Creating a safe haven and food resource for butterflies has been a high priority in my garden for many years now. Primary in this plan are three butterfly bushes I’ve planted. All three are in various stages of growth, but one, in particular, always lures in a variety of butterflies, mostly tiger swallowtails and cabbage whites, who come in abundance; a small number of monarchs; an occasional California sister; and all manner of skippers and smaller varieties. I welcome and treasure them all, as I know you do as well. And I do my utmost to document them with my camera.
“Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.” ~Camille Pissarro
This year I have begun to venture into videotaping from my iPhone and wasn’t I more than blessed this last week to chance upon a mating dance between two tiger swallowtails! I was inspired to make my first iMovie today and so I post this lovely capture for you to also enjoy and share!
Love and butterfly blessings,
Kathryn xoxo
This month marks the sixth anniversary of this blog, Plant Whatever Brings You Joy. I want to thank my many subscribers and followers for reading my blog these many years. You are all so deeply appreciated! xoxo
Book News: Mendocino residents might have caught my recent interview on KZYX on “Women’s Voices”. Also, please watch for an excerpt from Plant Whatever Brings You Joy in the fall 2013 issue of the beautifully produced art journal out of Maine, Stone Voices. Thanks to editor Christine Cote. I’m so pleased to be included.
In grad school one of the many classes I took with Angeles Arrien invited us to explore our relationship with the various Greek goddesses and the various archetypal qualities they engendered. Did we embody the virtues of each, or were we missing the integration of some of the intrinsic qualities they held? Hestia is the virgin goddess of hearth, and while I have long held an endearing and esteemed place for her in my life (I call her “Susie Creamcheese” blasphemous as that might appear), I knew that many of my sister classmates were struggling to embrace her. Wasn’t that passe? If Emily Matchar’s new book Homeward Bound is any indication Hestia is making a righteous comeback as women around the country are turning to what Matchar calls “the new domesticity.” Gardening bloggers and longtime readers of this blog will smile, as we have for half a decade held sway that growing our own vegetables, baking our own pastries [think weekly scones!], and selling our crafts on Etsy is de rigueur for us. And we knew by our large and ever-growing networks we were not alone, but did we truly know it’s a fast emerging movement? Maybe not.
It’s not hard to imagine why such a thing is true. The Agrarian Movement was organic and intrinsic and an inescapable reality: we need to eat. The Industrial Revolution and what followed might have driven some women to the workplace, and rightly so, but wasn’t it inevitable that one day we would awaken to the reality that farming out our most precious commodities and resources to indifferent corporations would lead to, well, disaster? Is it any wonder we are reclaiming our need and right to grow our own food, or to at least buy locally and organically and to realize the beauty and wonder and artistry of creating and reinventing our homefronts for ourselves and our beloved families?
Matchar brilliantly articulates the history of women’s evolving roles, including the emergence of “feminism” in its various forms. Does the retreat of women back into their kitchens and gardens mean feminism is on the wane? Homeward Bound thinks not. Instead “the new domesticity” describes an empowered female, reclaiming all the parts of her complex self. What unfolds is not June Cleaver, but a super connected woman who is more balanced, aware and happy. Gardening bloggers will especially appreciate Chapter Three: June Cleaver 2.0: Bloggers and the Rise of Domestic Chic. Did you know you were part of creating that trend? Some of you do. Other chapters include topics such as Cupcake Feminists, The Rise of Homesteading and DIY Parenthood.
“Nowhere is the new domestic chic so apparent as in the blogosphere. If you’re a young woman, chances are you already know all about the ‘domestic porn’ blog phenomenon, which is overwhelmingly female dominated and overwhelmingly enamored of a cozy vintage aesthetic.”
Author Emily Matchar is a Harvard educated freelance journalist. She lives in Hong Kong and Chapel Hill, North Carolina with her husband. Her primary focus is culture, women’s issues, work and food. Homeward Bound is a smart treatise on what’s happening with many young women in today’s world as they search for healthy lifestyle choices and answers to the dilemma of living in a global community increasingly run by socially unconscious corporations. Recommended reading. Enjoy!
