A local gem: Gene Stratton-Porter

For someone who...
...craves nature
...devours books
...loves photography
...believes in the power of women
...wants to uplift the local,

it was exciting to re-stumble upon the life of an incredible woman, Gene Stratton-Porter, when investigating local sites around my home in Indiana.  I felt a connection with this woman just after reading about her online, so I knew I wanted to visit her cabin as soon as the weather warmed up.

Sure enough, April 1st, which happened to be the day her cabin at Wildflower Woods opened for tours, turned out to be the most beautiful day of the year so far.  Eric and I ventured over to this historical site to learn more about the woman who...
...studied nature with a passion and worked to conserve the wild
...wrote several popular novels and turned many of them into movies
...photographed the world around her
...broke limiting gender stereotypes and became wildly successful
...made her career in northeast Indiana.
 

 
 

After sitting in the sun and watching the many birds flit among the trees around this site at Sylvan Lake, we took a tour of Gene-Stratton Porter's cabin and grounds, all of which she designed herself and purchased with her own earnings - certainly an accomplishment during a time when her husband had to write to the bank, telling them she had his permission to own land.

We learned that this spunky woman would put on her pants (quite the act of rebellion) and spend all day in nature, often with only her camera and notebook.  With no zoom lens at her disposal, she would sit in a branch for hours near the nest of a bluebird until it got used to her and carefully snap a close-up.

Gene Stratton-Porter wrote 12 novels in her lifetime, many which still inspire today's writers and readers.  Weaving compelling stories and characters together with nature and the environment, her style reminds me much of Barbara Kingsolver, one of my favorite contemporary novelists.  In fact, J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, listed GSP as one of her best inspirations.

Her true love, however, was writing nature studies.  Knowing that her novels were much more popular and lucrative than nature studies, she eventually made a deal with her publisher to let her write one study for every novel, and so she completed 9, in addition to other poetry and essays.

Her novels became so popular that Hollywood wanted to turn many of them into movies, but Gene couldn't stand the thought of her stories being misrepresented, so she moved out to Hollywood herself and became one of the first women owners of a movie production company.  Her most popular book, A Girl of the Limberlost, has now been turned into a movie 4 times.

 
 

It's funny how we are often unaware of the places of interest in our own area.  I vaguely remembered this place from a time I came with my sister's Girl Scout troop when I was very young, but I had never thought of visiting since then.  I am so glad we made the effort to explore the cabin, grounds, and life of Gene Stratton-Porter.  I walked away with a book tucked under my arm that I can't wait to read and a whole lot of inspiration from this creative, confident, inspiring woman.

 
 

Are there any sites in your area that you may have overlooked, but just might love visiting?

Quilts: Textiles from home

I'm usually enthralled by the different textiles I find around the world.  Whether it's mudcloth from Mali, block stamped scarves from India, or woven rugs from Jordan, I love bringing these textiles into my life, learning how they are traditionally made, and running my hands over their surfaces.

And sometimes, it takes going around the world to appreciate the culture and traditions that you grew up with at home!

The people of Midwest America have been quilting since the pioneer days, and my family in Indiana has carried on this textile tradition.  Growing up, my grandma always had a quilting project in progress.  She made a quilt for each of her 13 grandchildren and, by the time she left us, there were enough quilts for us to all take another to save for when we got married.  Her quilts are still found throughout our home and our cabin.  I even made enough room in my suitcase to bring one to Uganda, to make my life there feel just a bit more home-y.

The tradition continues, as my mother makes each of her grandchildren a quilt when they came into this world.  At my baby shower last week, she gifted the baby its own patchwork blanket made of green and brown fabric pieces she chose, cut, and sewed together, each with intention and love, I'm sure.

My grandmother had a sign hanging in her kitchen, made my by aunt.  It read,
"Our family's like a patchwork quilt
with kindness gently sewn.
Each piece is an original
with beauty all its own."

The first quilt my grandmother gave me when I was 8 years old.

