Stuff I'm Into: Eco-Death

This is a signal boost of a video from The Order of the Good Death talking about eco-friendly ways of managing death.

Pagan Spirit Gathering 2018 Planning

This entry talks about Pagan Spirit Gathering, a week-long Midsummer festival in southern Illinois, plans for workshops and other stuff, camping plans, masculine spirituality, and other PSG-related stuff.  Contains offhand references to nudity.

My partner and I are pumped for Pagan Spirit Gathering coming up this June.  This will be my fourth PSG and her second, and it's something we both really look forward to.

Workshop proposals closed April 1st; in the PSG forum somebody mentioned they were closing and suggested people create children's and tweens' workshops as there are never enough of them.  My partner and I are both ex-camp-counselors and I have lots of experience with teaching kids random stuff, so I asked her "hey, if I submit a couple children's workshops would you join me?"  I submitted two, which will complete our work shift requirement.  So far it looks like those two workshops are like ⅔ of all the kids' programming at PSG this year, so they definitely weren't lying about there never being enough of them.  If it all goes well (and it probably will) I might do this every year.

In case you got here through Google-fu or something and are a parent of a kid or tween at PSG, the two workshops Nakiiya and I will be putting on are:

• Solstice Sunprints - I found this activity deep in the bowels of the nature center when I worked at Girl Scout Camp many years ago; there was a massive annoying cultural shift going on and so nature activities were being downplayed (there were a lot of shitty scavenger hunts) and... I didn't like that.  So I dug down into the chest of nature activities and found this really old blue paper with instructions.  It turned out it was photosensitive paper that basically catches shadows!  So I'll be ordering like a 40-pack of that and each kid that comes to that workshop will be able to make a sunprint or two.  It doesn't take very long and needs to be at least an hour, so we'll bring other Pagany activities too.
• Pentagrams and More - Basically the first art activity we always did at both the camps I worked at was make a "tree cookie" necklace that's just a slice of pine limb with a hole in it that you wrote your name on.  I'm adapting that to make sacred symbols instead... I'll be bringing a 50-pack of tree cookies with string, maybe half of them I'll burn with sacred symbols (pentacles, ankhs, etc.) and the kids can decorate them or make their own instead.

As far as other activities to make sure the time requirement is met... I'll collect some coloring pages with Pagan themes.  Play it by ear.  It'll be fun and nostalgic.


Alright here is where all the kid stuff ends.  Not that there are any actual kids reading this, but there is some... adult stuff.

Camping Stuff

The last two years were a super success when it came to camping.  My first year I was way too ambitious but not skilled enough... my food all went bad even though I was only there a couple days and I lived off of vendor food (it was damn good food, though).  I learned from my mistakes the year after and plastic wrapped all my food.  I try not to use a hell of a lot of plastic, but... PSG is my main exception, and only with food.  We plastic wrap and then freeze meats in single-cook portions (so enough for me and Nakiiya) and it keeps from spoiling the whole week as long as we add some ice every day.

I commit to taking at least one lamb dish because she loves lamb, and then the rest I get based on whatever looks good at Costco.  Last year we ate a lot of steaks and nobody complained.  This year I'll probably take at least one larger portion of venison to bring to the feast after The Sacred Hunt.  Unsure how I'm cooking it... maybe add some morels (I'm violently allergic to morels but enjoy excuses to pick them).  The Sacred Hunt is a strenuous ritual so folks who do it deserve something fancy and hunted after.

Most of our camping setup from last year will come back.  I got a new tent because ours is missing a rain fly, Nakiiya is going to provide a mattress.  I have a nice portable fire ring, a charcoal grill Nakiiya got specifically for traveling, and I'll bring lump charcoal and cooking sticks.

I'll be looking into easy breakfast options, although it probably isn't that necessary as we wake up hours before any programs start.

I typically use natural sunscreen and insect repellent... I'm unsure on sunscreen but I'll definitely be using conventional insect repellent this year.  Last year I got bit by one of those Lone Star ticks (the one that gives you a meat allergy) and dear Goddex I do not want that shit.

I do want better options for keeping us cool this year without making or buying some wasteful thing.  It'll probably wind up being hand fans.  We'll see.

Clothing

Clothing and expression is really important at PSG for me because it's a good place for me to experiment without feeling super goofy.  I might get a kilt this year, although I am hesitant because (especially with a particular singer who is going to be there) kilts can garner a lot of attention (and sometimes sexual harassment).

Last year I went topless a lot, which was empowering for me as a non-op trans man with breasts, but I also got super burnt so my number one priority will be preventing that from happening again.  The fluid parts of my gender expression are also swaying way closer to masculine than last year, so the drive to wear nothing but a purple sarong around my waist just isn't there.  I'll probably wear shorts, pants, possibly a kilt, and then a sarong as a cloak to protect from the sun.  I also have this super cool brimmed hat I've been putting enamel pins on that should protect my face.  I will probably put a pronoun pin on the back because I am regularly misgendered from behind at PSG.

