Snowdrops are reemerging from last weeks snow.  I love how resillient they are in this time of seasonal transition, with temperatures varying from Spring-like to deepest Winter and sun more often then not obscured by cloud.

   I am grateful to the plants that hold their green through out the winter.  Moss. Pine. Rosemary.  Uplifting us as we wander beneath grey skies.  Reminding us that life and growth continues.  That vibrant colors will return.

Spring is fully here...new green leaves, light rain showers, and the garden filling up with friends, old and new.  I love being outside this time of year, hands in the soil, bare feet on the new grass, watching blossoms and change unfold.

     Come walk with me in winter's garden.  Grab your coat and scarf, and your wool hat if its handy.  Bundled up we'll slip out the door into the frosty air, and head down the road until we come to a little gate in the hedge. 

This time of year the mist fills the valleys, rolls across the fields, and dances between the trees.  It blocks all that is not near, is not immediate, from view.

I saw his legs first.  Knobby knees rising above cold river.  Ripples, created by water moving past stillness, led my eyes upward. 

Herbs are growing abundantly in the garden, so it is the perfect time to enjoy herb butters, as they are super tasty and easy to make. 

Outside the days are grey and damp, but in the kitchen I just finished straining a batch of my favorite warming winter tonic, Fire Cider. 

After a wet, cold summer, autumn has greeted us with sunshine and clear skies...the leaves are starting to change, and the days have become noticeably shorter.  I've been out harvesting beautiful baskets of ripe elderberries, hawthorn, blackberries, and rose hips...

I love sitting down to a colourful plate of food at mealtimes.  I find that enjoying a meal that looks vibrant and beautiful nourishes my soul as well as my body.  One of my favorite ways to add colour and vibrancy is to create with edible flowers.

There have been an abundance of grey, cloudy, still days this summer.  You know the type...those days when it the air is heavy with humidity, nothing is moving, and it feels like the world is stagnant...

Last night, listening to it against the roof tiles and watching it dance in the puddles beneath the street lamp...Rain.  I could have stayed inside.

When you hear the word pesto, what comes to mind?  Is it warm summer sun, basil and tomatoes, olive oil and garlic.  I used to always think of pesto as being a basil based sauce, but then when I was living in Italy...

Spring. Growth and New Beginnings. So many new seeds sprouting, new paths created, new challenges overcome.

This morning I noticed a bag of fresh basil on the counter when I went to make my blueberry smoothie, so I popped some in and it was delish!  It's so easy to get stuck pairing basil only with tomatoes, but try this and see what you think...

I love meals that are filled with vibrant colors, so when I discovered this beautiful sauce that turns bright pink from the beets, I was super excited!  It's also gluten, dairy, and solanaceae free. 

Watching raindrops fall outside the window, beyond the seedlings growing in their clay pots and the fire flickering in the wood stove...

I love sweet potatoes. And I love smoothies.  But I'd never thought to combine the two...until now...and it's a great combo! Especially for this time of year, when we still crave a bit of warmth in our bellies. 

Frosted, the ground is. white

ice crystals stand like fur on the stems of herbs and grasses, surfaces of leaves.  Painting pictures in feathery waves across the car windscreen. winding, circling.

Yesterday, making Indian food for supper...I thought I would experiment with making ghee.  Ghee, or clarified butter, is great to use for cooking at high temperatures...

Winds whisper through golden leaves

and there is release,

a dancing downward.

Fields are filled with Goldenrod, Queen Anne's Lace, and many happy bees. Hands pick cherry tomatoes and raspberries.  Both golden.  Both sweet...

Gentle rain falling on shades of green.  New growth pushing upward and outward-expansion into lengthening days and warming temperatures.  Walking boots turn muddy as they explore glens and hills...

february. wild turkey tracks in new snow.  Single file, a gentle curve from wood through field, all twenty something, dark bodies stepping into feather deep whiteness...