We Need Grandmother Roots
In this episode, I’m sharing some of what I’ve learned about how we can aspire to have roots as deep, large, and well-connected as the wise women of our lineages.
I explore how our lives might change if we knew how to fully inhabit where we are, remembered how sleep helps us grow roots, and could be more stable in the face of these wild times.
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Welcome to A Wild New Work, a podcast about how to divest from capitalism and the norms of modern work and step into the soulful calling of these times we live in, which includes the call to rekindle our relationship with the earth. I'm Megan Leatherman, a mother to two small kids, writer, amateur ecologist, and vocational guide. I live in the Pacific Northwest and I'm your host today.
Hi friend and welcome. I'm so glad that you're here today. I want you to know that I'm recording this before the election day here in the United States and I know not all of you listening are in the U. S. or, you know, may not even care about the U.S. election, which is totally fine, but I'm gonna release it on election day anyway. You know, this work doesn't run on the election cycle. It's going to be the autumn season, regardless of how things go today when I'm releasing it. But I just want to acknowledge that that's happening and that I'm not trying to ignore that that's happening. I know this feels like a really consequential election to a lot of people.
And I hope that this episode today is real medicine for this time, no matter how the election goes, because, You know, even if the party you want to win wins, we will still be in a period of decline. The season, the Earth, is in a period of decline in this season.
Our season of the show is on decline. Our climate, generally, on this Earth, is in a period of decline. And the United States Empire is in a period of decline, and that will continue no matter who wins the presidential election. So we need to know how to fortify ourselves in the midst of that, no matter what.
And I think this is like old elder woman wisdom, and wise crones have deep roots. They've got fat roots that go way into the ground. They're gnarly, they might come up on the earth sometimes and cause you to trip when you're running down a trail. They are connected to all sorts of relations under the soil that we cannot fathom and cannot reach.
And we need that wisdom today, and I want to bring forward some of what I have learned about Roots and roots in the autumn season in particular. So today we're going to talk about how to feed ourselves better, you know, what purpose roots do and don't serve, and why we have roots even as humans who walk around.
It's not just plants, and we would do really well to to fortify in this area of our lives and our beings right now. So I hope this is a very useful episode for you, especially if you're feeling a lot of anxiety about politics here in the U. S. Um, a few short announcements. The first is that I have started writing the winter journal, the Living the Seasons winter version.
So if you got the autumn journal, I hope that it has served you well in this last six weeks or so. And if you are looking ahead to the winter season, feeling like you want to go deeper into what that season holds for you, or if you're kind of dreading the winter and feeling like it's just a waste of time or a blight on the year, um, this journal could be a supportive resource to you.
So I'll say more about that As it comes for those of you in the Portland area. I'm facilitating two more gatherings with the land this fall. It's a learning from the land series where I'm going to be offering some techniques to help you attune to what the earth might want to communicate to you right now.
So I'll be teaching a little bit and then making Some space, some very intentional space for you to have solo time on the land to listen. And then we'll come back together to sort of deepen our learning. So we met in October, a few of us, and it was a really rich, sweet time. And I'm excited to do that again for those of you in the area who would like to. So it's $15 to register, and you can learn more about that at awildnewwork. com slash events.
I also offer a free annual darkness practice that's coming back around. It's called Needing More, a four week pilgrimage into darkness. It's a very simple practice. It's four Sundays in November and December where you're invited to essentially just turn your electric lighting off earlier and earlier.
And it doesn't have to be Sunday evenings, but we're doing it on a weekly rhythm between mid November to the winter solstice. It's so simple, but so profound. Um, if you haven't lived in alignment with the cycles of the days or the seasons, like most of us, You know, most of us don't. This is a really nice way to reset your own circadian rhythm, your hormonal cycles, and also just your sense of connection to something greater.
So again, that's free and we start November 24th and you can sign up for that at awildnewwork. com. It'll be right there on the homepage for you. And finally, I just want to say a big thank you to everyone supporting the show financially by pitching in once or monthly at buymeacoffee. com slash Megan Leatherman.
