Welcome to For the Love of Nature Community - Go Ahead and Dive In

An index of my writing

In July 2025, I refocused my writing on the natural world and our connection and relationship with nature. You can read more about my new focus at A Big Change.

If you haven’t already done so, please read my About Page to learn more about me and my writing.

---

A Sense of Place, Home, and Community

Place, home, and community are essential factors as we age. Empty nests, retirement, aging, and health can influence where and how we live. For several years, I have re-considered the reality of aging on a small rural homestead - a place I thought would be my forever home. Creating a plan for the last few decades of our lives seems as crucial as the plans we made in our youth.

• A Place Called Home

• Revising a Dream: Making A Plan

• My Fantasy Life: Managing a Fear of Regret

• The Indecisiveness of Decluttering: What Ifs, Buts, and You-Never-Knows

• Wanted: Housing & Community for Aging Americans - Part One

• Wanted: Housing & Community for Aging Americans - Part Two

• Wanted: Housing & Community for Aging Americans - Part Three

• Prepping for the Unpredictable: Are You Ready?

• An Ode: Dedicated to the Ones I Love, Sharing Place with Wildlife

• Starting Over…Again: It seems harder at my age

---

Our Aging Bodies

Many of you discovered me via my articles about Our Aging Bodies. I reviewed 25 research studies and drew on my education as an herbalist to discuss the natural changes that occur in our bodies as we age, providing lifestyle tips to help us age well. You can view these eight articles in the 'Our Aging Bodies' tab of my Substack homepage.

---

Creativity & Other Important Distractions

I avidly consume books, essays, poetry, multimedia, movies, music, and the occasional podcast. Hiking, gardening, and plant nerdiness are my favorite distractions.

• Reading Nook: Favorite Books of 2023

• Creative Distractions #1: Essays, books, multimedia, music, poems

• Creative Distractions #2: Essays, books, multimedia, music, poems

• Creative Distractions #3: Essays, books, multimedia, music, poems

• Creative Distractions #4: Essays, books, multimedia, music, poems

• Creative Distractions #5: June-ary, Pika Watching, Garden Distractions, Herbal Tea Recipes, Seeing Differently, & An Unkindness of Ravens

• Favorite Books: Summer 2024

• Late Bloomers & Creativity

• How I am Spending My Summer Vacation

• Seeds of Hope, Wellness, & Resilience: The benefits of growing food

• A Collection of Creative Pursuits: Developing Creativity & Resilience

• Grow A Revolution: Empowerment + Self-Reliance = Resistance + Resilience = Liberation

• The Nurturing Benefits of Handwork

---

Wild Stories

Wild Stories is a 2025 monthly newsletter in which I write about an animal, a plant, a landscape, or a natural phenomenon. I have engaged with nature for decades through observation, physical experience, and study. Many species and ecological environments are threatened by habitat loss, climate chaos, and a lack of legal protection and kinship with the natural world. With Wild Stories, I share a bit about the lives of our flora and fauna and the incredible landscapes we live in. You can find them at the Wild Stories on my homepage.

---

Thoughts on Aging and End-of-Life Issues

• The Making of An Obituary: Ideas for sharing your stories with loved ones

• Ageism is Alive and Well: And it will shorten your life

• Aging with Our Pets: Creating a plan for their care

• Remembering Our Loved Ones

• Death Talk: Planning our journey of dying

• Cords of Connection: The delicate space between holding on and letting go

• Shh…I’m Thinking: Do we get more introverted as we age?

---

Politics & Community

Politics has become an exhausting and divisive topic. I don’t write much about politics because many excellent Substack writers write more skillfully about domestic and global politics. I will discuss legislation and policies affecting older US citizens and community projects that contribute to resilience.

• Does Your Vote Matter?

• Gathering the Abundance: Benefits of a Local Food Economy

• Resilience, Resistance, and Reclamation: Building a Democracy To-Do List

• Managing the Hum: Simple actions for resilience and resistance

• A Sharing Economy of Plants: Building Community One Seed at a Time

• Grow A Revolution: Empowerment + Self-Reliance = Resistance + Resilience = Liberation

• Aging in America: Looming Medicaid Cuts

---

Personal Essays

• Seeking The Holy: Take A Walk With Me

• Someone That I Used to Know: Re-inventing Ourselves

• Mother’s Day Reconsidered: Celebrating the verb instead of the noun

• A Life On Foot: Interview with Diane Spicer & a pictorial of my journeys

• Seasons on the Homestead: Autumn 2024, The party is over, the hangover continues

• Guest Post: Cacao and Chocolate

• The Art of Homemaking: It’s more than stirring and stitching

• A Difficult Woman: The only way to stay sane is to go a bit crazy

• Seeking Light, Finding Gratitude: Reading, Writing, Listening, & Eating in the Season of Giving Thanks

• Winter Holiday Kin Keeping: What traditions do you continue?

• The Old Fir Tree: Guest writing from Jenny Wright

• April Musings: On the Themes of Caring and Freedom: Self-care, Gardening Muscles, & Good Books

  ---

  Thank you for being here. All of my posts are free, but if you’d like to support my work, you can do so by:

• Liking and restacking this post so others are encouraged to read it.

• Share this post via email or on social media.

• Taking out a paid subscription to this Substack.

  ---

  Comments are always welcome.