Tuesday Happenings: Common Ground Fair 2025

Happy Autumnal Equinox! Our favorite family celebration for years now has been the Common Ground Country Fair. Taking our little pea is always an adventure — we love taking her up to the MOFGA (Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association) grounds for any kind of event (workshops, ME Apple Weekend, etc) but the Fair is our favorite. The energy is just so positive and uplifting and so many things to see. Now that she is no longer little, she can go off on her own to visit the spinners she’s been getting to know for years, eat popcorn from the popcorn truck, get handshaved ice with blueberry syrup, ogle the yarn and bunnies, admire the cows and horses, watch sheep-shearing, goat-milking and visit all kinds of folks we know. We ran into a bunch of lovely folks and previous vendors from our shop in our community.

This fair was particularly fun, too, as I (R) co-presented the work that The Good Life Center does and is planning to do — thank you so much to all the friends who came for the talk and stopped by to visit. We (as the GLC) always have a table in the Social & Political Action Tent to support the legacy of Scott & Helen Nearing. This year, our amazing volunteers and staff built a Story Booth to record anecdotes and inspirations from folks who knew or met or have been inspired by the work of The Nearings or The Good Life Center. The resident stewards humaned the table for most of the weekend, meeting and greeting so many interested homesteaders, social justice advocates, economists, compost renegades, and people interested in renewing their relationship with their personal response-ability in the world.

We got all kinds of lovely goodies and talked to so many creative people about how they are negotiating these troubled times — making and being a part of such a vibrant community is invigoratng! That’s what we get reminded of from the Common Ground Fair — how to be a part of regenerative life cycle.

And now we need a couple of days to recover, pick apples, and clean up the gardens.

Thursday: Focus on the Food

It’s easy to get caught up with everything that needs to be done on a homestead. And with the shop, we’ve been very neglectful with the day to day care of things like trimming hedges and shaping gardens, even with caring for our medicinal and marvelous food plants and trees. When we were here full-time (as you can go back and see) it was still hard to keep up with it all. It’s good to listen to both yourself and your abilities and the land you grow on. It’s all well and good to have plans but be open to the reality that plans can change, have to adapt, and are open to editing.

We thought for sure we would have an apple orchard, but with the onslaught of drought and then wet conditions, we couldn’t keep up with the struggles the trees went through (between the apple borers, the tent caterpillars, the voles, the deer all on top of the crazy water needs we were doomed). We thought we’d have a great water system in place for the gardens and for awhile it was pretty good but eventually all systems fail or need to be upgraded. After I got (finally diagnosed after many years with long) Lyme, we had to focus on healing and slowing down our life. And rarely picked the 1/2 acre of blackberries we had so lovingly cared for and processed (J cut paths and trimmed back canes, you can barely see the work he put in for years. We made soda and jam, cakes and pies, so many delicious things). Even my Bee Balm is swallowed this year by goldenrod and jewelweed in the front drive bed.

Though all is not lost — our peaches and pears, still some apples and grapes are available for us. We picked 3 bushels of peaches and are turning much of it into Peach Butter (we love fruit butters), some in the freezer for cakes and crisps, and a crisp in the oven as we speak (want to process some peaches? we’ve got a free bushel waiting for you!). We picked 2 bushels of white Itasca grapes, too, which we made some nice wine with last year and we’ll set up a new batch this year. We’ll probably pick some Wolf River apples next week — though if anyone wants to come collect cider apples, we have plenty (and you can borrow our press, too!), and store the pears. We were able to get a nice little batch of Hawthorn berries for medicinal purposes, too — we dried many and will tincture a batch. All in all, not bad for letting so much go.

It’s our focus on food that keeps us going: that what we put into our bodies matters, how we treat where it comes from matters, how we share and offer it to the world matters. It’s a beautiful thing, this connection we have to the cycle of living and dying, we hope we honor it well.

Mid-week Check-In: (r)evolutions

There are all kinds of revolutions — astrological/cosmological/seasonal (all connected, of course, as similar engagements), political, personal, and ecological, as a few in mind. Our wytchy selves here focus on all of these as a piece — to be connected to ourselves, we have to be connected in nature (or aware of this nature, we’re connected either way) and work towards safety, health, and for the future of all. Teleological directives (those with a specified ‘end’) are not useful tools to foster diversity, care, and foresight. That’s where response-ability comes into play.

