by Marlene Bumgarner | Jan 11, 2021 | Back to the Land, Cooking and Eating, Family, Gardening
Awakening to the Anger Abroad When I awakened on Thursday morning after the attack on our national capitol, I felt as if the world had tipped on its axis. I was disoriented and frightened. So I did what I always do when I’m feeling down. I headed for my garden....
by Marlene Bumgarner | Sep 29, 2020 | Community, Cooking and Eating, Family, Gardening, Health
Doldrums in the Morning I didn’t want to get out of bed this morning. That’s unusual for me – I usually bounce up, starving, with the beginnings of a coffee headache, open the blinds and the sliding door beside my bed so Kismet can go out, and head...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Aug 4, 2020 | Back to the Land, Cooking and Eating, Family, Gardening, Health
Help! My Lettuce is Bolting. The heatwave that hit Santa Cruz recently fried my chard leaves and caused the leaf lettuce to bolt. Looking at the gangly plants, overnight grown to four feet in height, I wondered why we call this sudden growth “bolting.” I...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Jun 23, 2020 | Back to the Land, Books, Cooking and Eating, Family, Gardening, Good Reads
From the Prologue: “We all worked together. Ate together. Sang together. Learned together. We had a good life. After living close to the natural cycles of the earth year after year, good and not good, we grew stronger and more resilient, learned to manage our...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Mar 21, 2020 | Back to the Land, Community, Cooking and Eating, Family, Gardening, Health
Learning New Ways of Being We’ve all been exploring new ways of doing things this week, and I have been gratified to experience the creativity and kindness I have seen from friends and neighbors. Since I am over 60 – way over 60 – and...
by Marlene Bumgarner | Mar 2, 2020 | Back to the Land, Community, Cooking and Eating, Family, Gardening, Health
Back to the Land A friend asked me this week, “What did you learn from living on the land that would help me cope if I’m stuck at home for two weeks with my children?” An interesting question. I of course immediately began trying to work that out....