herbs
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Violet Unicorn Jelly
The best way to pick wild violets is sitting in the grass with a granddaughter on a sunny Sunday morning. The best reason to pick wild violets is to make violet jelly. And the best thing to do with violet jelly is to have a fairy tea party with lady finger sandwiches. So far, I Continue reading
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In summer we gather, but we don’t gather chocolate
My daughter asked her two year old for dinner ideas because she was, yes, that desperate for help. “Emily, what would you like for dinner?” “Chocolate!” If it were the middle of the hectic teaching year instead of the middle of summer, my daughter might have gone along with it. Ah, but it is summer. Continue reading
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I’m Gonna Get Squashed
On a fishing pier Saturday with my mom, watching the waves roll to shore beneath us, I said, “Pretend it’s a tsunami and you have to outrun it.” Right. The great-grandmother to my grandkids had already walked close to twenty miles with me during our week at the beach. Running was not going to happen. Continue reading
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Making room for a new season of venison… and football
We know it’s hunting season when friends show up with gifts–a heart and a liver that they just harvested from a doe in our woods. While they might normally toss them, they know that John will use them to make an amazing venison liverwurst. The new heart and liver will join what John has in the freezer and will soon appear as John’s redneck Continue reading
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Tending the herb garden, with thoughts toward school
One advantage to ignoring the garden for awhile (like the entire ridiculously hot month of July) is that when you finally attack the chaos, the results are dramatic. Getting started, though is a daunting task. Where to begin? My philosophy on tackling overwhelming tasks is to start with one big thing that is really bugging me Continue reading
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Meditations from the herb garden: Graduating the seniors
My goal Saturday morning was to weed around the screen porch in order to find room for the flowers I bought last week, but by the time I slept in and enjoyed a mug or two of coffee, the sun was blazing in that part of the yard. The wise weeder seeks shade, and shade was Continue reading
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Friday Night at the Hunting Lodge
I must begin by saying that we do not run a hunting lodge, bed-and-breakfast, boarding house, retreat center, target practice range, catering service, or wedding reception venue. It just feels that way. If we really were doing all those things I would not have to limp into work everyday and deal with sleepy teenagers who are completely Continue reading
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Butternut Squash Soup
“The sun’ll come out…next Thursday.” That was the weatherman’s snide remark on the radio the other morning as my windshield wipers swished away. (And the song from the musical Annie is still stuck in my head.) By Saturday I am finally able to sit out on the café porch, surrounded by deep green leaves backlit by patches of chartreuse Continue reading
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Gouttières and Dutch boys’ suits
This is transition week. Next Monday teachers report back to work. This is the week I’m torn by what to do. Do I sit and relax? Do I frantically finish summer projects? Do I “set my face toward Jerusalem” and dig into school work? All of the above? None of the above? (None of the Continue reading
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Smelling the roses…
“Life comes at you fast.” We all love those insurance commercials because we could all have our turn starring in one. Sometimes it even involves a big insurance claim, like for my daughter who recently went through labor with their first child while her husband dealt with a massive basement disaster. Other times, we get caught up Continue reading
Slightly Off the Grid 