Love and blessings,
Kathryn xoxo
Book News: Part Two of my interview with Slade Suiter has now been posted both on Authenticity Radio’s site and more recently conveniently on YouTube. Also you might watch for an excerpt from Plant Whatever Brings You Joy appearing in the September issue of Stillpoint Arts Quarterly. Thank you!
Yesterday morning in a burst of energetic inspiration I spent nearly three hours trimming back all manner of growth in the garden. Trumpet vine largely, which is gorgeous and unruly. Also spent leaves from the hollyhock, and those flowers on the butterfly bushes past their prime and a few roses needing deadheading, though that’s a daily task. Looking around quite satisfied with my efforts I turned on the hose to offer a parting light spraying, a kind of benevolent and sacred gesture, setting the garden in good stead for the heat that would soon follow. I chose to ignore a modest hole in my hose, which I attempted to fix with duct tape. Hahaha. I pointed the fine spray in the direction of the butterfly bushes, knowing they would appreciate the extra attention. Glancing down at the muddy patch I’d inadvertently created imagine my surprise to see this!
What? What? A fledgling?? What?
Listening to its little peep I knew at once that it was a towhee fledgling. And, in fact, it brought to mind that I’d vaguely been aware all week that I’d been listening to this very sound in the garden and half heartedly asking myself if it was a towhee or not, as it seemed to be more persistent and somehow lighter. I’d even thought to explore, but had not yet, thinking perhaps it was not a towhee, but some other bird with which I was not familiar. But here was my answer, miraculously at my feet. For while there is a towhee family that lives in my garden and has for years, I’d never ever seen one of their fledglings before. Had I not heard the little voice of this wee creature I would not even have recognized what it was. For California towhees are dark brown, plain birds, and, very obscure. I’m betting that people who do not observe their gardens closely would not even know towhees were living on their property, as they tend to live close to the ground, fly under bushes, stay largely out of sight, except for sudden bold flights directly across one’s path, but instantly in hiding. They are incredibly well camouflaged. And other than the sudden darting on wing they blend into the background very nicely.
So it was very out of character, I would have thought, for a fledgling to appear in such an unguarded open place. But lucky me!
I said a prayer under my breath and ran to get my iPhone. Here’s what I captured.
I took comfort that the parents had made themselves known to me, and they did not seem alarmed, so I continued to snap away!
As you might imagine, I rather thought that would be the end of my sighting. Right? But no. An hour later I reemerged into the garden and this little fellow was sitting in a plum tree, peep peep peeping! I’m thinking by now this is rather extraordinary. Remember, I’m capturing this on an iPhone. My camera is several inches away!
The adventure did not end in the plum tree. No. Because by now my mother instincts have kicked in and I confess I am no mother bird. I lose all objectivity when it comes to fledglings, well documented on this very blog in relation to my friendship with scrub jays. So now I’m invested. So when I came out later in the afternoon, looking about for this little baby bird, I was horrified that the peep peeping was coming from my neighbor’s yard. And they have cats. And a new rambunctious terrier from the pound! That drama was rectified after finding not only my new charge, but a sibling. In a tree. Up high. (And, yes, one of their cats was already spying on them.) I forced myself into the house muttering a necessary mantra, “I am not a mother bird. I am not a mother bird.” Went and watched a movie. Whew!
But here’s the best part. At dusk I was out in the garden again, looking (of course) and was utterly amazed to find this.
This morning I went out and was gratified to hear the baby towhees making their way around the neighborhood, getting to know their new world. Parents were nearby attending their exploration. Blessings on their journey.
Love and birdie blessings,
Kathryn xoxox
Book News: Most exciting news is that Barnes and Noble buyers have placed a substantial order of copies of Plant Whatever Brings You Joy to place in their brick and mortar stores! Send me pics if you see one, will you?? 🙂 Also, September 1st an excerpt of Plant Whatever Brings You Joy will be published in Maine’s Still Points Arts Quarterly. Thank you.
