Lammas 2025...

A wildcrafted bundle for Lammas (Лунаса) gathered on the first harvest feast day in the Ukrainian calendar- Спаса.

On the cusp of the full sturgeon moon in August, in Lammas-tide, I'm finally sitting down to write my first post on my new personal website. I'm nervous and excited as this feels like a real symbolic start to a new chapter!

As many of you may know, I've been spearheading many big community projects for over a decade now, (if you don't know- see my projects page for a list! namely Kosa Arts :), and through those endeavours, I've worked a lot on our organisations' websites and newsletters, finding an outlet for my love of writing, and documentation and really enjoying the process of crafting content and telling stories. I started to do a little more of my own personal storytelling related to "this folk life" through photos posted to my social media account, and here and there with a longer written reflection, but I was hesitant to commit to building my own website and to start my own body of work there, simply because I didn't think I could do both!

But recently, as I have been pursuing grants for some of my craft and getting more into teaching workshops, I had to make a personal website out of necessity. And out of necessity, to help folks find me and stay abreast of what I'm offering, outside of social media platforms, I've started this newsletter & blog!

So... here I am!

It's been a journey finding my own artistic voice and stepping more directly into the light as a teacher, from working a lot with a collective, to recognising and pursuing my own unique dreams and vision.

I'm very grateful that what I've been exploring and learning and chasing with enthusiasm the last couple of decades has found a way to come out in community this way. I love teaching workshops and meeting all you good people and building something together that is positive and life giving. Thank you for making it possible!

I really appreciate you reading and following along.

And I will very much appreciate if you help pass along any posts and information to others who may be interested. Let's keep sharing things organically (and not rely on the social media platforms with their nefarious ownership and questionable approaches)!

Thank you. Dyakuyu. Dai Bozhe!

p.s. oh and to matters of business! I know y'all are here for the 'news' and not just by personal musings! ;))

I forgot to mention that I do have a few announcements about upcoming fall workshops and a slew of exciting programming happening as part of the Kosa residency at the Hart House in Toronto Nov-Feb. Stay tuned!

I will make a separate post about all that when it's totally finalized.

For those in Ottawa- I'll be back at Gaia Organic Seeds farm the weekend of Oct 3-5 for scything and straw crafting. If you're in Ottawa area and would like to join, you can stay tuned or always reach out pre-emptively to me or Manish at Gaia Seeds to ask about securing a spot.