Slow-Small Media for the Weekend #11

(Above: a blazing nasturtium in the vege garden. I’m grateful for their bright faces on these gloomy winter days.)

I bring this to you from a late-afternoon energy lull. Does anyone reading suffer insomnia? 

Over the last month, I’ve been wrangling with insomnia which hasn’t been much fun. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know. (Currently at bedtime, I take a valerian/hops/passionflower potion and rub my feet and legs with Magnesium oil which used to work a treat but recently, not so much.) 

Enough about me! how are you?

Here’s a bunch of random good things for your weekend: 

A sweet poem

I have a surname that people frequently struggle to spell, but it’s not as intense as the surname of this week’s poet, Amy Nezhukumatathil. Amy’s work is sensuous, at times humorous, she knows the natural world and writes it with great attention. I very much recommend her poetry.

But this week’s poem is slightly different from her usual style. It’s a found poem which is comprised of fragments of letters from high school students who are studying her poetry for their exams. (Note the misspelling of her name in the poem’s title.) 

It’s affectionate and funny. I could feel the collective stress of the poor students rising up off the words. 

A beautifully-written essay about a painful subject

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been very much enjoying reading through the essays and articles on the Substack of the Wizard of Wellington, Rosie Whinray. 

You didn’t know Wellington had a wizard? 

Well, that’s because unlike the Wizard of Christchurch -who is mainly a satirical figure- Rosie is a real wizard…although she would never make that distinction (‘real’) herself. 

Real wizards are very modest. 

Rosie has written a beautiful, meandering, thoughtful, honest essay called Precariat Blues about the pain of losing her latest home (another rental sold out from under her) and about precariat housing (and living) generally. 

From Rosie’s essay:

‘Chop wood, carry water, by all means dig. But if you rent, I would advise applying your effort to things you can carry with you when you go. Never forget that you stand to lose your labour. Human ingenuity is bonsai’d by the learned helplessness of tenancy. This pinching out of side-shoots is maybe the greatest tragedy of what renting does to a person’s soul.’

Because she’s a real wizard, she makes a very sad subject beautiful. You’ll read it and possibly  feel sad, mad, bad, but also so glad that you read it…because it really is phenomenal writing. 

I really hope Rosie publishes a book of her essays one day. 

Affordable Art

In this week’s affordable art is these striking sgraffito ceramic birds by Borrowed Earth 

They cost $45 (our budget for ‘affordable art’ cuts off at $50) and there are five different designs. 

(Above: Photo borrowed from Little Beehive Co website.)

One would be beautiful…or if you have more than $50 to spend on art, you could have a pair…or a flock! They’re like a contemporary take on the classic flying duck wall ornaments. 

Music

The addition to the slow-evolving ‘Slow-Small Media’ playlist over on YouTube this week is not just one song but a whole record; it’s Ben Harper playing his 2020 album ‘Winter is for Lovers’ live in his music room. 

This live version has a vibrant, compelling quality. Plus, if you’re watching as well as listening, it’s soothing to watch Ben noodling away in his music room surrounded by his beloved musical instruments. 

In the kitchen: three ways to eat onion weed

Did you know you can eat onion weed? It’s particularly succulent and good in winter and spring in New Zealand and it’s SO easy to find….a ‘Foraging 101’ kind of plant.

Here’s a beautifully-produced video from local weeds-loving, vegan chef Anna Valentine on four ways with onion weed.

She shares a mayonnaise, a super salt, a salad and a tempura which use the bulbs, stems and flowers of onion weed.

An article about the world of miniatures

There’s something so hugely compelling about tiny things. 

Once, a friend bought me a miniature bok choy plant made of resin because ‘I knew you’d love it’. She was right, I do. 

I bought my Mum a miniature Victorian copper kettle for her recent birthday because I knew she’d love it. She does. It’s now sitting on her dresser. 

Here’s an interesting NPR article about the world of miniatures. 

I googled where to buy cute miniature things in New Zealand. I’ve always dreamed of having a green Aga stove and from the In Miniatures shop, I could have one for just $29.00. 

& something very, very, very silly to finish

Last night I had insomnia so after lying in bed staring into the dark for two hours, I eventually gave up on trying to sleep, lit the fire and opened Youtube. 

The first thing the YouTube algorithm suggested was a video where comedian crafter,  Ash Bentley, knits herself a ‘cursed outfit’. I was skeptical, but also wired and tired so I watched and, oh my goodness, it is worth watching Ash’s reveal of her cursed crafting effort. 

The video is almost an hour long but -unless you have an interest in watching Ash figure out how to knit all the components- just do as I did and watch her introduction and then skip through to 52 minutes in for the big reveal. Now, imagine watching it in the subterranean state of an early insomniac morning. 

Trust me, it’s worth it. It’s a horror and she’s a crack-up. 

(Given I mostly watch foraging, permaculture and ‘slow life’ Youtube, I have no idea why YouTube suggested this to me…but I’m not mad about it.) Gosh, I love a silly side-quest.

*

The weekend ahead: I’m trying to do something of a midwinter-clean, like a spring clean but in winter. My fantasy is that we won’t need to spring clean because I’m going to do so much over July and August that I will land in September all sorted and fresh. Clearly the kind of thing us Virgos daydream about. In spring I’d rather be in the garden than in the house.

At the moment, this looks like a pile of boxes and supermarket bags in the hallway floor spilling over with the recently-culled.

If I have friends visiting while such piles are lying about, I always invite them to mooch the op shop pile before it heads off to the op shop. Already I’ve re-homed some clothes and some books. Happy friends and less for me to cart to the op shop. Hoorah! 

So this weekend, I’m going to carry on with a bit of that. Last weekend I tackled my wardrobe, this weekend, it will be our bookshelves. Might be time to give some books the chance to be read and enjoyed by other people instead of gathering dust here. Not every book is going to be one that you re-read, right?

I have a pile of shiny, new permaculture magazines from the library to read. Our library is so great in the variety of magazines they get. I can’t believe there are multiple permaculture titles to mooch.

& I got a big fennel bulb in our CSA vege box so I’m going to make a fennel gratin. 

It’s Palmy Crop Swap weekend and so I’ll head off to that on Sunday with some succulents I’ve potted up and some of my herbal tea to share. 

That feels like enough ‘might do’s’ for the weekend. I like a ‘might do’ because if at the last minute I feel lazy and don’t do any of it…having a rest is a great use of a weekend, too. 

I hope there’s some resting, some cheerful eats and some fun in your weekend. 

x x