5.5b 'Grow, Cook, Dye or Wear' - Writing Prompt for my Conversation with Bella Gonshorovitz

Prompted by Nature

Welcome to this writing prompt for my conversation with Bella Gonshorovitz. For this one, it could be done purely for writing but I feel like it’s more of a general prompt for whatever creative practice you want to try at this point.

Bella talked a lot about her process in terms of the circular economy structure and the inspiration that this can provide to not just our work in the garden or growing things but in our creativity. I want to encourage you to choose one of the verbs, grow, cook, dye or wear (as in, sew) and see where it takes you.

Perhaps you could take some time to think about what you’d like to grow come Spring, or do some winter seed sowing for your garden, window sill or balcony space. Maybe you’d like to dive into foraging and what might be around at this time of year - Bella’s book, as well as my conversations with Ebony Gheorghe (4.2a) and Nathaniel Hughes and Fiona Owen all the way back in 1.3a, are great for finding inspiration for this - and how you can plan your year in foraging to really get to know the plants and how they can support you and your health.

Perhaps you have a few bits of fabric scraps lying around or have some budget to raid the charity shops for the amazing fabrics they so often have in stock and want to experiment with sewing your own clothes or something simple, like a tote bag or a face cloth to help you gain confidence in sewing and making clothes if you don’t already.

Once you’ve decided, you could sit down and plan - perhaps three month ahead or so - how you might develop this knowledge or skills set. So for me, for example, I’d like to try the full process that Bella suggests but I don’t want to overwhelm myself so I’m going to get to know onion a bit better, purely because I can hold of it at this time of year and Bella’s glow when she spoke about it was infectious! I want to save the skins and start to experiment with dyeing with it. Then, once my garden is ready for planting, I’m going to try and plant some of my own. I’m following Charles Dowding’s No Dig method, so I’m going to follow this and what Bella says in her book about tending to onions and see how it goes.

I’ll then use this process as creative fuel for a Solarpunk piece I’m working (and if you don’t know what Solarpunk is, just get on Ecosia and give it a search. You can thank me later ;-). I want to see how it feels to grow something that I will later eat and then use to create something that I will wear. I want to experience how it feels to fully close that circle.

I’d love to hear from you if you use this prompt and how you get on.

Remember you can get hold of Bella’s book, Grow, Cook, Dye, Wear via the PbN bookshop on bookshop.org - the link is in the show notes or you can go over to their website and search for the Prompted by Nature shop and have a browse. There’s also a direct link on my website www.promptedbynature.co.uk

Happy creating!

Helen x