there is no such thing as total self-sufficiency. There is only interdependence . And when that interdependence is denied or erased, it doesn’t disappear—it just becomes invisible labor, unpaid labor, exhausted labor. The labor of women, of mothers, of the land itself.

In my marriage, my partner and I hold a vow inspired by Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet : to be guardians of each other’s solitude. It’s this foundation that allows us to write, to create, to build our own projects while raising a child and cultivating community.

This, to me, is a key dimension of villaging. The balance of interdependence and... See more