Grieving/celebrating the book I didn’t get to write

And a step into "penniless philanthropy" with World Central Kitchen

A camping weekend led to a new life.

The time:  2020 and COVID had us all housebound.

Corona Wisdom*, my words-and-art documentary book of the first terrifying months of the plague was finished; I needed to be outside; I needed a project that forced me me to breathe fresh air and see trees and water. From that great idea bank in the sky, came a new idea that blew me into a new life. 

I’d been in Reno for about a year, still wondering why I left Mexico but knowing, somehow, that it was the right decision although I didn’t know why. A decision to spend a camping weekend at Lake Almanor turned into serendipity when I found a lakeside RV that took my breath away … as well as my rational senses. Within two weeks, I was in a cozy RV with a spectacular lake view. 

No sooner had I settled in with my lime green kayak than “the idea” struck with a vengeance, throwing me into a frenzy of brainstorming and organizing. I was going to write a book about the wildflowers of California with an understory about climate change.

A new place ... a new idea ... a new life

You may know that California is a big state … 58 counties big, 800 miles long by 400 miles wide big … and diverse, home to more species of plants and animals than any other state in the US, and is considered a global biodiversity “hotspot”. Additionally, there were over 14,000 protected public areas and even more private ones hosting approximately 6,500 species, subspecies, and varieties of plants that occur naturally in the state, and many of these are found nowhere else in the world.

This project was going to take time … years even.

I began to chunk it down and map out how to begin and what resources I would need, including an army of wildflower photographers. I knew this project was bigger than one person, far larger than my reach, but it was what I wanted to do.

As I threw myself into the project, life began to shift

The lake RV was only available in the summer (ten feet of snow winters will do that) and I needed access to both northern and Southern California. The winter base I needed in Southern California almost magically turned up in Julian, the quaint mining town in the mountains east of San Diego. I sold my home in Reno and was suddenly living a seasonally bifurcated life chasing a creative project.

And then …

Beauty and the Beast, California Wildflowers and Climate Change

And then I discovered that the book … my book … had already been written … beautifully written … beyond my imaginings written. When I found the newly-published book, I couldn’t even be disappointed because the book stunned me with the beauty of its photography and insights. 

However, what now?

The oak woodlands mountains of Julian gave me a different beauty.

My southern RV was already parked in a stunning oak woodland park where I discovered granary trees, the food storage systems woodpeckers create to store up to 50,000 acorns. I took that as the title for a series of digital magazines featuring words and art from my travels around California.

Then a friend in Santa Barbara invited me to help her publish a magazine about the peace community she had been assembling through her life work and podcasts. Eventually that connected me to a non-profit retirement center that had formerly been a UCSB dormitory and gave me a chance to move back to the one place that has always felt like home.

Which brings me to the celebration of the book about wildflowers that I didn’t get to write. Wildflowers are the focus of the monthly curated daily inspiration flipbook for May with the generous participation of Rob Badger and Nita Winters, the authors of Beauty and the Beast, California Wildflowers and Climate Change.

Wild Beauty Flipbook

While all the posts on GratitudeMojo in Action are free, typically the flipbooks have been reserved for paid subscribers. However, this one seems different. I want everyone to see Rob and Nita’s incredible book so this flipbook is FREE … and … the day pages will be posted on Substack Notes. Click here or on the image above to get your free copy of Wild Beauty. And, feel free to share it.

The other mind shift that happened, though, as I was putting this flipbook together was the reminder that the underlying theme … the “Beast” of the Beauty and the Beast book is climate change. Along with the stunning images of wildflowers, the book contain articles about how climate change is affecting wildflowers and what we can do to help.

That prompted me to add four short, inspiring videos to the flipbook. Taking that step fed into my long-ongoing question of what I could be doing to help. Some years ago, I finally realized that it wasn’t my job (or calling or whatever) to go feed the starving children in Africa or take care of aging elephants, or work for better conditions on the Pine Ridge reservation. While my talents and skills may not be matched with big, dramatic challenges, there has to be some way of being of service.

Last weekend I watched the Ron Howard documentary “We Feed People” about Chef José Andrés and World Central Kitchen and then watched a Stephen Colbert interview where Andrés struck a nerve when he said:

“Everybody in this room, everybody in America, has a talent …

if you look within you can put that talent to bring hope to others.”

Slowly, it all started clicking into place …

My new Substack model: penniless philanthropy

Looked at one way, I’m a pauper (living basically on Social Security); from a different perspective, I’m wealthy (my few needs are met and my time is my own.) What doesn’t fit into that model is philanthropy. So, after two years of trying to figure out how to handle the Substack financial opportunity when I don’t actually *need* money, it suddenly dawned on me that being “paid” for my writing could generate money for the worthy causes I want to support more generously.

So, this past week, I’ve put together a short flipbook introduction to World Central Kitchen and an offer to gift you an annual subscription if you donate $36 or more to the amazing work they do around the world. Click here or the cover page below to learn more about World Central Kitchen.

(BTW, World Central Kitchen has a cool system to support individual fundraisers who want to raise money through races, events, Substack campaigns, etc. If you are avid about their cause, this is a great way to support them without having to worry about handling the money.)

World Central Kitchen graphic

If you are a “penniless philanthropist,” I’d love to hear how you’re taking your philanthropy into the world without resorting to money.