Peripatetic philomaths…focusing on what's really important, eating ethically and cleanly, fermenting, foraging/wildcrafting, practicing herbalism, and being responsible stewards of our land. Sharing our photos, musings, and learnings. Still seeking our tribe.
All it takes is a day of warm weather and the stink bugs seem to materialize from the ether. They’ll find their way to windows, lamps, and, strangely, the bathroom…and they just keep appearing.
Continue reading “Haiku: Onward And Upward”
I’ve been saving the bones from the grass fed and grass finished beef soup bones and oxtail that we purchased from a local farm. These were the core of a variety of soups, including Korean-Style Oxtail Soup, and we’d already enjoyed the meat and marrow attached to the bones. Would there be anything left in these pressure-cooked bones to make bone broth? Definitely!
Continue reading “Under Pressure: Second-Time-Around Beef Bone Broth”
Someone came by last night – the tracks indicated that it was a feline. Was it a neighbor’s cat, returning to a home…or a stray cat, just hoping to find food and some shelter from brutal cold? I hope it was the former, but fear that it was the latter. I hope it wasn’t the tuxedo cat with the limp. Sadly, not all cats have a safe, good life. I wish they did. I’ll think of the visitor as I feed my cats, warm and well-fed, tonight: may you find a safe haven.
On Christmas morning, we sat down to eat breakfast. The dogs were on their beds near the nook, and all seemed peaceful – that is, until we noticed that someone had something that didn’t belong to her (instead of her usual XXXL Dinosaur Bark Bone, shown above) on her bed.
Continue reading “Knit This: A (Minor) Canine Christmas Calamity”
Just because someone dies, their presence doesn’t simply disappear – sometimes, loved ones may visit in dreams or appear in daydreams. I often “see” one particular soul, missed dearly, in manifestations of nature…I think of her daily, though she has not been here now for years. And I will think of her until I am no longer here.
Life is a dichotomy of joy and sorrow, each (unfortunately) seemingly in fairly equal measure, and not subject to our will. I will not avoid sorrow because doing so means I also avoid joy. I’ll hold fast to the joy and hope the sorrow simply crashes over me like waves at the shore: they may batter me, but I’ll get back up, shake the sand out of my suit, and be glad that I had the chance to swim in the glorious sea.
Sometimes, animals come into your life unexpectedly, like this little tabby that mysteriously appeared one day a few years ago. Sadly, since we live in a rural area, “dumping” pets happens with some regularity – a terrible practice because there are so many dangers to domestic animals allowed to roam (predators like coyotes, cars, exposure to the elements, starvation). Since we already had several cats, we called local shelters to see if any could take her, only to find out that they were full. Small wonder that some people choose to dump their pets when there are no shelters to accept them.
In any case, she stayed with us (and was promptly spayed!). She’s such a lovely, calm, and charming cat that I can’t help but think that she was meant to find us and make our lives richer. I’m thankful for our “windowsill cat” – and now, she only looks out of windows, not in.
I find the different textures and the fleeting nature of the wet prints in the photo particularly appealing. I hope you do, as well.
Are you interested in the backstory or do you prefer to imagine it? Let me know in the comments!
This one probably needs very little explanation, except the clarification that the puppy was out of our lines of sight for moments, then there was the terrible realization that it was too quiet, followed by the discovery. What is the deal with animals and toilet paper?? Cats tear it off the roll, dogs chew it up. It must put out a vibe that people just can’t appreciate.
The worst part: she knew she wasn’t supposed to have touched the toilet paper – it was clear from her body language. But it was already too late, of course. Guess we’ll keep working on it…and try to salvage what we can of that roll.
