I Am Grateful to be Alive in My Homeland

I am grateful to be alive.

This morning as I rode my bike back to my mom’s house, I picked a ripe apple off the ground from underneath a public apple tree and bit into it’s sweet, earthy flesh. Its flavor brought me the sensation of early fall, a sensation that could only come to fruition from multiple decades of association with this land.

I became flooded with gratefulness for life. I haven’t written to you much lately and I wanted to share this gratefulness as well as a little update on my life.

I am in my homeland of Northern Wisconsin visiting and spending time with my family. I arrived here on my 34^th birthday, August 28^th, on an overnight train from Syracuse, New York. I had spent the month of August leading up to the journey in Ithaca, New York. Much of my summer has been spent outdoors and in rural areas, in fact primarily in two counties that have the lowest amount of coronavirus in the United States. This has been a true blessing for my health, happiness and freedom.

I have spent ample time here in Ashland picking and eating apples, plums, grapes, mushrooms, greens and many other nutritious and satiating foods straight from the land. I have been eating the healthiest since I finished my year of growing and foraging 100% of my food ten months ago. I have been swimming in the cold waters of Lake Superior nearly daily along with whichever other rivers and small lakes I find myself in. I am giving myself what I need to be healthy during these times and my body feels great.

Although, I have spent much time healing and connecting with Earth I have also spent much time at this computer screen and have been quite busy. Along with my friend Jasmine Hayden we have filmed 8 videos on Black led initiatives that are empowering their communities. I was blessed to spend time with some of these powerful and inspiring women. Now I am listening to them and learning more as I work on these videos. I have been positively moved in the last few months and my racist biases are reducing as I replace them with examples of amazing Black women. I am educating myself and a quest has lit inside me for more knowledge in order to better understand and be a better ally. I am excited to feed this fire and be of service.

I intend to spend the month ahead and perhaps longer in Wisconsin and Minnesota. The months ahead of that are uncertain. I am observing life and will make decisions when the time is right.

You will hear from me again soon. I love you all very much.

Love,

Robin