Essential Lavender

 

Meanwhile, in Frederick County... From Virginia at Chartreuse and Company:

Treasured Roots Farm is a multi-generational family farm right here in Frederick County, Maryland. Laura and her husband are building it with her parents and three young daughters. We bonded instantly over raising kids while building a business, homeschooling, and shared dreams of creating something lasting on family land. 

Laura, with her family and truffle-hunting puppy, on their farm in Frederick County, MD.

I have a deep love for design. Laura has a deep love for food. But at the heart of it, we share the same passion for family and creating beautiful things that invite people in. Things that feel like home. 

In addition to lavender, Treasured Roots Farm is also home to a young truffle orchard and honeybees. They have a vision to create products that are meant to be used and enjoyed, not saved for a special occasion. Elevated ingredients that are simple, honest, and really well done. (Read more.)

Share

Who Wants This War?

 From The Tablet:

Some members of the MAGA opposition are mad because, they say, Trump—and America—is being led to war by Israel. Accordingly, antisemitic agitator Tucker Carlson says that Trump’s Iran campaign is “absolutely disgusting and evil.” Former Fox News siren Megyn Kelly says that the Iran campaign “is clearly Israel’s war. Mark Levin wanted it, it’s his war, Ben Shapiro, Lindsey Graham, Miriam Adelson—that’s obvious. They are the ones who’ve been pushing us into it.”

Others don’t understand why Iran is so important to the 47th president. For instance, podcaster Matt Walsh, who last year said that Iran should be annihilated for plotting to kill Trump, now says support for Trump’s Iran campaign is astroturfed. “I can’t take the gaslighting, guys,” Walsh posted on X. “Conservatives are now running around saying ‘Iran has been waging war on us for 47 years.’ Okay then why didn’t any of you call for an attack on Iran at any point until now?”

The fact is that no one before Trump had the courage to attack. Iran has been waging a war against Americans, U.S. interests, and allies for nearly five decades, and no other American leader would stand up against that. But plenty of people called for it: As the historical record makes plain, conservatives and Republicans have been saying for 47 years that we should wage war on Iran. For instance, shortly after the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, career U.S. diplomat George Kennan told a Senate committee that the United States should declare war on the Islamic Republic. Best known as the father of “containment”—Washington’s Cold War policy to keep the Soviets in check without risking nuclear war—Kennan counseled U.S. policymakers to “hold in readiness” the means of unilateral pressure on Iran, including military pressures. Iranian officials, he said, should be interned and released only in exchange for the Americans held by the revolutionary regime. This action, said Kennan, “would also put us in a position to make our own decisions about such military action that we might wish to take if it became necessary.” (Read more.)

Share

The Hell There Is

 From Fairest Love:

This week, we are joined by Msgr. Charles Pope to discuss his book, The Hell There Is, and why a healthy understanding of eternal justice is essential for modern families.

We explore how a diminished awareness of Hell has led to a trivialized view of God and discuss the vital importance of teaching children about repentance and spiritual reality without fear. Msgr. Pope offers pastoral guidance on balancing God’s infinite love with His justice, helping parents prioritize their children’s eternal salvation over worldly success.

You can find Msgr. Charles Pope’s book, The Hell There Is, through TAN Books and check out more of his appearances and writings on his website.

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RSS, or wherever you listen! (Read more.)

Share

Illness in the Temple

Both of Marie-Antoinette's children fell sick while in the Temple prison. From Vive la Reine:

Madame Royale treated by the physician Brunier on January 24th, 1793 by Jean-Baptiste Mallet Grasse (1759-1835). [source: Artcurial, via Auction.fr]
 
This painting depicts the physician who was allowed to come into the Temple and treat Madame Royale, who became ill in the days following her father’s execution.

But nothing was able to calm the anguish of my mother–we could make no hope of any sort enter her heart; she was indifferent whether she lived or died. She looked at us sometimes with a pity that made us shudder. Happily, grief increased my illness, and that occupied her. My own doctor, Brunier, and the surgeon La Caze were brought, and they cured me in a month.

Share

When a Nation Loses Its Moral Language

 From Unlicensed Punditry:

In nearly every nation surveyed, large majorities said their fellow citizens were good people. They might complain about politicians or corruption, but they still believed the average person around them was fundamentally decent.

Except in the United States.

In America, the survey found that a majority of respondents believed their fellow citizens were morally bad rather than morally good. The most common explanation offered is political polarization and there is certainly some truth to that explanation. Our politics have become increasingly hostile, and the language used to describe opponents often sounds less like disagreement and more like moral condemnation. Political arguments are increasingly framed as battles between good people and bad people, but the deeper problem may not be that Americans have suddenly become less moral than people in other countries. It may be something more basic: Americans increasingly disagree about what morality even means.

Words like “good” and “bad” sound simple, but they are not. Their meaning depends on the moral framework someone is using. For most of American history, that framework was broadly shared. Even people who were not personally religious lived within a culture shaped by religious assumptions about right and wrong. Ideas such as honesty, responsibility, loyalty, charity, and restraint formed a common vocabulary of morality.

Americans argued constantly about policy, but they were generally speaking the same moral language when they did so.

Over the past several decades, that shared framework has weakened. Religious affiliation has declined, church attendance has fallen, and the number of Americans who identify with no religious tradition has grown steadily. As those institutions faded, the common moral vocabulary that accompanied them faded as well.

In its place, several competing moral systems have taken root. (Read more.)

