It all started when we came home after a trip out of town. The tranquil homestead we’d left two weeks ago was not the one we came back to. It had been transmogrified into a Hitchcock movie set. We stood by the Expedition, suitcases in hand, and watched as a squadron of swallows circled overhead,…
No doubt about it. The weather outside is frightful. The National Weather Service is calling for a windchill of -52 in Polebridge, so we're all hoping that the wind won't blow. Then it's only -30. Still, that's muscle-cramping, teeth-chattering, car-don't-start cold. The kind of cold that makes your eyes water, your nose hairs freeze, and…
The glass of water on my bedside table hasn’t frozen. Yet. But the evening mist now leaves frosty geometric patterns across the windows; the deck sparkles in the moonlight; Smokey and Bosworth have come close to snuggling; and we store food in the refrigerator if we don’t want it to freeze. Yes, it’s fall in the…
A Note from Chris: As the season ends, and Monica is too busy with the final harvest to write a blog post, I'll share an essay with you.We hiked (a lot), dug a sand point well, tended a garden, defended ourselves against grasshopper swarms, stared at aspen groves, did some yurt-improvement projects, befriended (and then…
Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment. —Don Corleone, The Godfather: Part III Here at the yurt there’s always a bane of the day. Mosquitoes, heat, rain, cold, weeds, leaky water pumps, ground squirrels, freaky sounds in the night, car-eating potholes, you name it. The scourge du jour? Grasshoppers. Big and small, neon-green to coffee-bean,…
If you live in awareness, it is easy to see miracles everywhere. —Thich Nhat Hanh In the two years that Chris and I have been together, our craziest idea to date has been to live in a yurt fifty miles up a dirt road, entirely off the grid. Now we’re on to Crazy Adventure Part…
Here come the earth movers. They’re coming to take it away: Topsoil, spruce, stumps, and weeds. Oh how we’ve pined for this day. They shove, rip, and roll over any life painted orange with a can. Death, destruction, renewal: how I wish it were different for man. The birds who found their trill here, feeling…
Look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities, Forget about your worries and your strife; I mean the bare necessities are Mother Nature’s recipes that bring the bare necessities of life. — The Jungle Book June is typically one of the rainiest months here in the North Fork. Our driveway is a slip-’n-slide; the veggies…
After four months in Italy, we've finally returned to the yurt. If our first trip out to the property is any indicator, reentry into the North Fork atmosphere is going to be bumpy. The first part of the driveway, which we share with two other landowners, has welcomed the tidy sweep of a plow all winter.…
As you might have guessed, living in a yurt without running water in freezing temperatures is bearable for only so long. We've packed our bags and moved to Umbria for the winter. Join us on our adventure by clicking here: Tales from Todi. Don't forget to subscribe if you would like to receive an e-mail notification…
Postcards from Polebridge 