I don’t agree with you, but you’re still my sister

I usually try to stay away from politically charged issues. I’m a terrible debater, and I tend to start to sympathize with every heartfelt argument I hear. But we recently lost readers on the blog because of a political position and I feel it needs to be addressed. I’m not writing this in support of [...]

Read Full Post »

Matriarch

What makes a matriarch? Is a matriarch the oldest female in the family, or the wisest, or simply the one who usurps the role? We often conflate age and wisdom in our society, possibly because no one ever feels quite “wise,” but it seems safe to assume that age confers wisdom. I think my own [...]

Read Full Post »

REAL men round up- gardening with the menfolk

It’s been great meeting all the men, and their cheerful willingness to be exploited. All that fresh food must have gone to their heads. *** The week did NOT start auspiciously. I (Xan) was having trouble firing up the lawn mower (a 30 year old dinosaur of a gas mower, way out of proportion to [...]

Read Full Post »

Obligatory Title

Not Dabbling has been on my daily browsing list for quite some time now. I will admit that I am a lurker. Always reading – Never posting. I grew up in rural Tennessee on a 150 acre farm. In the late 80’s I ran a small poultry operation. I used a recycled box truck bed [...]

Read Full Post »

A gardening community

One of the hardest things for some gardeners to do is to let people in to help. Since I’ve been teaching about gardening in the last couple of years, I’ve gotten better at this. After all, the plants know what to do; someone’s “mistake” in a garden is not going to have that big an [...]

Read Full Post »

Marriage advice as a Gift…

Last week I talked about homemade gifts for the holiday season.  It just so happens that my oldest son is getting married on New Year’s Eve.  I have wracked my brain for something unique and handmade as a wedding gift. I have already got them a set of their dishes but I want something more [...]

Read Full Post »

Reflect upon Your Present Blessings

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which everyone has many. ~Charles Dickens When I was trying to think about what to write about last night, I saw this quote somewhere. It’s so fitting this time of year. As we get into December and things start to get hectic we often forget about the things that [...]

Read Full Post »

Neighborhood ‘Weed’ Wars, the Manicured Lawn Invasion

We live on 10 acres, mostly pasture with a small stand of evergreens and lined at the edges with wild blackberries.  Our property is a perfect square, with our house smack dab in the middle.  To the north of our farm is a small family run dairy farm.  To the south is my mom’s acrage  [...]

Read Full Post »

Children in the Kitchen

Some of my fondest memories are of cooking with family members. In our family everybody cooked, even the fellows. Grandparents took their time, allowing me to be part of the process. I remember how slowly and perfectly Grandma Dorothy sliced onions and potatoes, and how we peeled tomatoes for canning. Grandmama was the queen of [...]

Read Full Post »

Pulling In the Same Direction

Jack and I will be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary before too long(yay!), and as we were recently reflecting on how quickly this last five years has passed, I realized our direction has changed significantly in many ways we’d never have anticipated. The neat thing is that it made almost a U-turn towards desires and [...]

Read Full Post »