I have new minimalist sandals that should protect my feet while keeping me feeling barefoot.

Oh, and I'm definitely bringing pajamas this year.  The nights get really cold.

Programming

There aren't any workshops that scream out to me as "I have to go to this!" this year, which is good because I won't be able to plan around them as much as I would if I didn't have workshops.  Still, there are lots of activities that aren't confined to workshop slots that I'm interested in and/or actively planning for.

1. I'm seriously considering doing the Men's Rite of Passage this year.  The past couple of years I've been really motivated by the men's rituals and masculine spirituality (as a trans man this is really healing stuff) and I think I'll take the plunge and do this more elaborate ritual if I get to it in time (there are only five slots).
2. I'm trying to figure out what I want to make for the Pagan gift exchange.  The first year I did this I forgot about it and used a wand I'd made and didn't use (I just happened to have it along).  Last year I made a woodburnt spoon for Kitchen Witchery.  I love giving really good gifts so I'm really thinking this one through.
3. I plan on going to everything queer and trans I can, with the exception of 101 stuff (unless I have nothing better to do).
4. I don't know if I'll be able to swing it this year with other obligations, but I would love to eventually learn fire spinning.
5. This year it looks like we will be bringing TWO gnomes instead of one to the gnome exchange.  This is a super fun tradition so I'll totally do that!
6. Nakiiya and I will almost certainly go to the skyclad ritual again, and I'll better prepare my explanation for why I am there because I think it's a cool and important thing to hear.

Workshops are being posted; my partner and I are currently figuring out which ones we want to "earmark" as most important to us.  Obviously there will be more to come as we go through it, the sorts of little projects we want to do.  I may write a list of tips and tricks for new attendees to PSG, too.

Plant Spirit Work Projects

This piece talks about the gardening I'll be doing this growing season.

I low-key biffed my Vernal Equinox plans; I didn't do most of the ritual stuff I planned to and didn't photograph the ritual feast my partner and I had (it was, however, very good).  I also ordered some more seeds and decided to put off my blessing ritual until they all got here.  I'll hopefully be doing that tomorrow, weather permitting.

I think what I'll do is put all the seeds in my harvest basket and bless them over the smoke created by the remains of a cornstalk that I grew last year, sort of a connection between this planting and last year's harvest, which I could continue doing year after year.

This year I'll be attempting to grow a lot of plants and because of that I'll be working a lot with plant spirits.  I use a lot of exercises found in Lupa's Plant and Fungus Totems.  My plans are a nice mix of very easy to grow, highly fruitful plants for food and annoyingly complicated plants that are for spiritual, non-food, or luxury purposes.

I am taking what I learned from the past growing season and growing Three Sisters Gardens again.  This worked fantastically last year and I got a lot of food out of it.  It's worth mentioning that I have strong questions regarding whether this is appropriate or appropriative... I had been avoiding going that route and then was told in no uncertain terms that the way we grow corn is disrespectful because it was designed to be grown with beans and squash.

I tried to go with very old varieties for these beds... there will be likely four Three Sisters beds.  All will have the same variety of corn (Hopi Turquoise)  and then vary on the beans and squash.  I'm thinking two of the beds will have Cave Beans (an old dry bean) and the other two will have some sort of fresh green bean.  One of the beds will have watermelon instead of squash (Art Combe's Ancient Watermelon; the history is dubious and it's unclear if this is a true watermelon that is being misrepresented or a North American watermelon look-alike).  One will have Gete Okosomin, one will have a zucchini with a name I'm not remembering right now, and the other will have a small butternut squash variety.  I'll throw in some cucumbers too.

I've allotted a part of the garden to growing broom corn/sorghum so that I can make a fancy ritual besom using the broom making instructions in the latest issue of Mother Earth News.

I cleared out the old tomato stems and leaves from my bed to compost... the area I grow tomatoes in I'm planning on trellising because the tomatoes keep reseeding themselves and coming back every year into a big unwieldy bush.  I have some new tomato varieties, one closer to a wild tomato and the other a larger tomato, that I'll add to the bush patch.  I'll also be planting jalapeno peppers and some other similar plants in that area, and a bunch of carrots which I hear really love growing with tomatoes.

I have cabbage and lettuce seeds but haven't fully worked out where they're going.  I will probably wind up putting them in containers.

Some plants I grew in the past or that came with the house that will come back are Walking Onions (Egyptian Onion), rhubarb, Concord grapes, raspberries, apples, and cherries.

I'm bad at growing herbs from seeds but I'm going to give it another go this year, mostly with sage.

Finally there are some "luxury plants" I'll be trying to grow.  Part of it is because I have a heavy self-sufficiency/prepper mindset, but a lot of it is just... fun I think I mentioned that in my ecological pessimism piece, right?  I'll be growing tobacco and already have tea and coffee growing.  I probably won't this year because I'm already seeded out but someday I may also try growing luffa... to make sponges and stuff.

My roommate also created a new garden bed.  I know they'll be planting garlic but I'm unsure what else they'll be planting there.