Yesterday I made the decoction and infusion for the Winter Crud syrup that goes into my annual herbal care gift set that I make for each of my adult children’s households. The other items include a bottle of sting oil, …
This post is being filed in my category for off-topic Musings. I’m sixty today, and the feels I’m feeling today are taking me by surprise. The wheel of life isn’t just creaking on this revolution – it’s nearly kicking and …
It’s so easy to get caught up on the big things – the huge projects, major hurdles, or life in general. Sometimes it can get overwhelming. I think that noticing those small accomplishments, moments, and experiences that make up the …
When it’s a drought, we monitor our water usage more closely than when it isn’t so dry outside. When it gets like this, before I do anything that uses a lot of water, like washing clothes, I take a hike …
The ‘Seep’ is where the ground stays wet on the far end of the horse’s field. Since it’s been so dry, I wondered if it had dried up too. Because if that spot is dry, then the creek is going …
While the world was in Covid shutdowns, I’d begun making blog posts I called ‘Hermit Journals‘. While I’m glad we’re not still in lockdown, I miss making those entries. So I’m going to start them up again as …
We’re always pretty busy around here, but during market season it’s busier still. There’s products to package, and things to do around the homestead. Well, the task list of things to do around the homestead never ends, but some things …
I love our rural life in the Ozarks, where everything urban is at least 45 minutes away, and there’s a long dirt road to get to pavement. The wildlife and scenery inspire me on a daily basis. But it has …
The approaching weekend and the week after has foreboding forecasts, so today I spent the day running errands. And preparing for bad weather. That usually means COLD weather out here. The only other thing we get during warmer months is …
Today is Christmas day and the family festivities are over. I had taken some pictures the other day with the intention to write a blog post about firewood, an endless homestead task. But time got away from me and so …
Here’s my 2023 recipe for an herbal remedy I use every year to combat what we’ve come to call “Winter Crud”. We also take it at the first sign of anything that feels like trouble coming on.
Today I went to the Madison County Sheriff’s office to get fingerprinted. I expected to have black finger tips all day, but they don’t do it with ink pads anymore. They use something like a scanner instead, so that was
This morning I went hiking up the mountain to check on our water tank. It’s been very dry here for the whole summer, and the recent rains haven’t added anything to the creeks. The creeks are almost completely dry. Every …
Aside from using the rocks around here for making my paints, I love using stonework to make my garden terraces and stairways to wind through those terraces. Today I added another step to the stairway on the front end of …
Little things crop up unexpectedly from time to time, like a hailstorm in late May or squirrels eating all of the pears when they’re almost ripe. Sometimes life throws a big curveball, though. Such an event happened here at Wild …
This is a post from a few years ago that I love, so I’m reposting it. We live down a long dirt road. This little facet of our lives is the main thing that makes or breaks most newcomers to …
Back when I made my very first set of paints, I had a really nice yellow. I’d made several yellows from various plants and did lightfast tests on them. All failed except for the one, gorgeous yellow. Not only did …
I’m at an ‘in between’ time at the moment. Between rain showers and rainy days, between things scheduled on my calendar. And since I just finished a painting, I’m between paintings, too. But this is a great time for …
There are other plant walks in Arkansas, but this one is probably a little different. The trails we’ll follow are deer trails and logging roads. The drive to get here is gorgeous. And the biodiversity here at Wild Ozark is …
Progress on my painting of Kings River in winter came to a grinding halt a few days ago when we got our first Ozark winter storm of the season. We’ve had some freezes, and a little snow, but those little …
I’m working on a painting for my husband’s Christmas gift. It may not be finished in time, but it won’t be too long afterwards before I’m done. It’s the house where his aunts lived in Weesatche, Texas. It was a …
Most of the time nature encroachment refers to human activities encroaching on nature. However, my post today deals with nature encroaching on human activity – specifically, OURS.
