Instructions for living a life

“Instructions for living a life. 
Pay attention. 
Be astonished. 
Tell about it.” 
― Mary Oliver 

I've been thinking a lot about the next year of Gather. You might have heard that I am closing the general shop website thing and, apart from the odd week, my seeds, as well as textiles and tools, are going to be exclusively for you. I have been thinking about where I want to go, what you might want (always a harder question, even for a professional mind-reader like me), and what on earth next year might bring to scupper all the well laid plans anyway. The Mary Oliver quote answers all my questions. 

I want to pay attention. 

To notice the first hellebore. To stand by the stream and gaze up at the alder cones and the petroleum purple of alder catkins. To notice the cool of the air when the sun goes down. To truly see the fruits of my labours. I want to stop putting off the magical moments and saving things for best. I want to walk for miles in comfy socks and I want to come home to cold champagne and a warm fire. I want to sit and write in a way that not only shares the beauty and soul of this little place with you, but that makes me pay attention more. To take photographs of seeds and blossom and ladybirds. Films of flowers. For me and for you, an exhortation to say - stop - look. Be astonished. For this world, even in its exquisite ordinariness, is astonishing. 

2020 may have been the year that we realised that we were at the mercy of so much we didn't know and didn't understand. What we thought was immutable and just how life was, suddenly turned out to be something else entirely. 2021 will the year I turn a chunk of my flower field over to food for my community, the year I take a photograph a day of the field from the same spot to document how she ages over the season, the year I set a feeling goal, rather than a doing goal. I want to feel joyful groundedness, to feel the satisfaction of dirt beneath my fingernails and the ache of honest work, to feel the connection of intention and action when a photograph turns out perfectly or the words flow. I am going to put butter on my leeks and cream in my coffee. I am going to light the best candles and wear my favourite perfume every single day. I am going to cut the most beautiful roses and put them by my bed. I am also going to attempt to hand dye my bed linen with walnut husks but that is entirely another story...

I am going to be astonished, and I will tell you about it. 

This email is going out well before midnight because my husband, now known as The Other Dr A, is currently working long shifts in our local Intensive Care Unit. It is an overwhelmingly difficult place to be at the moment and so an early night is on the cards for us. Please do be careful. Stay safe and if you or your loved ones are bearing the brunt of this terrible situation, my heart is with you.

Much love,

G x