Life has felt a little overwhelming recently.
The urban community garden has been experiencing such big beautiful growth. We have built boxes, arbors, trellis, organized gatherings, BBQ’s, and planted over 25 different vegetables. Weeding, mulching, digging, planting and connecting has kept us very busy. “Like” The Story Garden on Facebook to follow all the events and activities.
The Gatherhaus Farm is up in full swing! Sitting roughly an hour and half north of the Twin Cities, trees are being planted, trails being blazed, a driveway being built, and tons of old buildings being taken down to make the property safer for visitors. “Like” Gatherhaus on Facebook to find out when you can come visit and explore or join different work crews to help get things done!
We are busy with our hands in the earth and with our dreams taking root.
It is also now summer vacation, which means all of our children are home. Our natural rhythm changes with kids underfoot, pool time, summer fun, play dates, chores, trips and all that jazz.
We feel the physical weight of showing up to our lives everyday; working, toiling, living, and parenting with much less downtime.
The dark underbelly of humanity has also made horrific appearances as of late. We all know it’s there, I wonder why we are still shocked. It seems though that we in America and around the world have had to endure some fresh deep wounds recently. The weight of where we are at as a country seems suffocating. The weight of loss and hate has felt overwhelming.
The gang wars in our neighborhood where the urban garden is have made our streets and our homes unsafe this spring. Meditation and prayer vigils have replaced movie nights, fewer kids are playing outside, everyone is on edge and the feeling of hopelessness has taken root. The struggle of living in an underprivileged inner city racially divided neighborhood is real.
It is the pressure of the work that requires our attention every day. Right next to that is the burden of the distress of humanity.
I have struggled to find words and write inspiring pieces for our community here. I have wondered how and why and what really matters?
We realized that this might be a time to be more present in our real lives and step away from our computers. To hold our children who are growing up so quickly. To take time and find our role in activism. It is easy to get caught up in life online. However, if what we preach to be true, that Gatherhaus wants to cultivate real community with real people in their real lives, then right now, this is where we want to spend our energy.
For the next couple weeks we will not be blogging. We aren’t stepping away from Gatherhaus, but we want our time to be spent in Gatherhaus style. With our hands working, our dinner tables full of people, and our evening’s spent with our children on our laps. This is a time to be present. Embrace this with us.
In July, after some time and space, we will reveal our big Detroit trip and all its visual glory in a series of blogs! We can’t wait. Until then, thank you for your grace, and go cultivate life!