Sunshine after the Rain

Today has been a cold dreary, rainy, raw day. We are supposed to get a heavy snow overnight and I'm looking forward to it brightening the last of these November days. In the meantime I've spent a good part of the day inside in front of the wood stove sorting through photos. I cropped the above photo out of a corner of a failed macro I took a few weeks ago. It was taken on a pleasant evening with the temperatures in the 60's. The sun had suddenly come out after a drenching rain.

Simple Twig Stars

The past several years I have decorated my Christmas tree with edible ornaments--cookies, candy canes, apples, oranges.  This year I think I am going to skip the cookies and probably the candy canes and try to decorate my tree using simple ornaments from nature.

I don't usually set up my tree until close to Christmas, but I thought it would be fitting on the first Sunday of Advent to go for a ramble through my woods and collect twigs, pine cones, moss, and berries that could be potentially made into Christmas tree ornaments.

It didn't take long to turn a handful of twigs into these pretty stars. With all the stresses that come with  the company I work for closing most of its Michigan offices and having to find a new job, I'm having a hard time even comprehending that Christmas is just around the corner. I hope these simple stars will remind me to prepare both my heart and my home for the Christmas season and remind me not to worry so much about what the future may hold.

For  directions on making the twig stars, click here.

(Note: I wired mine instead of gluing them, but next time I am going to try using hot glue, as I plan on making a bunch of smaller ones for the Christmas tree.)

Linked to Homestead Revival's Blog Hop. and Virtual Christmas Ornament Swap. and Hidden Treasures Christmas blog party.

Golden Raindrops

Today was a beautiful warm day that ended with a light drizzle and a high of 59 degrees. The warm weather has extended our growing season a bit and I'm still picking spinach, Swiss chard, broccoli raab, kale, and brussel sprouts from the garden and still have a few random flowers blooming. These rain drops are on bok choy flowers.

Linked to Macro Monday.

Wild Crafted Cattail Basket

So I started this basket last December. I got it half way done, then set it aside for months and months. Yesterday I finally picked it up and completed it in a couple of hours. One of my goals for this coming year is to not let months and months go by without creating anything. Yesterday I gathered grapevine and gray dogwood twigs to start another basket. Hopefully it won't take me 11 months to post a photo of the finished basket!

This basket is woven of twisted wild cattail reeds and hand spun wool with a wild grapevine handle.

Wishing every a happy Thanksgiving! I will be back to the blogging world on Friday.

Sugared Rose Leaves

Linked to Macro Monday.

November Daisy

A lone wild daisy, still holding up her petals in the November rain.

Embrace the Storm

A tree that grows alone
is battered and shaken
by the storm
 but it grows stronger
and more graceful
in form
as it bends
and dances with the wind

I pray that
like the tree
I may grow stronger
and more full of grace
as I embrace the storm
and dance
with the winds of life.

Linking up with Five Minute Friday over over at Gypsy Mama. Today's prompt is "grow'.

Silent Beauty in Earth-hues...

"A sun-drenched sky

on windy autumn day;

out across open fields

passing clouds make shadow play.

Silent beauty in earth-hues

but ominous in a sense;

for though today be delightful

darkness soon gains precedence."

-Author Unknow

Linked to Skywatch Friday.

Dew Drops and the Rising Sun

I've been making a concerted effort these days to get out and take a quick 2.5 mile walk each morning and watch the sun rise before I run off to work. It is hard however for a walk to be "quick" when you keep getting distracted by things like these dew drops on a bittersweet vine against the rising  sun.

(You can see more photos from my walk this morning on Dandelion Haven's facebook page.)

Even a Mud Puddle....

...can be a work of art.

The Easy Way to Plant Potatoes

When I was growing up, planting potatoes was my father's way of opening up new garden space. My dad would winter the cows in the plot he wanted to turn into garden. A thick layer of straw, hay, and manure would build up on the ground over the winter. Come spring the cows would be moved to pasture and the plot were they had over wintered would be staked out in straight rows for potatoes. Planting the potatoes was as simple as tucking the seed potatoes under the mulch every 12 inches or so. Harvest was just as simple. Come fall, all we had to was rake back the hay and straw and harvest the potatoes that were laying under the mulch, but on the top the ground.

Now I don't have cows, but I can still plant potatoes using the same principle. This weekend I prepared a row in the garden for the potatoes I will plant next spring. I cut down the corn stalks that had been growing there and removed the bigger weeds such as yellow dock and thistles. The smaller weeds I didn't worry about. Then I put down about six inches of partially decayed wood chip mulch.

 Next spring all I will have to do is is tuck a potato under the mulch every 12 inches or so. No digging, no weeding. I may have to add more mulch next spring depending on how much the wood chips have settled. But that will be it.

Growing potatoes couldn't be easier.

You can do the same thing using shredded leaves, straw, old hay, or other mulch.

It was another beautiful day today with highs in the high 50's. The honey bees were out in my garden working the remaining flowers.  (Yes, we still have some!) This bee is on  a bok choy flower.

