Home, harvest, and heart 🏡🌾❤

Reflections from Poland to Pongal 🌞

Can you believe we’re already in the fourth week of January? It feels surreal - wasn’t December just yesterday? And yet, so much has already happened.

I entered 2025 feeling rested and reinvigorated after spending a few weeks in Poland with my partner’s family. Our days were filled with cozy teas, hearty soups, and long, snowy hikes. Poland has a national soup called Żurek, which I loved so much. I even got a gift of Żurek-flavored vodka! This season, I’ll be leaning into soup culture, experimenting with recipes (naturally featuring PODIs). Stay tuned for updates from my (new!) kitchen.

Back home, I transitioned from the quiet joys of vacation to the excitement of setting up my first permanent home after two decades of being nomadic. As I worked on creating my sanctuary - dreaming up cozy spaces and tackling repairs - my thoughts kept returning to the wildfires in LA. The contrast between finding a home and watching others lose theirs has been deeply humbling and unsettling.

The devastation has weighed heavily on me, and while I’ve been contributing to fundraisers supporting families - especially Black families struggling to raise donations - it pales in comparison to the incredible efforts of communities rallying together. If you’re feeling similarly moved, I encourage you to explore ways to help. 

Amidst it all, Pongal, the South Indian harvest festival, quietly arrived last week. For those unfamiliar, Pongal (or Sankranti) celebrates the sun’s life force, nature’s bounty, the animals that sustain agriculture, and the communities that bring it all together. Over three to four days, rich rituals honor these connections, reminding us to pause, reflect, and give thanks.

This year, I kept it simple - a pouch of our comforting, sunshine-y golden millet Pongal paired with a grilled eggplant mash (or pulusu) - my humble but heartfelt nod to the season.

The festival’s first day, Bhogi, focuses on renewal - discarding old, unwanted items in a bonfire to make space for the new. As I reflected on what to carry into 2025 and what to leave behind, one thing became clear - the most valuable thing I want to bring into this year is this community.

As we approach the Lunar New Year on January 29th, I’m struck by how different cultures share a universal longing for renewal. Leading up to the celebrations, people in China and across Asia “sweep away the dust” - a ritual that bids adieu to bad luck and makes space for good luck.

This year feels especially poignant, as we usher in the Year of the Snake, a symbol of the dark and mysterious (and feminine) “yin” force in yin and yang. Snakes shed their skin to reinvent themselves, embodying renewal and transformation. They also remind us that even small, seemingly fragile beings can hold immense strength - an apt metaphor for focusing on small, actionable steps when larger forces feel beyond our control.

With that in mind, I’ve decided my small, actionable step this year is to strengthen our community by making our newsletters and blogs a more collaborative and enriching space. The stories you’ve shared of discovery, rediscovery, and finding meaning through shared joys have inspired and grounded me, and I can’t wait to hear more from each of you.

To start, I'd love to know:

What do you want to invite into 2025, and what would you let go?

I’m inviting:

• Community and connection
• Intentional rest and creativity
• Courage to dream bigger
• Joy in small, everyday rituals
• Deepening my relationship with nature

I’m letting go of: 

• Scarcity thinking
• Perfectionism and overwhelm
• Guilt around taking time for myself
• Saying “yes” to things that don’t sit well with me

Please do share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Together, let’s make 2025 a year of renewal, growth, and connection.