Thank you to recent supporters, Megan, Nate, and Alex. I really appreciate it. And I'm going to say more about this and share some personal updates around this at the end of the episode. Um, just because this whole like creating something and earning money and It's just complicated and I need, I think I need to say some things out loud to just be transparent and just help us, like, move through this together in a good way.
So I'll share more about that later. All right. Well with that, let's move into our opening invocation. So just noticing your body today, whether you're moving or still, just noticing what it's like for you in this time and place. If you haven't taken a deep breath recently, this would probably be a good time.
And it might be really nice to let out an audible sigh. Ah, just letting some sound leave the body with the breath. May each of us be blessed and emboldened to do the work we're meant to do on this planet. May our work honor our ancestors, known and unknown, and may it be in harmony with all creatures that we share this earth with.
I express gratitude for all of the technologies and gifts that have made this possible, and I'm grateful to the Multnomah, Cowlitz, Bands of Chinook, and Clackamas tribes, among many others, who are the original stewards of the land that I'm on. All right. Well, I want to start by talking about what roots are and how they serve a plant.
You know, I wish I had more or better language around this because I feel like, you know, the lingo around, like, rootedness and being rooted, it's, uh, it can get so talked about that it sort of loses its meaning and its punch. And so I, I hope today my language serves because I want this to hit you in maybe a new, not hit you, but land for you in a different way that feels true and activating.
Cause I'm just noticing lately how much my eyes are kind of glazing over with some of the same words and ideas floating around. And so I find myself. Feeling kind of challenged or like there's friction trying to find a different way in to older Helpful wisdom that we need right now. So I want to talk a little bit about what roots are so the root is a system in a plant that Stabilizes it and anchors it into the ground So roots are necessary for most plants to grow They need to be stable enough to grow.
They serve an anchoring function. They're also a source of energy storage. So, in the winter especially, a lot of these plants, you know, they're not making new leaves. There's not a lot of sunlight to absorb through their chloroplasts. Or, if they're deciduous trees, for example, all of their leaves have fallen off, and so there's nothing to Absorb the energy from the sun with anyway.
So how does a plant survive if it doesn't have leaves with which to eat or unlock energy in a certain part of the year? Well, it draws on the nutrients in its roots. And so there's tremendous energy and DNA and information held within a root system. It's also where much of the plants minerals and water are absorbed.
So you might remember from a couple episodes ago, we talked about with old school Nate, we talked about how the element of the autumn season is mineral and leaves that fall to the ground, animals that die at this time, all of this is creating nutrients in the form of minerals that go into the soil and then can be reused and absorbed by plants through their roots.
And it takes energy for the plant to absorb minerals because They don't just flow in easily, you have to get them across the cellular membrane and that takes energy and has to be unlocked. But with water absorption, that happens most often through a process called osmosis, which I'm sure you've heard about in like 6th grade biology or whatever.
Um, that, um, A higher concentration of water will, through osmosis, just naturally want to flow into an area with lower concentration of water. And so many of these roots have these, like, openings, or sort of void spaces. where there's maybe not a lot of water kept if the plant is thirsty. So then if there's water outside in the soil, the water just naturally wants to flow into the root because there's not as much water there.
The osmosis is sort of drawn into that space. And also, of course, the mycorrhizal networks of fungi underground are also facilitating resource absorption for many of these plants. There are certain minerals that plants can't easily absorb themselves that the fungi can come in and help facilitate. to facilitate.
So roots are the stabilization point for plants. They hold energy and DNA that's necessary for the next cycle of growth, like for a plant, you know, like a daffodil or a tulip, who's kind of existing inside of its bulb right now. And roots are essential for mineral and water absorption. They are also essential for information sharing.
