The Land is Waking Up

It’s April now and the land is waking up.

The snow has melted filling wells, streams and rivers and the woods are a dreamy moss green. Tree limbs are still as bare as November but robins swarm freshly turned earth pulling worms from the depths with their relentless beaks.

The most vibrant and promising season shift. I always feel like something inside me awakens along the ice melt. The heaviness of a long winter subsides and suddenly, a weight I didn’t know was so heavy is gone.

And so, this morning, with winter coats and knits stashed away (but not too far away) we donned rain boots and drove to our sacred little woodland. Finally!

Rather than working, Henry and I went for a ramble to some of the spots that felt magical. The woods are akin to a living cathedral, and it’s always been a deep need for me to have a place to show reverence for the earth. Somewhere that I know I’ll only be disturbed by a grouse or chickadee and not looked upon and judged.

We greeted the stones, felt the moss and admired lichen. Blush pink encrusted on stone, bright red British soldiers colonizing rotting tree stumps, pale green usnea swaying in the breeze and lungwort… breathing in and out the clean air. A sign of an old woodland. There are markers of logging and other human activity, but there is also a sense of the wood being very old.

Henry and I perched in the rain on a large, flat stone, surrounded by conifers. Quiet and tucked away.

The rain started, and steadily came down harder and harder until we found ourselves soaked in the woods. Two layers of fleece do a really good job of keeping the rain from chilling you to the bone. The rain was so refreshing.

The beauty of this wild landscape can be overwhelming.

Erratics bigger than a house with lush ferns for a roof. There is a sense of something ancient lingering among the rocks and under the hemlock needles. It reminds me of Scandinavian troll forests. Dark, mysterious, with boulders that you can’t help anthropomorphizing. But of course we are in Mi’kma’ki and the land holds its own long history where the earth and stones hold ancestral meaning.

Stones are crucial to this particular woodland that we are now caring for and there is a more recent history related to the stones on this lot. It is lined with an ancient quartz vein.

We stumbled upon it while walking the land for the first time. And suddenly a door opened in terms of stepping into local history and being close to beautiful stones. As someone who loves rocks and has collected since the age of 3, I could hardly believe it… it felt like a sign.

Today, this smoky quartz with citrine was found under our feet. The quartz has a singing energy. Nova Scotia is an amazing place for rockhounding and fossils and so underrated!

But back home, with a coffee and sitting cross-legged on the floor to write this post and share an update about creative works:

The Tapestry sweater is finished! As soon as I put it over my head, all the changes I wanted to make flooded my mind. It was like, I designed and knit it and without finishing it, I couldn’t see what the final piece wanted to actually be. It takes forever to write a knitting pattern, I knit the item so many times because with each rendition, it shifts and morphs and reveals a little bit more of what it wants to be. This one, is very comfy and will be perfect for working outdoors in the colder months.

Rather than buying new wool (so expensive now!), I opted to unravel an entire sweater that I made many moons ago and don’t wear in order to re-create Tapestry. So, now a second version of the Tapestry sweater is on my needles (along with the Nostalgia pattern and a mitten pattern! Another lesson I need to learn is one thing at a time… but it’s SO difficult!). It was liberating, unraveling a garment that I didn’t wear, reclaiming the material. I felt my creativity being reclaimed in the process. I can’t wait to share when it’s completed!

I’ve been painting a little bit every day.

Right now, an Icelandic mountain landscape is taking shape on a small canvas. Worked from watercolour and sketch studies, I’m actually starting to lean more toward loving the art I’m creating opposed to being hyper critical (imperfections and all). All from removing the expectation of the finished product.

Lost in the process, all is well in that quiet space of making.

I hope you find time to walk in the woods, touch moss and make something, no matter how small.

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