This is all brand new, so it is very much a work in progress. Just now, I am sharing the bud of the idea. On the personal level, this bud is part of a plant with deep roots…and you will find many ways to bloom with it all, as soon as your mind shifts and opens. Or so I have found.
For me, it was this reading of The Shell Seekers…steeping myself in a few new resources…which helped me to make more and more connections and ideas for making do…experimenting with these new ways…finding joy and peace in them…and eventually creating new habits and rhythms and ways of being. Then falling short, of course, and remembering again. But that is always the way.
This website will grow, as will its offerings and the project itself. I am picturing…
~the creation of beautiful, inspiring posters (as they had in WWI & II)
~it becoming a community project, with the community being worldwide. I wonder if it will help to think of it as a worldwide Women’s Institute? Without all of the cliques and tangles I see portrayed in my British shows. : )
~creating shareable online graphics to both spread the word and deepen the effect (some will be able to be sent to companies when we let them know why we won’t be supporting them any longer, for instance)
~finding other creative folk to create artwork with the message
…and we’ll see what else! Finding the ways to organize it all here and everywhere else it may spring up, will be a work of love to accomplish, but it will evolve, I am sure.
What feels so different and hopeful about this to me is that it doesn’t need any particular tools or purchases (you know how so many “green” lifestyles seem to be too much about buying things?)…that it is more inward than outward…more deep than surface…more interesting and hopeful than overwhelming…and is very satisfying.
Just a few steps along this journey and I am remembering much simpler ways and feel my vision and my creativity opening up to the possibilities…without needing to seek online much. The resources I did seek out (shared here) opened my eyes. From there, it has been a natural step to seeing fresh ways to make do in my everydays. I will write more about this when I get in a blogging rhythm here.
So, it will grow first and foremost by each of us learning to Make Do in our own homes and gardens. Other ways I’ve thought of for growing Making Do & Mending the Earth, beyond our domestic realms, you may find here.
AND DO “PIN” WITH ABANDON. It is an easy way to share and will lead folk right back here to learn more.
Catherine September 20, 2019 at 2:54 pm
Love this so much! Can hardly wait until I have time to dig in and read all about this … blessings to you and thank you for the work you do in the world.
Lesley September 21, 2019 at 3:03 pm
So glad, Catherine!
Mardell Weisenburger September 21, 2019 at 4:48 pm
Hmm…I’m thinking Make Do & Mend the Earth local chapters…
Lesley September 21, 2019 at 7:08 pm
What a beautiful idea, Mardell. Do you have thoughts on how we might organize that?
Mardell Weisenburger October 1, 2019 at 6:27 pm
No, not really. I used to be a La Leche League leader…so that kind of community comes to mind. But people are so “busy” these days. No one wants or needs one more “thing” to do or go to. So I’m not sure. But I keep thinking. I feel like there needs to be support for “making do” – how to mend socks, how to do__________ or go without____. How DOES one make this a movement? We all want calm and more peace. Thus the yoga classes. I have to chuckle whenever I do take the time to go to a yoga class. Most of the attendees are hurrying to calm down. One of the hardest ones for me is “should I and how do I get rid of books to live more simply”. Perhaps that is more of a minimalist thing than a “make do” thing. But I hate piles of stuff. Just random thoughts here.
Tonia September 24, 2019 at 7:46 pm
Oh, I love that idea!
Kyce September 26, 2019 at 10:36 pm
Thank you for channeling your lifetime of practice at making do and your devotion to the earth into a resource like this. It is a wonderful action.