Greetings from the ever-moody canyon here in Topanga. Some days are sunny, and some are pretty gloomy and rainy, considering our seasons are usually... well... less moody here in Southern California.
Some of you might already know this from my Instagram updates, but at the beginning of February, we had a record-breaking rain in Southern California that resulted in one of our elderly oak trees falling (and a bunch of other things crumbling). It has been a lot to process all of what the fall meant, physically and emotionally, while figuring out how to cycle the fallen limbs and parts back to the land by cutting, shredding, and resting them on the ground as gently as possible. Losing an oak tree was devastating for my tree-connecting soul. The fall also took a lot of other native trees and shrubs down, many of which we planted or watched grow in the last three years of being here in the canyon. It was a bit of a compound effect, to say the least.
But nature has its way. Frido and I slowly started to clear up areas where debris from the fall covered the soil heavily. We noticed some of the young native plants we added in the last few years either made it through underneath the fallen tree crown without harm or broke in some parts yet still came back with new leaves with rigor. Then, there is a small plum tree on which the fallen oak's limbs landed, removing most of its body. Yet, this week, we noticed that what is left of the tree is putting all the energy into blooming with a few flowers, chorusing with the rest of the plum tree families around it.
At BK, we also witnessed many beautiful blooms after the long and diligent work of all our team members. We completed the training with Amanda, who has worked with us since last May. We appreciate how they show up with us at BK and feel inspired by the personal project they are working on at their print studio. If you would like to get to know Amanda more, you can read the interview Eunice conducted with Amanda here. We also launched two collaboration projects dear to our hearts this month (which feels like record-breaking for our petite team of 7!) A collaboration project with Joni Marriott speaks volumes about BK's ethos, as the design brief was based on our collective definition of what Baum-kuchen stands for. I hope you check out the beautiful artifacts created based on her illustrations. We also launched "Trust the Process" notebook, designed in collaboration with Roterfaden and Fontwerk. The mantra has been with us since day 1 of Baum-kuchen in 2010, and it is so exciting to see that expressed with a fresh look. In Trina's latest Notebook People interview, she interviewed our long-time BK friend Soraya Ahyaudin. I am so grateful that the circle of analogue community has no end. Lastly, we are wrapping up the first season of MOSS this weekend with the final episode and LIVE session on Saturday. Seeing the course come alive with our community has been exciting. So, thank you so much to everyone who participated!
Looking back to the month as a collection of memories, I can see that our hearts expanded steadily during this rainy, gloomy, and blossoming season.
And just so, the canyon and BK remind me of the resilience of earth's cycle - to be a part of the continuous regeneration of all things falling apart and coming together, including ourselves. For that, I am so grateful.
-wakako
always a work in progress...
Topanga // March 6th, 2024
**This is from our BK Love Letter for March 2024. If you would like to see the entire love letter we sent to our community, you can browse it via this link.
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