Saturday was bread day
We know the story: they pushed through all manner of terrain, turned forests
to ships with strong straight masts, secured houses against winters, built rough
roads connecting valleys and coasts – seasons in and out, making room for new
rhythms of life. Barr Cottage keeps me warm at night and offers a view eastward
to morning’s skies, the same skies generations before me saw, and generations
before them. I read that oven-baked bread was part of their weekly routine, these
timbering folk, and I think of my friend’s sourdough, how she cares for her starter
like her husband cares for their dog. I tell her of a starter bug I read about, eighty
years old, recall the first time I tasted rēwena parāoa in the far north, and wonder
if Europeans learned the recipe for this bread, knowledge kneaded and shared.
These days we tell a different story: fragile spaces between people and whenua
need care, and our parks are curated reminders of what was lost and what remains.
Here at the wild edge, we witness mountainous majesty enduring, nature’s great
kings fighting to survive. This motu’s then and now are with me when I walk
between mountain and sea, considering the footsteps from before, noticing my
daily rhythms, how they etch slowly into these northern weeks, creating my own
quiet industry. Today, notebook in hand, I come upon Queen Anne’s Lace, invasive
in Whatipu soil; memory conjures a woven wedding bouquet: me, in another time
and place. I walk on and see clever native plants curling through gorse. Back at the
cottage, I call my friend; she’s home from Saturday market, feeding her sourdough.
‘Saturday was bread day’: written in the informational text for
Barr Cottage at Huia, Waitākere Ranges Regional Park
Michelle Elvy is a writer, editor and creative writing teacher in Ōtepoti Dunedin. She edits at Flash Frontier and At the Bay | I te Kokoru. Her books include the everrumble, the other side of better and the forthcoming poetry collection Motion sickness, shortlisted in the Kathleen Grattan Award and Runner Up in the John O’Connor Award. Her recent anthology work includes Te Moana o Reo | Ocean of Languages, Poto: Iti te kupu, nui te kōrero| Short: The big book of small stories and the forthcoming volume MAYDAY. michellleelvy.com