We can only respond appropriately when we pay attention; when we listen. Listening takes a selflessness (or a universal self) to be able to engage with the openness to someone else’s needs — this plant’s need, this family’s need, this community’s need, the world need. And we do what we can when we can. The world (especially the political one) demands compromise but rarely consensus and it is this place we need to find. Systems built on heirarchies only have teleological ends; they require that someone be on the bottom, and that there IS always a bottom. There is a bit of a kerfluffle about how democracy works but in a majority rules situation, there is always a minority — and generally one that is exploited, subjected, and their needs pushed aside. The Western world has been doing it this way for a long long time building an anthropocentric (human-centered) impact which disregards relational thinking and being. We have been taught/guided/misguided in the ability to respond to each other and the world we live in.

How can we get out of this trap and abide by a more consensus directive where everyone has a voice that matters? It is going to take a slow and careful consideration of how we do things — everything…because our foundations are flawed (all of them). I love how permaculture-warrior Looby Macnamara approaches the living well concept. I love how folks come together to find solutions in direct community action (and remember, community is not your neighborhood or town, it’s the people that show up for each other). I love how the baker spent the day fixing the kid’s sewing machine. I love the projects I hear about from other brilliant like-minds and care-full thinkers. I love a quiet pond with bobbing loons. I love the Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds who live in our Weeping Willow tree across the drive from the exploding Scarlet Bee Balm. I love the medicines and food, a real bounty, available at our little patch.

(R)evolutions abound.

Summer Solstice

This Summer starts with a healthy dose of heat and humidity. And though we’ve had rain every week, it still feels a little dry in the garden (the corn are really calling to me to carry water up to them — days past we had a watering system in the garden but between changing up how we do things and just not being able to be there, we’ve reverted back to basics — heavy basics). The artichokes are growing nicely though, and cukes, melons, peppers, beans, ground cherry, herbs and flowers (sage, feverfew, hyssop, echinacea, wild bee balm, blue vervain, basils, parsley, viola/pansy, calendula, marigold, cornflower, poppy, baloon flower, cosmos, zinnia, and sweet pea), along with other perennials like rhubarb, asparagus, nettle, hops, and visitors such as mullein, primrose, and red clover. We’ve got a lot of fruit now in and around the garden such as Itasca grapes, and now a lovely red grape I can’t remember the name of, Black Haw, Huckleberry, Bear Berry, late raspberries, a couple of apple trees, a new line of plum trees.

The kid has a birthday in a week (15!) and is hoping to find some time for mini golf, a visit with friends, dinner out, and maybe a day in Portland — we’ll see if we have time for that. We had big plans awhile back to travel but that cannot come to pass — it’s hard leaving a business, especially when business is slow due to economic concerns and misunderstandings (depending on small & local — not corporate and crappy — is the way to succeed, but you have to show up to it). It was easier leaving chickens! So, we will do our best to make her celebrations special. Next month we have another Renaissance Faire so that will be fun (Acton, ME).

We went up to The Good Life Center to welcome international climate activist guests and meet the stewards. It was a lovely day full of cape views and lupines. A good day was had by all. It is so nice and fulfilling to go up and be in that space — reinvigorates me every time.

Until then, we will keep on keepin’ on. We’ve got great things happening at the shop as the homestead grows wild and verdant. Right now the multiflora rose hedge is in bloom (my beautiful Maleficent hedge!), the Mock Orange (mine and the swallowtail favorite) is flowering, the Concord grapes are taking over their arbor and the Forsythia next to it, the tea roses are resplendent with flower heads, and we put in a great vertical flowerbox garden wall around the heat pump with thyme, petunias, lemon balm, pansies, chamomile, strawberries, gifted ginseng, and a couple other cute flowery things.

Happy Summer Solstice!

Tuesday Happenings: Springing

Discovery is always a thrill, no matter the season, but there is something about the new tendrils of growth and baby shoots to invigorate the senses. Right up until the allergies hit, we can breathe a little deeper and feel that things are about to change. It feels like a shift we can translate from our wilder (and wider) environment to our human scales.

That is sort of the theme this year, we think: human scale. Focusing on what we can do with our direct care and responses, honing in on our small measures, while keeping our integrity and universal goals in mind. We won’t really have much choice in the matter, so it is good to prepare that ground — really get the regenerative juices flowing and the soil fertile, giving back as much as we take (if not more, because we take).

