Unlike most beekeepers who are having fun in the southeast, I am the World’s Worst Beekeeper. I am not a retired Navy man or engineer, so I do not have the camaraderie I would in a circle of midwives or herbalists. Oh, well. I love honey with a passion. And as a Wonder Woman fan, I […]
Jasmine with Cici the chicken, who provided love and eggs for years. Ten or eleven years ago (now 25 years ago, Ed.), shortly we moved onto our own acre in the country. I began to hear the phrase “chicken tractor.” If you do not know what this is already, the image it probably conjures up […]
This is an ode to all women who live in the country, and chronicle the exciting and the mundane, and entices the rest of us to raise a lamb, plant a bed of asparagus, aspire to grow an entire meal’s worth of food, or at least eat locally for a year. These women have been […]
This is where I turn off the honey and step onto the soapbox. I may sound and feel like vinegar, but it is a reality here in Farm Country: how to survive drought. Very few places where agriculture is the main commerce escape it. The area we left (Virginia Beach) for Scottsville was 2-4 feet […]
I had no plan to be farming flowers in Virginia early in 2007. However, on a gorgeous day last Fall, my youngest daughter and I took a trip an hour south to Farmville. This was for an open house at a large, diversified farm. There were pastured chickens, a petting zoo, spinning and weaving demos, […]
The first natural medicine I recall growing and using probably was the Aloe Vera plant. While my mom grew all manner of succulents to surround our patio in Norfolk, Virginia, once we moved North, the only plant succulent we grew was the aloe. It didn’t live outside in Michigan…it lived on the top of the refrigerator. I never […]
What IS ‘gleaning’, anyway?! Cover of a Va Beach Master Gardener newsletter, art by Ajah Courts, c.1997. Somewhere in the Bible (Deuteronomy 24:19-21, Leviticus 19) and other ancient histories, there are references to the act of gleaning. For definition sake, gleaning is basically taking leftovers in a field or garden after its initial harvest. Someone […]
Everywhere across the world when dusk begins to cast shadows, the unprepared parents and caretakers all begin to ask: What’s for supper?” The joy resides in vegetable soup…straight from your garden. I am NOT a fan of the word ‘supper’; it conjures an underwhelming meal. For some reason, it also brings to mind smacking lips […]
A bit about sheet mulching…I am about as addicted to it as you can be, for something you don’t do all the time. I wait patiently for the materials, but as soon as they end up at our house, I am already thinking about the good soil they will one day turn into. I love to […]
There are no longer horses at our place here in Scottsville, a farm we’ve come to call “Horseshoe Hill.” Our barn did use to be home to several, though. In ode to them, our town’s location at the horseshoe bend of the James River, and the good luck we had finding such a home in the […]
I profess to have dreams of walking out my back door in the morning, strolling along a merry path just feet from our home, and picking strawberries, cherries, and raspberries. Or, if its later in the season, there are peaches, blackberries, and blueberries. Later, there are cantaloupe, apples, and pears. Obviously- I need an orchard. […]
One year, while turning our kitchen into a bedroom and our former bedroom into the kitchen, it finally happened. I had a very strange desire. Though I had three children under the age of five, I somehow wanted to live a pioneer style. This new obsession meant I wanted to do almost everything by hand. […]
This is a poem I wrote in July 2008, when I was deep in the throes of motherhood and seasonal living. In praise of self-sufficiencyI once holed up almost anacre-island of sand and trees.Many days spent on kneesamongst chickens and rabbits,trowels and error.Slowly, I learnedand from the soil I earnedthe right to eatthe right to […]
How many years did I drink bad coffee, then good coffee, until I finally learned about the beauty of a great cup of tea? When I was little, my grandmother would make me “coffee” to drink while we watched Lassie. It was probably 80 percent milk with a few drops of coffee, and a lot […]
How did I end up with a Lean-to greenhouse? In my early twenties, I moved out of the city with two small children and another on the way. My (then) husband and I purchased a small house. It was a 700 square foot “cottage,”. When things are tight, you can call it a “cottage” and […]
My mother once planted sunflowers that germinated overnight and grew to over eighteen feet tall. I’d heard about these sunflowers all my life and never realized how remarkable this was until I began growing things from seed myself. Conclusion? Growing from seed feels sweet and complete. Please be aware that if you purchase from some […]
Over the river and through the woods (and down the road apiece) lies the 150-acre intentional community Springtree. Located on the banks of the meandering and historic Rivanna River, Springtree has been demonstrating so many of the ideals I strive for (and more) for more than thirty years (Now, for more than fifty, Ed.) We […]
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