Good Stuff #2

Essays, books, multi-media, music, poems, and other important distractions

Mar 30, 2024

Spring is still playing hard to get, but the winter snow has melted, the birds are singing, the frogs have awakened, the rhubarb is popping up, and the wildflowers are starting their glorious bloom. Spring is full of energy, hope, and lessons on resilience.

I am sowing seeds in my indoor sowing station, casting cover crop seeds in the vegetable garden, and stocking my community’s seed library. I am also busy planning: the vegetable garden, firewise & landscape work, hikes, camping, and the more mundane, house repairs and maintenance. It can’t be all fun…I guess.

Growing Floret

Growing Floret Documentary Series

In the February edition of Good Stuff, I shared a link to the touching documentary, Gardening in a War Zone, which was produced by Floret Farm. While checking out Floret’s website, I discovered they filmed and produced two seasons of a doc-series about their business. Filmed on their farm in the Skagit River Valley in Washington, the series focuses on the challenges and rewards of managing a flower farm. I found the series riveting as it follows a young couple who decided to start a cut flower farm and then gradually change to flower seed production. Each episode features beautiful videography and photography of the flowers and landscape, heartfelt and emotional reactions by the flower farmers, Erin & Chris, and the farm staff, the challenges of weather and production, and the stresses of success. And though I do not have any room in my fenced garden to grow more flowers, I ordered two packets of their seeds! I may have to give up some tomato plants.

The two seasons can be viewed on MAX, Prime Amazon, Discovery+, and Magnolia Network.

Learn more at Floret Flowers

Wildflower Hunting

Speaking of flowers, it’s wildflower season here in the Columbia River Gorge. From March through July, I try to hike every other week following the bloom. These days, I hike slower and more intentionally, and my inner voice worries about falling and breaking a hip (or any bone) on rocky scree and trail descents. That’s what 65 sounds like in my head…

Me on a wildflower hike in the Mount Hood Wilderness

Writer and veteran hiker, Diane Spicer, maintains a website full of information about hiking. Since she is now in her 60s, she has an entire section about hiking as an older/mature/elder woman.

Tips for Older Hikers

Book - Bless the Birds: Living with Love in a Time of Dying by Susan Tweit

This book was a joy to read because it is about the author celebrating joy, humor, compassion, and love while caring for her dying husband. Susan is a gifted writer, and this memoir offers an honest glimpse of caregiving for not only her dying husband but also her beloved mother. I know a book is good when it lingers with me for a long time after I have finished it. Many of us have, are, or will provide caregiving for loved ones and this book is a reminder to keep our love front and center.

From the publisher:

Writer Susan Tweit and her economist-turned-sculptor husband Richard Cabe had just settled into their version of a “good life” when Richard saw thousands of birds one day―harbingers of the brain cancer that would kill him two years later. This compelling and intimate memoir chronicles their journey into the end of his life, framed by their final trip together, a 4,000-mile-long delayed honeymoon road trip.

As Susan and Richard navigate the unfamiliar territory of brain cancer treatment and learn a whole new vocabulary―craniotomies, adjuvant chemotherapy, and brain geography―they also develop new routines for a mindful existence, relying on each other and their connection to nature, including the real birds Richard enjoys watching. Their determination to walk hand in hand, with open hearts, results in profound and difficult adjustments in their roles.

Bless the Birds is not a sad story. It is both prayer and love song, a guide to how to thrive in a world where all we hold dear seems to be eroding, whether simple civility and respect, our health and safety, or the Earth itself. It’s an exploration of living with love in a time of dying―whether personal or global―with humor, unflinching courage, and grace. And it is an invitation to choose to live in light of what we love, rather than what we fear.

Susan publishes on her Practicing Terraphilia site and writes a weekly gratitude newsletter which I look forward to reading. This year, she is also exploring an aspect of spirituality each month.

Multi-media: Corn Tastes Better on the Honor System

This year, I am growing ornamental corn and sweet red corn (photos promised!) as part of my Three Sisters garden (corn, beans, and winter squash). I remembered a multi-media presentation by Braiding Sweetgrass author Robin Wall Kimmerer on corn's cultural significance and botanical history. You can read and/or listen to it at the link below.

Corn Tastes Better on the Honor System

Thank you for reading Fifteen Years and Counting.... This post is public so feel free to share it.

Solo Outdoor Adventures

After decades of camping as a family, I started solo hiking and car camping and have continued over the years. I love the solitude and freedom to do whatever I want whenever I want. My goal this year is to do my first solo overnight. People often seemed surprised by my desire to go out in nature alone, and many women who are curious ask about my/their fears of animals, injury and other people. Fear and anxiety are natural simply because it is not predictable. I discovered this mature woman’s Youtube channel (58 videos!) and love her willingness to share and inspire. In this video she discusses those those three fears.

That’s it for this month’s Good Stuff. Share the good stuff in your life in the comments. What are you planning for this summer? Are you a solo adventurer? What are you growing in your garden? Any recommendations of books on caregiving?