NOURISHMENT 2025

By Nina & Sonya Montenegro

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Books:

Terra Nullius is a devastating look at the history of British colonization of Australia written as a loose travel diary. I began this book with very little knowledge of Australian history and with each page felt more and more in awe of my own ignorance - why the heck didn’t I learn this in history class?!? – and a deep, deep sorrow for the multitudes of wrongdoings we humans inflict upon each other. It is a dark and brutal story, one that is still unfolding as the Aboriginal people are still fighting to get their land back. (I felt similarly shocked by all that I didn’t know and thirsty to continue to learn all that I can about the Peoples’ history when I read Daniel Immerwahr’s “How to Hide an Empire”). Lindquist’s other books also look fascinating: A History of Bombing, Exterminate All the Brutes.
I can’t sing enough praises about this incredible book: Take Back the Magic by Perdita Finn. Through intimate letters to her dead father and warm, playful stories from her own remarkable life, Perdita weaves a most compelling case for each of us to begin our own conversation with the dead - whom she asserts are all around us, all the time, waiting to hear from us, to collaborate with us, to help us. (I first learned about Perdita through reading her daughter Sophie Strand’s incredible book “The Madonna Secret”, an epic retelling of the Mary/Magdelena/Jesus story.) Also, see below in “Videos” for a link to Perdita’s interview on the Medicine Stories podcast.
Sometimes when it feels like things are really very dark, a book comes along that sheds Light (yes, with a capital “L”: Light to see what must be done now, a Lightening of heart and spirit, a Lightning-bolt-infusion of confidence, acknowledging that each of us have, right now, exactly what we need to heal the Earth). Arkan Lushwala’s Time of the Black Jaguar - An Offering of Indigenous Wisdom for the Continuity of Life on Earth is that bright guiding star.
Ready to have your mind blown? Read The End of Upside Down Thinking by Mark Gober. I had many, many ‘AHA!’ moments while reading this book – Gober is not afraid to crack wide open all that we think we know and examine it from all angles, no matter how uncomfortable it might make us feel. And his exploration is extensively researched, exhaustingly footnoted and deeply appreciated.
These two short novellas by Claire Keegan are delicious, savory gems: Small Things Like These and Foster. With perfectly sparse language, set in Ireland, they are moody, dreamy, and quietly fierce.
Women Holding Things by Maira Kalman. Celebrating the ordinary and the special is Kalman’s forte. Her paintings take us on a colorful journey through the many, many things - both literally and figuratively - that women hold (...and hold together and hold up). I highly recommend falling down the M. Kalman rabbit hole and exploring her gorgeous, thoughful NYT-blog-turned-books: The Principles of Uncertainty and And the Pursuit of Happiness as well as her sophisticated yet playful children’s books and so much more.
I think (and hope) we are entering an era of deep appreciation for handmade items – slowmade with sumptuous natural materials that ground us, reconnect us to the Earth and are a resounding rejection of the Fast Throwaway Culture we’ve been steeped in for too long. For major handmade home inspiration, deep dive into the incredible Chicago artist Edgar Miller. A true Renaissance Man, a “forgotten master”, who created every piece of some of the most gorgeous homes I’ve ever seen. From the handmade ceramic tiles and bas relief murals, to the handcarved wooden wall panels, ceiling beams and furniture, to handmade stained glass windows and hand-wrought iron railings – Miller’s lively creative spirit is imbued in every aspect. Edgar Miller and the Handmade Home, by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams is an absolute coffee-table-book-treasure and expensive to get your hands on (but so worth it! Though check your library first, they may have it!).
Our lives are woven from the many stories that have been told to us and that we tell ourselves, so it feels natural to learn the art of storytelling as a tool for guiding our children, honoring their feelings and helping them process their experiences. Healing Stories for Challenging Behavior by Susan Perrow is “richly illustrated with lively anecdotes from parents and teachers who have discovered how the power of story can help resolve a variety of common childhood behaviors and situations, including separation anxiety, bullying, sibling rivalry, nightmares, and grieving.”
Human Heart, Cosmic Heart by Thomas Cowan. The heart is not a pump! Shout it from the rooftops: the heart is NOT a pump!! It is a vortex, it is the seat of our spirit, it is deeply misunderstood. It is all much more mysterious, and beautiful, than we’ve been told. Revel in the mystery with this memoir/scientific investigation on what we think we know about the heart, and how we might better understand it (and thus ourselves) if we reconsider what we think we know about it.

