Quote of the Day: Cherokee Prayer
O Great Spirit, help me always…to remember the peace that may be found in silence.
Cherokee Prayer
The Wabi-Sabi House: The Japanese Art of Imperfect Beauty
Many people hate weeding. I actually enjoy the chore of weeding. I appreciate doing it because it lets my mind wander and most of all I appreciate the silence. I love silence, I never listen to music in the car, in the house. I hate having the TV on because of the noise it makes, I don’t like having the oven fan on because of the noise. I simply love silence, that’s probably why I love to garden.
Weeding is my time to meditate, my time to think, my time to solve problems. There’s something very therapudic for me about weeding.
Do you enjoy weeding? Where do you find silence?
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Quote of the Day: Ralph Waldo Emmerson
For flowers that bloom about our feet;
For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;
For song of bird, and hum of bee;
For all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee!
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
I’m so thankful that I’m starting to see color in the garden again.
What are you thankful for today?
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Quote of the Day: Thomas Jefferson
“I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage with my books, my family, and a few old friends dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post, which any human power can give.”
Thomas Jefferson, letter of February 1788
I was thinking about this quote yesterday while I was working inside. It was a beautiful day, I couldn’t work outside because I was busy finished up another batch of maple syrup. That didn’t stop me from enjoying being indoors. I love our little house, it’s perfect. After living here for 9 years it’s finally feeling like home.
My living room is one of my favorite rooms on a bright winter day. The walls are light green, they reflect the light beautifully. The curtains are white and let the light through the large windows. The sofa and chairs are comfy, perfect for reading.
What’s your favorite room in your house?
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Quote of the Day: Fences
Put a fence or wall around a garden and there’s now an inside and an outside. You’ve set off private from public and defined the garden’s limits. There’s a sense of belonging and of ownership, of stewardship over the land that the walls encompass. You’ve also defined the scope of your work and delineated the size of your canvas.
Linda Joan Smith (Smith & Hawken Garden Structures)
I love fences, of all shapes and sizes. There’s just something wonderful about a fence enclosing a garden, this quote is very true, it define’s the garden’s limits. I love how fences hide part of the garden, they almost beckon you to peek over. You know you’ll find blooms and lovely things hiding on the other side.
We have a fence along part of one of our property lines. The previous owners installed it and did it very poorly. We’ve taken down part of the fence because it was leaning heavily to one side and we plan on removing the rest of it. It’s a plain wooden picket fence, which is actually quite nice in the garden.
Whenever we’re out driving around I find myself drawn to gardens with fences. Here are a few images of fences I’ve collected during my travels including:
Eliot Coleman’s Four Season Farm in Harborside, Maine. It’s simple and utilitarian, yet beautiful in it’s own way, mostly because the setting behind it is so extraordinary.
I’m particularly drawn to stone fences/walls for some reason, probably because of the amount of this we have around Chiot’s Run. Whenever I think of stone garden enclosures I automatically thing of the Nearing’s Forrest Farm.
White fences are very classic and always lovely no matter what they surround. I really liked the ones at Ash Lawn Highland that surrounded the pastures and the kitchen garden.
I couldn’t forget to mention the huge fence installed by Thomas Jefferson around the vegetables garden at Monticello. This is the kind I really need around Chiot’s Run to protect us from all those deer.
Fences come in all shapes and sizes and can be made of just about anything, from old drift wood or saplings to neatly clipped shrubs. I really want to install a fence around my garden here at Chiot’s Run, I just need to settle on the materials and the design. I guess since I pretty much love all fences I probably will love whatever I end up putting in.
Do you have a fence around your garden? What’s your favorite type of fence?
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Real Food is the Foundation of Life
Nothing on this planet can grow, live, thrive, or flourish without real food. When we eat real, wholesome, healthy, and natural food, like chicken and vegetable stew, we support every single one of our biological systems at a deep, cellular level and bolster the body’s innate abilities to heal itself and resist disease and degeneration. This holds true for people, plants and animals.
Andi Brown – The Whole Pet Diet
I’ve been reading a few books about cooking for your pet, the one above being my favorite so far. I’ve been wanting to transition our pets to a Real Food diet, so I thought the challenge would be the perfect time to do it.
Lucy already gets homemade food on occasion and she LOVES it. She gets all the venison from the previous year after hunting season fills the freezer with a fresh batch. All the deer offals make it into her bowl as well, she’s particularly fond of these, as are the cats. We also give her raw meaty bones sourced from local pastured beef farm. Lucy is also a big fan of homemade dried squash leather treats and bacon which I make for her.
Even though we feed our pets good quality pet food, it will be interesting to see how the pets do when eating Real Food. I’m sure they’ll be much healthier just like we are when we eat real food instead of processed. We’re also in the process of transitioning Lucy from a synthetic thyroid pill to an herbal one and she seems to be doing much better on it. I think the Real Food diet will really help her with this problem and help her age with fewer problems.
Have you ever made food for your pets?