We’re finding that to do so, we need to spend a little more time on the things that nourish us. We want to keep our minds open and sharp and to do so, we need to not focus on the things that damage us. J is from VT and I’ve now lived in New England longer than anywhere else, the fundamentals of social justice for American society are questioned here (with many historical corrections to be made) — the pragmatism of ecological care is deeply ingrained, and direct discourse used to be encouraged. As many of you might know, we are connected with The Good Life Center, the educational homestead of Scott & Helen Nearing, and feel very strongly that there is good ground to grow from there. There is a lot to discover about the past to care for the present and prepare for the future. We’re Goddard College students, for Scott’s sake! (see what I did there — ha!). Fed from Bread & Puppet fires, wading in the waters of Lake Champlain, and traversing the Long Trail. And like the Nearings, we’re here now in lovely Maine — connected to the ocean and the mountains, hanging with the sturgeon, eating wild blueberry pie, and feeling like there is still moments and growth to be discovered and inspired by.

We live in one of the most supportive civil rights regions of the U.S. — which somedays is hard to remember. We have water (though yes, might need some care and cleaning up, but we have it!), we have fertile ground, we have all the geographical richness which means we have the tools to also have the most resourceful innovations to create community (both human and nonhuman). But we have to focus and not be distracted by the noise — the literal noise of negativity and energy-sucking regressions, by the pitfalls and setbacks (failures are opportunities to find new solutions). It’s hard. It’s hard every day, but we have immense privilege here — even in our everyday struggles and situational experiences. This human scale is our superpower because we can make community with each other, one by one. We can change many things that fall into our personal sphere and act accordingly in the world with integrity and care.

Spring. When the fullness of life reminds us of change.

Duendesday: Life after Skool

Duende’s school experience didn’t last long (a mere 6 months) but at 14 there isn’t much time to waste — either it’s a good match or it isn’t. This particular school was not a good match for her and in this area there are not a lot of options, so back to homeschooling we go. We are lucky to be confident in our life choices to have this option and we wish others were, too. Freeschooling is a wondrous way to grow and learn to be a part of the world we live in.

We’ve fielded a lot of questions over the years about the (redundant and misguided) concerns folks have regarding social skills, conflict resolution, their own math or science or english skills, homework, transcripts, and grades. None of that actually comes into play for us. Freeschooling is a way of letting them live their own little lives and helping them find the answers when they have the questions. It’s about pointing out the learning moments in our everyday life. For us, it is finding interesting and engaging resources so we can all learn (and re-learn) together. She already lives in the world so her social skills are marvelous (and perhaps better than many school system education’s since she engages with people of all different ages, all of the time, in the functioning world), which seems to be the number one concern of random people.

Do we wish somedays that her spelling and writing skills were better? Sure, but that doesn’t change from any other parent wishing their children excelled at everything. Duende has an amazing imagination and can translate that into art, costume design, stories, dances, baking, and isn’t afraid to try new things. Maybe she watches a little too much Korean anime right now but she also helps out at the store, engages with her friends and the folks in our little town with care and respect. She’s a really great kid. We couldn’t have asked for a better little person to share our life with (who is not so little these days, especially now that it is Spring and she’s back on the roller skates!).

Lately, she is making costumes for the Renaissance Faire tours we’re planning on for the Summer, working on a homeschool project of miniature scenes with a story line to be filmed by June, making cakes, scones, pancakes, and Moroccan food (she loves Djej Emshmel: Chicken with Olives and Preserved Lemons), and had a smash of a time decorating eggs for Spring a few weeks ago (she likes to blow them out and paint them — a lovely local homestead sells us all blue eggs and duck eggs every week!).

We’re not surprised she enjoys being home with us — she’s already happier, healthier, and less stressed, isn’t that what we want for all kids?

Happenings: In Transition and Translation

It’s been a minute since we’ve posted about our homestead adventure. Sometimes things take a turn and you’re back to wondering what exactly is the definition of homesteading and why does it matter? The place the world is in right now is a great reminder of why it matters and what it is becomes experiential in definition. For us, homesteading has been about reconnecting with our resources and our full ecologies — where does our food and health come from? How do we access the natural world and how do we work in partnership? Self-reliance, self-sufficiency is not an endeavor of the sole rugged patriarchal lone wolf fantasy; instead it translates into a personal response-ability to care in the world (for humans, non humans, the earth itself).

