Green Fuzzy Moth

Amazing. Shade. Of. Greeeeen. Found this beautiful one on my front porch.

Nothing else to say, because in this case pictures are louder then words.

XOXoxox

Millipede and Lady Grey the chicken...

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total fail. Poor Millipede. I was really disappointed!




xoxoox

My Black and White Bunny

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tooooo cute to be true, i could melt and die from the bunny cuteness burning my heart out!



xoxox

Morel Mushrooms (again! in Video...)

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i could not resist going back for more. I ate them up in a stir fry... soooo good!
....



xxoxox

Spring Sprung, Life At The Luck Cabin

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Spring stuff coming up.
(the music and background noise mixed together in a way i didn't intend... and got a little creepy.)



xoxo

Post Traumatic Winter Syndrome

The last two winters here in western north carolina have been rough. And that is extremely understated. The first bad one, I was around others... this last one, that is now pulling it's cold clutches out of the air, i did on my own. This winter raped me. Harsh, maybe i shouldn't use that word - but it comes something close to that... the way a bad car accident leaves you with this weird changed feeling. The way some near death moment makes you go OMG, ah HA! Or the way it feels after a bad break up. I make these comparisions because the experience was so intense, it took something from me... something I can not even begin to describe in words. It also gave me something back, something there also are no words for.... something mysterious i have yet to identify. All I know is something is gone, and something new has come to take it's place. A winter vet, is what i consider myself. It can sound dramatic, but if you think it's not that bad - come on up here next winter and trade places with me (will be great! Like those 80's movies where people swap bodies!).... come when it's -20 degree winds, no running water for a month, no insulation in the walls, keep the fire going or freeze, you can carry groceries in waist deep snow and start getting hypothermia with a mile of steep hill to push through still (have no food or get up there!). And go without seeing other people for weeks at a time. And hardest of all, all the planning you did isn't going to be enough... no matter how well you prepare shit happens. Many friends wanted me to put this place up for sale because winter here will always be harder then most the rest of western north carolina (due to my elevation/location)... but here is spring. Beautiful magical perfection. No for sale sign yet. Every cold wind that comes as the weather changes, is nothing to me now - but a reminder of all that changed inside me. I neither fear it, enjoy it, or loathe it because I have come out to the other side. But when i think about the winters to come... I have post traumtic winter syndrome. I feel the worst loathing & i want to run. No more! No more! I won't do another winter alone here. I have no idea what will happen between now and next year but I know this much, I will make that one wish happen. (It's human nature to move towards always making our lives better in one way or another, so i will indulge...) Details be damned. They are just the breaths between the action. *********************************************************** xoxox **footnote** "A body swap is a storytelling device seen in a variety of fiction, most often in television shows and movies, in which two people (or beings) exchange minds and end up in each other's bodies. Alternatively, their minds may stay where they are as their bodies adjust. There are three distinct types of body swapping. Switches can be caused by magic items such as amulets, heartfelt wishes, or just strange quirks of the universe. The switches typically reverse after the subjects have expanded their world views, gained a new appreciation for each other's troubles by literally "walking in another's shoes" and/or caused sufficient amounts of farce."

Good Morels (mushrooms!)

On my way back from the 'stairway to ramp heaven' I made a foraging find that made the day seem like it was born of magic, unicorns and rainbows... i found some morels! And not the kind I have to kneel down a pray for, but the kind I kneel down and pluck from the earth... Huge wild morel mushrooms. The most morels I have ever held, the most I have ever seen, the biggest most beautiful... morels the size of a f-en pine cone! we literally stumbled upon the patch of morels when walking back through the forest and (not) trespassing past someone's house... (omg, i stole someone's morels--- does this mean deep down i have no morals?) I did take the mushrooms, and shook them all around the area where i plucked a few... trying to spread spores in what seemed to be a perfect environment for growing them- there were sooo many! I made sure to leave many morels growing too, so spores could take wind and make many more.

WHEN I GOT HOME WITH MY MORELS :::::

i know it can be futile to attempt to grow morel mushrooms on purpose, but it's always worth a try. I wrapped the mushrooms in a cheese cloth and took them into the woods - shaking the cloth lightly to let spores loose into the air.

and my second trick, in hopes to grow my own... i filled a bowl full of spring water, let the morels soak for an hour or so --- then i took the spore filled water outside and spread it around in spots I thought they'd enjoy propogating.

