reflections | Generous Frugality

sprouting hope

Sowing seeds gives me so much hope. I love knowing the family plants are from by the similarity of their seeds. I get excited carefully...

Like you, I've felt like I've been in a holding zone for the past three months. New Zealand was in and out of lockdown in seven weeks...

Since moving to New Zealand I've had to re-learn what I know about winter, mainly, that it's not half a year long, the inside of your...

It's funny how the biggest trees or plants aren't usually the most fruitful. My unscientific understanding is that so much energy gets...

Another poem for this timely moment where people are forced to slow down and stay home, written about my home: A taste - of a simpler...

I walk alone, in the woods - leaving everyone behind. All of what and who I know not here. The mountains beckon my gaze upward. I look...

I had the classic garden issue this year of forgetting to pay closer attention to my tomatoes. That, plus being away at times, meant that...

Two seeds from the same packet, sown into the same potting mix at the same time, planted into the soil on the same day when they were the...

I love tramping (hiking). You put everything you need in a backpack, turn off your phone and walk. In New Zealand, after several hours,...

Searching for a kiwi - even on an island where they are fairly common - felt like an exercise in futility. Reading the log book in the...

brenda wang

Kia ora, I'm brenda, a Canadian transplant living in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Among other things, I've written a book, Generous Frugality: an alternative approach to money, which is based on two questions:

1) What if we measured wealth by how much we give away?

2) What if we're frugal so that we can be generous?

Join me on the journey toward a more just, more generous and more simple life.