And everyone comes to it in their own way — some are lucky enough to own their land/house/homestead and some must dance that mortgage line dance, some are healthy enough to be grossly sufficient and some have to do what they can when they can, some have big families to help, some have small enough families to maintain easily, some are able to make money from excess goods they provide and some provide just enough for their needs (and further some are only able to provide supplement to their abilities and needs), it’s a hard life. We came to it knowing that but also knowing that sometimes hard is better, better for our longevity, better for the planet, better for our quality of life, etc. And we don’t believe in failure; we believe in learning and experience so some years when the gardens were good, we thrived, and when they weren’t as good, we focused on celebrating our CSA with a local farm. Our ideals are not tarnished by our ‘successes and failures’ but adapted to our needs.

We also believe in listening to our bodies, our communities, our land, and the energies surrounding all of these things. When I got Lyme co-infections (apparently on top of previous undetected Lyme, Epstein-Barr, which all induced 2 bouts of Shingles, one on my face/ear which has resulted in continuous nerve problems and loss of some function in both) setting back much of my ability to homestead, and the baker got injured overdoing it (resulting in minor surgery on top of foot problems and lifelong dental issues), we had to learn to listen. So, we started over — focusing on the things we could do, turning out to be translating all of our experience and impetus to homestead into supporting others to do so.

We are trying to listen to what the energies are telling us; that it may be time to reassess and change things up, to adapt in different ways.

We firmly believe in having a direct say in what we put into our bodies and food sovereignty and safety are the biggest issues in the world. We will continue to support and educate ourselves on clean and best practices when it comes to food and medicine, and source our needs accordingly. We believe that not only should our food and medicines be free of contaminants and grown responsibly, but the people who do it should also be cared for and supported. We have loved our homesteading adventure. It is something we would love to continue and will find our way in other ways (likely smaller ways). We have been lucky to have had this opportunity.

With that said, we are leaving this lovely homestead. It is time for us to downsize our life, in care of ourselves and our community in the way that we can actively care for both. Our beautiful 14 acres of woods and gardens will be put on the market for an accessible price very soon. If you think you want to relocate to the rich and resourceful mid-Maine area, there is a lot to connect with here — please contact us and we’ll give you the low down. We will be posting the property soon on Maine farm/homestead listings. We’ll detail a post soon with a full description of our changes and the great features.

Thank you for going along on this journey with us. We’ve had so many good times here, and so many friends visit and share this bounty. We are truly grateful.

Deep Winter Happenings

It’s been a bit of a back and forth with the weather — snow every other week, biting cold every other week from that. It feels like a ‘real’ Winter, for sure. But somehow we’ve missed it, we only see it peripherally these days and rarely get to get out in it. We thought there was going to be a great minute there where sled trails were going to be dug out and a little sledding party could commence but then the kid got sick (again, her poor immune system is just battered, she’s sick every 2 weeks — it’s not just her, the school says this is the worst year for sickness and absent students they’ve seen in years — for which we have to clarify because homeschooling prejudice is rampant and many will retort that “since she’s never been subject to all these illnesses it must be her sheltered immune system” but she’s Tonka tough and has been out in the world this whole time. Perhaps it is because public schools struggle with offering health education, handwashing stations, and demand attendance — our culture does not promote staying home when you are sick or wearing mask if you are struggling).

However, when she is home and starting to recover she makes things — miniature worlds, bunny backpacks, braided bracelets, and cellphone purses for her school mates, dresses and clothing repair (the Winter Ball dress is below that was unable to wear because she was sick), scones, biscuits, and other treats (though the cake below is my fail, I’m determined to put everything in a bundt but not all things are meant for it — like this coffeecake — but it was delicious!). Hopefully, she will be up and ready for sugaring season soon and will get a little outside Winter time.

Until then, we stay cozy by the woodstove and getting through our bookstacks (we’re on a family 50 book reading challenge for the year, J is winning right now). Using up our foraged and herbal medicines, drinking our lovely homemade white wine (it came out fantastic, if I do say so!), eating crazy pizzas (like this ‘Turkey Dinner’ pizza with mushroom stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy as the base, turkey, mozzarella, and a bright cranberry sauce dotted on after cooking — reminds us of this great sub from the VT Sandwich Co years ago called The Patriot, we miss it), and finding a moment or two for date nights out. It’s seed buying time and we’re dreaming of all the time we think is going to materialize this year for the homestead (because owning your own business puts everything on the back burner…). J is trying to talk us out of chickens this year and last year I was ready to turn the coop into a garden shed but I miss their beautiful little feathery selves across the yard and the eggs.

Winter — the time to dream about the growing seasons (and the growing seasons are the time to dream about the tucked in time of Winter!). Take care of each other out there.