let it be home.
Jenna posts about gardening, cooking, real food, DIY projects, community, nature, and rural living, among many other topics.
Enjoy some UpCountry-style music. I can't say I'm in love with every song, but these playlists are mostly awesome. Hope you find some songs that stick around awhile. Click on the colored squares!
Read MoreIt's fiddlehead season here. I haven't picked any myself yet, but I'm hoping to venture out foraging this Friday with a good friend that's no stranger to seeking out these vegetative curlicues.
I usually prepare them the same way each year: boil, drain, and add a little salt and butter. Easy enough.
This recipe is only marginally more complicated and looks like it might be the right level of change for me - a change that is so subtle I enjoy the newness without getting freaked out by how it's different from what I've always known.
Read MoreI've been away. It sounds so classy.
I attended the Black Fly Writing Retreat in Grand Lake Stream over the past weekend. While there, I met some incredible people and was able to sit unhurried by the lake in the middle of the day.
I only allowed myself one full hour of photography during the weekend, besides a random shot of groups here and there. I knew I had to write, because I'd set my mind to it and there was something to write about all over the place.
Read MoreYou may have heard of him, the North Pond Hermit. A couple weeks ago, he was arrested by Maine law enforcement on burglary charges, after the police caught him on surveillance stealing from a camp in the Maine woods.
The North Pond Hermit remained unidentified until then, as locals had coined the term to describe the individual they suspected was robbing their camps but the police hadn't found who was responsible. Now the nickname has a face, one that prison staff say is friendly, smiling and warm. (Okay, the photo they took of him in jail doesn't look very smiley, but the news reports say he's smiley.)
At the end of March, Mr. UpCountry and I started some of our seeds. We divvied up our packs based on whether we should transplant them into the garden or directly seed them. Some are waiting, perhaps huddled at the bottom of their seed packets, muttering to each other about how those hot peppers are getting all the attention.
I reap a figurative ton of benefits from planting seeds far before I pick their fruit. Watching seedlings grow in the basement is a joy shared by myself and some of my friends (both near and far).
Read MoreUpCountry Living is an ongoing story about settling down in a way that acknowledges both the restlessness of a creative spirit and the true greatness of being at home. It's set on the stage of the St. John Valley in northern Maine. Posts cover topics such as rural living, gardening, simplicity, community, in the kitchen, DIY projects, and many others.
