Balance

I adore the idea of grand old halls with their stillrooms, for distilling herbs and spices for the health and welfare of the house's masters, servants, and villagers alike. I lived at Capernwray Hall in the north of England (Carnforth)for a year and a half, many years ago now, and caught some of the feeling of what it must have been like when modern medicine was in its infancy and the ages-old ideas of plants' healing properties was the science of the day. I loved to go to the beautiful kitchen garden--a walled garden which brought to mind Frances Hodgson Burnett's Secret Garden. There was history made tangible--in the orderly rows of vegetables, and the walled edges of herbs and climbing vines which both flavoured the cook's creations and provided healing remedies to the house's residents.

The nostalgia of "pure and natural" appeals to me tremendously.

But what does that mean? Ársenic, hemlock, willow bark, digitalis, the more "pure", the faster they will affect us adversely. And when is "artificial" good? When is "natural" bad?

I wear gel nails--as fake as one can get. Yet I clean my home with distilled vinegar, and baking soda. I make my own soap--but don't read the ingredients list on the toothpaste I put in my mouth a minimum of twice a day.

So where, in our rich western world, do we find balance within our necessary hypocrisies?

I believe in being conscious of our idiosyncrasies, of minimizing our chemical footprint where we can, if only to indulge our whims with less of a guilty conscience elsewhere. I decide to recycle, to separate waste, to buy locally, to reduce consumption in general, to not own a car in a city with above-par public transportation, to read labels (usually!), to use eco-friendly products when it is effective to do so, to turn off lights. And then I refuse to feel guilty about taking a flight to go on holidays yearly. Perhaps then this is the balance--to be aware, to make deliberate choices, to be conscious of my choices.

Now I'm going to make an appointment to get my nails done and book that flight! After taking out the recycling. Naturally.