HopeSprings Haven

02/16/2024

Yesterday morning I woke up to find the bird feeder had somehow crashed to the ground in the night. So I picked up the pieces and brought them inside. The clothes line the feeder hangs from had snapped so I restrung it while the forlorn juncos, doves and jays looked on expectantly. "Oh yes my precious winter friends, Mama's got duct tape! The fancy kind too. The real deal. No dollar store trash for my babies, this here is name brand." That's what I said... And I meant it. If you're gonna duct tape as much stuff as I do. You'd better get serious.

01/17/2024

New Substack alert! It's been quite a hiatus (almost 5 months!) but I'm back with some words about loneliness, fear and binge watching too many TV dramas. New is live now. Link: https://spidersnack.substack.com/p/mulch

01/01/2024

09/11/2023

Of course everyone knows the health benefits of hugging broccoli but did you also know that it's good for the broccoli? In a recent super serious, extremely scientific study conducted by gnomes it was determined that giving your broccoli a giant bear hug improves its flavor up to 60 taste improvement points! How many more reasons do you need? Now go and give your broccoli a big ole hug! 🥦🤗

08/31/2023

I was turning out lights last night before bed when some full moon magic turned this tableau on my kitchen counter into a painting. I pictured myself there too, half lit in a glowy moon bath and I felt my feet and legs, heavy like roots, diving through my kitchen floor and into the earth.
Exhale loneliness. Inhale a galaxy. We are all wrapped in the fabric of the universe, feeling around for safety. A deer dips its head down to drink from the same river as I do and we listen for any noise that might startle us into action. The web we are caught in: always listening, ready to run, ready to fight. But sometimes there are these moments when my nervous system grinds slowly to a halt. Eyes close for a moment, shoulders fall as the tension leaves my body. Moments of letting it all go. Knowing beyond a doubt that I am at home. At home In this world, in my skin. And my buoyant heart is like a kite on a string soaring through the night sky and it touches on something essential out there...maybe it's hope? Maybe it's God? Maybe it's just learning to embrace the not knowing of how it all ends. Fear is actually so delicately shaped and fragile that we have the power to smash it with something as small as a slow, steady breath. Never forget that..because without fear... love, like the glow of the full moon, makes us strangely beautiful.

08/15/2023

First canning run of the season! Only 2 jars but I didn't want to go all in on zucchini pickles when I haven't made them before. I made half the batch into fridge pickles for taste testing and determining if I want to can them again but it felt good to dust off the boiler and let it rock on the stove for a time. Today is the hottest day we've had so far this summer and I ran a hose out to the chicken run. I've found if I soak the ground under the trees with cold water, they will carve out cool little mud pits for themselves and it seems to help.
We have "red flag" (high wind that makes fire danger even more extreme) conditions today and it's over 100 degrees F. I toodle happily about my house knowing that at any moment it could all go up in smoke. It happens all the time. I've already seen a town burn down right before my eyes and every year more of the beloved places burn and every year the predatory land developers come in to make their profits and some people who were housed don't find that necessity again. All things so temporary. All things consumed... submerged by flood or turned to ash, and every day, some new dread or tragedy. This is life now and I know it, and you know it too. Make a plan. Our leaders are doing nothing and it's up to us. Build resilience in your community and resistance to the 'it can't happen to me mentality". It is happening everywhere and to all of us..even if it's many years before we see a fire or a flood at our own doorstep.

07/01/2023

Hey everyone! A number of my Instagram friends already know and subscribe to my substack but you might not! (in case you didn't know substack is a self publishing tool) and I publish a newsletter that can go directly to your email or you can read it on site. It's free! although if you want to support me you can buy a paid subscription. There is no difference in access between paid and free subscriptions at this time so please check it out! Here's a link to my latest post: and if you finish that and want more there's plenty more to pick from.

Fearless and full of hope.