At Home With Nature
When I started Hearthwilde, my goal was to write about ways to connect to nature in order to heal the many divides that separate us. I didn t intend to write about my health journey, but after developing Long Covid and debilitating food sensitivities, that is exactly what I needed to write about. Some of you [ ]
Ever feel overwhelmed by the uncertainty of the future? Here are some good places to start creating some natural resiliency in your life: Know which weeds you can safely eat and how to prepare them. Learn some basic skills cooking, mending, tying knots, dressing appropriately for your climate. Reduce your needs for heating [ ]
A dog s aging process happens gradually, but it may become apparent suddenly, as he s no longer able to jump onto the couch or navigate the home as easily as he used to. In my own home, I ve been making changes for my dog Leo who just celebrated his 14th birthday. I wish I d made some [ ]
Eating 30 plant foods a week has a healing effect on health, and is even important for those with food sensitivities. Diversity on the plate leads to diversity in the gut. This simple strategy makes a huge difference to your microbiome, gut health, and immune system.
Has something happened to you that makes the world seem full of toxic traps that might cause cancer? Are you overwhelmed and don t know where to start? I m here to make it easier for you. First I m going to tell you my background and explain why I think you should take my advice anyway, and [ ]
Dealing with SIBO and food chemical sensitivities, my diet has needed to change frequently over the past few years, but one part of my food prep routine has remained the same I always soak rice before cooking it. In this blog post I ll show you how I prepare brown rice prior to cooking, but [ ]
Last year in the garden, a new variety climbed up to take the gold medal place for summer squash in my heart: Friulana Rugosa. This summer squash is an Italian heirloom the fruits are yellow or light green, long, and bumpy. Ok, actually they re warty. And I d forgive you for thinking it s just another [ ]
There s nothing delightful about carrot roots that have bolted. Yet, I m here to sing their praises. Carrots are biennials, and are supposed to wait until year two to produce flowers. When they bolt in year one, instead of sending their energy into root production, that energy gets moved into reproduction, aka flowering, leaving the root [ ]
One of the delights of my gardening life is trying new seed varieties a pleasure that my husband Chad and I share. Lately though, I ve been dealing with gut dysbiosis related food chemical intolerance, so choosing seed varieties of tomatoes or winter squash is no longer the easy breezy, fun process it used to [ ]
After our Mama Sheep, Izzy, passed away recently, we were left with just one sheep, Buttercup. As herd animals, sheep feel stressed out living alone, and while other types of animals can make decent companions for a lone sheep, another sheep (or more) is the best type of buddy. On her first night alone in [ ]
We keep sheep for their wool and for manure for our garden and because we love animals. This week we had to say goodbye to our sheep Isadora (also known as Izzy or Mama Sheep), who was about 14 or 15, pretty old for a ewe. As she grew elderly, I looked for resources [ ]
It s summer, and summer is a good time for a break, a good time to send post cards. Here s my summer garden post card to you. While the official purpose of our garden is to grow food that we can eat, my not so hidden agenda is growing flowers. Yes, they help attract pollinators which [ ]
On our farmstead we have a pro-wildlife stance, and that includes smaller types of wildlife too. We don t kill bugs outdoors without good reason, and we have the same philosophy for bugs that end up inside our home. If we find a bug in the wrong place (according to us), we try to investigate to [ ]
I love plants growing them, learning about them, seeing them in their natural habitats. I also love learning how humans and plants have interacted across time, with humans finding species for food and medicine, and in exchange, helping to spread these species far and wide. Plants were the original medicines, and for the [ ]
The wind lifts and drops the branches of the box elders outside our kitchen window in front of a dark sky. Rain showers pelt down, and then disappear. The sun appears, seeming to banish the clouds, then rain returns, and the sky darkens again. The patterns of this moody weather are much like the ups [ ]
One of the ways we assert ourselves as creatures of the natural world is to celebrate equinoxes and solstices. As part of these seasonal celebrations, a few years ago Chad and I started a tradition of hiking to the same spot in the desert on these occasions. We nicknamed our spot, Solstice Point. Every solstice [ ]
As I went through our garden and orchard this morning, watering our annuals and fruit trees, I marveled at how much better I felt today than yesterday. It was a reminder that sometimes the signs my body is sending me require a little deeper digging. A few days ago our Russian olive trees started blooming. [ ]
