It is a tradition to make candles for the solstices.  In the summer, I like to think of capturing all the glorious summer light, and in the winter about lighting up the wintery days.  I feel that the dark days are a metaphor for the emotional dark days of life.  In the midst of it,…

How many other 2-year olds get the fermented cod liver oil out of the fridge and dose themselves with it?  Apparently Clothilde is my most hardcore WAPF baby.   I’m trying to remember what we even did this weekend – it’s slowly coming back to me.  My sore arm and shoulder are reminding me that I…

Inspired by my friend Karen, who was giving out samples of AMAZING lacto-fermented brined pumpkin and daikon pickles she was making for the Earthskills fundraiser on Sunday, I made a batch, too.  There were lots of radishes that needed pulled in the garden, and we still have lots of pumpkins.  Some of the Anna Swartz…

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } We are really sinking in to the holidays this winter. I am keeping the big kids busy, having had a terrible time with them over the summer when I thought a nice, unstructured break would be perfect for them after an intense year of homeschooling. Every weekday we…

Lately I’ve been thinking…..about this space and writing here….. I always thought I would be good at writing on a blog, because I love to write and I’ve kept a journal since I was ten years old.  But something about the public nature of it makes me cringe.  And it really doesn’t help that I’ve…

I wish that I had some beautiful vegetable pictures to show off, but I don’t.  Instead I have this hideous photo of the recently bush hogged garden that, as Ethan said, really just shows off how much junk there was under all the weeds.There’s been a run on the garden lately by what must be…

I am about half way done with the secret Christmas knit – it is going slowly with the tiny yarn on tiny needles, but I really like this pattern.  It helps that I have knitted it once before.  The yarn is beautiful (it’s Madelinetosh) and it’s wonderful to see the two colors taking form together…

I’ve been thinking since I last wrote about work – I almost considered taking that post down, because it came off as kind of whiny.  I like the farm work.  I like what I do every day, and I wish I had time and energy to do more.  It feels so grounding and healthy to…

  This weekend was exciting – Chestnut’s long-awaited calf was finally born! She had missed her first “due window” for when she was AI’d, so we figure that this calf is our bull Explorer’s.  Explorer is half Devon, half Jersey.  The calf has a Devon face, but certainly the Jersey lanky legs.  He is also…

When I was younger, I used to feel that holidays were contrived marketing opportunities, seeing all the obnoxious decorations that went up in stores and places of commerce.  But as I’ve gotten older and tried to be more in tune with nature and our food, I have started to appreciate more and more the old…

I wish I had more to say about the garden other than I need to get out there and plant  more.  I’ve only seen it in the dark for the past few days, and I’ve just been harvesting lately, which is by far the funnest part.  Turnips are coming out, as well as French breakfast…