Brainwaves

Cotton floating/suspended as if the air were a thick as water

Barometric pressure is low

Rising nimbus surrounds us

Insects fly low to the surface

The friction of wing beats across air molecules decreases

Fish rising to the surface

With an expanded swim bladder

In part from the effect of the change in the physical property of air upon wings of the winged

The slow fly is sure to meet the salmon’s eye whose ballast has just emptied

The sun doesn’t sleep now

The feasts have begun

Eggs...

My grandpa’s gun

When I was about 10 my grandpa gave me his 22. Winchester single shot bolt action rifle. 

My stepdad and him spent a lot of time cleaning it before my birthday. It was an excellent squirrel and rabbit gun.  It wasn’t super load so it didn’t scare off too many squirrels in our pecan grove near the Neosho River in south eastern Kansas when I went after them.

I became very proficient at that old iron sighted gun as a brick of 22. Shells didn’t cost much.

I knew many...

My first son Oscar is turning 4 today.

He was born during a blizzard. We were worried he might be born during a blizzard. We would have preferred a home birth but due to our distance from town our midwifes said it was too risky.  We hit the road around 1 am in “trusty rusty” my 2001 chevy Silverado.  Locked in the 4x4 with our studded tires and we headed to town as the windshield projected views of what star-wars had shown us as what warp speed was to look like.  Snow plows getting stuck on the...

Frost covered eyelashes and frosty impressions of ferns upon the windows welcome us to winter solstice. 

I always believed we should use winter solstice as the marker for when the new year is but perhaps that’s just the farmer in me.

This past year was a beautiful one with many challenges and many successes on the farm and in life.

This past year we improved road access to one of our main production fields which has become the first of multiple orchards we are building on the farm as we move deeper into no-till and regenerative agriculture practices.  The access...

One of the worst blocks he had seen said one of my supervisors. The blow down was everywhere. A wind event with big spruce that were aging.

I was in this block or forest rather, to assess trees for pathogen and timber volume. I had worked all over in this region for a few years now out north of Fort St. James.

The area had a dominant pine landscape which was mostly dead, with lots of pockets of nice spruce stands. This was the land that the term “moonscapes” comes to mind when a block is finished.

The ultimate challenge...