Mom, sewing a quilt for my niece, Leann

Mom's quilt for the new baby

Making Maple Syrup

While in Vermont, I loved that everyone seemed to know how to make their own maple syrup, so I was inspired to call up my neighbors, Doug and Corinne, once I reached Indiana and see for myself how it was done.

Doug and Corinne have been making maple syrup for decades, but I never took the time to ask what it takes.  They graciously took me back to their trees and their charming sugar shack, steamy with boiling sap straight from the trees and smelling incredible!

Chatting with neighbors in a shack in the woods while making a food product straight from the natural source was right up my alley.  They showed me the whole process, from the tap to the jug, and I even walked away with a souvenir.

Is there someone in your area who grows or makes their own food?  Ever think about calling them up to learn about the process?

My Creations This Week

I believe that creativity has very little to do with artistic ability and craftiness.  Creativity, pure and simple, is the expression of who we are, no matter how that is expressed.  We are all creating, all the time; we're usually just not conscious of it.  But the more conscious I've become of my own creative acts, the more of them I bring into my life.  And the more I bring creativity into my life, the more I express myself.  And in expressing myself, I find myself.  So creativity, to me, has become a strongly spiritual exercise.

Here are a few things I created this week:

1) This temporary home for my new air plants
...and why am I just finding out about air plants?

2) This baby hat, joining the booties and mittens I knit from leftover yarn after making myself a poncho.

3) A digital copy of this picture - because looking at my grandparents in a water gun fight will always bring a smile to my face. 

4) The decoration and script on these note cards

5) A swaddle for a fake baby in my newborn care class

6) Shadow puppets, made with a small playmate

7) Scribbles in my daily gratitude journal

“I think everything in life is art. What you do. How you dress. The way you love someone, and how you talk. Your smile and your personality. What you believe in, and all your dreams. The way you drink your tea. How you decorate your home. Or party. Your grocery list. The food you make. How your writing looks. And the way you feel. Life is art.”
— Helena Bonham Carter

Dying for New Life

I'm rarely in the US for the changing of seasons, so this week, as the snow melts and the weather starts to warm up, I find myself drinking in this transition into Spring. 

A couple of days ago, I walked around our yard to see what beauties of nature I could find.  I noticed a few straggling leaves on each tree - leaves who had refused their time of death in Autumn and instead clung to their life as they knew it on the limb. They had somehow made it through a brutal winter, still stubbornly hanging on.  But new life is coming soon, and these old guys are in for a big wake-up call when they'll be forced to finally give up the fight and let the new buds spring forth in their place.

I also have a new life on the way, set to arrive in about 6 weeks.  I've noticed patterns in my dreams, revealing the fears tucked away in my subconscious about all I must die to in order to let this new life really thrive.  Even as I write a list in my journal of these things I know I must let go, I feel a deep resistance to it all. To...

Letting go of a spontaneous life. Letting go of my precious sleep. Letting go of my body as I know it. Letting go of my youth.  Letting go of how I desire to use my time.

The wise have always told us that Death is always required if New Life is to enter, and all of nature seems to be telling me this, too.  I cherish the fact that my baby will be born in Springtime and in the Easter season - a whole season dedicated to New Life after a winter of hibernation and death.

“Love in its fullest form is a series of deaths and rebirths. We let go of one phase, one aspect of love, and enter another. Passion dies and is brought back. Pain is chased away and surfaces another time. To love means to embrace and at the same time to withstand many many endings, and many many beginnings – all in the same relationship.”
— Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run With the Wolves
 

So I also write down all that will be brought forth if I choose to let go of the old and usher in this New Life.  I will gain...

A kind of love I've not yet known.  A growing relationship with Eric. An opportunity to question and learn and grow in myself. A connection with every other parent on the planet. An added piece of my identity.

I know I must let go in order to gain.  I look inward and tell myself not to be like those stubborn leaves, hanging onto their old lives and refusing to fall into what is.  So I let myself die to the old things in order to give birth to something entirely new.

Is there something you must die to in order to bring forth something new in your life?

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them.”
— Ecclesiastes 3:1-5