Anyway, on this past Saturday Local Roots was hosting Roc Day in honor of St. Distaff. So, since we were in desperate need of some local produce and grain, we took a drive through Amish country to attend the festivities at Local Roots.
Spinners and Weavers celebrating St. Distaff's Day
Lots of 'local' produce, baked goods, crafts, and people.
We got potatoes, mushrooms, spelt flour, wheat flour (and found a fairly local Amish mill that grows and grinds organic grain...!), oat meal, carmel popcorn, and spinning tips. It was a VERY fun trip. (I'll be doing a post on the nature of "local" soon.)
3 comments:
This is the first I've heard of St Distaff's Day and I'm very pleased to have done so.
I googled it and what I found set me thinking.
In the past, I would have leapt on this as an opportunity for a special festival - a women's event and something worth promoting because I enjoy spinning and weaving and knitting. (No room for the first two now and no call for the last, unfortunately.)
However, I realised from observing that the anticipated spark of enthusiasm didn't leap up, that my own family arrangements are so settled in non-gender lines (my husband and I have different tasks and responsibilities but they have been decided more by personality and practicalities)I no longer make the immediate connection between crafts and the empowerment of women.
In some ways that seems a loss. In other ways, it shows and advance and is pretty brilliant.
Esther
Esther, our home is much the same. Gender roles don't really exist (except for giving birth and a few things like that...) We focused more on the return to our work routine after the midwinter break. In our part of the world the tradition, as people move west was for everyone to learn to spin. It was an important skill for homesteaders of both genders. It still is...
great work! i've heard about the Wooster market also. but its a haul for us too. love your work on local products - keep up the good work!
and did you say you grew your own mushrooms? do you have a post about it?? would love to see it but i dont see a search or a way to see older posts here.. humm.. if you have a minute could you forward it to me?
:-)
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