I've been reading good books lately, and am on book number 25 for the year. This book on finding yourself in the wilderness was great, and had parts on tracking and exploring that I read aloud to the boys. Eli and I were talking about missing being barefoot and grounded on the Earth. So on on...

I've been writing and sharing photos in this space for 11 years now, how time flies! It seems like not that long ago that we were sitting around my grandmother's table, and my Aunt Sondra suggested I start a blog. I chuckled, thinking surely I didn't have time for that. It's nothing fancy, but I...

We woke yesterday morning to 4" of snow, and got more throughout the morning. We had such a fun snow day together~ including sledding on the hill behind our pond. Eli surprised us by going down the hill standing up on his sled, he just silently glided down with amazing balance! The boys ha...

The kids and I spent over 3.5 hours outside together yesterday, on wonderful snowy adventures. First we spent over an hour tracking in our back pasture. We tracked rabbits, a cat, and what we think are coyote tracks. I sent photos of the tracks to our neighbor friend, and she said they have se...

In a time when the world seems to be in such turmoil, and I wake with stiff shoulders and a tense belly, I am finding peace in the seemingly mundane moments of my day. Our routine of starting the day with a dawn pasture walk is so healing. I feel such joy and calm walking this land and revelin...

I walked a lot in November the week of the presidential election, like 10-12 miles per day a lot! Unfortunately at the end of the week I hurt my left foot, the same foot I injured three years after after running a marathon. It's been very slow to heal. I've been able to walk our half mile back p...

Nick and I are celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary today. 15 years ago we never would have guessed we'd have 2 boys, 45 chickens and be living in Virginia! I am so thankful for Nick by my side on this journey. May we have many more years of laughter and smiles, and photos with bunny ea...

This week seemed to last about a month, but the individual days were mostly good. We spent lots of time outside, doing fun things like having a winter picnic and flying kites with my parents. I had good walks in our back pasture with our sweet pup. And there was lots of fort building. The b...

"Finding yourself" is not really how it works. You aren't a ten-dollar bill in last winter's coat pocket. You are also not lost. Your true self is right there, buried under cultural conditioning, other people's opinions, and inaccurate conclusions you drew as a kid that became your beliefs about...

Alex announced on Monday that he's been listening to a podcast about writing. He got out a new journal (thankfully we keep a stash of quality sketchbooks and journals!), and set to work writing. He has told fantastical stories to the chickens for years, about a mythical land called Hennin. As he...

This weekend we spent a couple hours at the park parking lot in town. Alex and Nick drove RC cars while Eli and I rode our bikes. There are 2 long parking lots with trees planted down the center. It was a fun space to play and ride and not worry about seeing many people. Most people in our town ...

Happy New Year! Every year I choose a word to focus on for the year, this year my word is flexible. I'm working on becoming flexible in mind and body. I have a new 30-day challenge calendar for the year, and am looking forward to 30 days of yoga, 30 days of meditation, 30 days of a gratitude lis...

The beauty of this place continues to move me, to remind me that this is the perfect place for me to be Home. The sunrise this morning was brilliant pink and gold, and filled the sky to the east, south and north with golden pink light, where it met the magnificent full moon hanging over the moun...

Christmas was different this year, as I'm sure it was for many. We really missed our pre-Christmas visit with Nick's mom. Instead of an in-person visit we video chatted with her on Christmas Eve. We did get to enjoy our traditional sushi Christmas Eve dinner, at home instead of in a restaurant. ...

We had our first snow here last week, and it was just enough to sled on the back side of the pond. Our weather had predicted as much as 12" of snow. We only got about 3", but it was perfect. We woke to a winter wonderland of ice crystals coating the trees and plants. The boys spent hours an...

"The sun will rise and set regardless. What we choose to do with the light while it's here is up to us. Journey wisely." ~ Alexandra Elle I've been really enjoying taking the dog out at dawn to enjoy the beautiful sunrise the past few weeks. ...

Just Delicate Needles It's so delicate, the light. And there's so little of it. The dark is huge. Just delicate needles, the light, in an endless night. And it has such a long way to go through such desolate space. So let's be gentle with it. Cherish it. So it will come again in the morning....

My parents came over to celebrate National Cookie Day with us on Monday. We made gluten-free fruit and nut balls for Nick, gingerbread, shortbread and cowboy cookies. There was much hilarity and laughter, it was a lovely afternoon of good company and sweet treats. And now our freezer is ...

With this second light of Advent We give thanks to the plants. To the flowers and trees, to the vegetables and grass. Bless the shelter and life force they provide. The boys gathered acorn caps and little pine cones to put around our advent spiral for the second week of advent, giving thanks ...

Alex wanted to make suet for the birds yesterday. He looked up some recipes online, and then made his own based on the ingredients we had. He filled muffin tins about half full with mealworms (from our mealworm farm!), chopped pecans and sunflower seed, then put about 1 tablespoon of coconut o...

The boys and I bundled up and went to our beautiful town park early this morning, when we were the only ones there. We saw a Great Blue Heron fly over the river, watched squirrels romping and ducks swimming. We remembered all the good times we've had there, and how we loved to take our homesc...

We headed to the little farm near us for a Christmas tree on Friday. The choices were pretty slim this year, most of the trees were either 12' or 2'. We found a nice one that wasn't too tall, but is about 5' wide. Getting it on the car was quite a challenge! It was also interesting getting ...

Alex has been very interested in birds lately. We've enjoyed reading about John James Audubon and are doing a free 10 week Audubon bird study. Alex has been keeping our four bird feeders full, and giving them other treats too like oranges and popcorn. While I read aloud in the mornings he's been...

"Who knows how this ends or when it ends that said, What do we know? We know that I have you and you have me we know that Love is real It holds us. It carries us. It reminds us That we are strong And soft And we can make it through this." ~Cleo Wade I love these words from Cleo Wade, an inspira...

Alex loves being able to pick up and hold our roosters. We often visit the laying hen crew in the mornings after we let the meat birds out into the pasture. He's been able to hold Roo 2 for awhile now, and has been doing "love lessons" with Sherman, our younger rooster. Sherman is named after my...