On Monday evening, as Asa and I harvested tomatoes in the garden, we noticed a haze of smoke coming over the hill and a telltale stench in the air. Wildfire. Within 15 minutes, it was as thick as I've ever seen it. We shut all the windows and doors, and a heavy wind...
I've been struggling with outdoor recreation this summer. Trails have been packed. Even our local small swimming hole looked like a holiday weekend when we drove down there the other day to take the dog for a walk. On the one hand, I'm glad the pandemic has gotten...
Even if there hadn't been a pandemic forcing us to stay home 24/7, my partner and I had planned to start a big garden this year. When we moved out to this land last summer, I started my first tiny plot in the meadow overgrown with blackberry brambles. I managed to get...
I'm sitting on my porch in a patch of sun (glorious sun!), drinking a smoothie out of a wine glass, and editing photos. Squirrels and chipmunks are darting about on the ground below the bird feeder while Stellar jays, evening grosbeaks, and dark-eyed juncos flit to...
Total NatGeo moment yesterday! Asa and I were hanging out in the garden in the late afternoon when we heard a humming noise overhead. We realized it was growing louder, and looked up. As my eyes adjusted to the brightness of the sky, I realized there was a...
There have been a lot of stories bouncing around the internet about how the COVID-19 pandemic has actually been good for the environment. Claims of dolphins returning to the canals of Venice, Italy and elephants wandering through Yunnan, China, as nature reclaims its...
(With another bonus recipe at the end!)I feel bad about it, but to be perfectly honest, my life has greatly improved since the quarantine began. I feel bad, because I know so many people are struggling. Jobs have been lost, people have gotten stuck separated from...
I woke up this morning to a bluebird day. Yesterday I awoke to snow and clouds. Today the snow has melted, and the sky is that deep, periwinkle blue that makes you think it's going to be warm outside (even though it's not). The Doug firs are bobbing and swaying in a...
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. -Henry David Thoreau The idea of living deliberately is...
"Natural building implies profoundly different attitudes to places, building sites, ecology, work, and how we live in buildings. Natural building means paying more attention to all the details of how the world really works." - The Hand-Sculpted House I love living in...