writings from a women-run modern homestead. 


the resistance starts at home.

A Woman's Worth

A Woman's Worth

#ibelieveher, worthiness, the moon tarot, feminism, still i rise, for my daughter

It has been a dark couple of weeks here in this “land of the free, home of the brave”. I have felt dragged through the gamut of emotions. I know I am far from alone. I have felt proud of the bold, courageous, brazen women who speak the truth of their darkest hours in the face of wanton disregard, volatility, and mockery. I have felt panic rise in my throat for young me, how these current events echo all of the instances before when I heard this oh so familiar message - that made me feel helpless and insignificant in the dark hours that I have faced. I have felt deeply pained knowing the many seeds of doubt that girls are grown upon. I have felt angry at the tired, worn out display of heartlessness and narrow mindedness, wanting to shriek, “Grow yourself! Expand yourself! Be a better version of yourself! Honor others!”. I have felt oh-so frustrated, being torn between knowing to do so would all be for not, yet yearning desperately for change. And I have felt convicted to figure out a way to raise my daughter to trust herself, her body, her feelings, her voice, and her strength in a world that will more often than not place her importance second to men.

Women’s pain, both physical and psychic, is discounted. We are told from every direction that others get to weigh in on our bodies, our futures, on defining our truths and our pasts. We are told that we cannot trust our bodies - from giving birth, to our hormones, to our size, to our strength. Women are forced beneath men in church hierarchy, in political power, in judicial systems, in ownership of land and business, in creative space, in institutions of education, in every nook and cranny of our society. Women’s contributions are undervalued. Women’s experiences are questioned - as if everything felt is somehow a bit hysterical. We are given the (treacherously false) message that women’s voices are irrational and unreliable, and that men are inherently rational and in charge of the truth. No, these messages and treatment aren’t as egregious now as they have been throughout history, or here as they are many places in the world. But they are absolutely everywhere, whether your eyes are open to them or you can not bear to look, they are there. 

I do believe the universe tilts toward goodness. I believe that our world is brimming full of good men and good women, but yet, this it still the wickedness that prevails. Yet still, depravity is tolerated and bolstered to power. I think that even good men and women don’t step forward to denounce and rail against corruption because these messages are so deeply ingrained in us, how do we even begin to reconcile our collective part in such iniquity? But, on weeks like this one, we are reminded in big flashing marquis lights that women’s lives are an accepted casualty for men to have their power. 

As the adage goes “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” 
Good men, for the love of god, stand up. Hold space.

Women, lift up your voices. Unburden yourself. 

To my women in the huddled masses so damn tired and passionately yearning to be free - here is a bit that when I read it it healed and strengthened my aching heart some...
You are worth your weight in gold. You give life. You are the power, the dignity, the force that keeps families, and communities, and the world turning round. The seeds of heaven are firmly planted in the imaginations and plans of women. Women can be trusted. Women are infinitely worthy.

So for now, as you forge on - fighting and loving, struggling and healing - hold tight and tuck deep in your arsenal the wisdom that “An entire sea of water can't sink a ship unless it gets inside.”

#ibeliveher, worthiness
Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Spiced Pumpkin Bread