'See what's flirting with you' is a great way to play this game you're describing, centring the body and bypassing the juggernaut of mind. Thanks to my friend the poet Ess Grange for this wonderful method.
PS - In the story of Ruth in the bible is the divine warrant for foraging - the poor were permitted to "glean" the grain that had fallen to the ground...moreover, it was forbidden to prevent them from picking up the scraps that no-one else wanted...so indeed, foraging can mean life itself
Mama, i’m Sure is Pleased and Satisfied having been the one who taught each of us to see appreciate and value the small, the ordinary, the unnoticed and neglected ! Each of you continues to share her teachings....and, while she pressed flowers she’d gathered from the wild and heavily trodden on and invited all to See and Feel...Leah stoops,kneels,collects,gathers and plants.Judah snaps his fingers while synapses dance,discovers music in math and math in music. Amy,also stoops kneels,plants,gathers and arranges floral colours. She sees, then writes wonderfully of the patterns and hues of peoples faces,mannerisms,gestures,humour,aspirations and disappointments
You, ,Jason carry on her vision and love of the tiny,the quiet,the obscure.
Foraging is life...My Orkney grandmother foraged for sheep wool snagged on bushes etc - then spun and knitted it for sweaters for the menfolk who went out on the sea....would love to know if she had tried making colours from local plants...Thank you for the inspiration, Jason
Thank you for this wonderful article. It reminded me of experimental filmmaker, Stan Brakhage's essay Metaphors on Visions "Imagine an eye unruled by man-made laws of perspective, an eye unprejudiced by compositional logic, an eye which does not respond to the name of everything but which must know each object encountered in life through an adventure of perception. How many colors are there in a field of grass to the crawling baby unaware of "Green"? How many rainbows can light create for the untutored eye? How aware of variations in heat waves can that eye be? Imagine a world alive with incomprehensible objects and shimmering with an endless variety of movement and innumerable gradations of color. Imagine a world before the beginning was the word."
https://craftsmanship.net/the-norwegian-sweater-detective/. Wish I had some pics of Grandmother Isabella's foraged-wool knitted jumpers... alas..But check the link here which has some pics of the working-person's knitted garment...maybe handdyed? Certainly worn until threadbare... Also www.stockholmleyden.com for a spectac international historic dyes project managed by Mel Sweetman of mamieschoolhouse.org (Cape Breton) ....I came across the first link today just before reading your post...Grandma Isabella's mama was Norwegian and likely was foraged herself (😉) by GreatGrandfather who came from Fair Isle...surely GG foraged colours as well as wool...and taught the daughter...
have you read, “On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes” by Alexandria Horowitz? it reminds me so much of Step 4. The author uses different logic or different systems of organizing a walk via the interests of a co-walker: dog, child, typographer, a geologist, sound engineer etc. its an excellent book and I would be interested to see how a walk with each of their logics might yield different foraging systems.
'See what's flirting with you' is a great way to play this game you're describing, centring the body and bypassing the juggernaut of mind. Thanks to my friend the poet Ess Grange for this wonderful method.
PS - In the story of Ruth in the bible is the divine warrant for foraging - the poor were permitted to "glean" the grain that had fallen to the ground...moreover, it was forbidden to prevent them from picking up the scraps that no-one else wanted...so indeed, foraging can mean life itself
Notice my word. Simply notice what's around you.
What a lovely, sublime post to read with my morning tea. Thank you for your words that inspire me to just - go outside!!
Mama, i’m Sure is Pleased and Satisfied having been the one who taught each of us to see appreciate and value the small, the ordinary, the unnoticed and neglected ! Each of you continues to share her teachings....and, while she pressed flowers she’d gathered from the wild and heavily trodden on and invited all to See and Feel...Leah stoops,kneels,collects,gathers and plants.Judah snaps his fingers while synapses dance,discovers music in math and math in music. Amy,also stoops kneels,plants,gathers and arranges floral colours. She sees, then writes wonderfully of the patterns and hues of peoples faces,mannerisms,gestures,humour,aspirations and disappointments
You, ,Jason carry on her vision and love of the tiny,the quiet,the obscure.
Foraging is life...My Orkney grandmother foraged for sheep wool snagged on bushes etc - then spun and knitted it for sweaters for the menfolk who went out on the sea....would love to know if she had tried making colours from local plants...Thank you for the inspiration, Jason
Thank you for this wonderful article. It reminded me of experimental filmmaker, Stan Brakhage's essay Metaphors on Visions "Imagine an eye unruled by man-made laws of perspective, an eye unprejudiced by compositional logic, an eye which does not respond to the name of everything but which must know each object encountered in life through an adventure of perception. How many colors are there in a field of grass to the crawling baby unaware of "Green"? How many rainbows can light create for the untutored eye? How aware of variations in heat waves can that eye be? Imagine a world alive with incomprehensible objects and shimmering with an endless variety of movement and innumerable gradations of color. Imagine a world before the beginning was the word."
https://craftsmanship.net/the-norwegian-sweater-detective/. Wish I had some pics of Grandmother Isabella's foraged-wool knitted jumpers... alas..But check the link here which has some pics of the working-person's knitted garment...maybe handdyed? Certainly worn until threadbare... Also www.stockholmleyden.com for a spectac international historic dyes project managed by Mel Sweetman of mamieschoolhouse.org (Cape Breton) ....I came across the first link today just before reading your post...Grandma Isabella's mama was Norwegian and likely was foraged herself (😉) by GreatGrandfather who came from Fair Isle...surely GG foraged colours as well as wool...and taught the daughter...
have you read, “On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes” by Alexandria Horowitz? it reminds me so much of Step 4. The author uses different logic or different systems of organizing a walk via the interests of a co-walker: dog, child, typographer, a geologist, sound engineer etc. its an excellent book and I would be interested to see how a walk with each of their logics might yield different foraging systems.
Great to feel your way ! Unless you are allergic to Poison Ivy !