THEN I COOKED Um' UP! :::::::

mmmmmm

• I cut each one down the middle (after rinsing it) , added ramps (wild leeks), parsley and rosemary to a pan.


• Alot of moisture came from the mushrooms, which i drained off twice. Once the water was drained off enough, i added some oil and let them cook on low/medium for about 7-10 minutes (until darker brown.)


• I put it over (gluten free) rice pasta with olive oil and pink salt!

SooOOOooOOo delicious, it felt like a sin.

XoxoxoX

Stairway To Ramp Heaven

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Yesterday me , JuJu the donkey and a good friend went ramp huntin' in the woods... there was alot of pointing, turning around, following ridges, judging terrain, and memory sharing - of where local people said they had found them before. Impressively JuJu pushed right through the forest with me, stepping over fallen trees & always guarding our back, stopping when i stopped, maybe even smiling a donkey smile.

After a hike so up and downhill that my legs are actually sore... we came upon the BIGGEST most heavenly, grandest HUGE insane ramp patch I have ever seen, and most likely will ever see! Thousands and thousands of them, more then i could take in standing in one place... going downhill, uphill... 360 degrees all around. I had the urge to lay down in it and roll around till I smelled like an onion.

For anyone who might not be familiar with "ramps", they are a delicious wild edible leek, or onion type plant. (see more close up pics here.) They have a strong odor & flavor - people love them so dearly here in the mountains that they have festivals sharing all their ramp recipes & NO ONE ever tells where the ramp patch they've found is. No one, including me. :)

We dug up about enough to fill a half gallon jar, some to eat, some to replant in our own hiding places.

When you first dig um' up, you have to pull back a rotten looking layer of brown-ish skin, to reveal the beautiful white root of the ramp (see pic below).

Digging down a few inches, cause ya can't pull the plant up by it's leaves (it will break)! The whole entire thing is edible....mmmmmmmm. And did i mention they taste sooooooo gooooood?!!

Xoxoxox

Dance Time, Stereo Love

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Having another burst of cabin fever on this cold rainy spring day!
must...move...my...body... or i will goooo insane.



xoxox

Brain Surgery, Ramps and My Mama!

My verrrrry loved friend Heather had to have emergancy brain surgery a few days ago! Which is why I have been a bit slowed down, exhausted, and my mind has been far far away from it's usual processes. Heather loves me and I love her too... she has been a good friend to me for years now! She had a scary octopus like absess infection in her brain but did not know it till it was paralyzing half her body --- the surgery had to be done ASAP when the test results came back. I am so happy she is talking and alive! She makes me glad to be alive. Heather makes this world a place where you are loved, all things including the most terrible, creepy, disturbing... all is accepted, all is adored. ........................................ When i wasn't pacing, and crying in the woods about Heather.... life went on as it always should. (Appreciate it while you have it! and being i came back from the dead myself, i know i dont want to lose time...) Today... I found the RAMPS i planted last year coming back up!!! I transplanted some that came up where i cut down trees (they don't like the sunshine the way I do)... so i moved them into another patch I had started in a good shaded spot where i will not be cutting anything back.

My mom also came to visit me! She is hillarious... she was singing to all my animals, and she was trying to train the chicken to not come inside the cabin. I have to say she was doing a better job with the chicken then i have...

if ya'll coulda heard her scream when the chicken came in and landed on the stove!!

............... here is a video, of my mom... I could not stop laughing and was acting out a bit to egg her on!



xoxox

Frogs Chirping At Dusk

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These are frogs that live in and around my pond... some are in the trees, some hiding under leaves! During the spring they chirp these amazing sounds, sometimes morning, noon and night... it will go on and on as the winter receeds and spring warmth really takes over. By the time spring is fully warm they will go silent again.
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You won't see a single frog in this video (cause they hide), but ya' can hear them all! Just close your eyes and listen....



xoxoxox

Building A Frog Habitat in the Pond

One of the reasons I was not sure if i wanted ducks is because I knew they would eat up my tadpoles, reducing the amount of native frogs I have in my pond. Before the ducks ever arrived I had started to build a frog safe place along the edges of the pond - by taking small dead hemlock trees and piling them up. Still though, i have way less frogs then normal because much of what i built was moved, decayed, or gawd knows what during the winter freezes..... and the ducks came in to massacre what was out in the open. I was excited to still see in some of the hemlock habitats i built, tadpoles and a group of frogs all in one space. So i took that spot, and made what was a froggie shack, into a frog multi-plex mansion!

