I discovered my first fire lookout tower when I was on a road trip the summer after I graduated high school. My best friend and I were driving around on forest service roads outside Hamilton Montana, looking for a place to spend the night camping in my van, when we arrived at the summit of a mountain and discovered what seemed to us like a magical cabin on top of the world. I had heard of ...
Gone to Flower
Unless there is some avid seed saving going on, many gardeners strive to harvest and eat their vegetables before they go to flower or bolt. Oftentimes the desired edible portion of the plant will turn bitter or woody as the energy is directed towards flower and seed production, which translates for many into a total waste of the food we worked so hard to grow. When you think about gardening ...
A Girl and Her Banjo is a Beautiful Thing
I've got a confession to make here. I'm madly in love, and I'm going to tell the whole world about it. After twelve years of waiting, I finally got a banjo, and I've been smitten ever since. I don't remember exactly when the banjo fever took hold of me, but when I was about 18, I started entertaining visions of sitting out on the back porch picking away. College kept me pretty ...
June on the Homestead
June has been a busy month around here. The garden is all planted, tomatoes and peppers are growing in the hothouse, chickens are getting fat and sassy, seeds are germinating and strawberries are hanging red and ripe. I do love June. There has been enough precipitation to keep me from having to water all the time, so the kids' first week out of school felt like a real summer break. We hiked, we ...
Summer Solstice
In honor of the Summer Solstice today, I thought I'd share a fairy passage from William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream": Over hill, over dale, Thorough bush, thorough briar, Over park, over pale, Thorough flood, thorough fire, I do wander everywhere, Swifter than the moon's sphere; And I serve the fairy queen, To dew her orbs upon the green. The cowslips tall her pensioners be; In their ...
How About That Honey Cow
It can't be denied, I've had bees on the brain all Spring. The neighbor's honeybees buzzing over to pollinate the flowers in my garden are helpful and lovely, but I couldn't help but pine away for a hive of my own. There are those times in life where pining pays off, and this was one of them. For my birthday last week, my husband and son surprised me with a handmade honey cow. Maybe ...
Sneaky Chickens
A lesson learned: When a cute little bantam chicken comes out to keep you company while you hoe and plant corn and bean rows, do not say to yourself "Awww, isn't that sweet" and allow it to hang around. You might just look out your window later to find the same little chicken scratching up and munching all the corn seeds, thinking all the while you left such delicious hidden treats, while ...
Homestead Sunrise
Roosters crowing at the break of dawn, the sun peeking up over the mountains, fiery colors on the tops of the trees, woodsmoke curling out of the chimney...there are so many wonderful things about mornings on the homestead. It just makes a person want to get up early! I have needlefelted this scene on a couple of occasions, and this is my latest one. These homesteaders have planted a ...
Invite Someone Wild to Dinner
Tis' the season of wild edible greens, and lately I've been finding the makings for salads and steamed side dishes in my backyard. There's something fun about going out in the evening to forage up a wild dinner guest. With all the warm (and not so warm) rainy days of Springtime, emerging greens are tender, mild and chalk full of nutrients after a long Winter. It's ...
Wooly Moss Roots Giveaway Winner!
Congratulations Tracey! And thank you to everyone who left so many wonderful comments on the creations of Mystic Orb, and Taryn's blog, Wooly Moss Roots. I know that they appreciate all the heartfelt feedback. If you still have the giveaway bug and just can't wait to enter another, I will be doing another one soon with one of my blog sponsors, Moon Root Soaps, so keep your eyes out folks. ...