I had just finished my latest wall hanging of the story of Raven returning the light, when a rainbow came shining through the prism in my window, illuminating Raven's dark silhouette. It's those little bits of light that come shining through in the shortest, darkest days of the year that really make all the difference. With each year that goes by, winter seems more and more to me an exercise in ...
The Funky Chicken Show
The chickens have been given free reign of the garden for the winter, and periodically going out to give them treats and watch them scratch around in the leaf mulch has become my daily therapy. We raised some pretty funky chickens this year, so it's quite a show out there. I would love to introduce them all, but there are *A Lot* of chickens, so I will just introduce you to a few of my ...
An Oregon Homegrown Holiday Tree
In the pouring November rain, we suited up in our rain gear like real Oregonians, and went out to find a homegrown holiday tree in the clearing at the top of our property. It's getting to be a little more of a stretch every year as the crowded grove of Grand fir and Douglas fir keep getting taller and taller, and we're topping some mighty tall trees to fit below our 8 foot tall living room ...
These Leaves
"Read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem." ~Walt Whitman ...
Golden October
October is a golden month. The hard work of the summer is finished on the homestead, food is harvested, canning is done, and root cellar is full. It's a time to stop and catch your breath, and take a moment to look around and appreciate everything. That burst of activity in the late summer and fall is well rewarded with the leaves changing color and the crisp, cool nights and mornings. After our ...
Harvest Moon in the Pumpkin Patch
That big harvest moon the other night had me dreaming of giant pumpkins, and I was inspired to needle felt this wool wall hanging of a pumpkin patch on a full harvest moon night. I made one similar to this that I traded with a crafty friend a couple of years ago for a beautiful sweater she knit for my newborn niece. When I was working on this piece, the wild, witchy woman out in the filed ...
Harvest Moon
There was a beautiful, full harvest moon last week, and I had the good fortune of viewing it early in the morning when I was out feeding the chickens. It made for a much brighter early fall morning than I've gotten used to these last few weeks, and I could see how farmers were able to use the light of this moon to stay out harvesting crops into the evening. I came across this link to the Old ...
Mount St. Helens: A Backpacking Adventure
For our family vacation this year, we decided to explore a little closer to home, and spend some time at Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. It erupted just a few weeks before I was born, so this is a place I've had the opportunity to watch grow and change throughout my lifetime. It's a place of constant renewal, where you can keep going back again and again, seeing completely new things ...
What’s Happening on the Homestead
The homestead life is at its finest in the summertime, and also at its busiest. The chicken run is working out beautifully for the chickens and the garden, and not so much for the slugs, which was the main goal. The results of this chicken moat are a great garden this year where we get to hang out with the chickens while we water, weed and harvest. The chickens have been enjoying ...
Lilac Cream Cake
With all the flowers in bloom during the month of May, it's an inspiring time for some foraged flower recipes. Last year I brewed a French Lilac Wine, and this year I decided there was probably only so much lilac wine I'd be able to drink, so I focused my efforts on baking. Gather Victoria had posted this tantalizing Lilac Cream Tart recipe that I just had to try, and when I was left with some ...