So plants can communicate through their roots and receive information, vital information about, you know, pests or challenges coming up or, you know, resources that are available. They can communicate through these roots underground. So, stabilization, energy storage, mineral and water absorption, and information sharing.
And to me, those all sound like things that we need. And It might be helpful to mimic some of the wisdom of roots at this time so that we can also resource ourselves right now in this period of decline and resource ourselves ahead of the spring so that when it does come time to grow, grow, grow, we actually have the Energy and the wisdom and the depth that we need so that we're not just growing in a shallow way.
I learned recently from our neighborhood plant shop. Shout out to Symbiop on Powell, a worker owned garden cooperative. If you're in the area, I recommend it. I learned from them recently that the fall is actually a wonderful time to plant. Um, before the ground freezes because it gives plants a low risk, low stakes time to really get established in the ground when they're not overburdened by heat and losing a lot of water before the ground freezes when they can sort of settle in and make those roots really strong when there's not the demand for their outward growth.
So I don't know if that's true for every ecosystem. I'm sure it's not, but at least here in the temperate climate where I live, it was really heartening to hear that this is actually An excellent time to plant new things, but not in a way that's expecting them to do anything, show we or on the outside, but because this is a time for them to go deeper and establish themselves.
And it's true that anytime throughout the seasons there is always growth and endings and all of the plants that have. died at this time, maybe not all, but many of the plants who are falling away at this time have created seeds either, you know, previously in the growing cycle or are creating seeds now that are the little containers of the new life that will be able to come back in the spring.
So the little seeds that have fallen onto the ground aren't creating roots yet, but the plants that are established and will overwinter. This is really a time when they can continue to fortify and draw up nutrients and water through their roots. So, you might think that you don't really have roots, or that this might not be applicable to you as a human being, who moves around, who can get in an airplane and fly away, but in our own naturalness, We're never fully off the ground by our own making.
You know, yes, you can get into a car or a plane and be separated from the ground, but when it's just you in your natural state on the land, you're either sitting or standing, or maybe you're doing a handstand and your hands are touching the ground, but you're not. So, we're always touching the ground in some way.
And even though we are walking, talking, moving, running beings. My experience is that it's kind of like we have two umbilical cords. We have the umbilical cord that has connected us to our biological parent in the womb that we came from. But it's also my experience that we have an umbilical cord that connects us to the earth directly.
And, um, I think I heard about this initially through a witch named Alison Carr. I feel like one of my favorite meditation teachers, Jessica Snow, has talked about this. I, my understanding is that it's also part of like the root chakra, um, system that I'm less familiar with. So I don't mean to like, I don't, I'm not trying to appropriate any of this, but my, this is just from my own, direct experience, what I feel.
It feels like when I am on the ground and trying to connect in an intentional way from my root, where my seat meets the ground, I do feel a connection to the earth, and I know I'm not alone in this. I've heard other people explain this, and I don't believe it's made up, that you have a part of your body, or maybe it's part of your energy body, That roots you in to the ground, and just with a little bit of attention, you can feel it.
You can feel this root go into the ground, or maybe it's not even going in, maybe it's always there. And it, I think it travels with us, but we can feel into that root, and imagine nutrients coming up that root from the earth and sort of pooling in the lower part of our belly. You could imagine kind of sending your own communication into the earth in that way.
I don't know if it's heightened by having a womb or if that's part of it, but that's where I feel it in my body. But my sense is that this is just part of the human experience. If we know that in the natural world, successful patterns repeat themselves, like the way our fingerprints look like tree rings, or the way that your lungs on an x ray machine look like the branches of trees.
If we know that successful, uh, information or resource delivery systems repeat themselves, then to me it makes sense that we would have an umbilical cord as biological beings, but also one that connects us to the earth, because it's like, that is a, that is a, well proven time tested way to deliver information and resources.
So I don't have like a study to cite for this. It's just what I have felt over the last 10 years or so since I became aware of it. And I do believe that we carry this connection, this rootedness with us wherever we go and wherever we are. And I don't think it takes a lot of attention. To attune to, um, so you can try it if you haven't already.
