Sabine National Forest, October 2010 Thinking: My friend Patrice posted her monthly “Currently” post and I remembered I hadn’t done one since August, so here I am! What am I thinking? I don’t really know. Gardening: Mustering up the energy and interest to garden once again. All of the work in the edible garden this summer really took a lot out of me and I really needed September to not do anything. I did do some minor cleanup in the flower garden and have done some light weeding in the edible beds but mostly it has been hands off. I managed to sow some fall edible seeds earlier this week…

Me and my niece Zoe a few weeks ago. Thinking: About our upcoming vacation! It’s a good one with a lot of moving parts involved so I’m hoping it all goes smoothly! And generally having an existential crisis on the creeping fascism growing in the world and the rapid state of climate change. Gardening: I spent most of the summer heavily working in the edible garden on the soil solarization of the paths. So much was involved in this process: -from first removing the weeds in the path -then scraping up several inches of years of decomposed mulch that had turned into dirt and transporting it to the backyard in…

Instead of my usual ‘Life Lately’ posts I thought I’d go through and share photos I’ve taken, mostly from my phone, the last few months. I may not have been writing much here but there’s been quite a bit going on. If you can’t view, click here If you can’t view, click here Back in May I started working on removing several inches of dirt, mulch, debris, and weeds from the garden path in preparation for soil solarization. I had been out there working one afternoon on my lunch break and as I was about to leave I remembered I wanted to snap a photo of my work. After I…

Loquats from our friend’s tree that I turned into jelly/thick syrup. The evening sun is blaring into the office while Forest whoooshes dinosaurs and blocks around the living room. He’s supposed to be picking up his blocks so that he can watch a cartoon or three but as always playing is greater than putting up the mess you create. I imagine in about thirty minutes when he tires of playing once again I’ll be getting onto him to put his blocks up. The refrain will be “But there’s so much! I can’t do it!” to which I’ll reply “Don’t get it all out if you can’t put it up!” The…

Thinking: Two pretty big controversial things: The First: Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds @rareseeds is hosting Clive Bundy, the racist, violent, militia, anti-government, anti-public lands, anti-environmental activist to speak at its gathering of 10,000 gardners in May. Disgusting. Everyone should boycott Baker Creek immediately. RETWEET pic.twitter.com/svn6wnlQgx — Kierán Suckling (@KieranSuckling) April 26, 2019 You can click through and read the entire thread including background on Baker Creek’s previous interactions with Bundy and just exactly what knowledge they already had about him and his involvement in the Bundy standoff in 2014 as well as his familial association with the Malheur NWR standoff in 2016. Apparently Bundy is also an heirloom seed saver…

I haven’t meant to go radio silent these last nearly two weeks. It’s just been hectic and I’ve lost all energy for writing and sharing here. Things started trending frenetic about two weeks ago when a coworker moved on to another position. We’d just lost a more recent hire a few weeks prior to that and losing this person who had been here for 16 years was rough. We’re very busy at work right now and now we’re down to just a few main office staff. Already that felt heavy. The same day our friend/coworker left we found out Baloo, the pup above, crossed the Rainbow Bridge. For those unfamiliar,…

Thinking: About politics of course. I think after the first six months of the Mueller investigation I knew that it was not going to be the linchpin to get us out of the course we’re heading in. From time to time I’d be swayed into positivity by someone about the report, or even when we’d see arrests and indictments, but I would keep tabs on what Sarah Kendzior and others who are scholars on authoritarian regimes said—and she’s always been pragmatic that the Mueller investigation would not be saving us. I highly recommend Gaslit Nation podcast. On a lighter note, I am now a super fan of Mayor Pete. That…

Forest in a hunting blind at South Llano River State Park Thinking: While we were camping last weekend we had to take a road back to make it a loop to the car from the trail we were on. About 10′ off the trail into the vegetation was a large empty chip bag. I deviated off the road for a moment to pick up the back to LNT the thing and as I was stepping off the trail Forest says “Are we going bushwhacking?” Chris and I chuckled because it was so funny and he used it in the right context! I was going off the road but not with…

Phlox drummondii Over the weekend we went to the Hill Country to camp at Inks Lake State Park, and we were in for a treat. The Lady Bird Wildflower Center has been sharing their wildflower reports on social media, basically reposting what people are sharing that they’ve seen, and I’ve seen bluebonnets from Big Bend to the Hill Country posted. Sure enough, as we headed into the Hill Country we found wildflowers galore, including plenty of early bluebonnets. Closer to Houston there are some paintbrushes beginning to bloom but the big awakening is yet to happen. As we traipsed along the Gneiss rock formations in the state park, I think…