Who needs candy and costumes? We celebrated Halloween with a hike in the desert where we found signs of life and death to help us contemplate the holiday. Since we’ve been enjoying a mild, exceptionally wet, and colorful fall on our farm, we found that conditions in one of our favorite desert hiking spots were…
Category: Nature
Are Plants Trying to Kill Us? A Look at Oxalates
It can be easy to forget that a plant has a point of view. We tend to not see them doing much, so we think that they aren’t very much like us. We are constantly busy – moving, and making noise. Plants on the other hand, just sit there. At least, it can seem so…
Showy Milkweed – Weed or Wildflower?
When it comes to differentiating between a weed and a wildflower, the answer lies in one’s perspective. Many farmers find that milkweed gets in the way. I wouldn’t exactly say that my husband and I qualify as farmers. Though we do live on a small farm and keep farm animals, we earn our living from…
Fall Color on the Farm
As much as I love gardening during summer, the transition into autumn makes me want to give a big sigh of relief. Along with the cooler weather, some glimpses of fall color seem to bring a promise of rest and rejuvenation to come. And while flowers may not be what you think of when I…
Peter Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees
Have you ever hugged a tree? And have you wondered if it might be aware of you hugging it? If you are the type of person who might entertainment such a question, I have a book recommendation for you: Peter Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees. After hearing an interview with Wohlleben, I hurried to…
Prompts: Know Your Neighbors
Hi there! I hope everyone reading this is staying healthy, or recovering. I was sick for a month myself and am just regaining my normal rhythm, routine, and (mostly) energy. This is not a good time to be sick, my friends! Take your vitamins, get some exercise, turn the news off, and do what you…
On Aging and Growing Older
Over the past several years I have noticed something about growing older: I feel the same as I did when I was a little girl. I assume I am not the only one who feels this way – and I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions young people have about their future, adult…
Native Plants: Elkweed
On a recent hike I was excited to discover a plant I was unfamiliar with. For those of you who grew up in the Western US, you probably are familiar with this meadow-dwelling plant. I had never seen it until recently and spent quite a lot of time getting some close up looks of its…
Native Plants – Elkweed
On a recent hike I was excited to discover a plant I was unfamiliar with. For those of you who grew up in the Western US, you probably are familiar with this meadow-dwelling plant. I had never seen it until recently and spent quite a lot of time getting some close up looks of its…
Quotes: Allowing Nature to Return
“Although it would be highly arrogant of us to think we could actually design ecosystems, we believe that we can create a balanced ecological agricultural landscape by allowing nature to return to the land.” – Darrel Frey in Bioshelter Market Garden
A Miserable Hike that Makes You Feel A Lot Better
Fellow hikers, does this sound familiar? I have certainly been there. Usually I love hiking. Being outdoors, observing the plants and animals, pondering the geology and topography – these things just make me happy. But occasionally I find myself on a hike that I’m not really enjoying in the moment. Maybe the weather is miserable…
Quotes: Rooted in the Land
“One cannot predict what a long-term sustainable future will look like. But we believe it will be rooted in the land. It will come as an organic outgrowth of a rekindled, dynamic relationship between people and their landscape.” – Darrel Frey in Bioshelter Market Garden
Quotes: Set Points from the Natural World
“Our nervous systems are built to resonate with set points derived from the natural world.” – Florence Williams, The Nature Fix
Quotes: Nature for Calm and Focus
“Compared with people who have lousy window views, those who can see trees and grass have been shown to recover faster in hospitals, perform better in school, and even display less violent behavior in neighborhoods where it’s common. Such results jibe with experimental studies of the central nervous system. Measurements of stress hormones, respiration, heart…
A Natural Resolution
In her book the Nature Fix, author Florence Williams says that the Finnish recommend being in nature for 5 hours a month to reap health benefits. That seems like a pretty good thing to add to a New Year’s Resolution list – just an hour and fifteen minutes a week spending time outdoors in a…
Our Ancient and Long-Standing Debt
“Although tragically diminished, the natural world that made us is out there still. With effort and some passing luck, we might find our own way of reconnecting, and in doing so, learn to honor our ancient and long-standing debt to life on earth.” – Graeme Gibin, The Bedside Book of Beasts
The Resonance We Need
“How happy I am to be able to walk among the shrubs, the trees, the woods, the grass and the rocks! For the woods, the trees and the rocks give man the resonance he needs.” – Ludwig van Beethoven, 1808
Nature – Love is a Two Way Street
Author, Professor, Botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Robin Wall Kimmerer asked her students this question one day: You love nature but do you think that nature loves you back? Her students, all very respectful of the earth, had never thought about it that way. I bet most of us haven’t either!
Nature: Love is a Two Way Street
Author, Professor, Botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Robin Wall Kimmerer asked her students this question one day: You love nature but do you think that nature loves you back? Her students, all very respectful of the earth, had never thought about it that way. I bet most of us haven’t either!
Homekeeping: The Difference a Window Makes
Consider the exterior doors on your home. Are they solid or do they provide views to the outdoors? Even a small window like this half circle window in an otherwise solid door provides a view to the backyard, lets in a bit of natural daylight, and provides information about weather and time of day. As…
Native Plants: Milkweed
Milkweed is one of the loved, cherished weeds we have growing on our property. The plant is very important for monarch butterflies and may be edible (this subject gives rise to much debate!). And they are beautiful! We were wondering, though, if this was the RIGHT milkweed for monarchs in our area of the country. So I…
Native Plants: Curly-Cup Gumweed
This summer, anytime we walked up to the end of our lane, Chad would point out a plant with bright yellow flowers growing along side it and tell me he heard it had medicinal properties. He told me it was called Curly-Cup Gumweed. We looked it up and found out what it’s good for: primarily…
Wildlife: How to Attract Birds to Your Backyard
Last weekend I took a class on birds. It was a great crash course in ornithology and I was delighted to learn all sorts of interesting things about our feathery friends. The main purpose of the class though was to learn how to attract birds to our backyards with native plants. Because I love to share, here…
Hearthwilde 