How jute.

Check out those leafy tendrils!

Hello again.

I just finished reading Thursday Murder Club, and am inspired by one of the characters whose voice is written in a diary entry format. I definitely need to write more regularly. Living in a country away from home, (though I have a home here, so I feel weird saying that or even foreign), though I notice my mind ever turning inward and self-isolating, and I'm hoping that maybe writing will help more.

Certainly some element of independence and solitude is healthy, and for the most that's what I crave for my sanity. Waking up to the sound of the wind, birds, cicadias, the occasional rooster crowing or donkey braying. However our current living situation is that we have built a home in a somewhat remote location, sharing a duplex on several acres with my in-laws. They really have built a slice of heaven...in the making still I suppose. We have two of every fruit tree that readily comes to mind, even a couple kiwis. An olive orchard that flows downhill, my veggie garden, a rose garden with a waterfall feature we just finally finished setting up that needs now only to be filled with water. We're closed in by forest on two sides, neighboring walnut orchards that sprawl across the valley and a couple neighbors nearby-mostly quiet, and of course the Cami (mosque) further uphill faithfully reading prayers to the village five times a day (an extra long hour long Koran reading on Fridays at 1:00pm. And the view into the across the mountains into the valley is gorgeous anytime of day, but particularly magical at sunset.

So how with all of this beauty around me, do I find myself cowering in the corners of my mind most days? Drawing the curtains to get a moment away from in-laws or getting frustrated when they're always trying to help. Maybe someday I'll learn to set healthy boundaries rather than walk away quietly in a huff or feign being deaf so I don't have to interact.

When we lived in the US this past year, we were gone from them for a year, and I genuinely missed them. I felt more of a connection to my husband's family than I did my own. They seemed to want to be around each other. Calling each other multiple times a day, and constantly visiting. This is in such stark contrast to my own family. Maybe it's an American thing, but we only saw extended family a few times a year. I haven't seen one of my three brothers in years since before I was married, (six years?) which kills me, but I won't air that laundry. Another one of them, finally came to visit for Christmas, and that had also been years since seeing him. One still lives at home, so we saw him and my parents a few times a month when we were in the US. But what I'm getting at is that, we always had an apartment of our own, an hour away from anyone that we could escape back to. There is no chance of that here in Turkey. Uncles, aunts, cousins visit several times a month, we just spent a week at his grandma's house. I'm overwhelmed, but shouldn't I be happy? Shouldn't I be grateful for the visits? And frankly, I understand how disgustingly privileged I sound. Oh poor me, I have not one but two families that love me and want to be around me for some reason-no matter how prickly I make myself in an effort to find solitude. I suppose this is just a classic case of wanting to be able to eat my cake. But also, why do we even have a phrase like that, if I have cake, I should be allowed to eat it. Who's stopping me? What is that even in reference to? Mrs. Antoinette? ....Pause for quick google search... Here's the Wikipedia article , which explains how the old English phrase has changed from originally being something like, "A man can not have his cake and also eat his cake." Which makes sense, since once you eat your cake, you no longer have cake words you can't have it both ways. So yes, I guess I can't eat my cake. In this economy my husband and I definitely could not have made the home we have on our own without significant help from someone else. Whether that was in the form of a massive loan from a bank, or family member, or simply working til we die. And in our case, we can have a home, but we can't have it without our in-laws. My parents at our age had already bought and sold a home with just my dad working. That's another nut for another time.

I'll stop complaining and get back to the plants. With one small note. Once a week, my husband has starting going to soccer games. They're quite late at night, so we've started leaving during his lunch break and spending the day at an internet cafe, co-working space. Unfortunately I've fallen prey to the fancy coffee drinks that have taken over the youth of the world. They're amazing okay. Honestly, I just have a sugar addiction, but spending the day outside the house not distracted by chores, spending a solid 5 hours researching plants, learning their history and uses while sipping on coffee that I didn't have to make and not talking to a soul is quite the medicine for my soul these days.

I wanted to write about Jute today.

Hey, I found Jute, Corchorus olitorius in the garden! I thought at first this baby plant with rose-like leaves was a baby raspberry of sorts, so I let it grow with plans to transplant once it had reached a more viable size. But under several weeks of scrutiny, this was turning out to be the weirdest raspberry plant ever. Tiny yellow flowers and long whisker-like tendrils growing from the base of the leaves. A few weeks later finger-length, pencil thin okra-looking pods started forming. After finally identifying, I was elated, per usual, to finally meet Jute. Just hearing the name feels so ancient and primal, just picturing our ancestors running around clad in itchy sack dresses, or tossing burlap sacks laden with coffee beans or rice onto some port worlds away. (We also have papyrus!! to speak of ancient) I'm so glad I decided to let the wild seeds grow among the planted veggies.

As it turns out, we've placed Jute in the Mallow family, Malvaceae. This explains, I suppose, why the leaves reminded me of rose, a far distant cousin, and the pods of okra, also a mallow. Hopefully this Jute doesn't also grow 10 feet tall. The one spaghetti squash that germinated nearby though is doing an excellent job of keeping the Jute plant under two feet tall, anchoring them down with those sweet little suffocating tendrils. Upon further reading, Jute is not only handy in fiber production, but has plenty of medicinal and edible uses.

