by Shona Hilton I love this time of year. From the autumn equinox right through to Twelfth night. Every season has its place in my affections but autumn and early winter win my heart hands down. First there comes a smattering of brightly colored leaves, the animals start growing winter coats and the hens lay
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“May your walls know joy, may every room hold laughter, and every window open to great possibility.” –Mary Anne Radmacher I knew it was coming. So when that last box of the regular CSA season had been picked up, thoroughly inspected and the inside contents happily eaten, I knew then winter had arrived. Technically not
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by Shona Hilton In Little House on the Prairie, Pa talks practically non-stop about how important dogs are to a homesteader, “What about your dog?” he asks a couple whose horses have been stolen in the night. Adding later to his wife: “Tenderfeet! Everything they own and no dog to watch it!” How could they
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With summer come the eggs. With a flock of 15 hens, half of whom are getting up in years (three of them are eight!), production slows with the shorter days, and increases with the longer. Four a day, five a day—in January, we can keep up. August? Another story. In June, and on through October,
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by Shona Hilton “I give up.” Periodically I throw down the hay or hoe and declare I have had enough and am moving to a condo in Florida. This usually coincides with a particularly busy time of year when there are not enough hours left at the end of the day to finish the chores
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by Amanda Meyer Summer means two things to me: high country hiking and blueberries. Preferably together. I love the great Northwest, this is my home. I wasn’t born here, but I feel at home here and this is where I will spend the rest of my days. Each year during the summer time, I feel
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“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” —Margaret Atwood Welcome to the premier issue of Grow Northwest, a new magazine celebrating local food, farms and community in northwest Washington. Like many local business owners, we love what we do! And like many families and residents in the Northwest,
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by Bobbi Kelley There is something amazing about the smell of spring. I am never able to quite describe the smell. It’s fresh and light. Pleasing and tantalizing. It seems to bring this feeling of urgency to me each year. There is a need to get the strings up on my clothes line and put
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by Shona Hilton “Rise and shine, because today the pigs die.” These are the words which woke us last September on butchering day. Our 6-year-old almost sounded as excited as a kid on Christmas, but along with this excitement was definitely some more mixed feelings – and that, to me, is the way it should
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