At the end of January, we dipped our toe into the cultural history of your place and I asked you to visit a building of historical significance. Over the next few weeks, we’ll dive a little deeper into culture, which is not just about the arts; rather, it’s a shared set of attitudes, values, goals, and practices - ways of being and living in a community.
Culture brings us together as people, creating a sense of belonging and shared purpose. It includes the features of our everyday existence, what forms the lifeblood of a place. Culture is reflected in your place’s food, festivals, histories, public spaces, arts, and rituals. Culture is created by people and place together and it’s always in the process of recreation.
My intent for this month is to get you to see your culture, as it is and how it was shaped.
Food and Native Plants
For this week, let’s consider the food and native plants unique to your place. What grows in your place depends on the climate and soil, as well as the ethnic population. What’s growing and blooming and being harvested right now in your place?
I live in an area known as the Niagara Fruit Belt and this time of year just happens to be the time of greatest abundance. Peaches and corn are currently in season, along with many other fruits and vegetables. The tomato plants in my garden are coming along nicely and there will be canned tomato sauce in our future. Black-eyed Susans, sunflowers, and hydrangeas are at their peak.
If it’s winter where you are there may not be much growing or blooming. In that case, consider how you get food at these times. Is it shipped in from somewhere else or have you stored food from the summer to eat in the winter?
Practice
Take note of everything blooming or being harvested right now.
Eat a local food item (piece of fruit, raw vegetable, etc.) slowly and mindfully, experiencing it with all of your senses. Imagine its beginning from seed to plant to harvest to production to store and into your body, eventually become compost for new growth.
Do you grow your own food? If so, how does that make you feel? If not, consider growing something that you can eat, even if just in a pot? Herbs work well for this.
Is there a local farm that is a model of sustainable food production and community involvement? Do you have a farmers’ market that you can purchase food from? How do you support local growers?
What is a restaurant you recommend to visitors and why? Go to a farm to table restaurant and enjoy a meal, while supporting local farmers. Or, make your own farm to table meal.
Please share your abundance with us in the comments or with photos on Instagram. Add the hashtag #seeingyourplace2022.
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