It's shaping up to be one busy summer. Between teaching pioneer summer camps, tending that enormous garden we planted in the Spring, hand watering for up to six hours at a time, and sometimes canning jam, I've been feeling plum worn out. As I stand out there watering in the dark some late evenings, I contemplate how it is that we moved out to the country for a different pace of life, but ...
Seasons
Going to the Country Faire
For many of us, the term, "country fair" likely evokes images of livestock shows, prize pumpkins, canned goods, pies and barn dances. While these are all wonderful things, here in Oregon, we have a whole different kind of country fair. Started in 1969, the Oregon Country Fair was created by a group of artists, musicians and visionaries, and is still going strong today right here in our ...
Honey Do
Handmade honey bee necklaces on my Mountain Hearth Handcrafts blog! Click the link to check out the sweet little honeys, and pay a visit to my crafting blog. ...
Springtime in the Country: A Tour in Photographs
Spring sunrise over the back field Our garden An apple branch we trimmed this Winter becomes a living garden fence post! Roses dripping with rainwater Spring chickens Ms. Frizzle the bantam frizzle rooster (any Magic Schoolbus fans out there?) The neighbor's field to the East, in bloom with native camas Birds nests from my craft room Birdhouse in the old apple tree ...
Making May Wine: Mountain Rose Herbs Recipe Contest Entry
To ring in and honor the first day of May each year, one my favorite seasonal traditions is making May wine. This easy and tasty beverage is traditionally made in Germany where it is served as a spring tonic for the May Day holiday by infusing dry white wine with dried leaves of the Sweet Woodruff herb (Galium oderatum or Asperula odorata). A perennial spreading herb, native to the forests of ...
A Tiny Home Among the Mosses: Building Fairy Houses With Children
(Photo from cover of "Fairy Houses...Everywhere!") You're hiking on a winding path through the trees, taking in all the shades of green and the sounds of birds and squirrels, when something suddenly catches your eye. There, at the base of a giant tree with a little rivulet of water flowing by is a tiny hut made of fir boughs and bark, no more than a foot tall. The little stepping stone path ...
Plant and Veggie Dyes for Colorful Spring Eggs
For our Spring Equinox egg hunt, we made our traditional plant and vegetable dyed eggs. We have been doing this since my children were four, and it is something they look forward to every year. This year I let them color pictures on the eggs with beeswax crayons first to try something new. There were baby chick eggs, fairy eggs, eyeball eggs, mother earth eggs, you name it. While they were doing ...