This is an index of posts that fall into my “Musings” category. Usually it’s on a topic that has no other defined focus, but sometimes these are also my philosophical-type posts. Subscribe to Wild Ozark™ » Musings by Email
Back Burner You’ve probably referred to projects you’ve put on hold as being “on the back burner”. I understood what the phrase meant, and had used it often myself, but when we got our new/old cook stove, I learned how the saying probably came about. While the previous owner explained to us how to operate …
What is the “back burner”, really? Read More »
Learn how delving deeper can bring you to a closer experience with Nature.
A poem by Joanna Macy.
“We hear you, fellow creatures.
We know we are wrecking the world and we are afraid.
What we have unleashed has such momentum now,
we don’t know how to turn it around …”
Some sounds are distinctly “winter”. Sometimes the sound of winter is marked by the absence of sound. Maybe it’s more correctly described as the “silence of winter”.
I’m swamped with my project list and missed my scheduled day to post here yesterday. So I’m just making a quick post to let you all know about a few things on the horizon. Some exciting announcements coming up – we’ll soon be offering dried wild roots in our online shop (only for US customers). …
On the horizon-Just filling in Read More »
Humanity’s Role in Nature Have you ever thought about humanity’s role in nature? Our various mythologies and religious origin stories offer some ideas that are generally accepted by many, but those are conflicting and I still wonder. Are we here to rule? To support and steward? Or perhaps to destroy? Our current political, economical, and …
What is Humanity’s Role in Nature? Read More »
Below you’ll find the December issue of Wild Ozark Musings, a newsletter about nature, ginseng, and our wild Ozark life. Ordinarily I send this out as an email near the beginning of the month to subscribers. This month I didn’t get it sent until mid-month. Sometimes I post the newsletter to my blog later during the …
Wild Ozark Musings – December Newsletter Read More »
Winter Solstice 2015 occurs at 10:03 p.m. CST – It’s a widdershin sort of time, an unwinding, a releasing. A loosening of the grip on things unwanted.
Pulled this one from the archives. It’s from when I worked in Bentonville, leaving before dawn and getting home after dusk. I hated that and am glad to be working from home now, but I still look forward to mid-winter’s eve. Hurry Up Solstice. – 2009-12-16 13:34 It was nearly 6:45 this morning before pre-dawn …
Looking forward to solstice Read More »
First I tried selling pretty roosters. Then I tried gifting pretty roosters. Yesterday we killed pretty roosters. It was my chore to pick which ones. I felt a bit like Kali (Goddess who is both giver of life and bringer of death). Last summer and fall the hens hatched out some eggs and most of …
Killing Pretty Roosters Read More »
One Photo. One Thought. I chose to walk the one that beckoned my heart.
For the next two weeks I’ll be on internet vacation trying to relax and have some fun. I’ll be trying to relax. I know I’ll have fun. But for the blog and social networks, that means I’ll be spending little or no time on the internet. This is the first of the auto-posts I have …
Two weeks to Relax, Have a Fun Spree, Regroup Read More »
This is an old post I’m recycling from 2009 about a funny dream. I’m going through my old blog posts and will reuse the ones I like. The old blog isn’t online anywhere anymore, anyway. At this time I was working on a novel I had tentatively named “Retribution”. Later I changed the title to …
Many would consider us still roughing it. Life is a lot more comfortable here now, but we learned a lot about survival since we moved to these wild Ozark hills. Our Wild Ozark Origins When we first moved here to the Ozarks from south Louisiana, we lived in a very old house. We were a …
Looking back on 10 years of roughing it in the Ozarks – Happy Thanksgiving 2015 Read More »
What is a sketch / nature journal? Sometimes nature writers like to doodle while they’re interpreting nature. My nature journal is a combination of art and written journal entry. It is both nature sketching and nature journal. Here are some sample pages from my first collection. All of my work can be seen at WildOzark.com/naturejournal/as I do …
Wild Ozark Nature Journal on Kindle Read More »
mermaid in a sea of swirling air Gloria drops her leaves litter like silk puddles around her on the ground She’s nearly nude now * The wind rolls in like waves breakers on hilltops It spills, crashes into the valley I feel like a mermaid In a sea of swirling air
First Freeze It was 30*F when I looked outside this morning near daybreak. Honestly, it was somewhat after daybreak. Yesterday’s fun with the grandkids wore me plumb out and I slept like a rock past my alarm. Technically, the sun rises around 0600 but because of Wild Ozark’s narrow valley, it doesn’t shine through the …
First Freeze 2015 in the Ozarks Read More »
I brought the camera with me this foggy morning to capture some of the beauty that surrounded me in the hushed quiet of our little Wild Ozark valley. When I came back in I sat on the porch and listened to the sapsuckers discussing the next leg on their journey. Mist muffled crows cawed and …
Symbols of Warmth and Sustenance Read More »
This morning I was feeding critters under a gentle patter of rain. There are times when I am tired or don’t feel like going out on my regular chore round, but for the most part I enjoy this part of my day. Even in the rain. Or maybe especially in the rain. I like doing …
Feeding critters under a gentle patter of rain Read More »
I have a copy of my sketch journal up for giveaway at Goodreads. It’s titled simply, My Nature Journal. It’s not *my* journal but a blank one designed for others who would like to get into nature sketching. Part of the giveaway is an original sketch and journal entry that I’ll make in it before …
The original sketch for my Goodreads Giveaway Read More »
When the sun rose high enough to top the trees it washed the hills in a tangerine glow. The trees are changing fast now and I really want to take pictures every day. I have been drawing more often than photographing these days. Here’s the journal entry for the most recent native plant subject. It’s …
Tangerine Sunrise, Goodreads Giveaway, Nature Sketching Read More »
So brief it almost feels now like it was hallucination, rain fell this morning while I was out feeding the critters. The chickens were all like “what’s that wet stuff coming down from the sky?” It’s been many weeks since we had rain last and everything is bone dry, including most of the creek. It’s …
Rain or Hallucination? Read More »
There is a silence accompanied by a misty morning that is unlike anything else. This morning I sat on the porch to have my morning coffee. The roosters refrained from crowing. The logging activity is either done or stopped for a break. Only the occasional drip of condensate from the porch could be heard. I …
Beautiful Fall Misty Morning Read More »
It’s a foggy morning at Wild Ozark, and chilly too. Feels like fall is really here now. 42*F when I looked at the thermometer right after sunrise. I went down to the mailbox to mail a letter this morning after feeding the animals and noticed a grasshopper struggling in the middle of the little creek …
Feels like fall is really here Read More »
May they grow to mighty oaks For the past several weeks one of the first morning sounds have been that of heavy equipment moving into place on the mountains to our southeast. Later, as the sun rises, it’s chainsaws. And the crashing of mighty oaks. Someone is clearing out an entire forest from the sounds …
For all the little acorns Read More »
