The stuff that has made up our January thus far...

Our 2020 blog book arrived in the mail the other day. Flipping through the book provided me with a much needed burst of inspiration to keep blogging. It gave me a lovely dose of warm fuzzies. If I'm honest, I've hardly thought about the blog during this month. It may have something to do with the fact that my journal is getting a lot more attention in 2021 than it has for a good number of years. And I wasn't sure there was much to report in this little corner of the world. But when I downloaded pictures just now there were over 100. And I got another dose of warm fuzzies looking at them, so I thought I'd share a few for you to enjoy as well! Here's some of what our January was comprised of (all mixed up together with what felt like continual bouts of disturbing news of violence and unrest leading up the presidential transition in this country, sadness and grief at the increasing number of COVID deaths that keep marching closer and closer to home, and Jason and I both putting considerable time and energy into counseling/coaching to work at our own health/healing): 

These "rhino twins" warm my heart! I think they warm each other's hearts too!!

Terah takes after her big sisters. She enjoys art very much AND most art projects involve at least one meltdown when something doesn't turn out as she expected/wished it would. Now there are two sisters who remember what it felt like and try to help console and creatively problem solve, but sometimes that isn't even enough for this little gal... 

Alida continues to love opportunities for experimenting in the kitchen. And if there is dough to be kneaded, she's my gal. She still prefers to make up her own recipes, but can be convinced to follow one sometimes!

We've enjoyed some pretty tasty meals this month: empanadas and spring rolls are among the highlights for me. Additionally, on my work days Tala, my mom and Kali have started rotating cooking and so at the end of a long day in front of the computer a yummy meal awaits.

Sometimes I feel like I'd almost prefer to just curl up and go to bed after a 10-12 hour work day, but there is something also so grounding to find myself surrounded by these dear ones. Even when I don't know that I need it, I do!

Only the younger two generations in our household rang in the new year this year, and some us barely made it. But my friend's Spicebush Dram was worth waiting up for! I'm not one for making New Year's resolutions, but I did make a New Year's commitment and that was to alter my CJP work schedule. I've returned to a schedule I had years ago (albeit in an actual office and not my house), which is working 3 long days/week. I'm 3 weeks into the new schedule and while it's not perfect, but it's a big improvement. My "office" days are M/W/Th (on Tu/F I actually put on my autoresponder and don't check at all). I feel like it has helped the whole family to have a better sense of the rhythm of our weeks.

And speaking of rhythms and routines, with January came the first round of seed starting (January 1 is shallots and onions and then we follow February 1, March 1 and April 1 with other starts). 

It's winter pruning/cut back time and Terah's turtle shell garden is really starting to take shape!!

The cold snap (winter peas) are as cute as they always are. I love taking a peek at them when I'm out and about. 

My parents are now with us at Tangly Woods approx 3/4 of the time and we have easily adjusted to it and feel so grateful for our times together. We also think that they do need us to keep an eye on them at times. They are really unstoppable. At least it wasn't Mom on the ladder (though we did watch a video of her sledding just today). They are enjoying a long stint in WV so Mom can hopefully get her fill of snow before returning to our mostly snow-less landscape over here. 

Terah wasn't ready for Christmas to come to an end this year. Possibly in part because her Christmas present didn't arrive by Christmas, or the New Year for that matter. She had requested a "fancy white dress with extras" and then later tacked on a veil to that order (she and Alida love to "play wedding." and my dress is rather big for her!). Thankfully Mom had a friend pick a veil up at a thrift store and we had that for Christmas, but the dress we ordered in early December got sent to a neighboring town and then it got lost in the USPS system for weeks.

The tree had to come down and still the package was no where to be seen.

Finally in mid-January it arrived (once she had nearly forgotten about it other than when I brought it up)! And she was NOT disappointed!! Soon after, we had a wishbone from a chicken and she said she didn't have anything to wish for now that her dress had come. Then she ran to Jason and whispered that she could wish that it wouldn't get dirty!

Yep, she's a silly one! 

But she is not the only silly one in the house!

But these kiddos aren't just silly! They are also learning new things every day and the littlest especially is always eager to try out her new skills. It's a thrill for this mommy when that comes in the form of sifting lots of ground corn!!

Jason's also got assistants often these days in the chicken department. Alida spent a full day out with him going through our entire flock (I think it was somewhere around 103 birds?), choosing breeders for the year and moving birds around to prep for the new hatching season. In preparation for that, we also made a large purchase of a new incubator. Hatching eggs are being collected... Ready or not, here come the chicks!

