Archives for February 2016

A story about precious discomfort.

On the inside of an oyster’s shell, there’s a layer called the mantle that safeguards its vital organs. When a grain of sand sneaks its way between the mantle and the shell — as is bound to happen in the unruly current of the ocean — the oyster produces a protective substance called nacre, which coats the grit to reduce irritation. Little by little, layer by layer, it wraps around and around the discomfort until it forms an iridescent gem.

Sometimes, this process takes six months. Larger pearls can take up to four years to develop.  Only the oysters whose first pearls prove to be well-formed — the ones that are particularly good at gently transforming their unease into art — repeat the process.

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A story about dormancy.

The Core Stories | On the beauty of dormancy.

Perennial plants — the kind that re-bloom from the same roots, year after year after year — spend winter in a state of dormancy. It’s a survival strategy that equips them to endure weather conditions that are unsuitable for growth.

Dormancy is triggered by subtle cues, from decreasing temperatures to shortened daylight hours to reduced rainfall. It tells the plants to slow their cell activity and prepare their soft tissues for frost, as the green leaves and flowers wither and appear to die.

But they’re only resting underground. When the climate warms again, growth restarts from stored-up energy. The process is called “budbreak.”

I had never heard that term before researching this perennial plant magic. How beautiful is it? Budbreak?

We talk about blossoming and blooming. We talk about sprouting, the start of something new.

But we don’t talk enough about budbreak, the rebirth of something that had seemingly perished. We don’t talk enough about dormancy, the rest that is so often instrumental before any resumed growth.

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