Seasonal Records

 

                As we move towards the end of the year, further and further into the dark last days, I reach for rituals, daily, weekly, monthly.  I have two books and one box that help ground me in the circles of the years.

                The first is my paired set of the Book of Days. Back when I worked at Ceres Bakery and lived in Portsmouth, I stepped back from the established holiday rituals, especially around Christmas, and considered what was more important to me and my need for connection and reduced material consumption. I learned about the old pagan ways of Northern Europe, considered some Jewish holidays, and did some historical research. While I worked, I made notes in two big blank books—one runs from March until August, the other from September to February.  I made little sketches and borders and wrote everything down, along with when I first heard peepers and some seasonal recipes. These books still rest on my desk and I pull them out to record significant events, usually in the natural world, even now.

                The second book is a white binder, which has a page for every week of the year. This is the Garden notebook. I track planting dates, weather events, and harvests week by week, all year long. I can tell you that, this week, has been a traditional time to move the coop from one bed to the next, has had several years of big rain, and others of dank fog. Lots of mulching is finishing up during week 47. I also keep the garden maps and the seed orders from past years as well as a page of notes for the coming season.   It has resolved several arguments and helped track sowing schedules!

                Finally, I have a recipe box that is divided into eight sections—one for each cross quarter day. Each small season has recipes specific to what is ripe then, making seasonal, local veg recipe planning much easier. Sometimes I move a recipe from one section to another; sometimes a recipe spans several seasons; sometimes one is misfiled for a year and I have to hunt for it. But, overall, it works. It helps us revel in what is available and fresh now and not miss what we cannot have.  I have also spread some cookie recipes out through the year so that they are more special.

                Each book allows me—actually requires me—to focus on what is happening in the world right now and consider what I can and cannot control. I am able, in the words of Thoreau, to Live Deliberately and to suck out all of the marrow of life and not, when it comes time to die, to find that I have not lived.