My dear reader.

This is our regular ‘first Tuesday of each month’ series: my free offering for all subscribers in which I share what’s been working well in my life plus a curated list of links to what I’ve been reading, listening to, watching, and cooking.

In the comments I’d love to hear what’s been working well for you (even/especially amidst hard times), as well as any of your own recommended links.

Enjoy!

What’s Working

5-hour hikes. A 200-degree sauna. 10:30am pre-menstrual mac and cheese. Writing this from the sheep pasture. The delight of interspecies relationships. Actually doing my foot and ankle strengthening exercises, instead of making excuses. Eating homegrown lettuce with honey mustard dressing. Freshly washed sheets. Well-moisturized skin. Late spring weather that begs you to stay outside just a little bit longer.

Reading, Listening, Watching

1. Margaret Killjoy writing post-apocalyptic fiction?! YES PLEASE.

2. Okay wait, one more from Margaret Killjoy, this time about AI, because omg this passage is everything: “Water-hungry, power-hungry machines are being built while weather gets warmer, while power gets scarcer, while water becomes even more precious. It feels essentially sacrilegious to me, that our rulers offer up endless gallons of water to these false machine gods, that our rulers are sacrificing the water we need for our crops and our bodies.“

3. Nate Hagens has really been showing up in his “guide to staying human” during collapse podcast series. I particularly needed part 2: Navigating Dread and Carrying the Weight of Tomorrow

4. On a similar-ish topic, this interview with Samantha Sweetwater on how we can best emerge our way out of the current fiasco and toward the world we’d like to create felt both nuance-rich and spiritually-grounded.

5. If you’re curious about how governments in different countries are responding to the largest oil supply disruption in history, the IEA has created this 2026 Energy Crisis Policy Response Tracker.

6. Since one of my favorite book genres is “unlikely group of characters gets thrown together and then (mostly) wholesome shenanigans ensue,” of course I loved Jesse Q. Sutanto’s newest novel: Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block.

7. On the non-fiction side, Nicholas Thompson’s memoir, The Running Ground, completely captured my heart.

8. For my fellow outdoor-adventure lovers, this 16-minute film by Mountain Hardwear follows composer, musician, and long-distance trail athlete Liz Derstine as she attempts a self-supported Fastest Known Time on the Pacific Crest Trail.

9. This essay by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, called A Year of Magical Thinking, strikes right at the heart of how elites believe/act on their fantasy “that war, disease, and apocalyptic destruction can be contained to only affect poorer and browner people.“

10. To close on a somber and important note, I want to share some coverage from the ICE protests and hunger/labor strike happening at Delaney Hall in New Jersey. We can support families impacted by this cruel detention via mutual aid funding efforts here, here, and here. And if you’re an IG user you can find more info from on-the-ground people and orgs in this post. May every single one of these people soon be free.

Cooking & Baking

I made this rhubarb simple syrup a few weeks ago and it’s been delicious to use in fun bubbly mocktails.

Two other things that are in season here right now are asparagus and arugula, and I cannot stop making this skillet gnocchi with miso butter that uses lots of both.

Your turn!

What’s been working well for you lately? Do you have any reading, listening, watching, or cooking recommendations of your own to share? Tell us, tell us!

<3

Nic