Sidenote, (Side-sidenote, should I add these as footnotes? How does one have foot notes in a stream of consciousness format) I constantly keep looking to a thesaurus for synonyms for "use" or "purpose". I dislike viewing plants as having to have a "purpose," and only seeing them through the lens of humanity. I had my ass handed to me by the most lovely and serene Robin Wall Kimmerer a couple years ago after reading Braiding Sweetgrass. Over the years I had, it could be said, begun to take a more Animate view of the world outside my body, (also look into The Woven Energy Podcast) but after reading her book, I realize how much more open we have to be regarding the world outside humanity. Even now sitting in this cafe, we are one "floor" down, in an air-conditioned, sterile environment. Yes, natural sunlight streams down from the floor above, but I'm surrounded by polished cement columns, geometric tile and fake plants and trees thoughtfully placed to remind us of the world above. The aesthetic of it all is nice, sure, but how easy to forget the earth sandwiching us, even with the reminder of the plastic fern inches from my face. What would have been here before this space was clawed from the Earth? Is it fair to assume that whatever held it's place before was far more "purposeful" than the cafe now? Purposeful to who? We may be in the bedrock layer, but above us instead of a parking garage, what soils would have teemed and crawled with worms and nematod alike, feed by the roots of the plants flourishing above. The unseen microscopic flora and fauna churning the fallen debris from above over and over into more soil. And just what plants would have thrived here in now Mugla, Mentese? Land once claimed by the Ottoman, Mongolian, Byzantium, Roman, Greek, Persian, and Mycenaean "Empires" and back until there were only the plants to rule. What would seeds would all those civilizations brought along with them when they traveled? Which one of the them would have thought to bring the Jute seed along? Did it arrive by air or water? From bird droppings? Do birds snack on Jute? Did jute travel the shifting continental plates?...How one thread can unravel another infinitely back to jute).

According to my research, ( to quote Dorothy Ann), Jute's origins have been traced back to the African continent, as we all seem to be, (AND WHO PLANTED US HERE, cue Mr. Tsoukalos), later spreading to southern Asia as far as South America, preferring to grow in a nice toasty, tropical/subtropical environment. Records of Jute being used as a textile dates back to the wee hours of the Indus Valley Civilization. Jute was used in a wide variety of household tools and clothing and later as possibly the first fiber for paper?? According to one website devoted to news about Jute, there was a scrap of Jute paper containing Chinese characters dated 100 YEARS before Cai Lun was supposed to have invented paper. Sorry Cai. Modern European civilizations didn't really begin using Jute until the 17th century, which feels pretty late to enter the Jute game. What did they rely on for bags and clothing before then? Cotton (also a Mallow), or more likely linen (who has a family of it's own Linaceae)? Thoughts for another time. Of course once Jute was "discovered" by the Europeans, demand began which prompted factories to pop up in Bengal, churning out endless designs of Jute products. Even the sandbags in the second World War were made from Jute. Weaponizing such a beautiful plant. How plants end up being used to engage in war would be a fascinating topic alone-looking at you again Brassicas. And then somehow we end up with the current world of synthetic fabrics side-lining the use of Jute, which inevitably bite us in the ass again with an ocean stewing of bits of our spandex leggings. Let's get back to Jute though, spun thin enough, a worm-free vegan friendly Jute-silk can be made! But what about leggings. Can we make organic leggings? Of course. I still remember Geoff telling us one morening at breakfast before work that our leggings were filling us with microplastics, which made me paranoid. Most options seem to be cotton derived, containing minimal amounts of spandex, but there are a few Jute options too, surprisingly, usually also cotton blended. Promising.

Looking at Jute as a tasty treat now, there are plenty recipes to be found using their dried or fresh leaves, and some with their pod and seeds. As with most wild-edibles their nutritional value is off the charts, notably anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory properties, packed full of macro and micro nutrients.

Consumption of the leaves is reported to be demulcent, deobstruent, diuretic, lactagogue, purgative, and tonic. It is also a folk remedy for aches and pains, dysentery, enteritis, fever, pectoral pains, and tumors.^[22][23] Ayurvedics use the leaves for ascites, pain, piles, and tumors. Elsewhere the leaves are used for cystitis, dysuria, fever, and gonorrhea. The cold infusion is said to restore the appetite and strength.^[24] It can act as an anti-inflammatory,^[25] and it has gastro-protective properties.^[25]

I really need to just start studying how plants work man. Do these nutrients exist inherently in their DNA and become unlocked when they grow, or are they able to fix them in their plant bodies as they pull them up and absorb them from the soil? Sort of like peas fixing nitrogen?

Just like okra, and other mallows, Jute has a super viscous quality that can be used to thicken and flavor any dish. Stews, soups, and teas seem to be the most common use of the leaves, like this traditional African recipe, Ewedu. Rich and thick, employing crayfish and locust bean (carob). The many similar dishes have different names where Jute grows natively. I can't wait to try one of these. (Although I'm not sure when carob season is here, must be soon before the rains begin.) I also came across one brief write-up here mentioning the colorful gem-like seeds. We only have one plant right now, so I don't think we'll have enough to make a soup this year, but I'll be sure to harvest the pods and spread them around the wild garden beds and see if we can encourage some more to grow next year. I think at the very least, I can harvest a portion of the leaves and combine with some of the mint for a winter tea.

Notes for planting that I've come across: Jute does benefit from a mild stratification/scarification? process of soaking in hot water before planting and mixing with sand to spread more easily, but this is probably more for broadcasting on a large scale. Can be grown in poor soil, but prefers richer manure-filled soil. Harvest pods after browning and drying on the plant.