The time before the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (which coincides with the summer solstice) is garden-compelled! Getting things planted before the days start, ever so imperceptibly, to wane, is maybe in our blood. It is in mine right now. Must. Garden!
The weather has been pretty glorious, so I've been enjoying the outside work, especially since the whole family has been pitching in! Our peonies have started blooming and the sage already had to be cut back.
Rising some sandwich loaves while dashing out to plant something else…
There was a mouse in my pantry, due to some sort of work stoppage on the part of the outdoor cats…
This necessitated a complete cleaning and purging. (The ironing board is wet because my granddaughter has discovered the pleasure of ironing napkins!)
Taking care of the home has its seasons, contented and otherwise. Sometimes it can feel oppressive. At the end of winter, just before the coming of the hope of Spring, doing housework can seem pointless indeed.
Sometimes it's a pleasure, especially when you have a little help and the sun shines its warming rays, with the promise of an evening cocktail to smooth the aching limbs!
In season or out, the home needs making. Without a home, the person has no context. Making the home is the true mission of the family!
Being creative, finding ways of doing things, learning and discovering, delving into the details that seem so mundane to those who are distracted — these are the consolations, rich indeed to anyone who is blessed enough to be given them.
On to our links!
bits & pieces
- For Father's Day! An online conference from the Center for the Restoration of Christian Culture: Rediscovering Fatherhood: An Online Conference To Inspire Fathers and Support Families — June 22, 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
- Have you ever thought about how women got the vote? Do you take it for granted that women wanted the vote? Here is a contemporary essay on the subject — just food for thought.
- A post full of resources for studying Joan of Arc, a saint for our times. And let me be clear: St. Joan is not a feminist saint — she is a saint for standing athwart the “institutional church” when it went astray, and that is why she ought to speak to us!
- Marriage is how persons can build a just society and prosper. Fifty years ago, Senator Daniel Moynihan wrote an important “Report” on the state of marriage in the Black community. It's well worth remembering. Many movements today expressly oppose this sacred institution (and I would advise that you look into the stated goals of any organization you reference positively).
- I am a child of the 60s. I lived through race riots and civil unrest. I grew up with angry Blacks and guilty Whites. I have seen how the difficulties of our country's past and the uncertainties of our present have been exploited, over and over, by radicals and those who do not have the common good at heart. Please listen to this man. Try to listen all the way through. Keep in mind that he is a Black man talking (it seems) to other Blacks, but he addresses anyone who is tempted to succumb to what he calls “Ethnic Gnosticism,” meaning Critical Race Theory as it is packaged for the masses, for the mob.
minute 28 — hindering genuine relationships
minute 37 — “cult” of atonement, and the important message that “you will never be sorry enough” for those who are members of this cult.
minute 50 — God has given us a way to rectify these things, in His Word
- Our state bee inspector, Ken, opens a hive and shows bees being born. He is a bee whisperer and always worth watching.
- A friend whose children do lovely brush drawings (including for their nature journals) has been using this YouTube channel to teach them: Bestowing the Brush. This first lesson is quite appealing.
- Phil Lawler (my husband), looking at our towns: Why do Americans fear children?
- Thanks to my mom, I have a nice stand of comfrey in the herb garden. I've been using it as a mulch — have you heard of this?
from the archives
- An old post about how I organized the pantry to also be my little creative space. Things have changed a little, as they always do, but you can get the general idea.
liturgical living
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Kate says
I feel a bit overwhelmed with the garden. We moved into new 100-year old house last year. The previous owners were master gardeners and the acre is extensively landscaped with plants to provide a natural habitat for birds and bees. It’s gloriously green and colorful out there, but I’m not familiar with all the plants and I’m not completely sure what are weeds. I know it needs care with all the rain encouraging rampant growth. My husband likes the wildness, but it’s triggering to my tidying gene. Other than mowing the grass, he has persuaded me to let it go unless it starts eating the house. This seems to be a time of the joy of discovery instead of the stress of management – which I’m not entirely sure is a good idea. I wish I had a BFF who worked at a nursery. My husband has the vegetable garden under control in raised beds. The wisteria arbor seems manageable. I’m mostly living in denial and concentrating on my potted annuals and herbs on the big porch which are behaving properly.