So, I believe that roots are super important for plants and for us. I believe that we have a root that connects us to the earth. And there is a lot that capitalism and civilization Have done to our roots in an attempt to sever us from them and sever us from the ways that we could directly meet our needs.
And, you know, humans have always migrated to some degree. That's like a natural way of being on the earth when you're a hunter or a forager. But settled life, civilization, and capitalism especially have really forced displacement among humans. Millions of people, billions of people across the world, across time, whether through abduction and slavery, um, the destruction of the common lands and displacement of people, um, today we see it with globalization, having to move because of economic and circumstances or, you know, you get a job across the country and need to uproot, or there's war or genocide or climate change is forcing people to be displaced, not wholly by choice, but out of necessity.
So what might that do to our roots? Again, I believe the roots always come with us. But it does take time to establish meaningful connections in our lives, to know which nutrients are available where and how, to feel settled enough that we can draw up what we actually need. And, you know, shallow roots is one strategy that some plants use like onions, chard, lavender.
These plants don't have super deep roots. They're pretty easily uprooted. And maybe that's what we can do when we're just sort of temporarily somewhere or we're on the move. Just imagine sending out some little sprouts, you know, I'm going to connect here, send this message and feel a little bit stable as we need and as we grow.
But what if, when we were moving or in a new place, or what if, if we decided this autumn is going to be a time when I really. Deeply root in what if we could do that more quickly and easily not in a way that's like let's make this super efficient or expedient, but what if it was just natural and not that complicated.
I am curious like if this fall was about growing some deep fat roots in your life right now. Without having to change your location like right where you are as things are. If this was where you could really root in and be fed, I just wonder what would be possible for you. And I think more and more, this is necessary work.
It's very easy in the communities that I'm a part of to do that. I'm around a lot of people who are kind of one foot in, one foot out, and I think that's a byproduct of capitalism that we're always kind of not fully invested in a place because what if there's no jobs, what if we have to move to earn more money, or what if we can't afford to live in this place anymore, what if we, you know, want to move somewhere nicer, or, you know, That really does something, I think, over time with our roots.
And again, migration is normal, all humans have a right to move as they want, where they want, to where there are resources. Just like animals and birds have a right to migrate however they want, they're free to do so. If the land allows that for them, there should be no state or governing body or pollution or whatever.
machinery preventing them from doing that. So it's true that humans need to move and migrate, and it's natural to leave places and see new places. And I'm not saying that you have to stay exactly where you were born and that then you don't have any deep roots, but I do think we could become a lot more practiced in putting down roots where we are for the time that we are actually there instead of living.
Like I've got. You know, one tiny root hair in Portland, and then, you know, I'm trying to grow a huge taproot in some imaginary village in my mind, which is exactly what I do often. Um, but what would it be like if I just kind of put anything else off the table for now because it's not here. Here is where I am in my little house with our yard.
It's not perfect. But I'm thankful for it. It's what I've got. We are here in the city for now, even though it really runs my nervous system ragged. What would it mean to really deeply root in here for this autumn and winter? And what would that mean for you? And again, if, if it turns out that you're needing to make a move and that becomes clear and a new land calls to you or circumstances force you into a new place, then what if you could put deep roots down more quickly in that place too?
I bet that would be really beneficial. So, how can we fortify ourselves through these roots in the midst of decline? Because again, this is not a time of like showy, green, luscious, fruity growth. This is a time of underground growth and growth that is catalyzed by death and release and decomposition. So I think part of it is accepting that we are adults who can choose to have deep roots or not.
No matter what level of trauma or what your heritage has been like, you are still sovereign inside of your body. And that's a process. I think everyone's at a different place with, but if it's true that you were born with a root, a connection to the earth, that you may not draw nutrients up exactly like plants do, but that you do have access to nutrients and wisdom and communication that you need.
then you get to decide how and when you want to engage with that. And that's just, that's just a decision that we make. And I'm not saying that it's easy or it's the same for everyone, but you get to decide, you know, if you want to engage in a practice like this. This autumn or winter or if you want to be more of a being with very shallow roots Maybe that's where you're at right now.
