When the weather turns cold and the trees are bare outside, people through the centuries have been bringing greenery indoors to deck the halls. In milder climates (like this part of Oregon), we don't often have snow around the Holidays, so sprucing up the inside of our house adds a lot to the festivities. Holiday decorating has been a favorite pastime of mine since childhood, and I always ...
Seasons
A Homegrown Tree
Last Sunday, like so many other families, we set out to find our Holiday tree. What was most exciting about this is how short a distance we had to travel to find it. At the top of our 7 acres of land, someone at some point planted a little forest of mixed Douglas-fir and true fir, and many are just the right height for bringing indoors. Last year we cut our first tree for this homestead on a snowy ...
Snow Turkeys
In honor of the family gathering, my son made a fine looking family of snow turkeys. I've heard it said that birds of a feather flock together, and this must be true, because I saw a few other snow turkeys hanging around out there having fun... ...
Cornucopia
November is a time of finishing up the last of the harvest, taking stock of what we have grown, storing away the fruits of our labors for the year ahead, appreciating what is abundant in our lives and spending time with family and friends. I have been enjoying seeing a full root cellar with baskets of potatoes, onions, pumpkins, and squash; braids of garlic hanging from the ceiling; jars of canned ...
First Frost
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Fall’s Finery
Fall is making a colorful display in the McKenzie River Valley these last few weeks, illuminating the drizzly days as they set in. It seems to be a particularly good year for fall color with the leaves hanging on the trees a little longer than I remember last year. Someone must have been thinking ahead when they planted our yard, because there are different contrasting fall colors catching ...
Jack-o-lantern
One of my favorite things about Halloween is coming home to a porch illuminated by glowing jack-o-lanterns on dark, rainy nights. I can think of few things that are so cheerful and spooky at the same time. Perhaps this ambiance has something to do with their history. Jack-o-lanterns have been around for quite some time, and are named after a phenomenon of strange lights flickering over peat bogs, ...
The Flowers of Autumn
"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." ~Albert Camus ...
The Things We Find in the Pumpkin Patch
Our pumpkin crop was hit and miss this year, leaving us in need of a couple of good jack-o-lanterns. I remembered our CSA had offered that members could come out and pick a pumpkin from the patch if they missed the farm celebration, so one day after school last week, the kids and I headed out to finally visit the farm that feeds us. Now, you might be asking yourselves why we still get a CSA share ...
Raven Steals the Sun
As we busily prepare for winter and our first fall storm on the way, I thought about the things I look forward to about the cold, dark months of the year. Warm fires in the woodstove, drinking tea, making hearty soups, reading more books, and on special occasions, storytelling. I have always enjoyed storytelling and folklore, and my favorite tale by far is Raven Steals the Light. This is a story ...