First Full Moon of January brought in thoughts of the new year, the new decade.
When creating recipes, I think about the people I will share it with. That is such an important part of food and eating for me, the sharing of conversation and thoughts, the connection to community. We sometimes forget about that part in our fast paced world. Food is more than physical nourishment, it is about community. My goal has always been to share recipes that nourish symptoms of today’s world and that includes the connection it brings to one another. So as if you were sitting at my kitchen table, this is the conversation I would have with you: This photo captures how I already feel about 2020 and as I explain it below, I wonder what photo describes how you feel. What image sums up the thoughts and feelings you feel this Saturday, first Full Moon of January, Solstice Wolf Moon? Take some time to find a photo and tag me in it, I would love to read it and get to know you better through your expression of a photo that sums up how you feel and why. I will try to have this photo conversation each Saturday morning, like a good cup of coffee with friends, just talking and sharing. I hope you share with me too. Here is my view of this photo: • The light is always there. The sun will always rise. The Dawn of a New Day is always a reminder of my gratitude for another chance to see the beauty in this world, in other people’s actions and in how I can contribute to a bright clear day or a stormy dreary day. The choice is always there. • My path in life has always been bumpy, with twists and turns that are often unexpected. But the ride in whole is adventurous, difficult, promising, always teaching me my strength is more than I could imagine and the freedom in seeing the beauty nourishes my soul. I wouldn’t change a thing. I am not afraid of the trail I am on. • If I were to explain the silence in the woods, it is peace. It is solace. It is grounding. It is my church. It is Home. There is no other sound that calms me and empowers me all at the same time. Ok, maybe my parent's voices but that is another story! • The season of Winter Solstice is equally as important to me as the Summer. It is time to recharge, read the books I have stacked up, write out the goals and desires for my next three seasons. Those seasons have so much more energy to them and I value the opportunity Winter Solstice brings: Yin energy. It is a time where I can hunker down in my cozy home, be grateful for what I have and what I can share. It is a time where I think about my ancestors and how they would have managed without all the common day luxuries I have today. I wonder how they would have survived. What they would have cooked. How they would have come together as a community or a family to nourish each other with food, laughter, encouragement, and love. I feel that the connection to those things would have been stronger than it is today, it was a simpler time with a perilous few months ahead of them. Yet perhaps that is what brought them together, their vulnerability in knowing the Natural elements and forces were superior to their survival and in order to survive they needed each other. They needed each other not as a text or a well meaning wish, but needed each other in their home. In their lives. So that is my goal for 2020, connection and creativity in how I share what I can. This world can be lonely and cold or it can be like this photo, bright and beautiful offering so many opportunities for us to shine. It is adventurous and wild. It is welcoming us to fully experience and express ourselves in the strength we built and honoring that strength and knowledge in the lessons we have learned. We are not small in this world we were born to manifest Love and strength and I can’t wait for the next turn in this trail….. *Please share your Saturday photo and thoughts. Just put it out there, don't let fear stop you. Be vulnerable and you will find that very thing will built your strength. Enjoy your Saturday everyone! May you see the light in every turn. ~Sharlyn