Blueberries and Blue Jeans

August 26, 2020 in Photography, Slow Living

It seems fruit picking is the order of this summer.
First there were the blackberries and then the figs, now it’s time for blueberries.

Recently spent a rainy morning at Eastfields Farms. A hidden gem in Mathews County. I believe it was their last weekend of picking, which was hard to believe with how full the bushes were. We picked two gallons for a mere $18 (which might both sound expensive and like an insane amount of blueberries, but if you factor an organic pint at the store being about $4…. that’s $64 worth of blueberries… and now the freezer is stocked for smoothies and pies!)

It is such a primal and satisfying thing, picking your own food straight from the bush or tree that it grew on.
I swear the fruit I’ve picked this year with my own hands has tasted like the best I’ve ever had. And perhaps that is some amount of imbued romanticism at the practice of it all, but I think there is something good and natural about that too that connects to our souls on a deeper level.

(Although my Dad said these tasted like the best blueberries he’d ever had, and he had nothing to do with the picking of them so… interpret as you will.)

Grateful to live in a place with such an abundance of natural bounty…
I suppose apples are next?
Virginia, I do love you so.

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Fig Season

August 20, 2020 in Photography, Slow Living

Figs are a hallmark of the Virginia seasons for me.

Their picking has stood out as the last height-of-summer activity, and the beginning of ushering in fall.

(I have written about figs a time or two before, as seen here… And here… They have also made it on the instagram a time or two or three…)

They’ve also been the happy excuse for the visitation ties between beloved family members.
I used to bike from The Fan in Richmond to Northside to pick and revel in my Aunt and Uncle’s juicy fig offerings. In other seasons I’d drive further East to my Grandparents to partake in their riverside tree’s bounty.

Recently a friend, my first in this county I started calling home a number of years ago, offered to share her fig supply and I jumped at the chance. It had been a few years since I’d been able to steep myself in the nostalgia this fruit picking always brings up for me.

It was a happy sun-soaked, mosquito heavy afternoon.
More of nature gifts were shared, and stories swapped.
Friendship of this type is an enduring gift in all times, but especially in the midst of uncertain ones. A beautiful constancy and promise of goodness amidst a world in a heightened state of upheaval.

It is my dream to have a home, a piece of nature similar to this, with budding plants and growing gardens to offer to and share with others in the way of love and familiarity.

One day…

In the meantime, I am grateful for the yards and gardens of others so near and dear in my life who don’t mind impromptu sunkissed-barefooted-visits on hot August afternoons.

Tiny Routines

July 13, 2020 in Thoughts, Slow Living, Photography

It is the nature here that has kept me grounded.

Kept me continually looking forward and focusing on the good.

I lived in Richmond my whole life, was born and raised in The Fan.

And then, after 26 years, I came out to the Chesapeake Bay. A place I grew up coming to for a similarly long period of time as my Dad is a sailor. So many spring, summer and fall nights were spent out on these waters. A few winter ones too.
It’s always been one of my homes.

And then I left for The Road.
And then I left again.
It kept calling me back and I kept answering.

Yet another kind of home.

But now I’m back here on the bay and now more than ever it feels like a respite and sacred place amidst the chaos of the world.

The Road still calls, and perhaps it always will. But this place, with its endlessly fascinating array of flora and fauna, is the needed anchor amidst it all.

I have now been here long enough, and in all seasons, to witness the varying cycles of the life that lives here.

I recognize the calls of the osprey and bald eagles and grey herons. Watch them all build their fortresses in the trees and on the pylons overlooking the water from fallen branches and dried grasses from the yard.

And how March brings daffodils and dandelions.
April fosters camellias and low hanging wisteria.
May greets buttercups and forsythia.
June grows tiger Lilly’s and road-side daisies and, best of all: magnolias.

And July—July has brought blackberries.

Which has been one of the greatest gifts in this season, discovering them all around the property. Because I’ve never been here during a July until now, and to witness such a constant thing despite my inconsistency and variation brings a kind of centerdness to me somehow.

It is in witnessing these tiny routines that I find solace amidst attempting to create my own.

A Day On The Farm

February 27, 2019 in Photography

There is something special about being intimately invited into people’s spaces, lives and routines in a way that photographs cannot always capture.

Though, truth be told, it is that very specific situational aspect of life that I am most often drawn to in my photography work. Capturing the raw and unposed moments that conspire within the framework of the mundane and attempting to convey the interpretation of that perceived beauty.

Raven is someone I’ve met here in New Mexico who has taught me so much about the caring for a type of animal I, admittedly, have not thought too in depth about aside from eating their eggs for breakfast most days of the week…

Farm Days | An Oregon Urban Flower Farm In Film

March 23, 2017 in Travel, Photography

i recently got some film developed from last Fall's trip to the Pacific North West.
today i wanted to share this set of photos from a little urban flower farm in Salem Oregon because the colorful faces of these blooms has me excited for Spring (despite the fact that i biked in 30 degree weather this morning... Spring is so close, i know it, i know it).

Farm Days | Beltayne Farm

September 28, 2016 in Iphone Snaps, Slow Living, The Knitting Queen

Being able to visit Beltayne Farm was a result of a connection I made through someone seeing this Instagram post of mine and kindly recommending me to their friend Sunshine’s shearing day that she and her family were hosting.

After exchanging some Facebook messages, and grabbing my friend Meagan to come along, I headed out on one rainy Spring day to see some sheep.

We had the best time and instantly connected and loved Sunshine and her family who could not have been more generous or welcoming (sending us home with a dozen eggs from their chickens, as well as a promise of some wool upon our next visit).

The Summer has gotten away with me and kept me quite busy but I hope to return to this little homestead sometime soon to revisit the new friends I made there.

The day involved me holding my very first little lamb (named Pip… whose sibling is named Squeak) which obviously could not have made my day any more than it did.

I'm grateful for the generosity and kindness of strangers that’s extended and shared even before common interests and passions are established.

Hope you enjoy a few iPhone snaps from the day!

Farm Days | Whispers of Eden Farm

July 20, 2016 in The Knitting Queen

Back in February I responded to a craigslist ad that my Father, The Sailor, had sent my way in regards to some alpaca wool for sale (I'm telling you what, he just gets me).
So after arranging a time, I grabbed my adventure buddy Meagan and we headed to Whispers of Eden farm.

I wasn't sure what to expect but upon arriving and meeting Mehleh, we pretty much never wanted to leave (never ended up translating to over two hours... but you get the idea).
Mehleh was so friendly and wonderful and gave us an extensive tour. Telling us about farm life, what raising her various animals entailed, and entertaining us with endless charming stories about each of her adorably named creatures. She primarily has goats, and were the ones most willing to be photographed, though I did of course manage to purchase some wool from her alpaca's Scamper and Firecracker.

I've yet to process it into yarn (Five months later... eep...), but now that I finally have a spinning wheel the time for that will soon be approaching.

Meagan snapped this photo of me at the end of our visit and It's a pretty good summing up of our little adventure.