Share

Affirmation of Joy

 From Word on Fire:

Such gentle beauty and light stand as a bulwark against final despair. Sam is in a bad spot, and it seems to him that all hope has gone. Nevertheless, he does not despair, “though here at journey’s end I lie / in darkness buried deep.” He thinks he has reached the bitter end of his journey, and he has been unable to save Frodo. Even so, the words that come unbidden to him affirm a power greater than the darkness and evil that surround him. There is something beyond the evil that oppresses and seeks mastery. “Beyond all towers strong and high, / beyond all mountains steep, / above all shadows rides the Sun / and Stars for ever dwell,” he says. The sun and stars are not held captive by the artifacts of instrumentalized reason, for they are beyond and so greater than all such products of war. Indeed, the sun and stars are “above all shadows” whatsoever, and untouched by them. For this reason, although Sam thinks he is going to die, he will not despair: “I will not say the Day is done, / nor bid the Stars farewell.”

Sam’s song affirms a primordial light and beauty that no shadow, no matter how powerful and complete it may seem, can touch. In this way, the sorrow and grief that seem so absolute are relativized against the backdrop of an ever-greater goodness and beauty. Even though it seems certain that he himself will perish, a final despair is not Sam’s decision to make. Miraculously, he does not perish, for Frodo hears him singing, and the two are reunited and able to escape the tower. 

“Dover Beach” and “In Western Lands Beneath the Sun” offer two distinct ways to look upon the world. Arnold looks out upon the beauty of the world and concludes to its irrationality. Sam looks upon the darkness and shadows that surround him and sees beyond them a light and beauty untouched by any passing shadow. In this way, Sam Gamgee affirms what Arnold, in “Dover Beach,” denies. (Read more.)

Share

Wanted: An Ideal American Childhood

 

From Matriarch Goals:

This first generation of culture-rebel parents in the 70s-80s maintained a kind of libertarian philosophy of raising children. The main objective was getting kids out of the primary, popular culture. A rugged, denim-jumper individualism, if you will: Keep the children clear of corruption, and save their souls. For many devout Christians at that time, America’s embrace of abortion, contraception, homosexual lifestyles, and modern education curricula presented a five-alarm fire. They prioritized getting the hell away from it.

Courting the Village

Their children—my peers—grew up and tried to correct some of the downsides of their parents’ cultural rebellion: instead of isolation, they were more likely to seek out community and homeschool groups in order to mirror or even replace the popular culture they still rejected. What that first homeschooling generation learned through experience was that kids can’t really be raised without a larger culture—without a village. It doesn’t matter how much the parents try to provide a home culture, and it doesn’t matter how ideal the home life is.

There is a distinct and necessary third level between home and “the world.” That third place (heh) is the village or the group of families we raise our children in and among. That village is composed of other adults who are given nearly equal respect and deference as the child’s own parents. (Read more.)

Share

Parliamentary Debate on Far-Left Violence

 From Hélène de Lauzun at The European Conservative:

The murder of the young nationalist activist Quentin Deranque in Lyon in February  highlighted the presence of extreme left-wing violence in European societies—tolerated, if not encouraged, by some politicians and the media. The MEPs of the Patriots group nevertheless succeeded in forcing a debate in the European Parliament on the threat posed today by the far left in Europe.

The French delegation welcomed the adoption of the request to include a debate on “the rise of political violence attributable to far-left organisations in Europe” in the LIBE Committee (Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs). The adoption of the Patriots initiative, the result of an agreement reached between representatives of the various groups represented in the European Parliament, is a sign that some consensus is emerging on the need to address the issue. (Read more.)

 

Share

The Physics of Imagination

 From Under the Peach Tree:

Science class in a classical school should teach a story - the human story. This is not only necessary, but I believe it is a moral imperative in a world in which the movies are becoming real: RoboCop and Hal are no longer science fiction.

A classical education should, at its heart, integrate the intellectual, moral, and spiritual, and in the sciences, we rarely see that accomplished well. Either the focus is devoid of theory and application, and leans so heavily on primary sources and their analysis, that students who may have a charism for the sciences find themselves at a disadvantage when trying to pursue the field after high school. Or, the subject matter is taught as a freestanding subject, somehow isolated from the others - and possibly even in opposition to the humanities. Those tend to be primarily focused on application. Many teachers have told me that the sciences, like mathematics, are ‘factual’ and aren’t really meant to be taught ‘classically.’ At a conference with other Catholic science teachers, many echoed that sentiment arguing that it is impossible to teach all that a higher level science class requires and add in any form of discussion. I have always taught the sciences as something that needs both an understanding of history, as well as an experiential aspect, and is incomplete without the ethical and spiritual. In fact, not teaching science ‘classically’ is partially to blame for our dystopian realities, and it does not take any more time to teach in this manner than it does a standard honors science class.

In fact, it may actually take less time, and produce better outcomes.

In science classes, teachers have the unique opportunity to help bridge the gaps by integrating a world often viewed as the antithesis of the spiritual world with the humanities, and asking students to wonder. St. John Newman wrote, “religion is here, and science there, and young men converse with science all day, and lodge with religion in the evening. …young men eat and drink and sleep in one place, and think in another: I want the same roof to contain both the intellectual and moral discipline.” How do we do that in the science class?

A classical education should develop students’ curiosity and help them articulate truths beautifully. Ultimately, education should shape and create a moral foundation. In our modern world, it is essential that highschool science teachers embrace this integration, so that students can articulate and advocate for a moral future in which the sciences will control ever more of our realities. We need nurses who can make ethical decisions, physicists who know where to draw the line on invading digital privacy, and an educated public capable of articulating an informed answer to AI, bots, and modern technological and medical advances. (Read more.)

Share