Joy Marie Clarkson's Blog

How to Make The Perfect Cup of Tea Going on a Quest!

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We can’t belong to a place unless we know it. And we can’t know it if we don’t pay attention.

I’m one of the lucky ones: my flat has a small garden that has provided much sanity in the housebound days. I’ve enjoyed every inch of the small space, reading in the patch of grass, pacing back and forth to release pent up energy, plucking leaves and flowers to brighten corners of my house with living things. Being forced to enjoy this and only this corner of the world has made me realise the abundance of life that can be contained in one little postage stamp of land. For instance, after finding little feather picture above and wondered what bird it belonged to, I posted it on my Patreon, and one of my clever patrons (Emma) discovered that it belonged to a Eurasian Woodcock.

It may seem a silly thing, but it was wondrous to discover that this strange little creature had been poking around in my backyard. I’m so used to living portably, not belonging anywhere too long, that i sometimes miss the richness of coming to thoroughly know and belong to the places I live, in all their startling particularity. This season has been an invitation to belong to this place, and only this place. To observe and delight in it. And though I itch to wander beyond these stone walls, I must confess: there’s more to love in this little garden than I expected.

We can’t belong to a place unless we know it. And we can’t know it if we don’t pay attention.

In this episode, I spoke with Gracy Olmstead a writer whose interests span agriculture, exodus, and belonging, about how the places come from shape who we are, how we can befriend the places we live in now, and about how to be faithful to the places we have left. We talked how learning the landscape of our community through walking can introduce us to the history and people who live there, and even give us a deeper understanding of our own internal worlds. And of course, we talked about one of our favourite writers: Wendell Berry. This conversation was a breath of grace to my soul, and I hope it will be the same to yours.

Listen below…Today’s Guest: Gracy Olmstead

Gracy Olmstead is a writer and journalist located outside Washington, D.C. She's written for The American Conservative, National Review, The Federalist, and The Washington Times, among others. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook,or Instagram.