In Episode 56, I spoke to Catarina Seixas of The Olive Trees and the Moon. Cat is a homesteader, maker, folk herbalist and mother living in rural Portugal. She likes to spend her days exploring her local flora, photographing and creating magic. Together with her partner, they've built their house by hand and grow nourishing food. It was such a joy hosting Cat - we talked about so many of the things that she and I have bonded over and questioned aloud on Instagram - from the “fast fashion mentality” and she so aptly puts it, that permeates our expectations of production and cost, even within the fiber community, to a discussion of access to knitting and the materials it requires. We talk about knitting for others when knitting for ourselves is out of desire to make, instead of need to clothe - and how making for others means handing over some of the creative details we might otherwise do differently for the sake of ensuring the garment is loved, worn and cared for. Cat and I took a rambling wander through these thoughts together and while we didn’t have any conclusive answers to the questions we posed, I think we touched on many topics that so many of us folks in the fiber community consider throughout our time making, and it was a really special joy to host Cat on the episode. I’m grateful to have gotten to share space asking and conjecturing about these topics with her.