Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
A week or so ago the first of the maples were clearly changing colors. Maples seem to need more hours of daylight than most other trees. When day length is less than 14 hours, maples send their topmost leaves to sleep. This happens in the second week of August at Vermont latitudes. So by the… Continue reading Wednesday Word: 8 September 2021
There is an oldish adage among writers that claims that you almost always have to write the book that you want to read. I don’t know how true that is of fiction. I have a very difficult time coming up with narratives that I like and that have not yet been written, and I’ve read… Continue reading How Not to Garden
Again, a perfectly wonderful book raised my ire by throwing out a tired trope — the assertion that all our societal woes date to the "inception of agriculture" (which phrase is itself a red flag that raises my blood pressure; there is no such point in time or place). This time the claim that farming… Continue reading The Straight Story on Farming
Humans are the planning species. There may be other species that prepare for the future. Ants certainly come to mind. There may be other species that wonder what will happen if… Crows are big ones for this sort of experimentation, seeming to enjoy the fiascos as much as the successes. (It’s all about The Process… Continue reading Wednesday Word: 1 September 2021
Recently, I was involved in a discussion about the things we do and do not teach our children. I’ve already said quite a bit on this subject. But after talking with a few other people about education, and especially secondary education, I realized I approached the subject from the assumption that the purpose of school… Continue reading Educating for the Prime Directive
I bit off rather more than I can chew in one post. I started an essay on garden planning that I thought would be a nice little thing that would go well with this week's other posts. Maybe as much a photo opportunity as an article. It is not cooperating. It is already well over… Continue reading Excuses
Last week Stefanie Hollmichel posted this lovely observation on our nurturing planet. I think when we feel loved and nurtured, we in turn find it easier to love and nurture in return. Maybe part of our troubles come from not believing in the love and nurturing abundance of our Mother Earth. We has so abused… Continue reading The Wednesday Word: 25 August 2021
My son was up here for a visit last week. We explored this neighborhood a bit together and found our way up to the Town Cow Pasture Trails a few blocks from my house. This three mile trail loop is pure magic. Slate-bottomed streams, huge old maples, lichen-covered spruce, old orchard remnants, tumbled stone walls,… Continue reading A Meditative Spell to Find the Lost
I’m terrible at following recipes. I learned to cook from my grandmother who owned exactly zero cookbooks. Her recipe collection consisted of a few tattered notecards for family traditions and a head full of ideas. She was a master of flavor improv. I try my best to be like her. I do have cookbooks. Quite… Continue reading Kitchen Improv
An informal letter of resignation which nobody will ever read. And a general polemical complaint which nobody will ever care about. I’m not a miracle worker. And they want a miracle. No. It’s worse than that. They need, we need, a miracle. We need a spontaneous and very specific genetic mutation. Now. Yesterday. Twenty years… Continue reading Corn Futures
