Family has always been paramount for our dad. He approached raising us instilling a sense of wonder, love, dedication and a tremendous generosity of spirit. Whether it be twilight walks to the local ice cream parlor for root beer floats, splashing our feet with the hose as we ran around the brick patio in the backyard while he watered the flowers, or his love for holidays, we never question his unconditional love.

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Dad and I can always talk about anything, and he always listens before offering his sage advice. He and my mom were true partners, and her loss has taken much from all of us, but no one more than my dad. Not only were they best friends, soul mates and parents; my dad new the true meaning of ‘for better or worse’. He took care of my mom for the 35 years she had MS, and worked tirelessly to keep what I can only say is the most positive outlook of anyone that I have ever met. He has served as a roll model to his children, grandchildren, and peers. I have modeled my love for family around his example.

Travel was a special gift that my parents gave to each other until my mom’s disease took that ability from them. I am waxing philosophical here as dad is currently experiencing a trip of a lifetime, and this adventure is so well deserved. He and his brother are currently walking in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. He has approached this trip with the energy of someone half his age (almost 80, and walking strenuous tours daily). I’m not even sure I could keep up with all he’s done and seen in the last 5 days! I can tell from the picture’s that he is sending that the trip is awe inspiring.

Dad is an amazing story teller, and hearing him weave his life experiences is always riveting. I cannot wait to hear the stories he has to tell when he returns home. Love you Dad!!

Until next time,

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Hello friend! My name is Amy. I am so happy you have stopped by 🍃 If you are new here, a warm welcome to you! This space is where I am learning to walk the wise woman road by returning to my true self through seasonal living, reflective writing, nourishing food, intuition, and resilience. Rooted in the rhythms of the earth and my lived experience, these writings are an invitation to slow down, listen inward, and remember what nourishes us. If this resonates with you, I invite you to subscribe and walk the seasons alongside me.

Wonder is a complex emotion that contains elements of surprise, contemplation and joy — and, most important, a heightened state of consciousness.1

How are you cultivating wonder in your life?

Focusing on working around our homestead brings me joy. This past weekend we planted 7 new trees, mixed 42 cubic feet of amended soil and planted 6 blueberry plants. I love heritage planting; putting something in the ground that will grow, develop and bear fruit year after year. It is a little mark that we leave for future generations, and tending those plantings year after year is fulfilling.

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I have always considered myself a life-long learner and this year have joined Sharon Blackie’s Nostos Institute. I was originally scheduled to go to a retreat Sharon was hosting at Broughton Sanctuary in February, but circumstances prevented it. Now that Nostos has launched I look forward to the opportunity to go in the future. What a treasure this education is! Learning about the ancients in philosophy and depth psychology has ignited a fire in me that can only be described as wonder. Check out the link below:

Nostos Institute

Nostos, the art of enchantment, and the cultivation of the mythic imagination

‘At a time when many feel spiritually unanchored, disconnected both from organised religion and surface-level wellness culture, the Nostos Institute provides something rare: a rooted, intellectually rigorous and deeply imaginative path to personal and collective re-enchantment. We’ve developed a unique and alchemical blend of philosophy and depth psycho…

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15 days ago · 12 likes · Dr Sharon Blackie

Another way that I explore wonder in my life is through celebrating the seasonal changes on the wheel of the year. The end of this week brings the first of May, May Day or Beltane and the lighter half of the year is here! Check out my post below for some history of Beltane and some quick ideas to honor the day.

