Finding a New Rhythm
Listening to Nature and the Seasons
Welcome to the Quarantine Creatives newsletter, a companion to my podcast of the same name.
This week, I have a few thoughts about where I hope we’re headed after the pandemic, plus an announcement on an updated podcast release schedule as new episodes resume this week.
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Enjoying the Seasons
In case you haven’t been following along on my Instagram, this past week has been all about collecting maple sap to make maple syrup in my family. I have dreamed of doing this project for years, and it seemed like this was finally the perfect time to jump in and make it part of our second grader’s home school curriculum since we’re home all day and finally have the time and energy to devote to it.
The process is simple and very rewarding. We bought a starter kit from a company called Tap My Trees that included nearly everything we needed to tap three trees. We started by drilling a small hole in our maple trees and inserting a metal spout. Off that spout hangs a bucket that collects the maple sap. We empty those buckets once a day. Easy, right?
The maple sap is really just water that’s absorbed sugars from the maple tree. To turn that sugary water into maple syrup, we’ll need to boil it down, releasing most of the moisture as steam. If the weather cooperates, we’ll do our first boil later today.
What I have loved about this project is that it is very seasonal and very much dependent on weather conditions. In order to have the best sap flow, the nights need to be below freezing, ideally in the 20s. The days have to get above freezing, in the high 30s or low 40s. The sap flows for just a few weeks in early spring, but if it stays cold for too long or warms up too quickly, the harvest could go bust.
Because of this project, I have found my senses to be hyper-alert to the weather conditions of every day and night in a way that I never was before. This time of year was always just “winter coat weather,” and it didn’t really matter to me if it was 17º or 45º, but now the difference between 29º and 34º are very important.
When I look back on the last year of this strange pandemic time, I feel like this awareness of the natural world is one that I want to carry forward with me. I have learned to be much more synchronized with the seasons and the weather and have allowed the natural rhythms of each day dictate my actions.
This has come up in several of the interviews I’ve conducted as well. Documentary filmmaker Matt Tyrnauer described to me that he was now observing how the light in his home changed over the course of the day. Filmmaker Kahane Cooperman talked about the joy of working from her home office that looked out on her backyard and thought she would never want to commute into Manhattan again. Author Talia Lavin and I discussed the simple pleasure of cooking soup, before diving into her book about the threat of White Supremacy (which is an important and interesting read.)
I have learned a lot about myself this past year and have really grown and changed as a person. I have heard many other people I’ve spoken with echo this sentiment. I still wonder what lessons from this time will stay with us as we move forward and return to “normal.” I expect that some of the fundamental shifts that happened last year are far from over and are perhaps still in their infancy. We may not fully understand the effects of this pandemic for another decade.
When I first set up my “home office/podcast studio” in a corner of our attic, I was reluctant to make it too permanent, but I have lately started to make some changes to that space with the longer haul in mind. Whether this podcast continues for another year or I take up a new full time position somewhere (or both), I don’t imagine I’ll be sitting in an office with any regularity any time soon. And I’m okay with that.
I am really enjoying having most of my world happen in my backyard and under my roof.
What’s Next
I am planning to return with new episodes of the podcast this week. For now, I am planning to release one episode per week, which will go live on Thursday mornings. If you’re not already, please make sure you’re subscribed to Quarantine Creatives in your favorite podcast player so that you’ll never miss a new episode.
My guest on Thursday is scheduled to be Paula Davis, whose book Beating Burnout at Work will be published on March 16 (though you can preorder it now). It’s a really interesting look at why burnout happens and what employers and employees can do to prevent it. Her book cites several research studies and also looks at how our working world is adapting to COVID, remote work, etc, and how you build a team in that environment.
Paula was a lawyer who experienced her own burnout, which led her to found the Stress and Resilience Institute. It should be a lively and relevant conversation, and I hope you’ll join us on Thursday for it!
If you have questions, comments, thoughts, ideas, or anything else that you’d like to share, please feel free to email me anytime: hracela@mac.com
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If you’ve missed past issues of this newsletter, they are available to read here.