So here's something amazing that happened: One of our long time blog readers (yes, that's you, Austin, and we love you!) hired our oldest son Kai to help her with landscaping work. Since Kai grew up on our homestead and knows how to work hard, efficiently and fast, this was a dream come true for her - and a great job for him! Austin asked me to consult on a place owned by a family who runs an Air B and B. The owner ended up hiring me and Kai to make an ugly, weedy hillside into something nicer looking, and I came up with a plan to transform it. I made a rock garden and chose plants that help s ..read more

Many mornings you can find me nose-deep in flowers, still half asleep and barefoot, but inhaling flower scents nonetheless. I don't need coffee to wake me up. All  need is dew on my toes, sniffing a rose, pollen up my nose. It's true: most mornings I roll out of bed and head out to the garden. Admittedly, I need to tend to the dogs first: Raka, the big dork, acts like she hasn't eaten in days, and she will let you know in no uncertain terms. Hazel, the little dog, freaks out every morning like she hasn't seen me in months, so I need to reassure her that I am indeed here to stay for th ..read more

The other day was Earth Day. The first thing my husband and I ever bonded over was the Earth. 20 years ago we met shoveling cow manure at a dairy, and as we both worked side by side, scooping up steaming piles of you-know-what, we talked. And after we finished cleaning up after the cows, we kept talking. And talking. One of the things I learned about him then was that he was equally as adventurous as I was, and also equally in love with Nature. That's when I fell in love with him a little bit, although I was engaged to someone else at the time. Over the span of two months, we kept talking. He ..read more

Okay, you guys, I gotta tell you something: If you are trying to eat better to improve your health but you don't want to skip the good stuff, I have an amazing recipe for you.  It comes from a book called "Thug Kitchen - eat like you give a f*ck". It's a vegetarian cookbook unlike any I've ever seen, mostly because there is a lot of swearing in it. You might be offended by it, but I think it's awesome, because I have a potty mouth myself, and because their recipes are AMAZING. Let me show you the banana cream pie I made, adapted from Thug Kitchen. Granted, it's not the prettiest pie in ..read more

 Hi there, happy Sunday! I want to tell you something really, really vulnerable, and it’s scary for me to share this here. But I feel like I NEED to share it. And I’m telling you not so that you’ll feel sorry for me, but for a specific reason, and you’ll see in a minute why. Ready? Okay... Deep breath... Here it goes: My childhood was pretty rough. I grew up in a house where our grandparents lived with us, and my grandfather was literally an alcoholic axe murderer. He had killed several of his pets in a rage, and he kept threatening to kill his wife, our grandma. I was and still am a v ..read more

If you have followed us for a while, you know that we live and breathe for and in and with Nature. Nature is our spiritual renewal, our reason for being. If there's a day when I can't go outside, I get grumpy. That's one of the reasons we lived tucked away in a wilderness valley for so long, and that's why we chose our next place to live, which is filled with diverse natural beauty. We are spending as much time in it as we can. Steve and I are lucky to be self-employed. We live simpler than many people, so we can get by with less, and spend our time playing outside. For example, this past week ..read more

We now officially have two sons with driver's licences: they can drive without supervision. Steve and I are taking full advantage of this new miracle of our sons being able to do us favors for a change. For example: the other day, Steve and I put our kayaks in the bay just before sunset. We started paddling and were so blissed out that we decided to kayak all the way to Teddybear Cove near Bellingham. After a short phone call to our sons, we coordinated with them to pick up the truck and get us at the cove, which required that the two of them drive. By the time we got near shore, it was pitch ..read more

My sister Kerstin (whom we all call Pepe) is a gifted animal communicator. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have gotten over my grief when my beloved dog Chowder died.  She also helped me on New Year's Eve, when my pup Hazel was sick, shaking and crying. Something was terribly wrong with her, and I got hit with PTSD because this is what happened to Chowder before he died. We immediately took Hazel to the vet, and I called Pepe. She asked me to email her a picture of Hazel. 15 minutes later, she told me that Hazel's tummy was inflamed, and so was her right ear. One hour later, the vet had ..read more

This is one of the strangest Thanksgiving many of us have spent in our lives, don't you think? We usually get together with family and friends and have a huge party - but not this year. This year, our dear friend and her daughter came to feast with us, since they are in our "family pod". We haven't seen very many people since the pandemic hit, but we do spend time with a few select "family of choice" folks. I think this Thanksgiving was one my favorites ever, because it was quiet and sweet, with lots of nature. I would love to take you by the hand and show you what we encountered on our walks ..read more

Many of you have wondered what is going on with us and our homestead. After I announced that we are selling Marblemount Homestead in July, I haven't published a single message here. I'm gonna make a long story very short and tell you: we decided to KEEP our homestead!!!  Yes, we DID move down valley to the Skagit Flats in March, where we started a new garden and smaller scale homestead. But every single time we went up to Marblemount to prepare our wilderness property for sale, or to show it to interested buyers, or to visit friends, I bawled my eyes out. I've had more migraines from cryi ..read more