Linked to Homestead Revival's Barn Hop.

Melting Snow

We had our first snow on Thursday. It came down fast and furious for about an hour and covered the ground and trees and stayed over night. On Friday morning the sun came up and the snow melted and was quickly gone. Today was 60 degrees and I worked outside for much of the day in a short sleeved t-shirt.

Dandelion Haven is now on facebook! Click here to come over and visit!

Linked to Macro Monday.

Unexpected Love

I had stepped beyond a broken family
Needing healing from a painful past,
Letting time and silence heal a broken heart
Love came quietly and unexpectedly
It was an unlikely match,
He came from a past of hurt and pain
Anger and dysfunction
But an unexpected love for each other
Brought both of us wholeness again

Linked to Five Minute Friday. and Imperfect Prose.

Turnip and Pork Stew



We had our first snow this afternoon--a wet heavy snow that stuck to trees and leaves and covered the ground. It was the perfect day for a hearty stew using some of the turnips that I harvested two weeks ago.

Turnip and Pork Stew

Makes about 4 servings

2/3 pound boneless pork loin, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 tablespoon Creole seasoning mix
2 tablespoons olive oil or coconut oil
½ cup chopped yellow onions
¼ cup chopped green bell peppers
¼ cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cayenne
1 pound turnips, peeled and cubed (about 2 cups)
2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons chopped green onions

Toss the pork in the seasoning mix. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork and brown evenly.
Add the onions, bell peppers, and celery. Season with the salt and cayenne. Cook, stirring, until slightly wilted, 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the turnips and the broth. Stir to mix well. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 40 to 45 minutes.

Remove from heat, add the green onions, and serve over rice if desired.

Linked to farmgirl friday. and Garden Life.

Country Road to Home

A glimpse of the road that passes by our home on a frosty morning.

Linked to Skywatch Friday.

Toto Blackeyed Susans

It was a beautiful 64 degrees today--and I even have flowers still blooming!

Tree Frog

Linked to Macro Monday.

Upside Down Sky

Linked to Skywatch Friday.

Only a Person Who Risks is Free

As a daughter in my parents' home, being female was all about being protected. Protected from the world that wanted to steal my mind and heart away from my parents. Protected from men who apparently think only of raping and kidnapping girls and young women. Protected from having to make my own decisions. Protected from falling in love and ending up in a bad marriage or with a broken heart. Protected from the need to support myself.

Men were supposed to be the protectors, the leaders, the breadwinners. A woman who stayed within the protection of her home and under the authority of her father (and then the husband that he approved for her) was safe and cared for,  both spiritually and physically. Only a rebellious woman would dream of stepping outside of those boundaries.

For someone who is shy like me and a bit hesitate to step beyond herself, there is a certain kind of appeal in a life where there are clear boundaries, in a life where as long as you follow the rules and stay under your God given protector, you can't mess up. In  way, how I grew up, was for me, a risk free life.

Except it wasn't. Because only a person who risks is free.  And the lack of freedom didn't save me from falling in love and ending up with a broken heart. It didn't save me from loosing faith and belief in God. It didn't make me grateful to those who were protecting me. It didn't make me a better person or a better sister. I was stifled, unable to grow emotionally or spiritually. All it got me was a life of despair.

I traded freedom for a risk free life, and in giving up freedom, I took the biggest risk of all--that of not being willing to risk anything. It almost killed my soul, and in the end, it led to me contemplating taking my own life.

The first decision I made on my own, was the scariest one I have ever made.  That decision was to walk away from my parents' safe little world that had all the answers, into the unknown world. It was my first attempt at doing something risky. For me it was a huge step of faith--like stepping over a cliff in the dark and not knowing if something would catch me before I hit the bottom.

I had given up on God when I made that decision to walk away. But the great thing about God is that he is willing to meet you where you are, you just have to step out in faith.  He was there, in the darkness as I stepped over the cliff and he caught me.

I discovered that when I stepped outside of the protection of men, I stepped  into the arms of God and into his protection. In a life lived only under God's protection there are risks and responsibilities. There is no one but yourself to blame for your failures and mistakes. But it is a very worthwhile trade, for under God's protection there is also life, freedom and happiness.

Today I contemplate which direction to turn as turn as my dream job goes away and I face different options for work, and even the possibility of unemployment for the first time in my working life.  However instead of being fearful with these changes and the decisions I must make, I am excited to see where this will go. I am embracing the opportunity for growth and once again stepping beyond myself.  Whatever I end up choosing, there will be risks involved, but I know that God is bigger than me and he knows the big picture. I know he will be there at the end of my decision and in the unknown, waiting for me.

 "The greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing, does nothing,
has nothing, and is nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow,
but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live."

--Author Unknown

Linked to Imperfect Prose and Life Unmasked.

River of Blackbirds

A rustle breaks the silent dawn

the rustle grows to rumble

then to a thunder

 twisting, turning, dancing

sinuous dark cloud

a river of blackbirds

crosses the sky.