That's okay, too but I find that with the weight of our world and the sort of whiplash that I think many as many of us feel as people who are trying to pay attention and Not turn away from what's happening in our world You I would imagine that a greater stabilization in our bodies and into the earth would be really useful.
So, first is just accepting that you have that choice and deciding if you want to. So, there are two different types of roots that I want to talk about today. The first is the tap root. So this is like if you pulled out a dandelion plant and you saw this huge fat root that's quite long. Dandelions have really deep roots.
The biggest one you would see would be called the taproot. Carrots themselves are the taproot of this plant. Um, so there's the taproot which offers a lot of stabilization and anchoring. And what does the taproot do? It stabilizes by growing down deeper into the darkness. Okay, and we can do that this time of year with the darkness growing each day.
And I'm not talking about this just metaphorically. I mean literally spending more time in the darkness, like through that practice that I mentioned earlier. But I'm also talking about sleep. You can grow into the dark through getting more sleep. Sleep. Everyone knows that we need more sleep. I, I'm not going to like cite a bunch of research for you because I know that you've heard it all.
We all know that we're not getting enough sleep and we're not getting enough good quality sleep. And sometimes I wonder like how my life might change, how the lives of the people around me would change if we were sleeping like 10 plus hours a night. I don't know. And this is a really interesting topic, darkness especially, but also its impact on sleep that came up in my interview with Clark Strand last autumn, and I'll link to that episode in the show notes below.
But one of the things that he talks about in his book and in that podcast was how we really pathologize waking up in the night. And we've sort of bought into this idea that like, if, Like good sleep is eight hours of consecutive sleep. But actually what our ancestors did, how they slept in this time where there's a lot of darkness was that they would sleep for a while in the night.
And then they would have a couple of hours in the middle of the night of this sort of In between sleep waking state where they would dream or pray or have these kind of numinous experiences and then they would sleep another shift until the morning. So I wonder if one of the ways that we could really form deep roots in a place is by sleeping more.
And growing into that darkness rather than resisting it and taking sleep seriously as the truly like foundational root source, nutrient source that it is. The other thing that a strong taproot does is store a lot of energy. So again, for us, like it's not spring, it's not the time to be spending a bunch of energy on stuff.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I really hope you cut something out this season. Truly. I hope you see what it's like to really decline in some area of your life. You know, really trying to trust that there will be another spring. That decline is not the full story. That's not all that you'll be asked to do.
But could you just try it? Could you go further than you have before in the realm of decline and see what happens? We sort of relate to this with such pressure. It's like such high stakes, and that's not all our fault. It really is high stakes in some ways because of our culture and capitalism. But what if you accepted decline in the areas that, you know, aren't dominated by money or capitalism.
You know, again, could you decline your waking time? Could you decline the number of social engagements you have? Could you decline the number of apps you have on your phone? Or, you know, decline in the time you spend driving and choose to walk instead. There are many opportunities and areas where you could play around with diminishment and what it means to do less in a certain area so that you can build up some true energy storage and not expend energy on things that aren't giving you life, that aren't appropriate for this time of year, and actually keep some extra energy.
around. There aren't a lot of people that I know with meaningful energy stores. We're really good at and forced to use it all up very quickly. And I think more of us would really benefit from taking this decline seriously so that we can fortify ourselves and store up some energy at this time. So there's tap roots, but then there are subsidiary roots that And tap roots have root hairs as well, but these are smaller roots that go out into the soil, sort of in search of minerals and water absorption and connection for information sharing.
So how might we absorb more nutrients and mineral and water at this time. I think one is that it's really important to pay attention to the environments that we're in and to the media that we are consuming. Again, if you think about water and osmosis, it's kind of like it can just, it will just seep in where there's a vacuum.
