Self-taught farmers confidently raising chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs. Our focus is on practices that are environmentally harmonious and respectful to our livestock. We appreciate the beauty around us, clean eating, fermenting, and responsibly utilizing the bounty of the land. If you like thinking for yourself, continuous learning, and connecting with the homesteader lifestyle, check us out.
If you’re reading this – or if you follow the blog – you know I write poetry. I post a fair number of farm and nature-related haiku, and I’m inspired on a daily basis by my surroundings. But where to go from here? I’ve a yen to self-publish!
Continue reading “Musings: Pondering Publishing A Poetry Book”
I live in the country. I haven’t always lived in the country – I’ve resided in both urban and suburban areas before – but I’m definitely rural now. And that means I don’t live under CC&Rs that dictate how often I have to mow or what color I can paint my house. It also means I can let my property be as natural as I choose: (a) untamed, (b) partially tamed, or (c) ridiculously manicured. I choose “b”.
Continue reading “Musings: Unapologetically And Unabashedly Unkempt”
Singing at 2 a.m…who does that? The mockingbird, of course. I suspect we have a healthy population of them here, based on the nests I’ve come across over the years and the sheer numbers of them I’ve seen at the feeders. Clever creatures, they are. And, when the stillness of night (or the predawn wee hours) reigns, they’re loud.
While I appreciate the mockingbird’s enthusiasm, I do wish it would stick to singing during daylight hours..! 😄
Among the growing grass littered with tiny flowers, where it’s quiet and dewy, violence occurred. All that was left as testament to the life of a rabbit was bits of velvety brown fur; of a songbird, bright yellow feathers, strewn upon the ground.
Continue reading “Haiku: Evidence Of Endings”
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.
Nature never fails to amaze, despite how much we take her for granted. In the midst of a spell of frigid weather that’s left surfaces coated in thick ice (making walking treacherous, at best), and among the myriad prints that have been left in the snow by our boots and various animal visitors, I happened upon this, this very morning. Does she know it’s Valentine’s Day? I choose to believe it’s not a coincidence, that she left something remarkable as a reminder that Nature needs – and deserves – our care and protection, too.