11d • General discussion
Small Shifts Newsletter — May (Connection & Reciprocity)
May brings us into relationship — with people, places, and the wider systems we’re part of.
This month’s small shift is Connection & reciprocity. Where does exchange feel nourishing? Where does it feel unbalanced?
At this time of year, it’s easy to see these relationships more clearly on the land.
Here on the croft, the chickens are moving periodically through the garden spaces — scratching, turning the soil, eating pests, and leaving fertility behind them as they go. In return, we make sure they are fed, watered, safe, and content. What they give back comes not through force, but through being part of the system.
The same is true with the goats. As we move into milking, there’s a deepening of that relationship — one that relies on trust, consistency, and care.
Even the swallows, newly returned, are part of this web. We offer them a safe place to nest, and in turn they sweep through the air, feeding on the midges that thrive in our damp climate.
None of these relationships stand alone. They form quiet cycles — each part supporting the others in ways that are often subtle, but deeply important.
This month’s theme of connection and reciprocity also asks something of how we see.
Many of the plants we pass by every day are already in relationship with us — we just don’t always recognise it.
I’ve been working on a small seasonal guide called Seeing Edimentals, which will be ready shortly. It focuses on a handful of familiar garden plants — hostas, magnolia, goldenrod, pink purslane, and mahonia — all of which have simple culinary uses at this time of year.
What interests me isn’t just that they’re edible, but what changes when we begin to see them differently.
A plant that was once ornamental becomes part of a wider system:
something that can nourish, support, and be supported in return.
That shift in perception opens up new possibilities — not through adding more, but through recognising more.
If you’d like to explore this when it’s ready, I’ll share it in the community over the coming days.
And of course, these patterns aren’t limited to land-based systems.
Social connections carry the same potential for reciprocity.
A shared cutting, a conversation, a helping hand, a moment of encouragement — these are all small exchanges that build something larger over time.
I continue to see this unfolding in the community group — through mentoring conversations, shared learning, and the ongoing support of our community healthcare scholarship in Jordan.
Care doesn’t move in one direction; it circulates.
You might take a moment this month to reflect on:
• how you give and receive
• which connections feel renewable
• where care flows both ways
• and where something feels out of balance
Healthy systems don’t rely on constant input from one place. They’re sustained through relationship.
On the wheel, May reminds us that mutual support is what allows systems to endure and evolve over time.
A few gentle reflections to carry with you this month:
• Where am I giving from a place of abundance — and where from depletion?
• What would it look like to allow more support in, not just offer it out?
• Which relationships — with people, land, or work — feel quietly reciprocal, even if not immediately visible?
Sometimes the most important connections aren’t the most obvious ones.
They’re the ones that, over time, create resilience without demanding attention.
With appreciation,
Cath
Living lightly — with land, with life, and with ourselves.
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Small Shifts Newsletter — May (Connection & Reciprocity)
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