Like most of us I welcomed in the new year with particular enthusiasm. I mean, what is there to say about the s*#t storm that was 2020. So instead here are three, slightly disperate, things that make me hopeful for 2021:
I am not going to add to the many trillions of words already used to write about the chaos of last year, I don't think I have anything unique to say. But I wanted to share a link to this article from the NY Times on Dr Ugur Sahin and Dr Özlem Türeci, the couple who founded BioNTech. This is not a comment on the vaccine but on the scientists, about whom there is much that gives me hope.
I made my first Christmas Cake for at least 15 years this Christmas. I bulk bought the organic ingredients from my wholesaler and split it with a group of friends and customers that were baking their own cakes too. I will be more organised and hopefully there will be an even bigger group of us to share the cost and minimise the packaging this year. I love this post from my old homeopath Caroline Gaskin where she explains why Christmas cake for brekkie is a GOOD THING!
Credit...It may not seem likely that a book on fungi would be the best book I've read all year (I'm counting 2020 as the year not 2021!) but Entangled Life - How Fungi Make Our World, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures.* is just brilliant. On almost every page there is something that I did not know and have to read out aloud to my family. It's eloquently written, stunningly informative and it is truly making me think differently about everything from gardening, to evolution, to what it is to be an individual, and I am only on the Chapter 4.
* This is an affiliate link to the Bookshop.org, an online bookshop with a mission to financially support local, independent bookshops, details of which are below.
Bookshop.org believe that bookshops are essential to a healthy culture. They’re where authors can connect with readers, where we discover new writers, where children get hooked on the thrill of reading that can last a lifetime. They’re also anchors for our high streets and communities.
As more and more people buy their books online, they wanted to create an easy, convenient way for you to get your books and support bookshops at the same time.
If you want to find a specific local bookshop to support, find them on their map and they’ll receive the full profit from your order. Otherwise, your order will contribute to an earnings pool that will be evenly distributed among independent bookshops.
They also support anyone who advocates for books through an affiliate programme, which pays a 10% commission on every sale, and gives a matching 10% to independent bookshops. If you are an author, a website or magazine, have a bookclub, an organisation that wants to recommend books, or even just a book-lover with an Instagram feed, you can sign up to be an affiliate, start your own shop, and be rewarded for your advocacy of books. Bookshop.org wants to give back to everyone who promotes books, authors, and independent bookshops!
By design, they give away over 75% of our profit margin to stores, publications, authors and others who make up the thriving, inspirational culture around books!
They hope that Bookshop.org can help strengthen the fragile ecosystem and margins around bookselling and keep local bookshops an integral part of our culture and communities.
Bookshop is a B-Corp - a corporation dedicated to the public good.
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