{"id":653,"date":"2019-09-13T10:10:11","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T17:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/?p=653"},"modified":"2019-11-30T21:40:19","modified_gmt":"2019-12-01T05:40:19","slug":"a-week-in-the-life-september-13-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalmanticore.com\/?p=653","title":{"rendered":"A Week in the Life: September 13, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This week was a busy one. We are in the “flow” portion of “ebb and flow” at work right now and a lot of proposals have come in. Yesterday, I spent six straight hours editing and afterwards I wanted to collapse and never get up again. It’s been a week busy with some good things too, though. I’ve been reading a lot and I made some good progress on my knitting. This weekend, my mom is coming to visit me and I’m taking a couple extra days off work, so I have that going for me too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consuming<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here are some things I read and bought this week. Spoiler: it’s all books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I’m not quite done yet with Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants<\/a>, but I am already profoundly affected by it. This is an essay collection by indigenous ecologist Robin Wall Kimmerer that blends, as the title suggests, her scientific background and indigenous philosophy and perspective in writing about nature and the world. Kimmerer speaks a lot in this books about plants and their importance in indigenous thinking. Plants are there to provide us with everything we need, but we, in turn have to respect plants and take care of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This book has made me feel like crying at times almost as if it’s making me miss something I never had. As regular readers know, I’ve been feeling a lot of climate anxiety <\/a>lately. The way Kimmerer thinks about nature offers something of an antidote to our current ecological woes. She articulates the concept of the Honorable Harvest<\/a>, which calls for not taking more than we need from the world<\/a>, not taking the first thing we see, leaving resources for others (including other animals), and respectfully using what we take. It’s something that resonated with me a lot as I read the book. It’s impossible to completely opt out of the capitalist system we’re inhabiting (at least, as an individual), but I want to incorporate some of this approach into my life. I highly recommend reading this book if you have been worried about the environment. It makes me feel like there’s something I can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rampant Consumerism<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I try to get a lot of my books from the library so I don’t spend all the money I earn on books (-insert rueful laughter-), but I also make a point of pre-ordering books from authors I like or for stories that look exciting because first day sales really determine a book’s success. On Tuesday, my pre-orders of Margret Atwood’s new book, The Testaments<\/a>, and of The Ten Thousand Doors of January<\/a> by Alix E. Harrow dropped onto my Kobo<\/a>. In paper book activities, I bought Pantale\u00f3n y las visitadoras<\/a> by Mario Vargas Llosa on the recommendation of my Spanish teacher because she’s helping me prepare for my upcoming Peru trip. I also bought The Cook’s Herb Garden<\/a> in hopes of stepping up my herb game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making Things and Doing Stuff<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Work cut into my making things and doing stuff time this week (and my energy), but I was able to rally and still do quite a bit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kitchen Witchery<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday, my cookbook club met! We made food from Signs and Seasons: An Astrology Cookbook<\/a>. Although I’m not a great fan of astrology, it was a fun theme and everyone made great food! I choose two of the Taurus-themed recipes: brisket and mashed Lima beans. I was excited about the brisket because I’d never made it before. I cheated a little bit though and didn’t exactly follow the recipe as written in part because I wanted to make it in the slow cooker. The brisket came out really tasty and so did the Lima beans, although I still prefer mashed potatoes as an accompaniment to meat, but I wouldn’t turn down beans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside of cookbook club, I made a corn chowder (which I think turned out a little too thin, but there are worse things) and biscuits for dinner last night. I also made another batch of zucchini bread because my mom requested it. I used up the last of the large zucchini that I got from Taco. True derby wifehood is sharing your garden produce. <\/p>\n\n\n\n