Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
Sourdough, that is... This may not be news to many of you, but I’ve discovered that it is very difficult to maintain a sourdough culture in a household of one. I just can’t eat that much bread. I’ve had to do full refreshes on the critters each month because they pine when they get neglected… Continue reading A Problem with Culture
Let me just start with this declaration: weeds exist. There are people who will debate that one with me; but I remain staunchly convinced that some plants do not belong where they are growing, some are annoying wherever they grow, and a few just shouldn’t exist at all. (Oriental bittersweet… why?) This is apparently the… Continue reading On Weeds…
We need more geology in school. Or perhaps ecology. Probably both. If we are to survive, we need to understand who and what we are, and for that we need to understand this world that made us. We are earthly beings. We are small parts of a small planet on an average star in the… Continue reading Home Soil
It was 91°F this past weekend, so of course Ex and I were building up the raised beds. No heatstroke, I'm happy to report, though it was a near thing once or twice. Himself was doing the building part. I was digging in the veg patch, so... in full sun the whole time. The thing… Continue reading Raising Beds & Un-Jungling
The seventh moon of the year is the Flower Moon, or the Faerie Moon. It is new between 23 April and 21 May. It is full between 7 May and 4 June. This is the burgeoning time. Bulbs are flowering. Forsythia is a wash of gold. Lilacs are sending scent out on the breeze. Bees… Continue reading Flower Moon in Eclipse
The Jungle until yesterday... Well, the jungle remediation has begun. We made a lot of progress in just two days. I can see the town from my house now. More importantly, the sun can see the veg patch. The jungle is thinned... We cut down all the sumac, vines and brush on the ledge, leaving… Continue reading Jungle Remediation Part 1
Well, April was an adventure! I changed jobs — so that I wouldn’t have to go on furlough for the whole first quarter of the year ever again — and had to deal with over two weeks of COVID, my second round of the virus. (Vaccines keep me alive and generally out of the hospital,… Continue reading A Return to Roots
April 25th is a complicated date. It is St Mark’s Day, which is honored with a wide variety of celebrations; and it is Robigalia, an ancient Roman festival intended to propitiate the god — or demon — of wheat rust and thus ensure a good harvest. These disparate themes may actually be related. Mark the… Continue reading A Red-Letter Day
Our culture is confused about food and farming. We believe that we are in a power-over relationship with the world, and particularly with our food. We are so enamored with dominance that we've lost sight of the inherent partnership between plants and animals, between prey and predator, between the farmer and the fields. Both sides… Continue reading A Confusion of Grain Gods
It is time for regeneration. Nests of new life in satiny shells — white, blue, green, pink, yellow, speckled, mottled, striped and solid. No doubt our urge to paint chicken eggs for the late spring holidays is inspired by the wondrous works of art in every nest. And it’s also not surprising that humans have… Continue reading Spring Eggs
By My Solitary Hearth 