Bioregional Sisterhood Series- Kinship - Katy Chada in Midt Norway - Magdalena in Las Pampas Uruguay - r3.0 Confluence Weaves + Dispatches
For the sequel of our bioregional sisterhood piece, Katy Chada (Argentinian sister living in Norway) wrote to us and shared her "family project", so generous of her. The emotion that we read in the message is about Katy's biocultural quest in the context of her bioregion, her life, her family life. And yes thank you for the invitation Katy, we are coming to visit some time soon!
Katy's sweet letter to Magdalena:
Magdalena, I keep on being so inspired by you! I am organizing a gathering at my farm for next spring, with women engaged with wool :) thanks!I am visiting my family in Argentina this European winter; if I organize myself to have some days, I would love to come and visit you and Santiago at your ranch in Las Pampas. Please let's keep in touch.
I share with you my favourite watershed (the Gaula river), which is a collage I made myself based on the artwork of Finnish artist Raija Jokinen and a drone picture taken by Tobias Luthe during the field trip to my place in the context of the DRRS program at ETHZ.
ETHZ is a public university in Zurich, the Design Resilience Regenerative Systems (DRRS), a MOOC (Free) course that I am taking, inspired by Katy, and enjoying a lot), here: https://systemicdesignlabs.ethz.ch/drrs/#drrs_list, with course creators Tobias Luthe (MonViso Institute), Daniel Christian Wahl in Mallorca). I am sharing this images I created, I am the author, as part of my MAS design thesis work / Master of Advanced Studies ETH in Regenerative Systems. Which I finished earlier this year and is not yet published.
Daniel Christian Wahl
Katy: Regarding the land ancestors, I've attached a picture of our rowing over Gaula, where we (my son, husband, and me in turns) pick up pilgrims on their journey to Nidaros (orginal name for our Trondheim town.) This route is an immaterial cultural heritage, historically used by Vikings for trade between Nidaros and Sweden. We have taken on the traditional role of rowing pilgrims across the Gaula, preserving this intangible cultural heritage and keeping the ancient pathway alive. (What a wonderul idea Katy. A ceremonial water pathway honoring a medieval pilgrimage route).
Hosting pilgrims at our farm strengthens social cohesion through renewed connections with neighbors and the broader pilgrim network. Ecologically, our activities remain light, walking and rowing, and allow us to observe seasonal patterns, the more-than-human world, soil conditions, and the river’s rhythms.
We aim to close local loops by supplying our hosting system with our own vegetables, sheep meat, honey, and firewood.
There is a lot to tell about the hosting itself; we have had our first season now with a beautiful experience of connecting with people who are connected to themselves. As for the physical structure, I am an architect, I have designed simple small cabins, and we build them ourselves with local materials supplied bioregionally, mainly wood. The next step is to use the wool from our own sheep, native sheep, my keystone, I am a fiber farmer here, to design devices for sound isolation and privacy. I also attach some pictures (work in progress).
I finally had suggested Katy and Magdalena they choose the poem of this moment in time, the lines that ignite their hopeful, joyful and creative heart.
Here is a short Norwegian poem by Olav H. Hauge that resonates a lot with me lately.
Don’t Come To Me With The Entire Truth by Olav H. Hauge
Don’t come to me with the entire truth.
Don’t bring the ocean if I feel thirsty,
nor heaven if I ask for light;
but bring a hint, some dew, a particle,
as birds carry only drops away from water,
and the wind a grain of salt.
translated by Robert Bly
I hope this helps and I am looking forward to reading. Lots of love, Katy.
NB: i dont have any slides/pdfs on my group yet. There is a project I am working with called re-framing wool, you might be interested: ReFraming Wool - AUGs Soft Architecture Lab | ROM EN. I love your weavings! so I am in Emmanuelle, Megan and Magdalena :) I'm already looking forward to it!
(We will meet in 2027 and celebrate life in an immersion.....in Uruguay....in Norway...or else..... JOY)
Kinship Las Pampas, Uruguay by Magdalena, Valle de Sol, Aiguá, Maldonado:
The poem of the moment she chose:
El peón de campo
by Obra Rodolfo Ramos
Bajo el sol que raja la tierra,
con las manos curtidas de historia,
camina el peón de campo,
hombre anónimo, pero lleno de gloria.
Amanece con el canto del gallo,
antes que el mundo despierte,
su vida es surco y trabajo,
su fuerza, semilla de suerte.
No hay reloj que mida su tiempo,
solo el viento, la lluvia, el calor,
cada paso que da sobre el suelo
es un pacto de sangre y sudor.
Sabe del mate temprano,
del silencio que abraza al ombú,
del caballo que es su hermano,
y del cielo pintado de azul.
Peón de campo, noble y callado,
tu jornada no tiene final,
en tu espalda se carga el sembrado,
y en tu alma, la patria rural.
Eres raíz que sostiene la tierra,
eres viento que nunca se va,
y aunque pocos tu nombre recuerdan,
sin vos, el campo no puede andar.
The song Magdalena chose for our Kinkship weave: