Category: From the Beginning

  • 064 Splashes of color

    064 Splashes of color

    Painting holds a lot of trauma for me. I didn’t know I’d shied away from it. Not until my husband printed me a bird house and it took me months to pick up the paint brush. Some of it was anxiety because I didn’t think I could make it pretty. But once I started, I…

  • 063 Shades of white

    063 Shades of white

    I’ve been longing for some light and color in my life. With the outside world stuck in dark, cold, and shades of white and gray, I did the next best things. I recently learned that bee’s wax burns best after a few months of rest for the candles. So far, I’d made the candles whenever…

  • 062 Turning things around

    062 Turning things around

    After a quick walk in the forest, I’ll be turning things around–literally. I’m not out of my winter funk but I am trying to keep busy with projects. This time, we’ll take care of an urgent task: making my plants happy. It’s almost sunset but there’s some sunshine. Pepper and I are just going for…

  • 061 The stupid machine

    061 The stupid machine

    With the snow returned, I focus on projects indoors. Fast walks through the forest are all I can bear while it is this cold. But I’ve been complaining enough. It’s time to pull myself out of my winter funk, no matter the weather. I often start my day with tea. Today, there are no tea…

  • 060 The darkest days

    060 The darkest days

    The darkest days of winter can get pretty dark in Northern Germany. For me, the darkest days are the hardest. Without regular doses of real sunshine, I struggle. Where we live, the shortest days of the year have fewer than 7.5 hours of daylight. Seeing the sky is rare–and tends to come with strong winds.…

  • 059 Overwhelmed by jars

    059 Overwhelmed by jars

    For most of December, our home was an utter mess. Food was stacked in my room with exactly enough room to sleep. Okay, sometimes. After a real break, I finally made progress. After tearing apart the counter of the old kitchen, and building a new shelf in the corner, it was time to find the…

  • 058 A real break

    058 A real break

    With the year coming to a close, I finally get a real break. I went for a few nice walks with Pepper and my husband. We even found some mushrooms. But first, I need to check on the garden house roof repair. (Pepper and) I are just quickly here to check on the garden to…

  • 057 Three things, three days

    057 Three things, three days

    There are three things I needed to get done in one day to avoid wasting food, but my food processor broke, and things fell apart. Nonetheless, I canned potatoes, broke apart a whole chicken, and got my kombucha done. A day with three tasks turned into three days. There are three things I need to…

  • 056 It might look ugly but…

    056 It might look ugly but…

    The storm blew off my garden house roof just the teensiest tiniest bit. I really am impressed how much is still left standing after THAT storm. Um… but we’ve got to fix it. I will need to get the big ladder to get a better look. Luckily, I still have materials in the garden house.…