NY Mom says
Kate, don’t let that inherited garden intimidate you. Master gardeners are typically very generous with their knowledge. Maybe invite one over to do a walk-thru with you, help identify the most maintenance-free plants ( those are the keepers!) and make suggestions for what you can reasonably care for in exchange for free cuttings or bouquets for a month. I bet they’d be thrilled by the offer. Start by calling your local County Extension Office or local gardening club for leads. Remember your goal is to adapt what you have for your own resources of time and taste. As you get to know your plants they will become like faithful old friends that come up every spring!
Leila says
Kate, speaking as someone who was in the same position as you are (with more wildness and less cultivation to deal with, but just as little gardening know-how), I would say that your husband is right to MOW! As long as you keep the areas around the gardens trimmed, you can eventually tackle the gardens themselves.
Keep reading and also I recommend Instagram accounts with gardens — very helpful to see what others are doing! And find a neighbor who knows how to do things…
Victoria says
Local libraries sometimes have contacts for local master gardeners!
Terri says
Oh Leila, I’m just so grateful for your wisdom and perspective and this peaceful little spot on the interwebs, I don’t have time for more than a drive-by just now, but I look forward to diving into all of these links later. And the Chief has been killing it over at Catholic Culture too! Thanks to you both for your witness. Happy gardening!
Leila says
Thank you, Terri! Your words are always treasured.
Elizabeth says
Vitamin D3 is essential! Definitely get your levels checked. And look into taking it in conjunction with K2 (helps with the absorption of calcium in the bones and not other places from my understanding). Immune support is some of the best common sense wisdom to combat any virus. Healthy eating, supplements when necessary, sleep, exercise, etc. Thanks for the link!
Megan Frei says
Auntie Leila, thank you for the Father’s Day gift ideas!
And I love your photos of your garden, crafts, and baked goods! Your photos always give me the urge to go make something.
Bethanne says
Comfrey is an amazing plant. Yes, it is a compost accelerator, and excellent for giving nutrients to fruiting trees (including tomatoes) but it is also known as “knit bone”. I know I will sound crazy, but this is a true story. While my daughter did not break her foot, it was extremely swollen and she couldn’t walk on it. I took the leaves and poured boiling water over them and let them sit for about 20 minutes. Then I wrapped her foot in leaves (prickly side to her foot) and wrapped the leaves in plastic wrap. Within minutes, the swelling was down considerably. We did this for three days whenever her foot began to swell if she used it too much. The pain was gone and the swelling, too. I even used it on one of my chickens when she got her foot caught in our chicken tractor. I do think it was broken. Comfrey and wrapping it up and keeping her in a separate pen for a week–she was as good as new. I once read an article written by an Amish man and he said, “I think God gives the poor all the medicine they need in the plants.” After that, I started looking at my yard differently. And while I’m not advocating for comfrey to replace a cast/surgery if needed for a broken bone, it has worked for us. Just a note, people can be allergic to the tiny hairs all over the leaves, so be careful.
Leila says
Bethanne, this is an amazing experience! Must keep it in mind.
Mary Eileen says
I coincidentally finished Mark Twain’s Joan of Arc a few days ago. Can’t believe I never read it before, and didn’t even really know of it til relatively recently! It’s wonderful and absolutely she is a saint for our times with her unshakeable faith in the face of the abuse of priestly authority and institutional corruption. I will admit that I’ve scratched my head about St Joan in the past … wondering, why? His telling illuminated her for me.
Rebecca says
That sermon from Pastor Voddie Baucham is incredible. I also highly recommend a podcast called “Just Thinking…” with Virgil Walker and Darrell Harrison. Lots of good information and perspective there. I too love this quiet, practical, beautiful corner of the interwebs. Thanks Leila!
Ashley says
Hi! I don’t get to comment often but I always enjoy when you post. My husband and I enjoyed reading the Havel piece from last week. It’s especially timely. We look forward to watching the Baucham talk.
Are you supposed to cut back sage? Hmm, I need to look into that.
Have a wonderful week!
Logan says
You just casually threw in that Atlantic piece on suffrage like it’s no biggie, but here I am still picking up pieces of my brain after reading it(i.e. mind blown)! It took me several tries to get all the way through it because I kept stopping to mull over this part:
“In the family, therefore, his it is to go forth and fight the battle with Nature; to compel the reluctant ground to give her riches to his use. It is not for woman to hold the plough, or handle the hoe, or dig in the mine, or fell the forest. The war with Nature is not for her to wage. It is true that savage tribes impose this unfeminine task upon her; true that modern nations which have not yet fully emerged from barbarism continue to do so; true, also, that in the cruel industrial competitions of modern times there is, in some communities, a relapse into this barbarism. But whether it is the Indian squaw digging in the corn patch, or the German Frau holding the plough, or the American wife working the loom in her husband’s place,—wherever man puts the toil that is battle and the battle that is toil upon the woman, the law of Nature, that is, the law of God, written in her constitution and in the constitution of the family, is set at naught. This is not to say that her toil is less than man’s; but it is different. It may be easier to be the man with the hoe than the woman with the needle; it may be easier to handle the plough than to broil over the cook stove; but these tasks are not the same. The ceaseless toil of the field requires exhaustless energy; the continuous toil of the household requires exhaustless patience. Being a man, the exhaustless patience seems to me at once more difficult and more admirable than the exhaustless energy. But they are not the same.”