And that's not the only "new" thing in our home. Anyone that knows me and Jason well knows that we can agonize over what floss to purchase. So for us to buy an incubator AND a stove in one month is nothing short of noteworthy. Now the incubator is new and the stove is old, but that was how we wanted it. Our neighbor knew we were on the lookout for a stove made when stoves were still made to last. So here's our $40 used stove, with no bells and whistles. So far, so good. It even has a working oven light. Bonus! The timer sounds like a smoke alarm going off. Not ideal!

But it cooks YUMMY food! I couldn't help but photograph the chicken gumbo with fresh parsley in January. 

January has only had a few stints of "family work." We've done a few winter cut back stints together, but Jason had done a lot of the winter pig paddock clearing solo. Until today! We enjoyed a few hours out there all together - even the 5 year old was wielding a machete!

And Kali took down a tree with an axe!

And when the critch (brush pile in a U shape) got too high to put more on, Kali happily volunteered for the task of trampling it down!

And when I said we were ALL out there together, that included all the humans and Little Buddy! He has officially received "pet status" at Tangly Woods and this week moved into his own quarters in the pet coop inside the garden. 

Alida has been successful enough at taming Little Buddy that he can roam free in the garden while we are working outside and she can easily pick him back up (with a little corn as a distraction). We still don't know for sure why Little Buddy is so little, but Alida is not the only one that has become a bit attached!!

Well, that was a whirlwind tour of random things in January. But I think that's all I've got for tonight. And, yes, I've made a conscious decision for this post to be internal Tangly Woods news. Remember, it was with the hope of sharing a warm fuzzy or two around.

2020 Myers-Benner Year in Review!

Well. 2020! Who could have imagined it? Remember that 80s classic film, Back to the Future? My (Jason writing) favorite internet meme of this year was one featuring Marty McFly (with the DeLorean time machine) where the Professor was shouting, "Marty! Whatever you do don't go to 2020!" Ain't THAT the truth!

It isn't as much a personal complaint on my part as it is on behalf of my society-mates. That is to say we at Tangly Woods have had it comparatively easy, or at least have not suffered nearly the isolation and disruption that many have due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are not right in the middle of the political strife and civil upheaval that has marked this year. Despite laboring over it at times, like everyone else we've had a hard time knowing how to retain a sense of balance in the constant tugs-of-war between (among many competing forces) caution and connection, advocacy and dismay, solidarity and tranquility...looking back we wonder if we got the balances right, and despite our friend and neighbor Jonathan McRay aptly dubbing this year "The Year of Hindsight" we realize even hindsight isn't 20/20. As always, we welcome you into our ongoing process of discernment, and volunteer ourselves for involvement in yours.

But enough abstractions...you're here for the goods! Read on for an update and review about each of us.

Terah (5): The essence of this kid might be understood succinctly if one had witnessed her last evening sitting on my lap and repeatedly, gleefully ROARING into my face, no holds barred, then breaking down in giggles at my shocked reaction (not entirely voluntary...you try it with a straight face). The free-flowing emotions we recognized in her as a baby who "went from 0 to 100 in less than a second" continue unabated. Her fifth year saw her able to hold her own in imaginative play with her 9-year-old sister, and ushered in a new fascination with all things fancy. This year she was able to fulfill a wish held over from last year's hog butchering when she so longed to cut pork fat for lard rendering. This year she diced fat like a pro, braving cool temps to stick with the job for an hour or more. Endurance and enthusiasm for butchering may be a theme; after plucking her second whole chicken in November she burst out, "This is like a feather festival!" We're considering phasing out "chicken butchering days" and starting "Feather Festivals." Terah has a special knack for art; rainbows a specialty. When drawing flowers, she never neglects to give them soil and water. Smiley faces must always include a nose! If she gets bored, she knows how to make something happen. Often that includes disappearing up the stairs to go see what Grandma is up to, and if she can get a piece of dark chocolate out of it (she usually can), all the better. What a kid! A ball of energy and spunk running around in footy jammies most of the time...that is, if she has anything on at all.

