• Autumn

    The garden is still blooming. Yellow roses. Anenome. Primroses. This is the second flowering for a few of the primroses. The weather has been mild. Sunny. Very little rain. Our sprinkler guy hasn’t scheduled a time to shut off sprinklers so I am still watering,… Read more

  • Puttering

    I spent a morning this week just puttering in the garden. The day was still summer-like–in the 70s and sunny. The trees are just starting to change color. Later in the week, the autumn rain starts bringing cooler weather. Since I do not cut down… Read more

  • Mushroom Bouquet

    We took our dogs for a long walk on the forest trails by our house. The fall colors are not out yet so we were still walking in filtered green light. The colors and textures I saw were the whites, reds, and yellows of mushrooms,… Read more

  • Sights and Sounds

    We have a ten gallon bucket we put in the ground, filled with water and rocks, and added a fountain to provide a small water feature near our backyard patio. Four frogs have moved in. In the middle of the forest?! We have toads throughout… Read more

  • New Season

    Even though it still feels like summer, a new season is starting to reveal itself. The leaves are just beginning to fade a bit. It is cooler at night and with the windows open I needed to bring out the comforter. The hummingbirds are filling… Read more

  • Light and Shadows

    I recently took up photography. My husband gave me a digital camera years ago and I’ve been using the point and shoot option. I wanted to get more out of my photos so I took a lesson from a local photographer on using the manual… Read more

  • Bees and Hummingbirds

    When we first moved into a woodland home, I was expecting a lot of furry wildlife–deer, squirrels, raccoons, rabbits, etc. I need to add porcupines to the list, though I never even thought they would be part of our life. During the night, when we… Read more

  • Schedules

    Living here in the North Woods, my living to a schedule has shifted. I used to love getting new planners and figuring out what goals I wanted to achieve in a year. I then created three-month action plans that were broken into months, weeks, and… Read more

  • Fireflies

    Wildfire smoke has kept me indoors for three days now. The temperatures are perfect for opening windows and working in the garden. But alas, windows are closed and I’m sure the plants are trying to cope with the smoke as well. We are living in… Read more

  • Persistence

    The one thing gardening has taught me is persistence. I do get discouraged when I go on my morning garden walk and see the deer and rabbits have eaten some plants to the ground. Part of it is my fault for not being diligent about… Read more

Heart & Soil

Heart & Soil is written by & copyright Mary Pellerito