let it be home.
Jenna posts about gardening, cooking, real food, DIY projects, community, nature, and rural living, among many other topics.
I completed a poetry exercise this morning that instructed me to construct a pantoum out of headlines. A pantoum is a poetic form that utilizes repetition of complete phrases or ideas.
Based upon recent news in the Bangor Daily News, this poem is about some of the stories told in mid-June. It gives me a shiver to think of all the stories still untold.
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The days are quite long, skies darkening far past the dinner hour. Northern Maine weather has vacillated between gorgeous and stormy. Heavy rains have bitten down the ground and some trees in the Valley have fallen before their time. Locals are spraying dirt out of their driveways and shuffling rocks off their lawns.
Anglers step into waders and cast their flies into both still and swirling waters. Moose are running around with antlers growing in. I saw a cardinal south of here last weekend.
Read MoreEnjoy 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 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.
