Spring Updates

Hey Kids! I know there isn't much happening outside, but I already have spring fever. Such a bad time for this. I think I'll start my leeks and onions soon. Maybe the end of the month. The "girls" are doing well and laying eggs often. I am getting an average of 3.10 eggs per day. Wait Zach, you may...

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Plants that work for a living

"Plants that work for a living" has been my screen for plants to add to my garden for a long time.Do they provide sustenance for pollinators?  Are they host plants for butterfly pollinators?  Do they provide habitat for nesting birds? Do they restore habitat?I should add, too, do they feed me and my hubbie, too?  I'm a passionate vegetable gardener as well as being a gardener who welcomes...

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Argentinian Patagonia

In the Argentinan side of Patagonia, the drier vegetation (because of the rain shadow effect) is evident.We drove along a lot of gravel roads (really rather remote and seemingly untraveled) in this part of our trip.  There wasn't cell service (even if we'd had "smart" phones along). And our other...

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Queulat National Park

I'm trying to find time to get back to our trip to Patagonia, among way too many distractions.Here's an view of a wonderfully powerful river, below the hanging glacier in Queulat National Park, in Chile, off the Carretera Austral.It's a wonderful place....

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Sharing nature with kids

A school field trip today had me rethinking my volunteer activities in the future -- it's such fun to share nature with children, even on a chilly February morning.It's magic to encourage noticing furry buds of Japanese magnolia or showing them a "tea" plant.Even if it's not as vibrant as it is in spring, summer, or fall, nature (in the garden or in the woods) is always mag...

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Lake views

I've taken to walking on the dikes above Lake Hartwell with Woody in the mornings.The winter views are open and lovely, and the light clear with winter's low humidity.I'd walked occasionally on the dikes over the years, but there's something now about the expansiveness of the view that draws me now,...

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Celtic spring

Today marks Imbolc, a Celtic holiday I'd never heard of -- before signing up last fall for a online nature and place-based writing course marked by Celtic holidays.Hmm, so far we've gone through Samhain (All Hallows Eve/Halloween) and Winter Solstice -- now Imbolc.Imbolc seems to have turned into Groundhog...

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