungle Huts

Our outdoor shower

Cacao pod

Soursop - taste like sour candy

Where we grow our veggies

Thimble Berry

Christmas Eve at the beach

"Red Sands"

Hiding in a cave while the rain passed by

Christmas morning treats

Last night of Hanukkah Latke prep

Latkes with guacamole