catwings on the road: love me a new moon

oh my gosh, i am so tired. we're on day 2.5 in nyc/bk and it's been a sweet and magical time here, though jam packed with loved ones and inherently more exhausting than being in the mountains or forest or anywhere else we've been, really. and tomorrow, we are headed to boston, my old home!

i am really coming up against trying to see all the people i care about in this part of the country and struggling to admit i don't have the time nor the energy to do it all. i am very loyal to chani nicolas' weekly horoscopes, and she spells it out clearly for me this week: "You may need to redirect your energy and use it for more intimate relationships. You may need to promise your self, your efforts, your support and your allegiance only to what helps you feel alive and fits in your schedule." easier said than done, but i am working on it!

this blog has taken a backseat as free time becomes scarcer -- since i personally last wrote, we've been at twin oaks, and in richmond, shenendoah national park, washington DC, and philly. honestly during these visits, i'd largely been trying to rest up for nyc and boston. the shenendoah cabin eli wrote about was incredibly dreamy and a much needed bit of serenity and solace in a beautiful and isolated place. i've been to dc at least half a dozen times, and i still don't care for it much, but i do love the greenspace, the sunsets, and spending time with my old friends natalie and max, who've been there for the past four years and are now preparing to move back to natalie's (and my) hometown of portland, oregon.

philadelphia was a very sweet albeit brief time with owen and chris, the former of whom i met a few years ago when his band my gay banjo would play shows at my old house in boston. eli and i split our one full day in philly at both owen and chris's inspiring work.

chris manages the community farm and food resource center in southwest philly which includes youth & adult education programs, garden plots for neighborhood families, and a strong emphasis on urban Black folks re-learning and drawing upon the wisdom and knowledge of previous generations of farmers and people who grow food. something chris said that stuck out to me was emphasizing that the education is not just to give expert knowledge to the neighboring residents, but to trust that they have their own knowledge and abilities to share with the farm and its community.

owen manages roughwood seed collection, a prolific seed library in devon, pa, where he has been for the last four years and which has recently become a more sustainable situation for him. he quotes the POC-led seed keepers collective as part of his motivation for his work: “A Seed Keeper doesn’t just save seeds and store them; they carry the stories of culture and history, power and struggle, and perseverance of our communities, and have an eye on and a hand in the world that is coming into being.” - Seed Keepers. we ended our day in philly at a last minute seed packing gathering, where many of owen's friends showed up to help him fulfill a surge in seed orders.

and now... we are in new york! eli and i split up to do our own things with friends for the first couple nights, and together we saw fun home on broadway (complete with an experience of getting gender-policed on our way to use the restroom -- at a show based on a queer person's queer memoir. you can't make this stuff up.) i spent last night at silent barn, an inspiring community/art space and collective in brooklyn's bushwick neighborhood, where my old friend liz pelly and my new friend dandy hosted a sober queer crafting potluck to gather with friends. it was really, really sweet, and the conversations i had were really enjoyable, and so i stayed up til 1am (way past my bedtime), and to re-state the beginning of this post... i am very, very tired.

i don't have pictures of everywhere i wrote about here, but here are a few!

xoxo freddie