I really balked at this. But the rest is so coherent and makes so much sense it is hard for me to ignore! I recently had a discussion with a friend who was defending the idea of drafting women to war. She argued that if women can’t be called up for the draft then we don’t have true equality. I was arguing that men and women are different in function even if they both have a right to vote. Even at the time I felt like it wasn’t quite consistent, I think this article really articulates my inconsistency. I want to hear some more voices here! Does it have to be either/or? Can’t we acknowledge that men and women are functionally different and also that women need a voice and a vote in the public discourse? Where’s that argument? I’m pretty sure Leila you aren’t calling women to not vote, you seem to be accepting of both the reality as it stands and also calling woman to embrace their calling (inheritance?) of womanhood. But I’d love to hear more of your thoughts!
BridgetAnn says
I wonder if part of what makes the article’s position – that women don’t really *want* to vote – seem initially dismissive is our collective memory-loss regarding the origin and true nature of government.
“For the object of government is the protection of person, property, and reputation from the foes which assail them. Government may do other things: it may carry the mails, run the express, own and operate the railroads; but its fundamental function is to furnish protection from open violence or secret fraud.”
Seems like nowadays those “other things” that the government “may do” have exploded to a countless number and have essentially overtaken our idea of what government means. For example, to my understanding, the federal government has two (2!) jobs: protection of borders and regulation of interstate commerce. We are, in practice, so far removed from this that it is hard to know how to get back…
BridgetAnn says
To clarify, I was trying to say that traditionally, government fell in the realm of protection, etc. and thus it would naturally fall to man, being the protector by nature. And nowadays, all the big and little laws that go into ‘politics’ cross all sorts of areas that concern men and women alike, which is perhaps a cause of the fuzziness in examining the issue of women voting today.
Logan says
Sorry to take so long to respond! I think your point is interesting because you seem to have taken it differently than me and it’s great to hear another perspective. I didn’t find the author’s viewpoint dismissive exactly writing in the era he did because if you read literature from that period, there were many women opposed to suffrage and I think he was giving a voice to that viewpoint. I suppose I took him for speaking sincerely!
I think what catches me up is that I wonder if we don’t have a well realized anthropology of women in theology. I think all the pieces are there, but I never feel fully expressed by what I’ve read about women in church writings. I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve never yet read castii conubii even though I consider myself fairly well read, which I think would probably be an important work to consider before I say this, but there it is. SO when he says it’s not for women to toil, I argue that not toiling isn’t being true to our God-made bodies, as much as patience is required for the endless household duties, they can actually leave a woman more ungrounded, subject to emotions, the hysterical wreak of women often described in victorian literature. Prone to hysterics, etc. And I think that our bodies were really made to squat and bend and run and that is actually essential to maintaining the health of our birthing bodies! But I agree that men in general, (there are always women who will break the mold as he says) are more equipped to deal with heated debate and also to fight physically. I know this is not a church writing but it makes me think about the meaning of womanhood. and to hear something so drastically out of place with modernity really makes me wish there was something from the church that could help me understand my place in this modern world as an orthodox catholic woman.
I do think that the preeminent role of government would be to protect our rights and guarantee our freedoms.
Following that I don’t think that the increased bureaucracy of the state contradicts his argument that if you are voting on a rule or law that you are essentially putting force behind it. And can women LITERALLY do that? I think it is a fair question. I would say generally, no, women cannot force compliance from men or even other women, but can all men? Do handicapped men or weak men not all get a vote? It’s a funny thing to discuss in this way since clearly women have the vote and we aren’t looking to get rid of it! But I want consistency in my thought.
Any law that is made fundamentally needs to be weighed against the use of force necessary to make it happen if need be. I’ve only ever thought of that though as the government’s role, but I’ve never considered the point that a vote means you would physically stand behind it. I also wonder if that is true necessarily in a republic. Should every representative be willing to get in a cage match to defend their vote? Hilarious thought. Maybe then the media could focus on that clear entertainment rather than turning the nation against each other.