I believe that connecting to nature can bring joy, satisfaction, and meaning to one s life because it has done so for me. My husband, Chad, who is a certified wildman, provided some suggestions of his own and I added them to this list as well. So here you go, over one hundred ideas for [ ]
I wrote recently about some of the accomplishments I m proud of from the last decade. Here s one I m less thrilled with: I have become an expert of sorts on food chemical intolerances, having developed four of them. A food chemical intolerance is different than a plain old food intolerance. With food chemical intolerance, rather than [ ]
Almost a year and a half after my SIBO diagnosis, I realize that dealing with this gut ailment has changed me in many ways. Some of theses changes are ones I m happy to embrace, others are ones I m hoping are temporary. Here s a few ways that Small Intestine Bacteria Overgrowth has changed me: No More [ ]
I missed an important anniversary last year 2021 marked the ten year anniversary of my leaving Paris, France for a return to life in the US. Essentially, I transitioned from being a city mouse to my current situation, country mouse. As you might imagine, my 14 years in Paris were very, very different from [ ]
Chayotes, also known as chokos or mirlitons, are used in Latin American cuisine, but not so much in standard American fare. Unless of course, you develop salicylate sensitivities like I have, and then you end up with this cucurbit as one of your staple foodstuffs! With a quickly dwindling menu, mirlitons have been a godsend [ ]
I m growing chayotes in my garden for the first time this year after developing salicylate sensitivity and I ve found that there s just not a lot of guidance out there on growing this crop in the home garden. Call them what you want, chayote, choko, or mirliton, so far some of the tips I have read [ ]
The last few years of my life have been very centered around my gut health and food sensitivities and I would have been truly lost in this process without keeping a food journal. I m going to tell you what I include in my food journal and tell you the specific ways it has helped [ ]
Me and my sleep have been through some rough times in the past few years. My troubled sleep has ranged in severity, from months of insomnia so bad that I would go for days without sleeping at all to waking after just three or four hours and being unable to fall back asleep. For [ ]
It was summer and the wildfire smoke was at it again. I was feeling miserable, trying to hide indoors with air purifiers on full blast, and meanwhile I was having new food related symptoms. Confusing Symptoms I had already adopted a low histamine diet, reduced my oxalate intake, and was also avoiding FODMAPs for SIBO. [ ]
I was diagnosed with SIBO in late 2020, but believe I ve been living with this condition for at least a decade and a half. Over the past year I ve done everything I can to learn about the condition. I ve also used antimicrobials, adopted a restrictive diet, kept a food journal, tried dynamic neural retraining, and [ ]
When the days get cooler I find myself craving foods that have warming flavors, such as cinnamon and ginger. Unfortunately, because of several food chemical intolerances, I have to follow a restrictive diet and all the warming spices are off the menu for me. Pears, however, are packed with flavor, especially when baked, and offer [ ]
I could say the past year has been an interesting one for me on an existential level, if I were to put things in a positive light. I keep having major life changes that seem to tell me, Oh, you think that s part of your personality, do you? Well what if we take it away? [ ]
Life on the homestead in NE Utah is thrilling in many ways gorgeous sunsets, seedlings emerging dramatically from the soil in spring, or the surprising call of sandhill cranes flying overhead in summer. But in other ways it can be a harsh environment, especially in winter when the temperatures plummet to sub-zero levels. To [ ]
Who needs candy and costumes? We celebrated Halloween with a hike in the desert where we found signs of life and death to help us contemplate the holiday. Since we ve been enjoying a mild, exceptionally wet, and colorful fall on our farm, we found that conditions in one of our favorite desert hiking spots were [ ]
For a while it was a running joke between Chad and I that we didn t need any other cats but, we didn t have an orange one yet, so maybe if one showed up ? Last spring, shortly after we moved our formerly feral feline, Owlfie indoors, a new cat did show up on our farm. [ ]
In early October we brought in what we thought would be our last harvest before wintery weather put an end to our summer garden. Now, a day away from November 1st, after several rainstorms and a few weeks of mild days, there are some unexpected surprises in the garden. We don t usually get to grow [ ]
