a new year has begun and we (emma and jason) have decided to start this year off with a fresh website chronicling our adventures on our new homestead.

the first (and somewhat different) manifestation of the our ochre way blog/website was begun in 2010 by emma with the hopes of sharing feelings and viewpoints about the world we experience everyday.

we both felt that the name our ochre way was too meaningful a phrase to leave behind and we would like to share with you the history of what it means to us.

the first post on ourochreway.wordpress.com was originally posted on JANUARY 14, 2010:

“our ochre way.

i have been sitting with my cat in my lap looking at my computer for at least a half hour trying to think of what name to use. something about wolves? something about women? no, that could sound too hokey.

something about a maiden and a mother and a crone? no, that reference is too wordy and also too heavily weighted with connotations (positive for some and negative for others) that could place me (or the idea of me) in a strange gray area of your feelings. it might then be hard to fairly determine certain important facts about me: whether or not i am a feminist, or an enjoyer of certain spiritual trends that will be forgotten when the real world comes flapping in, or a female diety worshiper, or someone who is dissillusioned and saddened by young womens’ (my peers’) ideas of self-worth and strength, or perhaps someone who doesn’t shower, or even a crazy character who runs around beating bones together and winking.

i must say, though, that some (though not all) of the above descriptions are indeed true. despite this, though, i think that by naming my collection of writings something about a maiden and a mother and crone i could be unintentionally misrepresenting myself. 

perhaps a title that mentions a ham sandwich (how i do enjoy those!)? no, too digestible. not permanent enough.

or maybe a name that reminds me that i am lucky to have been loved by someone before and to have loved them in return? no, too schmooshy!

so, i think that a more comfortable and meaningfully far-reaching name would be: our ochre way. which, simply, references our way into this short (and very rich) life–and our way out.

some of the earliest burials of the human race involved smearing ochre on the deceased loved one…symbolizing the blood of the birth into the next life. red ochre is an earth pigment made from a clay material; it has been used in ritual and art since before recorded history.

simply put, ochre is a symbol of life’s blood and death’s blood, it is a symbol of our link to all greater energies that move beyond us, and it is a mineral substance that is in our ground, under our feet. it is deep below us under the skin of the earth and it is also smeared on the faces of those who came before us.

our ochre way is the path that we (together, as a human race) have begun. each of us entered this world in the same way, covered in red. we will each walk through many gateways in this life that are either painted in the same red hue, or (at least to our own eyes) look and feel as though they have been. and then, one day when we catch our last glimpse of those that we love we will once again pass back through the ochre way into the great thing that spun us here all those years ago.

and that is our ochre way.”

just recently, on OCTOBER 6, 2013, we revisited what our ochre way means to us:

“and so now we own a home.

a home with red ochre colored soil, just like in my mind.

at first i was not used to this new color of soil and the way it acts when you try to turn ground over or plant; it is different than the dark, softer soil of the city.

different and better.

it is the color of my life and it is full of carolina clay. it stains clothes and stains skin and nails, just like blood.

it is part of this full circle we are living in. red ochre blood coming into this world and red ochre ground to grow new things.

and one day red ochre life blood gone when my time has come.

but that is not yet,

not yet.

we still have a lot of time left digging in this full circle, red ochre soil.”

please join us on ourochreway.com as we share our adventures…