Today I planted milkweed seeds. They were sent to me by a local group that is trying to create native habitat for monarch butterflies. I had plans to prepare the ground, create a special bed, lay things out for beautiful growth. Instead I stole twenty minutes from the middle of the work day to scrape holes in the dirt between weeds. In my tromping to odd corners of my yard I saw how much work needs to be done to make my garden more beautiful. Work that I want to do, but today anxiety drove me inside because I need the income that working at my computer will bring.
I read a beautiful thread on Bluesky yesterday where Ace Tilton Ratcliff shared their day working in their Florida yard. It is a lyrical examination of hyper-local work to build the world we want to live in. It reminded me of important work that I have ahead of me, most of which is also necessarily local. The outcome of the recent election has made me even more uncertain about my finances and my future. It increases the urgency to improve and stabilize my income streams. It means I will need to pay attention and step up in support of others. I will need to expend energy advocating. Energy I can’t easily spare. I don’t know what is coming politically, financially, or socially and that frightens me.
But I know that spring will come. And some of the seeds that I scraped into the earth will sprout. And maybe next summer a butterfly will find a home where no space existed for it before.
It is an act of faith in the future to plant a seed. So I planted some seeds today.