Ever since the air started to cool, and the first leaves began to drop quietly from the trees, I’ve had the strong urge to catch up on everything and get it all back in order.
It’s not an unknown feeling — it’s actually a quite common autumn feeling for me, especially after a summer full of responsibilities.
the common sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale) in the meadow has been stunning this year — I can’t wait to see it continue to spread!
Earlier this year I wrote about how much work we were doing on our two acres of land to turn it into a native wildlife habitat.
Unfortunately I haven’t been much help lately, largely due to the infamous back injury, but also due to the fact that I cannot comprehend how Mom and Riley have been working through the hottest, buggiest, most humid days of the year.
I got burnt out doing a lot of deep, grueling poison ivy work early in the year, and I found that I much prefer doing jobs like building stonewalls and building dead hedges.
new magical spot unlocked 🔓✨
I’m the kind of person who has the audacity to simply do what I want.
Have I ever built a stonewall before?
No.
Was I confident that I could do so?
Yes.
(and yes, this project happened before the infamous back injury)
we love our little stonewall, and we also love the baby shagbark hickory tree (Carya ovata) that’s growing just behind it 🌳
I’m not gonna lie: this summer has been the opposite of relaxing for me.
But I’ve had an abundance of work opportunities and pet-sitting jobs, which I’m so grateful for. Because of the multiple-week jobs, I was able to save enough money that I shouldn’t have to worry about paying car insurance and taxes next year 🎉
As a small business owner who’s never had a traditional job, it’s always an extra big sigh of relief when I confirm that my work is continuing to financially sustain me.
Of Wildflowers
When I was young,
I heard so much about being
a child/man/woman of God
but then I grew up and all
I ever wanted
was to be of wildflowers,
of willow, toad, and bone,
of swallowtails, sow thistle
and cedar, of birds.
J. Sullivan
April and May have been a blur of flowers, birds, hard work, and poison ivy.
As mentioned in a previous post, we’ve been doing some pretty extreme work on our property, so here’s a collection of photos from the last two months.
Mom finally brought the poetry magnets back out, so our fridge is currently full of them
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Wendell Berry
Living in New England, I think that March might be the most dramatic month of the whole year.
On the third of March we went “hiking” and ended up clumsily tripping through three feet of snow, but by the end of the month the ground was clear, and flowers were blooming.
You can watch my 60-second March wrap here!
March 3rd, we definitely underestimated how much snow would still be at our local park; watch my spring vlog here!
It’s official: winter is here and Christmas is almost upon us! And believe it or not, I’ve watched almost all of my favorite Christmas movies, and I’m done making gifts. Done making gifts before the last hours of Christmas Eve, truly a miracle.
Under our tree is looking full this year, and the tree itself has a total of five strands of Christmas lights wrapped around it. At night it absolutely glows, and Dad has said on multiple occasions that it looks like it belongs in a movie.
I’m working on using every last day to post Christmas content on my YouTube page, because this seasonal aesthetic must be taken full advantage of!
