Rejoice! The Sun Returns...
Some thoughts of the old year as we face the longest night & the sun's return.
Seasons Greetings!
I mailed my cards on Monday, and some have reached their destinations… here is a longer version of the letter in the card.
In Norse tradition, on each solstice and equinox (so each quarter year), we gather together to present a toast, a boast, and an oath. December 21st is the Winter Solstice. I do a personal version of this each quarter for myself, but I do a whole year-in-retrospect version for my annual letter.
Toast
This year, in April, we lost Amanda Fisher. Amanda was the mother of my friend Kitty. I’ve known them since I was six years old - Kitty is like a sister to me & Amanda was like extended family to me. She was 64 & was battling numerous health issues. She was a gifted artist, made beautiful jewelry, was a creative cook & honestly when I think of her I think of her laughter - she had a wicked sense of humor. She & Kitty had a complicated relationship for years, but Amanda really made an effort to work on it more recently & I was so touched to see how close she & Kitty became before she passed. My one regret is I wasn’t able to get her some mushrooms in time to take with Kitty before she died & I think she would’ve loved that. I resolve to help more parents take mushrooms with their adult children as a bonding exercise.
My friend Jenn Bliss also passed this year. She was part of my community in Boston before I moved to Los Angeles, & we hadn’t stayed close, but she was a creative soul who was deeply & unapologetically herself. We used to sing Tom Lehrer songs together. She was a playful & fearless spirit & the world has one little less “Scallywag” with her gone.
Finally, a toast to Sinéad O’Connor. Her album The Lion & the Cobra was the first cassette I ever owned. Her song “Jackie” was one of the first songs I ever loved. She was brave & broken & bold & beautiful, & nothing compares to her.
Boast
This year was largely focused on work. Last year, we launched our Shrüm Mushroom Grow Bags & in 2023 we’ve done six trade shows + MAPS Psychedelic Science Conference! Since we launched the brand we had basically been playing catch up, constantly a week behind fulfilling orders. This summer we finally caught up, thanks to infrastructure changes. We made over 50,000 grow bags this year, moved our production facility to Southern California, & I do weekly inspections to ensure quality control. I have been promoted to VP of Operations & have also been developing more of the brand voice & public presence of the company with exciting plans for 2024. My goal is to continue to decentralize access to the medicinal, therapeutic, & recreational benefits of magical mushrooms.
Judd & I are in great sync within both our relationship & work. We celebrated 11 years together in August. He is more & more my forever person & we’re too busy for kids at the moment (our company is our baby right now) but I love that we know we want to build all sorts of things together, professionally & personally. We have a profound level of trust & devotion to each other & it inspires me daily.
Judd’s cat Abby is 13, healthy & still cute & angry as ever.
Petrie (my Quaker parrot) is 26, is healthy for his age, always handsome, & adores me endlessly.
Peppercorn (my Indian Ringneck parrot) is 20 months old. He whistles, gives kisses, & says “gimme kiss”, “thank you babe”, & “peekaboo”. He’s decided Judd is his favorite person. I try not to feel betrayed.
Oath
I have such exciting ideas for work & life in 2024 & it’s all very much swirling together in the chaos of my brain but I’m starting to make sense of it. I have been spending less time on political activism & speeches, & I’d like to find the right balance in 2024 - I find myself wanting to give less energy to politics or even a “culture war”. I wish to spend my time productively, creating positive change & value in the world. I’m becoming better at task management for myself (thank you Asana) & I’m mostly focused on tasks for the company, but as I create more internal systems I hope to find the time to truly give attention to those things which can be creative, positive, inspirational & bring joy & light to myself & others.
I haven’t been back to New England since January of 2020, but I have plane tickets & plans so I’ll be in New England from January 10th-17th! I look forward to seeing my family & as many friends as possible.
May your holiday season and new year be filled with love, laughter and light!
PS:
A note about 2022:
Last year, I didn’t get around to sending my annual letter & cards. The end of the year just overwhelmed me as things started ramping up with the company. For those who didn’t get that letter, I did post it here. In 2022, I lost my darling bird Justice & it broke my heart. Then I lost two of my dear friends & it was just rough all around. My brothers each came to visit, which was nice (first time since I moved West). It was an eventful year & I didn’t have the bandwidth to write about it at the time, but if you didn’t see the update, it was a very emotionally hard year & I wanted to share it with you.
If you’re in New England & would like to see me during my travels, feel free to email me to coordinate.
Want to grow mushrooms?
Advanced Mycology is our mushroom grow kit:
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C2C Myco is where you buy liquid culture:
I highly recommend AB or P7 for growing in our bags.
Use “Avens” as a coupon to get a discount!