It's Springtime, and the birds are busy building nests in trees, shrubs, barn eaves and marsh grasses all around us. I, too, have been busy building nests in my craft room. I am giving one away over at the Wooly Moss Roots blog this week, so head on over there and put in your entry: http://woolymossroots.blogspot.com/2012/04/giveaway-from-sponsor-mountain-hearth.html Entries are open ...
Inspiring People
Mystic Orb Giveaway!
I am pleased to introduce you to my friends, Jeff and Taryn, artists of Mystic Orb and give my readers an opportunity to win a set of these wonderful sassafras buttons. I met Jeff and Taryn through fellow crafters and Saturday Market friends a couple of years ago, and I am so glad that I did! These folks are modern day homesteaders, living out on the Siuslaw River with their beautiful ...
Birds for May
I have a sweet little story to share with you of childhood dreams come true. The other day, my daughter Rosemary painted a picture inspired by her favorite folksinger's song about a pair of tin birds in love. It was a beautiful watercolor of two red birds facing one another, and in my opinion was quite good. She asked me if I would send the picture to Daisy May. I told her I didn't know the ...
Thoreau’s Winter Walk
On this first day of winter, I'll welcome in the new season by sharing a few of my favorite passages from "A Winter Walk" by Henry David Thoreau: The wind has gently murmured through the blinds, or puffed with feathery softness against the windows, and occasionally sighed like a summer zephyr lifting the leaves along, the livelong night. The meadow mouse has slept in his snug gallery in the ...
Three Forks Adventure From the Other Side of the Canyon
For those of you who found yourselves reading my "Adventures and Misadventures at Three Forks Warm Springs" post, holding your breath in suspense, wondering about the adventures of our friends who didn't make it through the muddy roads out in the middle of the lonely high desert...never fear! Here is a link to my friend Min Yi's blog about their adventures in the mud Obstacles and ...
This Land is Your Land, This Song is Your Song
“I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and that if it has hit you pretty hard and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter what color, what size you are, how you are built, I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work. And the songs that I sing are made up for the most part by all sorts of folks just about like you.” ...
An Interview With Taryn Kae Wilson, Modern Homesteader of the Siuslaw River
Taryn Wilson, and her husband Jeff are some folks you ought to know. They are artists, modern homesteaders, masters of simple living, a well of joy and inspiration, and two people I feel very lucky to call friends. I am happy to introduce you to them with this interview. I met Taryn at their Eugene Saturday Market booth, Mystic Orb, and was drawn in by all of Jeff's amazing bone and wood carvings ...
My Father the Hero!
In honor of Father's Day, I want to let you all know that my dad is a hero. Really! He backpacks, he hunts elk, he builds things, and in all his spare time, he lends a hand to conserving land. When I was growing up he helped form the North Olympic Land Trust, a non-profit organization dedicated to land conservation. Last year, he won the Cox Conserves Heroes award from the ...
Enjoying our Wild America: The Amazing Wildlife Documentaries of Marty Stouffer
Recently, I discovered a love for nature documentaries. There's something really amazing about seeing footage of places you wouldn't normally get to see, or things that are rare or impossible to observe on your every day walk in the woods. While I am really not a fan of television in general (we don't have TV and never will), I do have a hearty appreciation for the art ...
Know Your Homesteading Roots: The Story of Gertrude Colley
In honor of Mother's Day, I would like to dig down to my roots and tell you a little about one of my homesteading ancestors. My Great Grandma Gertie was an amazing, lively figure in my childhood. I knew her in her nineties, living alone in a house up on a hillside in Bremerton among her flower gardens, orchids and cats. I was always very intrigued by her. I have this photo of her that I love in my ...