I found many resonant nuggets of connective wisdom in Mirrors in the Earth by Asia Suler and Luminous Darkness: A Radical Path to Embracing the Unknown by Deborah Eden Tull
All Fours by Miranda July —- A brutally honest depiction of one woman grappling with middle age– sexuality, marriage, parenthood, aging, and societal structures/expectations. While I could see how some readers might find it cringey, I laughed out loud a lot. Made me realize how thirsty I am for books and movies that focus on middle age. If you have any recommendations, I’d love to know about them!
I snack on The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin whenever I need a creative pick-me-up.
I’m a big fan of Steinbeck but I had never heard of his novella, The Pearl, until this year. A masterful retelling of a devastating Mexican folktale.
Many of us remember running around the neighborhood with a band of kids, our parents’ only directive being “be home when the streetlights come on.” Parenting today feels so very different from back then, and Small Animals by Kim Brooks illuminates why– a culture of rigid safetyism that has intensified over the last few decades. For me, this book was worth the read to contextualize a lot of my parenting experience.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Videos:

Charles Eisenstein interviews Drew Brody about his Near Death Experience

Dr. Martha Beck on strategies for reclaiming our lives from anxiety and fear

Charles Eisenstein muses on what “The Next Five Years” may hold

Charles Eisenstein on the often difficult question of whether to have children or not in this difficult time: “On bringing a child into this world, Earth knows what she is doing”

Perdita Finn on the Medicine Stories podcast: “Death is the Great Healing: Reclaiming Ancestral Relationship with the Dead”

William Kentridge’s animated-charcoal-drawings (using no computer): see here for a compilation of highlights of his short films that are a “meditation on contemporary South Africa that openly address the thorny issues of apartheid, class inequity and rampant free market capitalism.”

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Children’s Books:

My six-year-old and I loved reading Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and When the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin outloud together. These chapter books, based on Chinese folklore, are chock-full of life lessons.

Do you Remember is another sweet book by Sydney Smith, one of our favorite illustrators. Tender story of a mom and son reminiscing together, recalling all the ordinary moments that make up a beautiful life.

I appreciate this book for introducing the sacredness of seeds without bogging little minds down with dry science facts! Miss Maple’s Seeds by Eliza Wheeler

The Queen in the Cave by Julia Sarda. Finding Julia Sarda’s work for me was one of those moments where I questioned all that I do because Julia does what she does SO WELL. Her illustrations are breathtaking. Her stories are steeped in The Mystery.

It’s OK, Slow Lizard by Yeorim Yoon, illustrated by Jian Kim. This book has become a household favorite. Whenever I rush my little three-year-old out the door, she fires back, “I’m a slow lizard!” and I remember the beautiful teaching of the book: slow down!

The Bird and the Tree by Balint Zsako: A simple, profound wordless picture book about friendship and adventure.

The most delightful illustrations accompany an inventory of all the quirky residents at No 5 Bubblegum Street by Mikolaj Pa

Every book by William Grill: The Wolves of Currumpaw, Shackleton’s Journey, Bandoola

Dim Sum Palace by X Fang is a most delightful celebration of Chinese cuisine via a little girl’s dreamy trip into an Empress' kitchen.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Other:

I adore Madeline Donahue’s honest, often shocking, always playful art all about Motherhood.

Paul Kingsnorth’s essays about his pilgrimage to 50 Holy Wells in Ireland - they are free to read. Part travel adventure, part religious musing, part history nerd-out, his essays are beautifully written, always thought-provoking and a simple joy to read. He writes: “There is some need, I think, eternally within us, to connect to the divine through the natural world. I have had it all my life: a deep, sometimes incoherent desire to move, in the words of Orthodox Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, ‘through creation to the creator.’ The well houses and streams and rag trees and remote mountaintop springs and hermitages fed by still pools: all of these weave us into the energies of God, abroad on the wind, stirring up the waters. If they die out - if the Folk Christianity at the margins is smothered by the Ecclesiastical centre - something deep is lost.”
This gorgeous project, “The Pillar”, by photographer Stephen Gill, of fleeting moments, intimate closeness and birds.

Here are Maddie Gordon’s bumper stickers for your giggling, dairy-loving pleasure.

I have been loving everything that homeopath Paula Jeffery has been putting together on her Instagram and Substack – she explores healing, intuition, motherhood, and of course, homeopathy, with humor, compassion and just so much freakin insight, gosh.
This beautiful poem by Tim Hirons: Sometimes a Wild God