Multiplication
This blog, Four Truths Homestead, is now 12 years old. It’s
a fact I can hardly believe. What started out as a master gardener’s online
diary focused on plant cultivation and earth stewardship seamlessly expanded
into a forum on Buddhism, nutrition, food cultivation, veganism, and
spirituality.
I love keeping this blog alive. It feeds me, and hopefully,
ministers to others. Checking the blog’s stats this morning, I was amazed to
see that in its 12 years, more than 387,000 unspecified people (I have no way
of knowing who you are) have come to read these posts.
Now I’m widening my focus with the launch of a new blog,
Strawberry Papaya (strawberrypapaya.blogspot.com).
Why ‘Strawberry Papaya’? I’ll answer that with a question.
Do you have at least one memory – a moment, an event, an impression, sight,
smell, taste, sound, word - that inscribed itself on your heart, a memory that
you can summon at any time and bring back all those good feels? I do.
As a child, I liked summers best. I loved the ice cream
truck’s evening rounds, when our moms would give us money to buy something
sweet and cold. My favorite treat was a dreamy ice pop – a swirl of clear pink
and bright orange on a wooden stick. It was yummy and the colors captivated me.
There was something about that pink and orange swirl I adored, and that today,
brings back all the warm, cozy memories of summer with my young friends, my
family, and the whole community where I felt safe and free and loved.
Traveling through the Caribbean right after high school, I
was introduced to new tropical fruits. One of them was the strawberry papaya. The
sweetest of all the papaya varieties, its flavor is an amalgam of fresh berries
and peaches, with a hint of butterscotch and vanilla. Heavenly.
But it was its color that wooed me. When ripe, a strawberry
papaya has bright orange skin and pure pink flesh. The first time I ate one, on
the side of a roadway between Ocho Rios and Port Maria, every good, cheering reminiscence
of childhood returned. Strawberry papayas became my symbol of all things wonderful:
pink and orange, refreshing, soothing, nourishing, safe, sweet, and delicious. I
was young and strong, grateful and happy.
Strawberry Papaya is going to reach for all those good things:
the moments of meaning, the journeys we’re on, being of service, the mysteries
before us, the things we stay alive for. Whole-hearted living.
Topics will include natural health, healing and forgiveness,
mystery and wonder, purpose and meaning, imagination, our lineage to the Earth,
transcending anger, shielding ourselves from toxicity, spiritual practice and
wellness, food choices, compassion, understanding, and love. I may share on subjects
like why you should let your hair grow, eat more fruit, grow from adversity, or
sleep on the floor instead of a bed.
I have no interest in website traffic and ‘hits’; only that
what I share may be of service to others. I hope you’ll visit now and then and
add your thoughts. Tell me if I’m hitting the mark or missing it. Don’t be
afraid to disapprove. Don’t be afraid to love.
Barbie x
