photo by Shannon Corsi If you’re anything like me, right now you’re sitting in your home office looking outside, as nature continues on around you, stuck in what seems to be a bad dream. Several times over the past few weeks, you’ve been on the verge of an emotional breakdown, waking up to the grim…
Most of my friends own guns. You see, I live in a rural area where surviving off the land is not only en vogue but it’s also part of the mountain heritage. People live here and move here for virtually one reason: to be close to nature. For some, this involves the seasonal ritual of…
As a mother, there are times that I need to take off all the other hats I wear, neatly package them up, and put them in a storage box for a later date. This happened to me recently. Except, instead of neatly packaging up my hats, I carelessly crumbled them in half and stuck them…
, Essential oils are my teachers. I’m in love with them in the same way that a fresh bouquet of flowers brightens a dark winter home. When the ground is blanketed in snow, essential oils provoke a nostalgic memory of spring and the budding of fresh herbs and flowers. And most importantly, essential oils—cold pressed…
I come from a family of overachievers. In high school, my Type A personality landed me a front-row seat in the classroom, complete with the grades to go with it. My father, the engineer, meticulously rebuilt classic car engines, after work and as a hobby, while they hung from the swingset in our backyard. And…
My mother taught me that there’s one essential key to delicious dishes—fresh ingredients. Recipes don’t have to be fancy and intricate, with many processes, and a laundry list of requirements. Less is more is her opinion. Growing up in an Italian household, our harvest lasagna consisted of very few ingredients that were grown, canned,…