An Anti-hustle Harvest Moon
As we mark the changing of the seasons with the recent equinox and harvest full moon, we can notice a changing quality in the air. Darkness pervades the light of each day, and there is a sense of subdued, falling energy. Plants begin to change color and wither down.
I recently celebrated a Harvest Dinner with my fellow community gardeners, a time to slow down from the busy (and strange) growing season. Here in the midwest we faced an unusual drought and the effects of the ongoing Canadian wildfires. In June we cleaned ash off zucchini plant leaves with towels and milk, and last month our water pump drawing water from a nearby pond broke, requiring us to bring water from home in buckets and haul them to the garden ourselves. It was a reminder of how much we can take for granted in our modern world, that to grow food takes work, and how much of this work gets exported to others who we never see.
A reminder that to work with the earth’s changes takes persistence and flexibility.
While all the current gardeners were present at this dinner, so was an elderly woman in her seventies named Pam. She had founded the community garden thirteen years ago and was our guest of honor (in addition to starting the garden, she is an environmental activist and helped start a recycling program in St Paul, Minnesota in the 80's). I am the youngest gardener in our group, and Pam noticed. “There aren’t a lot of gardeners your age,” she said. She seemed to appreciate me being there. She was right — what could I say? That even I have only kept a minimal garden for the last several years as I hustle and try to keep up in what at times seems to be the impossible world of work? That everyone is busy, oh so busy?
A week later I attended a virtual editing conference. One of the presentations caught my eye — “Anti-hustle Marketing and Business Development for Freelancers.” I was intrigued — “anti-hustle?” Advice from the session included organic networking, sharing best practices with others, and sharing clients and workload with other freelancers (so that they might do the same with you). I was heartened by this session’s existence — that someone else had the courage to champion another way of working (and being) in the world, one based on collaboration and cooperation instead of competition. After the busy summer season, after my recent frenzy of working and job searching, I say long live the anti-hustle! What a fitting name for the slowing of the seasons into the dark reflective months of winter.
Like the watermelon in my garden that is unhurriedly growing day by day, we have some exciting WBC projects coming. We’ve begun work on a new poetry anthology to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of WBC’s birthplace, the Jack Kerouac School at Naropa University. Our hope with this collection is to spotlight and honor female poets who have been integral to JKS’s poetic lineage and who have inspired us personally.
Need inspiration for cooking up the fruits of the harvest? Emily was a part of the Rural Experience Collective’s first ever Artists Cookbook. This midwest organization celebrates urban connections to rural places and the food that’s grown there. You can purchase your own copy of the cookbook here.
Our sister organization, the lit magazine Tiny Spoon, is hosting an exciting new workshop this fall with their Fall Tiny Resident Emily Duffy, called “Rage and the Radial Narrative” on October 21 & 22. The workshop invites us to work “with rage as a source of precision and hot truth.” You can sign up here.
What fires of inspiration are radiating out, falling down, being caught up in the winds of the season, for you this month, dear reader?
