Growth!

What’s up, Hive? It’s been too long. My feed is telling me it’s been five months since my last post. In some ways, it’s felt longer. I’ve mentioned in many past blogs that when I have the space in my life to write for Hive, it typically means I’m in a stable place, mentally, emotionally and financially. The last four months or so have been a test. I’m sure most of you saw the news about the ICE surge here in the Twin Cities. Most of us here are still pretty traumatized but the military occupation that followed the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis; the ICE raids were worse! I’ve got a lot more to say […and post here on the subject] but to feel that I’m back on my feet already, it gives me confidence in my resilience. One more additional note, I’m making this return post at @caffetto!☕️

I’m off of all social media. That was a decision that was a long time coming. @customnature and I were talking about the addiction, the doomscrolling, the censorship, rage algorithm and amount of time we waste on apps run by the worst people on this planet. We went into a pact to deactivate our accounts then share our screen time usage at the end of each week. I’m so much happier. I feel like I’ve reclaimed a big part of my life and with that, so much time that was being lost each day. As a result, I’ve entered something of a creative renaissance finding my way back to 3D sculpting in ZBrush on the iPad. Zine and film creation with my friend Christine. We’re currently working on a documentary spanning the last two years of Palestine protest footage I’ve shot, not to mention everything I’ve covered during the Metro Surge ICE raids. One particularly deep rabbit hole I’m falling down is porting my own footage to a vintage black and white TV that will be filmed as part of the documentary. I just managed to do this with about four adapters I’ve accumulated over the past few weeks — but it looks great!

There are a lot of side- quests happening. I was recently called out for being ADHD […not arguing this but as of now, undiagnosed] because of my serial hobbies and special interests [too many to count]. I feel like I’m evolving in the things I’m already enthusiastic about. Foraging is something I’ve loved for years but lately, I’m learning how to cultivate and clone mushrooms. I’m attempting to inoculate bags of grain spawn and colonizing soaked cardboard in my own grow bags […this is yet to prove out but I’m becoming obsessed with the idea of growing oyster mushrooms from cardboard and coffee ground waste]. I’ve bought plug spawn and grow kits from NorthSpore that can be buried in a raise garden bed and was able to grow my first pink oyster and popular mushrooms. Above is a fermented shoyu sauce made from phaseant back mushrooms!

Sourdough has been another run away endeavor. I kind of think it’s a right of passage for guys in their forties, like an inevitability. I recently discovered that I have a mulberry tree growing in my backyard […not sure how it took me 15 years to figure this out, especially as a guy that forages in the woods on weekends]. I’ve been doing mulberry and lemon inclusions the last few loaves and it’s dreamy. I also baked two mulberry pies. All of these ventures have been filling the void of the wasted time on social media, but even more so, I’m retuning to a place where I enjoyed life and enjoyed getting lost in projects, hobbies and obsessions. I’d like to think of this return to Hive as an affirmation that I’ve stabilized. Hopefully returning to good habits, and just in time for a new version of Hive!