Objects

There are many moments lately when I ask myself how we got here. The human mind dreams of freedom but creates constraints.  We lie to ourselves that we are free people but we struggle with our dependence in every single moment. Comfort gives the illusion of power but it is actually our weak point. Without comfort we are just scared clumsy animals. Our comfort is sustained by the idea of money. As long as we have money we can own everything we wish to. Of course our wishes depend on the amount of money we have. So we cannot wish more then we afford. And this way we become consumers. As long as we have money we can be irresponsible so we can waste, produce and destroy as much as we desire. As long as we have money for another car why should we use the old one? Even production is designed nowadays in a way that things cannot last to much. If the objects that we buy resist to much then who will buy them new ones? Am I the only one who sees something wrong in this? So I ask myself, how we got here.

Spicy Pyrenees

As we were allowed to enjoy the beauty of the Pyrenees another time we wanted to go a bit deeper and to discover some of the edible plants that grows there. Our first discovery was two magnificent plants that have their home in these mountains. One of them is a very common plant in the highlands in all the mountains of Europe: Juniperus communis or Juniper.  This great plant is a real help in the high mountains because it is the only source of wood for fire as there are now other kind of trees there. It is well known that the Juniper berries are used as a spice for food and also for the known alcoholic drink Gin. We tried the berries as spice in our daily soup as we didn’t afford to carry other spices with us from the city. The second plant we used as a spice was the Thymus praecox or the wild thyme. I think everyone of us used at least once the thyme as a spice. Well, the wild thyme has the same flavor just that you can find it near a beautiful waterfall or a rocky riverside.

Try these little presents of nature the next time you have the occasion to enjoy the almighty mountains that lay there, somewhere, waiting for us. Inside us or outside us….