Present Joys Featured Guest: The TERREMOTO Team
This week we welcome the team from TERREMOTO to share their present joys with us.
Spending any time at TERREMOTO or with anyone from their team, you immediately get the feeling that what they are doing matters—to them, to their clients, to the larger community. The have created more than a business; their work is an ethos, a way of being and living that is not easily replicated. Hats off to the team! We’re genuinely inspired by what you do and, more importantly, how you do it. Read on for joys from TERREMOTO’s Adrian, Nina, Dani, Hannah, and Katherine.
Community
Whether it’s our monthly Test Plot work days where we tend to the land together, the local mutual aid networks where we take care of each other together, or the artists, musicians, writers, and scientists who inspire and inform me, the community work we do together reminds me that I’m not alone. —Adrian
Compost
Composting brings me joy because it connects me to the deeper rhythms of transformation and renewal. There’s something magical about watching what is breaking down become something rich, alive, and nourishing. It reminds me that even in decay, there is the potential for new life. Composting teaches patience, reciprocity, and humility—it’s a quiet collaboration with microbes, fungi, and time itself. Every handful of dark, earthy compost is proof that life can emerge from what has been let go. —Nina
Chickens
Watching chickens peck and scratch at the ground, wholly devoted, is a mind and heart humbling joy. Both kids and adults of all ages spread big smiles when they meet the chickens. We can’t communicate with words, but we can communicate in other, quieter ways. —Dani
Jacarandas
The beginning of June was marked by a monsoonal rain where we ran out at the first rumble of thunder, ecstatic to feel the heavy raindrops pelt our skin. The jacarandas have also been blooming en masse throughout our tender, beautiful, and raw city right now. It brought me a quiet joy to sit on the curb, listening to the blooms fall to the street, on the cars, on my head, in the warm evening breeze, sounding unexpectedly like drops of rain. —Hannah
Signs of Life
I am thankful to be able to witness non-human life all around. There is a family of bush tits living in a nest that looks like a dirty sock hanging in my acacia tree. The flitting parents elicit rounds of happy chirps from the nestlings. There are lizards enjoying the warmth of garden walls, and cabbage moths swirling up over the weeds. Tiny caterpillars on the milkweed, and new leaves on all the plants. When I take this all in, my ego wanes, and I am comforted by the knowledge that life persists despite all the shit. —Katherine
A few more joys from Michelle and Joyce…
Learning from the Ancients Diving in head first to Kanopy’s The Great Courses and not coming up for air anytime soon.
Tuesdays with Morrie Read this on a flight the other day, by recommendation from my father-in-law, and was happy sobbing for at least half of it. It’s a wonderful homage to a mentor and friend.
Whimsical Sculptures So much joy and a little bit of blushing at the clever and colorful sculptures of William Accorsi.
Feeling Hungry Feeling very excited about and inspired by the winner of the latest season of Top Chef.
LA is so Beautiful We celebrated our friends Chris and Ruthie’s wedding last weekend and WHAT. A. GORGEOUS. WEDDING. For anyone looking for an incredible LA venue, The Paramour Estate is stunning. Congrats C + R <3
Garlic Scape Checked out the newly renovated Mohawk General Men’s store and was so struck by this beautiful, curly arrangement.
Bonjour Tristesse Still thinking of the outfits and Chloe Sevigny’s silver jewelry from Durga Chew-Bose’s Bonjour Tristesse.
Claro’s Italian Deli Another market report! I wanted to buy some olive oil for my brother-in-law for Father’s Day and stopped into Claro’s since we were in the area. I gasped as soon as I stepped in. Part deli, bakery, and pantry goods, this market is such a joy to peruse. Coming back for Edmond Fallot mustards and Faugier Chesnut Spread.
Perilla Love everything they make but the unassuming little sauce that accompanies the gimbap is so good.
Save the Date: Present Walks Sunday, 6/29
We’re back in Pasadena for June’s Present Walks! We’ll be starting at Little Flower and walking to the Colorado Bridge and back. More details to come on our Instagram–hope you can join us!