Leaflet No. 22
This week’s leaflet tea tastes like...creaming butter with sugar, and lemon-zest, mugwort mochi, lilacs, silver and wet grass.
Hello, everyone.
Tea Leaf Tech is a process in which I brew a cup of the Beobab.tree’s blend (its bark, leaves, its fruit, and a dapple of honey—of course!), which is a way to introduce settling and warmth into the day’s spiral of events. During this time of sipping and slowness, ideas and images collect at the bottom of the cup. The readings of the tea leaves laid to rest on ceramic glaze will be the basis of Beobab.tree’s leaflets. From here, I invite you to sit with your own cuppa and peruse what sensations this week’s tea blend has to offer.
Enjoying:
🌺 kumquats
🌺 Bleeding Heart blooms
🌺 americanos with however much milk the barista discerns is "a little"
🌺 drops of a sleep tincture in cold water before bed. This one boasts of deep sleep by poppy, passion flower, valerian root, milky oat, lemon balm, and chamomile.
Lately I am enjoying the work only hands can do. I will expand, the way a loofah—like the one I got from the co-op looks like a zinnia flower—uncollapses from the release of my grip and lets the soapy suds pile back into its folds.
I like the state of my mind when I am working with my hands.
Observing people work with their hands has been something I’ve long been keen on replicating or describing in my creative work. Whenever I miss my mother, I realized can channel her and make something honest & tasty. One morning after our call at 6:50am, I proceeded to bake a cake, not really understanding why. Just in the mood to.
I started to make pieces of jewelry from curving silver wire to enclose beads and gemstone. One hand holds the plier as the other wrestles tiny beads away from where I'll make the bend; my mind thinking only of precision.
Another morning, I decided to wilt some spinach in shallots and garlic, feta, and roasted tomatoes into a filling for empanadas. My hands pushed into the wood rolling pin with steadfast pressure; my mind thinking of only rolling. I fastened the empanadas by fork, then released them into the hot oil like freeing a fish into the water.
My rhythm was: flatten, fill, fold, fork, free, fry, fuss out the bed of oil, repeat.
Who was once a person with wayward dissatisfaction became a person with dissipating dissatisfaction and something to do.
Keep the pace constant and make it beautiful.
When I work with my hands, my awareness of what's in front of me multiplies 8-fold. Rubbing lemon zest into sugar before I meld it into room-softened butter makes me feel like I am at the beach, appraising the sand before building a castle.
My mind clears the dregs that impede the true acceptance of my reality. When reality is both suffering and pleasure entangled, my hands rest ready.
And from the toil, ten empanadas lay cooling and a blueberry cake cuts into eight. Like with pieces of jewelry, these would be shared with people I love.
The other night, I rolled gỏi cuốn for a potluck for a group of friends from my jiu-jitsu gym, and they were so well-praised and so well-eaten. Eating from a meal made by your friends feels consecrate when everyone is supposed to be very busy.
It contents me to produce something that will signal to another that I care, that I am caring, that there is so much in the world to care for.
Media to share:
🌺 Song… Maggot Brain - Funkadelic
🌺 Album… The Maria's Submarine
This week, I am joining a friend to do some work on the farm, the kind of work I enjoy doing but haven’t found myself taking the initiative to seek out for a while now.
I am looking forward to smelling soil, putting my hands towards something bigger than me. No need to overthink what is in front of you.
I hope your day is kind to you and you are kind to you.
Handing it off to you,
Isabel
Isabel your words always bring me joy and contentment. May we all learn to look at the world the way you do!