It can be easy to forget that a plant has a point of view. We tend to not see them doing much, so we think that they aren t very much like us. We are constantly busy moving, and making noise. Plants on the other hand, just sit there. At least, it can seem so [ ]
When it comes to differentiating between a weed and a wildflower, the answer lies in one s perspective. Many farmers find that milkweed gets in the way. I wouldn t exactly say that my husband and I qualify as farmers. Though we do live on a small farm and keep farm animals, we earn our living from [ ]
In addition to Cube of Butter, another of our favorite zucchini varieties in the Hearthwilde garden is this Italian heirloom, Costata Romanesca. What initially appealed to me about this summer squash, after its long history, was its ridges. Texture is a big thing for me, just as important as how things look. The ridges on [ ]
Being nature lovers, we like to celebrate the equinoxes and solstices, those special moments in the year that mark the rotation of the earth around the sun. At each of these occasions, we take a hike out to a particular point in the desert to watch the sun set, a place we call Solstice Point. [ ]
This year, 2021, we grew at least 11 different cultivars of winter squash and pumpkins. ( I say at least because we can t peg an ID on some of them.) While our 2020 winter squash haul gave us some behemoths, this year all of our winter squash and pumpkins were medium sized or smaller. But [ ]
As much as I love gardening during summer, the transition into autumn makes me want to give a big sigh of relief. Along with the cooler weather, some glimpses of fall color seem to bring a promise of rest and rejuvenation to come. And while flowers may not be what you think of when I [ ]
Today my dear grandfather left his mortal form and passed on. Since I m unable to grieve with my family in person, I m sharing this here to celebrate his life and proclaim my good fortune in having such a pillar as a family member. When I celebrated his 100th birthday earlier this year, I acknowledged how [ ]
Once the days are warm and the flowers in bloom, one of my greatest and most simple pleasures is watching insects and our garden affords many opportunities to do just that. Actually, harvesting food from our garden makes me quite happy, but honestly, not as happy as watching these little neighbors of ours buzzing [ ]
Coreopsis is a plant I ve been fond of back since my high school days when I had an afternoon job working at a family owned garden center. There s something reassuring and cheery about this plant s bright, bobbing flowers. So when I noticed some seeds for plains coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria), a native of the Great Plains, [ ]
While we still grow some exotic garden flowers in our polyculture garden, such as cosmos and zinnias, this year I decided to add more native annuals to the mix. One of the native wildflowers I planted was California poppies. Our sunken garden rows are on a slight slope, so when I planted the seeds, they [ ]
A year ago today, my body was so inflamed, it seemed like everything hurt: my back and my joints in particular. I felt like my body was attacking itself and wondered if I had developed an autoimmune disease, which is why I tried the AIP diet. (AIP was not what I needed, it turns out.) [ ]
I m not sure why, exactly, but I decided to grow several different types of poppies from seed this year. Lauren s Grape poppy was one of my favorite varieties. With deep purple flowers, this poppy variety was pleasing to the eye but also to our local pollinators, affording me many pleasurable moments snapping up photos [ ]
Living in a rural area means we have lots of wildlife visitors. Loads of friendly pollinators visit our garden, deer come to browse at the apples that fall from our apple trees, and skunks make themselves at home here too. For the most part the skunks tend to stay out of our fenced in back [ ]
Have you ever hugged a tree? And have you wondered if it might be aware of you hugging it? If you are the type of person who might entertainment such a question, I have a book recommendation for you: Peter Wohlleben s The Hidden Life of Trees. After hearing an interview with Wohlleben, I hurried to [ ]
I ve struggled with gut issues for over a decade and a half. With hindsight, I believe that I may have had SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth) this entire time without realizing it. I m going to describe the history of my gut issues and the testing process in case this helps you finally get a diagnosis [ ]
Since I began gardening seriously in 2013, I have always been focused on expansion. How can I grow the most diversity of foods? How can I incorporate perennials, fruit trees, shrubs, and unusual edibles into my landscape? It seemed silly to me that there were so many edible plants out there that were being overlooked [ ]
One day I noticed our cat Louie licking his belly. This didn t seem to be a typical grooming session, he had been licking the same spot for far too long. So I approached him and parted the fur where he d been licking. There was a bare spot on his belly where there was no fur, [ ]