I couldn’t have seen it coming. Literally.  The last few months have had their share of twists and turns. I’ve been diagnosed with acute idiopathic bilateral neuro retinitis.  It’s a mouthful of words which translate to a sudden onset of inflammation of the optic nerve due to an unknown cause. Neuro retinitis is rare; even more … More What’s Becoming Clear

I start to sense the Spring long before the first little crocus has started to push through winter’s debris. I feel it stirring though logically it makes no sense when the wind is biting cold and there is still snow on the ground. It’s not just my inner landscape that’s shifting, I see it happening … More How the Magic Happens

Lately I’m less interested in what the experts have to say about what it means to be mindful and more committed to taking an inward look at what it means to me first.  It’s not an easy thing to define. Go ahead, try it.  In your own words: What does it mean to be mindful? I’m … More Any-Squash’ll-Do Cookies

It seems hard to believe that I haven’t gathered around the kitchen table to contemplate both bread and life with a group of women since before COVID! It’s time to get our hands back into the dough bowl! Join me at the Abbey of the Genesee from April 28 – 30 to do just that! … More New offering: women’s retreat on bread and life

After posting a picture of muffins I was serving up with beef barley soup on our Facebook page Kneading Life/Mindful Homesteaders , I got a lot of private messages asking for the recipe so I thought I’d take a minute to transform it from the cryptic notes on a scrap of paper in my recipe … More Hopi Pale Gray (or other) Squash Muffins

This has been our recovery week, perhaps the first of many such weeks. We left the house Monday morning while it was still dark, highways nearly empty of cars, commuters likely still at their kitchen tables sipping coffee or pushing the snooze button one last time. Darrell’s surgery was just hours away and we were … More It’s Just a Pie

I could eat oatmeal every morning and a hummus wrap for lunch for the rest of my life and revel in the sameness. I thrive on predictability and continuity. To say that recent changes have upset my apple cart is far too mild. My apple cart lost its wheels and is lying in a ditch … More Just Passing Through….

I love to tweak recipes. Sure, there is an occasional flop or wish-I-hadn’t-done-that but when I get something right it rocks my world.  Adding cardamom to a ginger cookie was one of those moments.  I bring this up because I want you to know I am not a person opposed to change, or at least … More This Teacher’s Need for Pandemic Pauses!