The first frosts of the winter have come through. I am missing the woodstoves I left behind in my old life, but I remember, too, when we had first moved, and nothing was finished yet, and the slow process over eight years where life felt more and more comfortable. Little details, like which direction a…
Category: Homesteading
The Sacred Mother
Being in this new place, I am still getting to know this new piece of earth, and all the plants and the animals that live here and were here before us. Starting over all fresh, I can see the way the land shifts to me with how I live, the ways I walk, the things…
Pork Meatballs With Persimmon Barbecue Sauce
I always feel a rebirth this time of year here in Florida – the winds come through and blow away the heavy, moldy, damp, boiling hot summer and bring fresh, cool mornings and bright fall skies. The crushing vines the ruled the garden wither back, and tender new things grow in neat rows in the…
Counter-Top Sweet Potato Slips
If there is anything that farming and homesteading have taught me, it is that you must never give up. Death and loss and horrible things happen, but giving up is the only real mistake, and abundance is always there, if only you can find the creativity and inspiration to use it. The magic of the…
Here and There
I wish that I had something better to say, but I am living in a war. I am still at my old place here in Alachua, working and working like the girl with brothers turned into seven swans, toiling like she toiled over that last shirt to try to get out and get away and…
Marking Boundaries
There are so many things I am learning on this new journey. I am learning now to mark the boundaries. The corners are the most important things to make strong. Posts must be level. Fencing is really hard work. Machinery is amazing. Friends who help you with fencing are real friends, no doubt about that. Measure more than once. Don’t be stingy. I am…
A New Beginning
Over this past difficult summer I spent a lot of time away from the land I love, visiting friends and people whose company I enjoy. My friend John took me on adventures when he was in town visiting. One day we went all the way to the gulf, to the end of the day and the end…
Just Kidding
The new year started off with a bang this past week. The peach trees decided it was spring, and burst into bloom. The chickens and ducks are leaving eggs lying around everywhere. One of the black hens keeps trying to come inside and lay an egg in the kitchen. And last week we had FIVE…
A Small Silence
Thank goodness that fall is here. This summer was such a long, hot, moldy, unhappy struggle. I feel like I lost so many things, and floundered around and failed. There was never enough time or energy to do what I wanted and needed to do, never enough to go around, things breaking, and heaps of…
Summer Harvests
I’ve had several in-person interactions with people lately that have really, really sucked. One of them involved one of my oldest friends, and we have parted ways. It was a long time coming – he never respected me, not since our days together in high school. For so many years he constantly criticized me –…
The Brag Garden
It’s taken me so long to put this post together – I have had a very shaky internet connection lately and the uploading took forever – but here it is at last – and while I was in the process, the garden has changed so much, from the straw-mulched infant garden stage to flourishing and…
Toadstools And Fairy Rings 