Champagne supernova

So Oasis has announced the reunification of the brothers Gallagher. Ironically, and partially as an homage to them, I actually call a level of productivity I achieve , a champagne supernova. It’s where I accomplish so much in the day that it feels like I’m master of the uninverse! It’s a level of accomplishment and confidence where everything in my body feels as if it’s just exploded and I crush my to do list.

The perfect supernova is  a mix of accomplishments: chores I need to get done but put off, assignments for my 9-5, tasks for  business, and ongoing learning for my general edification.

So I have to laugh when people send me these memes or quotes about slowing down and just being. I would love to just be, but I tend to work much like a busted boombox. I have a play, and a pause, but there’s no rewind, and we definitely can’t slow it down.

Part of it is a Type A personality thing, and part of it is probably my age. I feel great at 60, but at this age I’ve lost several close friends, and this seems to be the age where people are either dropping, or their former lifestyle is catching up with them, often in very dramatic and negative ways. And there’s so much I want to do before that permanent dirt nap.

No matter how we try and divorce ourselves from nature, the cycles and seasons are embedded in our DNA. Before long cold nights encourage mamilian hibernation, I’m furiously trying to stock my larder with foraged finds. So I’m crafting autumn olive jam, making fire cider and creating tinctures which will eventually be used to boost immunity, fight colds, and restore health.

To some extent, my full to do list and sense of “so much to do, so little time to do it,” is a cyclical rush. Just as our ancestors would gather the summer’s harvest and preserve it for later use, my body is now working overtime because that season is here, I’ve already been drying plants and powdering them, labeling jars, and assessing what new projects I’d like to try this year including, I hope, honey, locust coffee. And balancing it all with a full calendar isn’t easy, and the clock is ticking.

But for now it’s about productivity, preservation, and preparedness.

Because as any gardener and forager knows, each season has its own characteristics but the one they share, is they are all temporal and fleeting. And with that, it’s back to my list checking and plant processing, because those Hawthorns are not going to tincture themselves.

Coming in November:

November 2: for Afro outdoors (must be a member of their meet up to attend)

November 9: tour with Lynn Landes, CEO of Wild foodies that work, at Lemonhill for Morris Arboretum ( ticketed event. Tickets available at MorrisArboretum.org

November 10th: paper making workshop at Bartram’s Garden Tickets available https://www.bartramsgarden.org/event/papermaking-workshop/

November 16th: Free walk at Land Health Institute 10-11:30

1761 N 49th St, Philadelphia, PA