I’m being facetious in the end there, I hope that’s evident. 🙂
Leila says
Dear Logan and BridgetAnn — great discussion!
Briefly, I posted the article because I think we need to know two things: as far as I can tell, women in general did not want the vote (worth pondering) and also it’s MEN who gave women the vote!
You are right, Logan, that I’m not saying women shouldn’t have the vote… but if asked, I would respond, what have we ever done with it? Has anything good come of it?
Another interesting thought: universal suffrage is an anomaly. When women didn’t have the vote, neither did all men.
Another thought (via Chesterton and Catholic social teaching): What if the real “social unit” is not the individual… but the *family*.
Leila says
As to women being suited to hard physical toil, it’s a woman’s fantasy (I guess) to think that we are. Men have a capacity for unrelieved toil that women do not have — let alone when you factor in the pregnant or nursing state.
Of course, let’s not set up a counterfactual to say that women shouldn’t be physically active. Obviously we are, and equally obviously in those states I mention our bodies are doing incredible things that men usually just don’t want to think about!
But if you’re talking about day in and day out being able to get out there and build a railroad or put girders into the ground for a bridge or plow a field… well, women can do some of it sometimes, and of course have always pitched in when necessary, but it’s a mark of civilization that we not be made to or even expected to!
When you have that newborn in your arms, you and everyone else simply expects the man to go out and sandbag the house against a flood. You *could* do it (maybe, but not with the same ability) but you *should not* if a man is there to do it! It’s his glory to do it… why do we want to take that away from him, when we have the baby!
BridgetAnn says
Such an interesting point to consider, Aunt Leila, regarding the family as the real social unit as opposed to the individual. I see how this addresses directly our current discussion of “who gets to vote”, but further, how much more peace would there be- within the household and thus society at large- if families really operated as a unit as opposed to a group of people who happen to share the same address?
What values are important to *us* (not *me*)? If there is a difference of opinion, where does it originate? It forces resolution of conflict on the primary level (the family) with people who are closest to one another and (hopefully) love one another before it hits the (more conducive to uncharity because distantly related) realm of social media and beyond. And it would certainly aid marriage preparation if couples understood how truly unifying their future life was meant to be.
That is the goal, of course, but it is enlightening to reflect upon in a current culture that accepts no fault divorce, separate finances/parallel social lives for spouses, cohabitation, unnatural promotion of individualism to young people at the expense of their and the common good, etc. etc.
Logan says
I’m totally in agreement about about women not being suited to unrelenting physical toil. I think I’m just in disagreement with the author about what that constitutes precisely. I’m definitely a Hannah Fowler kind of woman. Proud of my capability, that being said, you better believe I appreciate my young sons to order to move furniture about for me! 🙂 And I never suffered any delusion that for all my strength that my husband wasn’t stronger!
I was thinking this week about the subject and I was reminded of when we were living in Cameroon I never found my husband more attractive than when he’d put on his “rat stomping boots” and reclaim our kitchen (it was a primitive situation) from being overrun. I certainly would never do that!
At the same time I grew up, like everyone else, steeped in this feminist propaganda and only can spot it in reaction to an article like this. I had a friend, a mother of ten, who on a hike pointed to the train tunnel blasted through a mountain we were about to traverse and said “isn’t it amazing to think that only a man would think of doing this? If it were up to us women we’d still be tending our little tented families (or something like that).” I was so shocked when I heard somebody just come out and say it like that! But I couldn’t deny it. I would never look at a solid mountain and think, “yes, let’s go through it!”
I’m reading von Hildebrand’s transformation in Christ right now and he says that the gospel intends us to have simplicity which he describes as opposed to disunity.
“A similar disunity in manifest in lives controlled by diverse and mutually contradictory currents, which develop side by side, each according to its immanent law, without being coordinated or confronted with the other. A person of this kind is said to be spilt; his life lacks inward unity.”
I think this describes me and I would guess many women who are striving to be traditional homemakers. Even when the will is oriented towards the action there is this inward disunity that is difficult to reconcile.
Logan says
Not all men had a vote, as in only landed men had the vote? Did that change at the time of the women’s vote. My history is a sad story.
Victoria says
Wow, Dr. Voddie Baucham’s sermon was just the Gospel balm my spirit needed this morning. Thank you for sharing.