Short stories and photos shared with humor and love
The first little bird is back in our nest and she came bearing her own seeds. My youngest daughter Molly came home for Thanksgiving. She walked in the door with an armful of Mason jars full of goodies she’s collected from the apparently prolific University of Iowa campus. The loot included homemade wild plum preserves, [...]
My daughter Molly goes into the woods as often as she can to forage for delicacies. On some lucky days, I get to tag along. This past weekend she introduced us all to the edible wonder of the Wisconsin Wood Violet. The violets played a starring role in a decadent dessert she made for us [...]
For Christmas this year, my daughter Molly gave me three quarts of homemade ice cream. I shared, of course, teeny, tiny little dishes for my Christmas Eve guests. "What flavor would you like?" I asked each one, and then scooped that precious ice cream with a little teaspoon and served it in the smallest glass [...]
We had as much fun saying the name of Molly's Christmas dessert this year as we had eating it (and I'm pretty sure I ate more of it than anyone). This year, she combined her love of baking and trees with her passion for foraging and came up with a Buche de Noel that included [...]
I didn’t even know my friend Ann and her husband Pat kept bees until I saw her Facebook post announcing their hives’ triumphant return from a winter in California. I also didn’t know that people sent their honey bees to winter in warmer climes. Or, just how precisely a community of bees works to make [...]