Today’s little ritual is quite possibly my favorite of them all. I rely on it often to help me return to baseline in times of stress, anxiety or frenzy, and to promote gratitude in times of ease.
This practice invites you to find ten minutes of space in your day to do nothing. Absolutely nothing. On purpose. And to go outside while you do it. Â If being outdoors is not possible, then at a minimum sit by a window.
🌱
Do you have a bird feeder in your yard? Â Or a place for birds to get water? If not, I humbly suggest you consider getting or making one this winter. Â Create a sanctuary for winter birds to come and fill their tummies, and claim it as a visual reminder to clear space in your mind, and free yourself from a few moments of worry and/or thought-clutter.
🌱
In a recent post I discussed how and why making a tiny wormery with your kids could maybe save the world. Â To build on that thread, today I want to talk about making a larger scale worm bin to compost your family’s kitchen scraps.
Much like the character of Cook in The Tale of Desperaux, I believe compassion and soup are the answers to most of life’s questions.
The holidays are a fantastic time to create ritual that invites us to pause and reflect on the year behind us and consider what we want most for our days ahead. Â Not only does taking time to do this allow a way to integrate lessons learned both collectively and individually, it also provides a place to share these things when we might otherwise keep them stored inside. Â What’s more, looking back on the ways a family has grown, or the ways dreams were realized (or turned into something completely different) after many years is the way this simple and quick ritual can turn into something priceless that can be enjoyed perhaps even by generations who will follow.
We’re talking dirt this weekend. More specifically, the process of composting and how you can get started in your own backyard to help preserve one of our planet’s most valuable resources: healthy soil.
I’m sharing a simple recipe today for a DIY tea tree oil household spray that I’ve been using the past week or so. It inhibits the growth of mildew and molds, so if you’re interested in learning simple ways to use fewer chemicals and still have good cleaning results, read on.
The most magical season for our yardstead is spring! Now that everything is in full bloom in Texas, and before the chiggers and mosquitos realize how nice and warm it’s getting, it’s time to get out in the yarden and plant all of those yummy veggies and fruits for harvesting this summer. What do you have growing or planned for your yarden this year?
Have you ever been curious about how the soap you lather up with each day is made?
Easy fig preserves for a delicious summer treat.
I tend to have really dry hands due to spending all my waking hours with kids – which always includes a lot of hand washing, messy projects, clean up and food prep.  At times, particularly in winter and also when I attend hand drumming classes consistently, my hands can even develop painful cracks.  Store-bought lotions typically […]
Amongst other yard treasures, we were fortunate to inherit a beautiful loquat tree at the home we moved into a little over a year ago.  I have seen loquats growing around Texas throughout my life, but for whatever reason, I was never inspired to try the fruit.  Living along the Blanco River in the Texas Hill […]
My yard has become my sanctuary. Â I moved into my current home in 2015, and it has taken some time to get to know it, including its array of edibles. For me, being able to gather edibles from my own yard, or as I like to call it, “yardsteading”, is ridiculously gratifying. Â There is something special about using your own fingers to pluck the fruit, nut, vegetable or herb from the branch or dirt, and then to create the time and space to turn it into something you can enjoy or give to others.