Alida (9): This kid has probably faced the most changes with the advent of the novel coronavirus. Her somewhat regular play times with several friends were all dramatically changed, reduced, and/or dropped this year. Soccer was not an option. In-person art classes were off, though she participated in an online arts camp through JMU's Furious Flower program. Empathy has fully kicked in developmentally (right on cue), so movies and books tend to grab her attention thoroughly, and can threaten her stability if characters experience danger, disappointment, or heartbreak. Sometimes the world found inside the walls of the house is just not big enough for Alida, so it's a good thing she's caught on to the joy of caring for CHICKENS! No day is complete now without at least one trip down to the chicken coops to check up on her favorites, make a little progress on taming, and scatter some treats. When she and her rosy cheeks make their way back to the house (sometimes it can be quite a while), whoever she sees first is likely to get an excited earful about the joys and sorrows she observed amongst the feathered friends and how CUTE they all are. She brought it to a family meeting that she wanted to take on more chicken responsibilities...as of now she is in charge of feed and water for the Arch Coop, home of the Cub Run Crele flock, and will be assisting with breeding decisions for that project going forward.

Kali (17): Our eldest offspring (almost hard to call her a kid anymore) is continuing more or less apace. COVID scuttled her plans to be the assistant coach for Alida's soccer team, and also made getting together with friends harder, but given her homeschooled life so far, her days were not changed dramatically. She continues to love reading, cooking, music, quirky and challenging conversations, and trying new experiences. This year she has been spending some of her time turning the tables on her favorite pastime by starting to produce some literature of her own. Her work is an intriguing and enjoyable glimpse into the impishly intelligent world of her mind. She is starting to gear up, we think, for some big adventures. Travel and some additional adventures outside of Tangly Woods is appealing, and after a complete 2 week quarantine, she enjoyed a 2 week trip to Pittsburgh, PA to spend time with her Aunt Christie and Uncle Mark. She is starting to lay plans for a possible visit to the Philippines with Tala (our dear temporary family member/housemate).

Janelle: Still working at the same place after 20 years, Janelle has been at CJP for more than 80% of its existence. One of a series of podcasts intended to contribute to 25th anniversary celebrations for the Center (postponed until 2021) was focused on her as a person and her long history there. That podcast also featured her experience with Nora. COVID upended much of Janelle's work environment, since all the graduate and other programs at CJP suddenly had to go online. She was grateful some decision-makers there had the foresight to plan that way even before undergraduate programs had made their decisions for fall! Still, the added stress of rearranging standard practices made what were already jam-packed work hours into a protracted series of doozies. Furthermore, the full blending of the home and work environments with zero in-person office hours proved a challenge. She's looking to some healthy boundary-setting in the new year, having gotten clearance to put on her autoresponder and be truly absent from work on any day she's officially "off." She is tentatively hopeful that will reduce the relentlessness of the pressure, but remains concerned about what these limits will do to the possibility of getting her job accomplished in the part-time hours allotted. But a change was definitely needed to allow her to focus on what she most wants to be doing. And that is...well, actually...what does Janelle really want from life? 2021 will include investigation of that and other personal questions - she embarks on a stint of intensive individual counseling this week with both eagerness and some apprehension. All that is clear to her so far is that it will not do to have her most precious relationships compromised by stress, anxiety, and performing to others' expectations, and that living out just relationships while advocating for a just society is the essential component of the good life she yearns for.

Jason: This year was basically split between family life and a continuation of the steady crescendo of Exciting Projects Jason has presented to himself and/or the whole family. Many of these are showing noticeable improvement, and we all love taste testing squashes, popcorn, lettuce, etc... Jason loves little more than to dive into a breeding, caretaking, or cultivation puzzle or endeavor and follow and blend the needs and constraints into a harmonious solution. He loves this so much that he finds it much easier to do this than to step back and consider the wisdom of plunging into so many such projects simultaneously, success notwithstanding. But it's coming home to roost now, our life and homestead are full up to the gills, and 2021 must be the year of respecting limits, which means the year of letting go of some possibilities (and perfectly good possibilities, at that!). Life on a home farm involves much joy; e.g., pulling carrots in the evening light and chill of late fall, plunging a tool to the hilt in rich, dark, loose soil where once there was gray, dense, silty, compacted dirt. It also has its measure of grief, in both general and particular ways; e.g., scaling back one's scope of work (required in 2021) and mourning a failed litter of piglets (as happened in August). But pruning one's ambitions, like pruning a vine, leaves more room for excellence in what remains, and Red Rosy the Pig is due again in late March...hope springs eternal! Jason showed up last March as an interviewee on the Virginia Farming TV show in 2020, and also presented his first virtual seed saving workshop through JMU's Seed Library. He taught a COVID-wise version of his annual chicken butchering/caretaking lesson at Allegheny Mountain Institute (AMI), and AMI and Oak Spring Garden (which also signed up for a chicken breeding talk) took on flocks of our Shenandoahs (and a few Cub Run Creles, too, for Oak Spring). It was heartening to engage with these folks in this way and good, too, to have the birds trialed by others...he'll be eager for their feedback. A few folks also got our Blacks Run Browns for backyard pets. So much good work to be done! We're always glad for good partners.

