Find your place at Spring Bird
Did you know that there are evergreens that lose their needles – and I don’t mean your dried out, spent Christmas tree – but living deciduous conifers? I wasn’t aware of these trees until living at Spring Bird, where there are both larch trees and …
A couple of days ago, Pat harvested this bunch of log grown shiitake mushrooms. They are our last mushroom harvest until Spring, and they tasted delicious sauteed in butter! In actuality, this Fall, we’ve had a couple of months of harvesting mushrooms from oak logs …
I had to post this picture of Marbles, because it embodies the essence of Summer. For me, the internal productivity pusher struggles to embrace the lethargic, sun worshiper of my truer spirit. Our cats, Marbles and Ninja are such good reminders to just soak up …
Oftentimes, the deer like to play with the rope of our tree swing. They nudge it with their noses. It’s real, prime time exciting stuff! The other day, one of them climbed through the loop and got momentarily stuck. For a split second I imagined …
This excerpt from Dan Deacon’s song, “When I Was Done Dying”, captures my feelings about Spring which dawns today in the northern hemisphere. This season smells like a fresh new playground ball mixed with ice melt. It feels like sticky, squishy mud, and it looks …
A few weeks ago, on our way to Milwaukee, I noticed maples being tapped in someone’s backyard. I smiled. Temperatures in Northern Illinois must have reached above freezing during the day and below freezing at night. This sap seeking process is a seasonal ritual that …
Skunk cabbage is a happy harbinger of Spring. This cabbage patch is popping up in the muddy banks of our creek near the rickety wooden bridge. Skunk cabbage is a good reminder to steadily grow in spite of the cold, clingy mud that threatens to …
I sort of can’t believe that these snowdrops have surfaced. I mean, it’s the usual time that they bloom, but they usually sprout after several feet of snow have melted. At this point in the season, we have forgotten what the ground even looks like, …
This week, our local food came to us from the farm located across the street from us. All Grass Farms cultivates pasture raised meat, raw milk, and organic eggs. In addition to a well stocked farm store, they offer CSA boxes, farm tours, and a …
The phrase, “The sun is out!” has been repeated several times in my household today. Winter, in this part of the world, provides us with a bevy of grey days. We have so many grey days that the occasional presence of sun feels outstanding and …
Winter can feel interminable and impenetrable – especially during the grey days of February, and it’s poems like this one from Maria Carvalho that remind us that the grey is not permanent and indeed permeable. There is always sun behind that heavy bank of clouds! …
In case you are like me and feel a sudden and desperate pressure to transform into a magic productivity machine – now that we are a bit past the holidays, enjoy this beautiful, poetic reminder to slow down, from author Candice Marley Conner. Candice wrote …
As some of you know, the final issue of my Woolgathering magazine featured poetry. This beautiful and timely poem was written by my dear friend, Mary Fontana, whom I met while volunteering at Annunciation House (a couple of decades ago-yikes!) Follow Mary on Instagram @maryfontanawrites …
