The Big Idea

The Idea Behind This Project

Over the past decade, I’ve experienced a lot of things that I would consider Good Work. I’ve grown food and preserved it. I’ve cooked nourishing meals and fed my family. I’ve tried and failed and tried again (remind me to tell you about the time maggots (recently) took over my sourdough starter). I’ve learned to forage mushrooms and herbs. I’ve worked my body hard during the growing season and I’ve rested during the cold months. And I’ve observed that my mental, emotional, and spiritual states (not to mention physical) are always significantly improved when I’m actively engaging in Good Work.

But before I go any further…

What is Good Work?

I’m not going to tell you how you should define good work. That’s up to you and your values, beliefs, experiences, and morals, and I totally respect that.

However, I will share how I define it, and how I’m using that definition to guide my path throughout this year. 

Good Work, to me, is defined by the following:

• Does it confer wisdom? 

• Does it build faith?

• Is there a chance for failure?

• Does it create?

• Is it honest?

• Does it connect us to our ancestors?

• Is there a learning curve?

• Is it nourishing? 

• Is it constructive?

A lot of types of work can qualify, depending on how you define each criteria: gardening, sourdough bread baking, carpentry, teaching, foraging, homemaking, and so much more. The one critical thing that defines it for me is that Good Work must touch your soul. 

I’ve done a lot of work that I would qualify as good. The jobs in marketing and communications that I held provided for my family, allowed me to stretch my brain, kept me busy, and connected me with some amazing people. At the end of the day though, my soul felt drained from it. It was good work and I am grateful for it, but it was not Good Work. At least, it wasn’t for me and my experience on this earth. Do you know what I mean?

I want to note that Good Work or Good Works can also be defined as acts of charity or piety. And I actually think both of those fit my definition above (nourishing, faith-building, honest, constructive just to name a few). I do have the opinion that charity should not be boasted about online. Frankly, I find those youtube videos of people helping others for likes and views pretty abhorrent and cringeworthy. So throughout the course of this year, I’ll mostly be focused on the Good Work I am doing with my own body and mind as it relates to my specific and personal environment, but I did want to take a second to note the importance of all forms of Good Work, especially that which helps others.

Why Now?

Well, the answer to that is complicated and extremely personal, but I will share that over the past year I’ve started having panic attacks. My fears and worries have reached new levels and though it may be justified for many reasons, I just know that I have been focusing on the wrong things in life (specifically my fears, worries, frustrations, loneliness, and confusion). I know that there are learnings for me if I just look in the right places — learnings that could change the course of my life and how I deal with conflicts, fears, and emotions. And while I’ve been doing a lot of Good Work, especially since we changed our lives completely (more on that here), I haven’t been fully open to the wisdom it can provide. I want to go on a journey now and I want to share the lessons along the way. I want to share my failures and successes, my frustrations and struggles, my harvests, my wins, and how I am evolving as a result of intentionally seeking out the good stuff with a very open spirit. 

And if you’d like, I’d love to have you join this ride. 

The Plan

One year of Good Work. 

Winter to Winter: growing, foraging, making, nurturing, sharing, and learning. 

I’ll bring you along as I plan my garden, start my seeds, harvest wild herbs and weeds for our winter teas, learn from older generations and people with far more knowledge than me, and everything in between. 

You can expect weekly posts here on this blog for free, and an opportunity to get more depth and detail in the form of a monthly subscription (recipes, how-to’s, video/audio content, and a chance to dialogue). As always, you can expect honesty from me (maybe too much at times). I don’t claim to be an expert at any of this, just extremely enthusiastic and excited to share this experience. If you know of a better or different way to do things, I’d love to hear about it.

We’ll officially start in January of 2024, but we’ll need to do some prep work beforehand, so stay tuned for more information. 

So, if you’re in, be sure to keep an eye on this space. You can sign up for updates here, the paid subscription here, and contact me here.

Let’s do some Good Work.