Moms make many health decisions for their children. When someone in the family gets a cold there is a wide array of over the counter treatments to choose from. The pills and elixirs treat the symptoms but don’t help the immune system overcome the virus. Over the years I have…
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Thoughts of Spring on a Cold Day
It’s cold outside. Our thermometer reads -5 degrees. We have almost a foot of snow on the ground and when I went outside to take a picture my fingers became stiff in minutes. It is winter but spring will come. I have begun receiving seed catalogues. My thoughts turn to…
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Colorful Foliage and Flowers in Northern Michigan
A week ago my husband and I were in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We had six days mostly off the grid, reading and doing small projects. The day that we arrived it was raining. It rained a couple more days. One night we had thunder, lightening and a heavy…
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Garden Notes: The Plants, Animals and Pests in My Yard
From spring to fall the garden is a place of wonder, amusement and challenge. Here are thirteen examples. The tulips are one of the first blooms in my yard. The scent of the lily of the valley is pleasing. I love how the little bells peek out from the green…
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If you plant a cherry tree, you might want to know . . .
If you plant a cherry tree the birds will come. The robins love my cherry tree. One year a group of cedar waxwings came and perched on a branch passing cherries to each other. And little birds that I haven’t identified come. I don’t mind sharing some of the cherries—but…
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Rosemary and Tansy in the Garden
Spring seems to be on hold as cold temperatures persist in Illinois. But I am beginning to think about my herb garden. I recently read that Tansy is a deterrent for Japanese beetles. I have seeds to plant, hoping that it will help get rid of the throng of beetles…
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Cucumbers for a Healthy Gut
When I visited my grandmother as a child she had viili, homemade sour milk, in her kitchen. My mother had been raised with the clabbered milk as a part of her diet. The slippery consistency of this sour milk did not appeal to me. Now I recognize the health benefit…
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Abundant Berries: a Recipe for Black Raspberry & Blueberry Pie
The berries in my backyard are abundant . . . and so are the Japanese beetles. The upper leaves of my cherry tree were eaten, just the skeleton of leaf veins left. So pretty but so destructive! I have even been up on a ladder, shaking the branches of the…
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Owls in My Cherry Tree
Every Friday the FMF community writes for five minutes on a prompt given by Kate Motaung. Sometimes the first five minutes of writing stimulates more thought, and I continue on . . . Today’s prompt is: EXPECT expect: to anticipate or look forward to the coming occurrence The sweet cherry…
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Petite Purple Irises and Stinging Nettle
It is the last day of February and my dwarf irises are blooming. I was surprised to see their purple petals as I returned home from a weekend trip. Winter isn’t over, but my tulip and hyacinth bulbs are sprouting leaves. What will our spring be like? My thoughts turn…