Out of this new passion emerged dream of starting a little homestead where we could be more independent from industries that we did not agree with and to live closer to what we felt was right and natural for humans. My first step towards this was learning to crochet. I went to the ever inspiring Maker's Fair in San Jose. There was a booth there with the cutest crochet cat. Unlike many of the other booths the weren't selling the cat, but a book that taught you to make the cat yourself. It was a strange moment, the idea of getting something I wanted by making it instead of buying was new to me. It seems so funny to me now, that I had never really thought that way before. I called my grandma, then and there, and asked her if she would show me the basics. The book was "Hello, My Name Is Amineko", it was so cute. A week after my first lesson my grandmother was surprised to meet my first crochet project, Naoki:
I have come a long way from there. Now I knit, sew, can, bake, brew and continue to add more skills to my list. I also had to make a pretty hard choice a few years go. As our dream for the homestead got bigger and bigger, I realized my childhood dream of being a field ecologist would keep me from living that dream or vise-versa. I had to choose which was closest to my heart. It was a challenging decision, but I decided that the dream I built with my love was more important than the one I had as a child. I changed my education plans and became an agriculture major. I haven't given up my love of ecology though, I focus on blending the two of them together and hope to move onto a master's degree in Agroecology.
The last piece to this puzzle that is me, is my spirituality. I identify as Pagan. Which if any of you are familiar with paganism, doesn't tell you that much about what I really believe. I like to follow the traditions of my cultural heritage, which is Celtic, Nordic and Native American (Cherokee, if you want to know). The bases of my practice come from different practices and ideas of those peoples. The main thing I focus on is animism, I fully believe that all things and creatures are equally valuable. This of course calls many things into question. Like how is it okay to eat other creatures? And how should we treat other things? If ants come into my house do I have the right to make them leave? I think about these things almost everyday. It is hard to live a ethical life, but it is important to me that I do all that I can to live according to my values. It becomes even more important when you farm, how much freedom do I give the animals I care for? Is it okay to eat other animals if I can not bring myself to kill ones I have raised? How do I react to wildlife that endangers my crop and livestock's success? It is a balance that I'm looking for, because an ant has the right to live a comfortable life, but so do I. I do not matter less than these creatures either. Animals do not deserve to suffer, but I can not turn a blind eye to the suffering of other humans either, no matter how I agree or disagree with them. This becomes even more complicated and what I have found to be true, is that harm and suffering is impossible to avoid. All I can do is to try and make that suffering a little less.
With this blog I wish to share the many things that relate to my journey to and in this life I wish to live. Things like how to make things, ethical questions that I have, what steps I have taken and want to take to get close to my goal and the wonders along the path. I hope you will enjoy sharing my struggles and accomplishments. I hope you think about the life you wish to live. I hope that maybe you too will work towards living life according to your values and you might share your journey with me.
