Clearing Out My Allotment

I took some time and cleared out my allotment a few weeks ago.  Pulling potatoes is the most theraputic!  I also think it would be the greatest for kids to help with–digging holes and planting seed potatoes in the spring and summer, constantly piling up soil around the potatoes during the year, and digging them up when they're ready!  What fun! I also cut some of the proliferating calendula blooms for tea as well as a few pattypan squash

 As I was clearing out my plot I pulled some dandelion root to dry for tea, as well as some more plantain spears to dry for grain.

Lastly I found some mint roots hiding out underground, which I pulled and will plant under my tree to add to my mint/lemon balm/peppermint forest :)

Spring Easter Revels

I spent the day today at an event that I was co-planning with the folk collective I am a part of, called Kosa Kolektiv (www.kosakolektiv.com)
We sing together, dance together, farm together, craft together, cook together, preserve together, forage together–it really feels like an urban folk village inside a massive city.
Here's some photos of the event, including some of the handmade crafts make from scrap materials, donated paints, and foraged natural supplies:

I feel blessed to be a part of this community, which I know will teach me much.  I am already beginning to understand the wonderful value of doing things as a community–it makes washing dishes, canning, cleaning, and digging feel just as satisfying and fun as singing together, dancing together, and living together–in fact, the singing accompanies much that we do!

Folk culture really has some things right at its core–it is unencumbered by the need for the new, new, new–it see's the value in making things that last; it values the handmade, the craft, the beauty of function–instead of the value of ego over art; it sees the strength of community, doing things together, and sharing skills–instead of seeing strength in an individual's exclusive idea and branding that. There are more things, I'm sure. But for now, I must sleep and smile at the love I am full of.