with darkness comes bustling.

we begin the quiet dark days: we get up with the sun, soak up as much as we can and stay out past sunset. we retire early. already my hands have found work, i'm brushing up on needle work.
we crack acorns while the sun shines on the driveway,  and put up the harvest in our larders.
crazy eights in the evening with teddy.
i'm already looking at the calender for the winter solstice, feeling apprehensive about this darker time, but i am going to try to be still and rest and care for myself. i want to be with all of the wonders and drudgery of this time....but: demeter is really without her persephone.

foraging FTW: pomegranate picked from a friend's, home-brewed kombucha with wild elderberry syrup, and acorn soup. oh yum yum yum.

NUTS, i'm in love. big creamy "sweet acorns" from the white oak family, valley oak. it turns out i've been misinformed about my oaks, maybe i heard something as a kid and never checked the facts, buuut, red oaks have more tannin (any oak with spiky leaves...black, live, etc..) and white oaks have less (blue, valley, etc...)

in folsom, ca, near my favorite tree, gathering the sweetest, fattest acorns. loving the plant community: elderberry, toyan, and cottonwood.

sometimes there's a swing some kid put up.

the giving tree

hailey, my love, helps.

deborah gets me the hook up. the earth is so fruitful.

the view from her place in newcastle.

she caught that big baby between us during his first moments out of the womb!

strawberries from down the street, pommy pips for jelly, pesto for days, acorns to be leeched.

shucking our bumper crop of pomegranates. tyler is so handsome. it's not often i see this face without hair. :)

my momma came down to help me can the pomegranate-strawberry jelly.

and it is the most delicious thing i've ever made.

we remember where we've been, and where we've come from. flopsy at teddy's school's alter.

and ferrell. he taught me so much of what i know now, of who i am. i'm still saying goodbye.

and: the one night of the year where it's cool to be in suburbia. i've never seen the neighborhood so packed. yes, that's two suckers in one hand. but guess what? they forgot all about their booty the next morning, and that's all she wrote.

teddy, obviously, is a mail carrier. lincoln's a lump.

the older kids from teddy's school had a haunted house in our area.

investigating small spaces, in three photos:

1. roses, hideout, clothesline.

2. dreams do come true: salvaged wood, hunted down in parking lots... shipping pallets and particle board; a completely free baby chicken coop in the works. i figured a lot of people don't have yards, and i was wasting my small but totally viable space by not going for it. updates to come. hailey even has a few hens for me.

3. a green tomato pie from my yard ------land-------- (getting romantic.)

dehydrated late season goodies from hailey's garden, and jarred them in olive oil. sooo good.

thinking about weaning. chronically. i think that means we're getting really close to pulling the plug. ty's going to have to fill in BIG TIME.

it's a good thing we're best friends.

right after his shave. whistle whistle whistle.

a sample of cold leaching.

acorn soup

in newcastle, at my friend heather's. she is a wild food expert and held an acorn class. be still my beating heart.

acorn "noodle," made from acorn starch. if you grind acorns and put them in a jar with water, a white layer of starch rises above the meal....it's called acorn "cream." you scoop it out and lay it flat in a pan, and it will thicken and congeal into this! we ate them in a stir fry with burdock roots.

acorn bread with violet jelly. i'm dying here, already in heaven.

love my acorny friends.

elderflower cordial in club soda.

bottom left: cheesecake with acorn crust. help me help me, rhonda. i'm begging you.

my little wild boy.

heather has the biggest pomegranate tree i've ever seen. the boys got lost under it, and i took home the lion's share.

she has really cool things in her pantry like pickled green almonds, oak moss, and pine tree flour. she asked me to be her assistant in future classes and i just about cried.

we're bustling and busy.
and it's good.
got a freezer full of summer's and autumn's fruits,
a corner full of squashes,
and cupboards filled with home made love.

hopefully a post soon about teddy's school.

happy journeys into long bare branches, extra blankets on the bed, and twinkling orion lit evenings! it's gonna be good.