I layered and extended the branches further out into the water, while also extended further out onto the land connected... putting more small branches on top of larger ones. Like building a debris shelter, a skeleton of a home.

The smaller tiny branches, block the ducks from getting under there.... and so they avoid that spot, and ravage the rest of the pond. Now to fix the pond leak.... omgawd!

Xoxoxox

Stuff I Like....

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Finally, a sunny drive.



xoxoxox

Lady Grey (the chicken)'s Secret Stash

There is one chicken here who has been a loner from day one. At first I thought she was picked (pecked?) on because she was beautiful and different from the rest, then i realized she was bitchy & her attitude towards other chickens sucked. (Which comes first the chicken or the egg?... being picked on and turning mean, or being mean and then getting picked on!) OI! I call her Lady Grey, she wanders around alone mostly, she is the only chicken who has figured out how to climb out of the fenced in area, she comes to my house every single day and tries to sneak in the window or door if it is open a crack. She steals my cat Toot's food, Toots let's her cause Toots is a total pussy when it comes to giant birds. At night Lady grey goes back to the barn, where the chicken coop is but I never see her go in the coop with the others. She always preferred JuJu the donkey to her own kind. I have been wondering if she lays eggs, because of course she will not get in the coop or nesting box with the others. It wasn't until this morning when I was prepping to have new bales of hay delivered that i found her secret nest, where she has been laying some pretty light brown eggs!

!!!! I love her style, i love how she wants a private chicken life, i love how she is sneaky, and i looooove that she was keeping a secret nest full of eggs!

XOXOxoxo

Teeny Tiny Inch Worm

Yesterday when i was laying out in the sunshine, this suuuuper tiny inch worm got on my blankie with me. It's sooooooooo little and cute... and i love how when it's body is straight it looks like a stick, like a piece of a birch tree branch.

I let him crawl all over my hand...

It's a big world out there, I wonder how much of it the inch worm covers in it's lifetime?

xoxoxox

My One Match Fire!

This morning I woke up to snow! wtf, right? Yesterday I was sweating my tits off in my crochet bikini, gardening, getting a tan...I went to bed to the sounds of a spring time thunder storm, it was so warm I let my fire go out. While sleeping, in came some freezing cold winds & snow, so a fire was needed as soon as I woke up.
I can finally do this with only ONE match!

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HERE IS HOW I DO IT ::::*
1. I put paper at the bottom (sometimes with a toilet roll), down the middle, front to back
2. I layer tiny tree branches, by size up to larger branches on top
3. I put wood slivers on top the branches
4. I add small logs at the top of the pile...
5. and light the match to the paper at the bottom
6. then BLOW and blow and blow some more, till ya have a big flame!
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Watch the process here::::


XOXO

And For Some Laughs...

George Carlin - Stuff - watch more funny videos

xoxoxox

They're BAccckkkk!

Another sunny day! Today I was planting seeds (in the garden beds and tree stumps)... which is always fun- but while i was putting new food into the ground i found a bunch of herbs I planted last year coming back up! This is when it feels like all the work paid off... not that it was ever work. Quite some hardy organic herbs here, because they had to withstand cold down to -20 degrees F, no sunshine at all, and feet of snow and ice piling & melting and piling again. **************************************************************** ......... Introducing the Luck Cabin's herb gardens :::: * catnip! (above) oregano! (below)

chivessss....

winter savory even lived!

some kind of fancy purple sage...

and comfrey (can not live without it, it is instant bee sting relief!)

lavender... for washing my hair in!

parsley!

Thyme!!!! mmmm

Bee balm (the red and the magenta kind)...

all my mints, including chocolate!

sage :)))

and Yarrow (i use in my homemade bug repellent oil!)

YAY!!!!!! There is lemon balm and hyssop and goji berries that came back too... the dwarf fruits trees i planted last summer are making leaves and flower blooms. This is when i feel like i am in heaven.

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XoxooxoxxoX