by Sue Schlabach | Oct 10, 2016 | Autumn, homepage, Vermont
October mornings—when not frosty—are usually adrift with fog in pocket valleys. This weekend marked the peak of color for autumn foliage and the mist and sun only amplified the treetops. I had a long drive from here to the Red Horse Winery to help pick La Crescent...
by Sue Schlabach | Sep 5, 2016 | Autumn, Summer, Vermont
Are you a forager? In spring I dig up ramps and cut fiddleheads. I love to find raspberries, blackberries and untended apple trees. But other than morels, which I can identify well, I’m a little timid to collect and eat mushrooms. The surprise of this...
by Sue Schlabach | Jul 8, 2016 | Summer, Vermont
I drive by this alpine meadow near my house most days and see a shingled roof up there through the trees. I’ve been so curious about this cabin since glimpsing it for the first time last year. So a few weeks ago I was traveling past mid-morning on a weekday and...
by Sue Schlabach | Dec 24, 2015 | Christmas, Holidays, homepage, Natural World, Vermont
Holiday Greetings from our hilltop valley. It is unseasonably warm, and when we walked this morning it felt like spring garden planting weather, not the season of candlelight, bayberry scent and eggnog by the fire. The woodland is so lush and green with moss and ferns...
by Sue Schlabach | Dec 21, 2015 | Artisanal Living, Design, Scandinavia, Vermont
A few weeks ago I was invited to journal for a week as a friend of Gudrun Sjoden, the Swedish designer whose art, home and clothing lines epitomize everything I love about design. Her art is infused with color, pattern, whimsy, beauty, ethnicity and a nod toward...
by Sue Schlabach | Dec 9, 2015 | Artisanal Living, Chickens, Paris, Vermont
There are places where you expect to find a velvet Victorian sofa. A chicken yard isn’t generally the place. There are places you expect to see a chicken. AÂ Paris dress shop might not come to mind. In the back garden of a house on the edge of South Strafford,...