So the environments that we're in, the media that we have, even if they're in the background, all of that is seeping in through our roots in some way. And another thing is that if you're feeling like you're in a place where maybe you can decline or slow down, and you could actually store up some energy, but it's not feeling like there's much to work with in the first place, a lot of plants have many, many different root hairs.
They're connecting to mycelium underground. They're putting out lots of little roots all over. So there are many pathways for the nutrients to come in. It's not just one big taproot, there are root hairs coming off of that. So if there are, if there's a need for nutrition to come in in your life through your roots, you might consider without like overdoing it or adding more to your plate, you might consider like, what are the little easy ways where I am already, where more nutrition could just come in, whether it's like.
You know, you make your morning coffee every day, but maybe you switch it out for some like mushroom coffee to get some good nutrients in, or maybe you go for a walk every day, but you often listen to something as you walk. What if you declined and ditched your phone and just walked in silence for a little bit?
You know, what are the things that you're already doing the places you already are? where we could just put out a few little extra root hairs to drink in more nutrition. And being with the natural environment is such a easy, good way to do that. Like if you're gonna, if you don't want to decline in terms of your social engagements this autumn, what if you did more outside?
So that at least then you're also getting fresh air, you're moving your body, you're getting good immune boosting chemicals from the trees. So, those are some ways that we can mirror the wisdom of these roots as they gain more minerals and sort of feast on what is decaying around them and in the soil right now.
And finally, in terms of information sharing, you know, you'll remember that the roots are a really important way for plants to share information with one another. And again, this is available to us too. We can absolutely tap into our roots. And really listen to the earth, you know, what does the earth feel in this moment and the earth where you are?
And I'm not talking about like what your mind says, mother earth feels, but I'm talking about you where you are on the land you're on tuning into that route and feeling really listening to what the earth has to say. You know, what does the earth feel about this election really? Our minds might say, Oh, you know, she's, she's freaking out, I'm freaking out and sort of trip out on what we think the earth is feeling about this election.
But often what she's actually saying is not what we're projecting onto her. In my experience, she will meet what comes in that actual locality. She is dealing with the imbalances in other places herself. You know, so we are like one little dandelion plant on this earth compared to the Great Mother Earth.
So if you are one little dandelion plant in your life right now, it would behoove you to stop and really focus on your roots right now. I think that's what the earth would invite you to do and decline around us, the decline of the season, the decline of this culture and society, the decline of our climate in different areas of the earth that is going to come touch all of us in different ways.
And one of the ways we can stay sturdy in the midst of it. While we can, until we might ourselves be uprooted, is to deeply root in while we have the chance. And to really listen to the earth, because she will tell us how to do that. She will show us. She can show us what it's like to actually feel rooted.
Not constantly traveling and moving with no taproot into the ground, but just these little shallow roots barely catching nutrients or water. So I really hope that we can play around with this this autumn because I think it would be so interesting to see, you know, what this could shift in our own lives and collectively as well.
And again, I feel limited by the language, but I think, I hope you can feel it. I can feel it as I'm talking about it. And if you can't feel it, try going and just sitting on the ground or sitting with other plants that are deeply rooted in right now and see what you might feel. Learn about what you need in terms of your roots and the nutrients you need and how they can stabilize and anchor you because what the earth will tell you is different than what the earth would tell me and Some of it is universal But I do believe that the land you're living on Would like to have a relationship with you and would like to talk to you about your roots if you want to have that conversation Conversation So this is all really applicable to me in my life right now as well.
And I just want to share a little bit about what's going on in my world in case it just serves anyone. Um, and this isn't like anything super serious. It's just that I'm in kind of another phase of Adaptation in my working life. And I think I mentioned I took a lot of time off in the summer and really limited my work because I have two young kids and a spouse who works and it made more sense for me to for our family, for Chris, my husband, to work more and for me to work less and be with the kids.
