With a few farm work weekends under our belts for the new year, we set off on another Winter yurt camping trip to enjoy some rejuvenating time in the outdoors. This time we picked a spot we had never visited before, Umpqua Lighthouse State Park near Reedsport. It tends to be a rather popular one, and the yurts and cabins fill up fast, so I had never managed to get the timing right to make a ...
Handmade Valentines
One of my absolute favorite grade school memories is the yearly Valentine's Day party. I don't recall any specific one, but I just remember having a ball making little paper crafts with hearts and doilies for all my classmates, exchanging them to fill these giant envelopes we made out of construction paper, and then having an all-out sugar extravaganza with candy and cupcakes galore. Even the kids ...
Winter Weekends on the Homestead
Since one of my driving forces in life is always to spend more time outside, living out in the country makes a lot of sense. On these Winter weekends, with camping slowed down and the garden slumbering away, our family spends the days outside working on projects around our place. Sometimes it rains on us, sometimes it's chilly, but the past couple of weekends have been ...
Imbolc is Here and Spring is on the Way!
As we turn the corner towards the oncoming Spring, our family celebrates the increasing sunlight and the stirrings of the seeds beneath the soil by celebrating the festival of Imbolc. Still celebrated in the United States in some form as Groundhog's Day, St. Brigid's Day in Ireland, and Candlemas by many, the ancient Irish festival of Imbolc honors the Spring's beginning. The word Imbolc ...
Valentine Faeries
With Valentine's Day just around the corner, I've been busy in the craft room making these lovely little Valentine Faeries with wool felt hearts and sparkling wings. My Own Sweet Valentine Like the sweetly budding rose, Freshened by the gentle rain Like the Evening Star that glows, Brightest of the starry train Like a well arranged Bouquet, Where the fairest flowers ...
Get to Know Your Home Ground
There are a few books out there that I think everyone living in this country should own or at least read in their lifetime. Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape, edited by Barry Lopez is one of these. Every term for the American landscape that you could think of, both common and obscure are included in this collection of over 850 definitions of landscape vocabulary ...
Eat Your Wild Greens: The Delectable Nettle
There is no other plant I have loved and loathed as much as the stinging nettle. As a child, we avoided these troublesome plants for the itching welts they gave on our legs should we carelessly brush against one while playing in the woods. We just plain did not like them, and the idea that they might be a food never crossed our minds. In fact, if someone had ever told me I would plant ...
Winter in the Country: A Tour in Photographs
As we make our way through another mild, and somewhat erratic Willamette Valley Winter, I thought I'd share a handful of photographs of some highlights of the season. Between our one day of snow, some frosty cold mornings, torrential rain for days on end, and the balmy 60-degree weather we're having this week, I can honestly say that times are rarely dull. Out here in Oregon, even the ...
A Day at the Sand Dunes
Along the Central Oregon Coast lies one of the most interesting landscapes I have encountered in the Pacific Northwest. The Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area stretches for 40 miles from Florence to Coos Bay, and holds a natural wonderland of wind-sculpted sand dunes up to 500 feet above sea level, tree islands, sand lakes, ponds, marshes and abundant wildlife. Wind, water, and time ...
The Natural History of the Chicken
For a family movie night this weekend, we watched a PBS documentary by Mark Lewis called "The Natural History of the Chicken." My son, who is a chicken person through and through, was absolutely thrilled about this, and I was intrigued, expecting a look back at chickens throughout history. What we saw was very different from our expectations, but far more entertaining. The first ...