Strawberry Fields

It's strawberry time here in Holland and this gets me excited on so many levels.

For years I couldn't eat strawberries. All trough my child-, teen- and early adult years I had allergic reactions and the idea of a bowl of strawberries was hardly a reason to party. But -long story short- with the help of an expert I could finally eat strawberries and my life got a lovely upgrade.
Filcolana - Peruvian Highland Wool or  Pt 2 Finullgarn for a smaller bunting

This little red fruit has become a symbol of so many things for me. I enjoy eating them now immensely and seeing the prices drop and discovering the improving taste, strawberries will let me know summer is coming. Unless a pair of swallows get here first...
We only buy strawberries in season. They are too expensive and taste like tiny glasses of water when you buy them out of season. Eating them in season is a lovely way of honoring the present time and being mindful about the gifts of nature. (picture me making the peace sign and dancing in a meadow with flowers in my hair while I’m saying this, to get the full picture!)
All jokes aside, as I am sure you all know, eating your fruits & veggies in season is not only a very sustainable way to eat but also a very TASTY way to eat.

Filcolana - Peruvian Highland Wool

You can find harvest calendars online, here are two great resources for the Netherlands:

Seizoensgroenten / Milieubewust eten 
Strawberries are also used in a Swedish word that depicts your favorite place in the world. Smultronställe. The literal meaning is “wild strawberry patch”, but the word is used to describe a special place that is close to your heart, that isn't so easy for others to find, where you feel at ease and at one with the world.
I just love that!

The small coastal village of Portnahaven on the isle of Islay (in Scotland) I call my Smultronställe. The small beach, seals, birds, a row of white houses… I sat on that beach one day and a dog came out to play with me. No owner in sight. I made an instant friend and it was like I was playing a part in a movie. I scooped up some sand and sea water in a mini whisky bottle and now I have a tiny bit of Portnahaven on a shelf. One day I'll return the water and the sand to that spot. 
 
(No, I do not always carry around whiskey bottles... Islay is famous for its distilleries)
There is a time for everything, I guess that’s what I’m saying. The feeling of the smaller life that I’ve led over the last months is something I hold dear to my heart. I am not planning to let that go. But the changing life around me is already showing that lots of people can’t wait to go back to ‘normal’. Although I can obviously see why people want ''normal' back, I don’t want anything to do with that fast pace, demanding, dirty world.

And so I eat my strawberries and knit my log-cabin-blanket* and dream of the special places where I can go to just be in the moment. 


What are you mindful of in summer? Do you have a Smultronställe? Share below.

 
*we started an ongoing log cabin blanket KAL in the online community. You can join at any time and finish at any time. A perfect mindful knitting practice that will help you be in the moment and enjoy the time that is now.
 
Nothing in this text has anything to do with knitting so I made the images match, click the images to get to the patterns, the Ja, Wol yarn you can us is the in te italic text below the images. 
Yours in Yarns & the GOOD Goods,
Saskia
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