So, I didn't do a lot in terms of like income generation this summer. And then since they've gone back to school this autumn, I had all these big plans for how I would, you know, earn that money back and all the things I wanted to do. But I'm also in a period of really trying to listen to my family. Wise ancestors and to the land, you know, what does this land want from me and How does this land want to collaborate with me in this work so that it's not just my ideas and stuff that I'm just saying But that it is deeply rooted.
This work is deeply rooted. And so what I'm learning in that process is that I've been called to teach more and write. And so I've written, you know, the autumn journal and I'm working on the winter one. Now I'm teaching composting capitalism and I have another couple of classes this fall, but I'm also being asked to keep things very affordable, which makes sense because, you know, taking people out to the land and teaching and holding space for them.
It would feel pretty yucky if I'm trying to make a bunch of money off of that. Like, the land is doing all of the work. I'm just holding the space. So, I'm also being called to spend a lot more time with the land, which I love and is absolutely vital and life giving to me. And it doesn't result in remuneration, which again is great.
I don't want it to. That would be really weird. But the truth is that all of this has meant I've had a lot less income for the year. And so one of the things that I'm trying to fortify myself with is not adding more to my plate and accepting the decline of this time and just savoring what is here, but also putting out more of those root hairs to add more avenues for nutrition to come in.
So that's kind of tricky, you know, to not do more and like hustle and grind to try to get more work in, but to be sort of rooted where we are and just put out more root hairs for nutrition to find us without having to like do extra. And so one of those avenues for nutrition for me is through support of this podcast, through becoming a member or pitching in once as you can.
And I have a lot of feelings about this. I feel like everything is It's starting to be put behind a paywall, you know, everything gets commodified, people, I don't know about you, but I feel like there's a million ways every month that I feel like I should be contributing in places where I should be sending money.
But I'm trying to find my way around this and find the definitions that are meaningful to me. And if you work for yourself, I'm sure you are in this too, constantly trying to adapt and find ways to do the work you need to do in integrity and also meet your financial needs. You know, I feel pressure to like, do a bunch more and promise you all of these like, rewards and swag and stuff if you become a member.
But the truth is that I can't. I mean, I could, but, um, I'm trying this so hard. process of really storing up more of my energy. And I want this work to come through clearly and for it to be a reflection of what the land wants to be said. So I don't have extras to promise if you become a member, um, or if you pitch in once or as you can.
But I will tell you it is going to help make this work more sustainable for me so that I can make this podcast regularly. It also makes the work available to other people who maybe really can't afford to pitch in right now. So all that to say, that's where I am in case you're someone who works for yourself and are also trying to navigate this.
I'm with you in those questions and the And I'm not threatening to like, And the podcast or anything. I will keep going as long as I can. I love doing this and it would help me to fortify myself in this autumn and winter season when I'm being asked to do less and to do less that earns a lot of money.
It would help me if. some extra funds came through this podcast, um, in the ways that I'm asking or inviting them to. So, you can do that if you want to at buymeacoffee. com slash Megan Leatherman. I'll put the link in the show notes. And if that's just not a way that you can support the show right now, that's okay, too.
There are other ways like sharing the show, Sharing the supporter link if there are other listeners, you know, in your community who might want to pitch in. Rating and subscribing to the show. Sharing my work with friends who have podcasts or other outlets where this work could be shared. You know, you can totally purchase an autumn or a winter journal or attend a class and pay for those things in that way so that money can come my way.
I always really appreciate that and enjoy that too. So, Thanks for being open to this and listening. I hope it's received in the manner that I intend. Again, I'm totally invested in this. I just want to be honest about how I'm trying to put some of this into practice, into my own life. And um, yeah, so thank you for hearing that.
I hope today's episode has been a blessing to your rootedness and to your depth and that you feel a little bit more fortified today in these wild times. I will be back with you in two weeks with an interview episode. I hope you take such good care, and I'll see you on the other side.