Now for some news from the rest of the Tangly Woods crew:

Nora (in memoriam): It touched these parents deeply when at Christmas we pulled the few items out of Nora's stocking and found a handmade card from Alida, inside of which was a heart shape with the inscription, "May you feel our love." COVID made blood drives a greater challenge this year...we decided to only hold one, in October, and we think that tradition (in that form, anyway), may have run its course for us. This is due, largely, not to COVID but to Virginia Blood Services having been bought out by the Red Cross and that shift turning what used to feel like very meaningful community gatherings into ones that include jumping through an unwieldy number of bureaucratic hoops! It may be time to move on to other ways of celebrating her.

Tala: A recent graduate of CJP's masters program and a dear friend, Tala joined our household (after a careful quarantine) on July 1. She comes from Sumacher, an indigenous community in the Philippines. We didn't know at first how long she'd be here, but it's now clear she'll be with us until she goes back to her home in August. Yay! Tala enjoys working with all the plants and animals here...except the prickly ones! Also not snakes. Her enthusiasm for weeding, rock picking, cooking, washing dishes, and gathering fodder for pigs has been a welcome boost, but not as welcome as the hugs, games, and excellent conversations on all topics. Tala fits in great at Tangly Woods, and claims to be the hyphen in "Myers-Benner." We love our dash!

Mom and Dad (Grandma and Grandpa) Myers: Mom and Dad started 2020 loving their WV home and continuing to have a hard time making a definitive move towards Virginia as their main residence. Everyone was mostly content to let that run its natural course, and when COVID hit, they missed not a beat as they hit the trails and birding spots to fill in for their usual social and volunteering engagements. But circumstances intervened in this stable system when Mom slipped on wet grass and did a number on her perfectly good ankle bone assembly. They oriented all the ensuing surgeries and physical therapy and etc. from Harrisonburg, VA, and settled in for a few months' recovery. Following that period, they announced a decision to begin switching the bulk of their time to Tangly Woods. We welcome them gladly and mourn with them the emotional losses that accompany this life transition. We have been so very glad to have them in our pod this year, for the in-law quarters having been right ready for them in a time of need, and for Mom's incredible recovery. 

In other news, we kicked of 2020 with a flurry of non-routine activity the likes of which COVID prevented us from later on. Fulfilling Christmas coupons, the parents enjoyed a solo date on the town with each kid (Kali's actually occurred at the end of 2019). We'll look forward to resuming that kind of fun when risk of infection subsides. We spent most of our "building time" last winter doing deep cleans of some of the outbuildings, which sorely needed it. The state of order we established then served us well all year...we recommend the process, even if it's not always much fun in the middle of it. Janelle and Jason took some time away from home together to attend the Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture/CASA annual conference in January. This didn't yield the chicken leads we might have hoped for (despite many brochures distributed), but reinforced some realizations coming our way over the past few years of the need for new leadership in the sustainable agriculture movement that hails from BIPOC communities.

I think that is our condensed update for 2020. If you all wish to get more detail, simply flip through the year's worth of blog posts available on this site and help yourself! Here in the season where we let go of the old year and turn toward the new, when the light fades and then returns, in this time when quality takes a little territory back from the tyranny of quantity, when there is a little time and space reserved for remembering how much we need hope, peace, and each other, may there be enough light, hope, peace, and good company for each of you! And as the new year gets up and running, may you all stay safe (enough) and experience joy (enough) as you live into the life you believe in with those you love. Thank you for being part of our life!

p.s. Here are a few books that have been part of our year:

In the Shelter by Padraig O Tuama

Collapsing Consciously by Carolyn Baker

Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad (in process)

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (Jason)

Communion: The Female Search for Love by bell hooks (Janelle)

p.p.s. See below for family photos taken on the first day of every month in 2020, from the same place and "as is."