Check out the rest of the posts from the A-Z 2026 Challenge below:

A is for Attention (4/1/26)

B is for Boundaries (4/2/26)

C is for Care (4/3/26)

D is for Daily Ritual (4/4/26)

F is for Food (4/7/26)

G is for Garden (4/7/26)

H is for Home (4/9/26)

I is for Intention, J is for Joy (4/10 &11/26)

K is for Kitchen (4/13/26)

L is for Listening (4/14/26)

M is for Maintenance (4/15/26)

N is for Nurture (4/16/26)

O is for Outreaching (4/17/26)

P is for Patience (4/18/26)

Q is for Quicken (4/20/26)

R is for Roots (4/21/26)

S is for Stewardship (4/22/26)

T is for Tarot (4/23/26)

U is for Understanding (4/24/26)

Part of the Blogging A-Z 2026 Challenge

Until next time,

Leave a comment

Hello friend! My name is Amy. I am so happy you have stopped by 🍃 If you are new here, a warm welcome to you! This space is where I am learning to walk the wise woman road by returning to my true self through seasonal living, reflective writing, nourishing food, intuition, and resilience. Rooted in the rhythms of the earth and my lived experience, these writings are an invitation to slow down, listen inward, and remember what nourishes us. If this resonates with you, I invite you to subscribe and walk the seasons alongside me.

A couple of years ago, I read Valarie Kaur’s book See No Stranger. It was a powerful book, and I was spellbound by it. One particular image that stuck with me and blends beautifully with everything from social justice to walking the wise woman road is the idea of ‘breathe and push’.

“Loving ourselves is a feminist intervention: it is choosing to care for our own bodies and our lives as a priority. In all of our various labors— making a life, raising a family, or building a movement—we can care for ourselves by remembering the wisdom of the midwife: breathe and push. We breathe to draw energy and power into our bodies and let joy in. We push through fear and pain to become our best selves. And in the most convulsive moments of our lives, we can summon our deepest wisdom and find the bravery to transition from one reality to another. Laboring in love is how we birth the world to come.”

The process of tending to ourselves, our families, our hearth and home, is first felt as a quickening. A little flutter of wonder for what we can build and nourish. As we move through the phases of life, our experiences and resulting resiliency place us on the wise woman road. It is a new beginning of sorts, transforming us into who we will become. “The woman who is willing to make that change must become pregnant with herself, at last. She must bear her third self, her old age.”1 Now, I’m not saying that midlife is synonymous with old age, but a new quickening for our third phase.

As we first sense this quickening of our third phase (perimenopause/menopause), we find ourselves awakening. We may start to turn away from the high-stress path that had us jumping through societal hoops with career and child rearing in favor of more intentional tending to ourselves. As we start reducing the external noise, we may begin to gain clarity and hear that lovely inner voice of our intuition. Where does this wise woman’s road lead to? It leads to the birth of a new understanding of our role in the world around us. How exciting is that?

As Valarie said, we must breathe, and push.

To read through my A-Z so far:

A is for Attention (4/1/26)

B is for Boundaries (4/2/26)

C is for Care (4/3/26)

D is for Daily Ritual (4/4/26)

F is for Food (4/7/26)

G is for Garden (4/7/26)

H is for Home (4/9/26)

I is for Intention, J is for Joy (4/10 &11/26)

K is for Kitchen (4/13/26)

L is for Listening (4/14/26)

M is for Maintenance (4/15/26)

N is for Nurture (4/16/26)

O is for Outreaching (4/17/26)

P is for Patience (4/18/26)

Q is for Quicken (this post 4/20/26)

R is for Roots (4/21/26)

S is for Stewardship (4/22/26)

T is for Tarot (4/23/26)

U is for Understanding (4/24/26)

Part of the Blogging A-Z 2026 Challenge

Until next time,

Hello friend! My name is Amy. I am so happy you have stopped by 🍃 If you are new here, a warm welcome to you! This space is where I am learning to walk the wise woman road by returning to my true self through seasonal living, reflective writing, nourishing food, intuition, and resilience. Rooted in the rhythms of the earth and my lived experience, these writings are an invitation to slow down, listen inward, and remember what nourishes us. If this resonates with you, I invite you to subscribe and walk the seasons alongside me.

The kitchen represents the pulse of our home. It is a living, breathing thing with memories that have steeped into its walls. It has seen both hard and joyful times and holds us in a comfortable embrace. Oh, how I wish I had an old-fashioned cooker or a fireplace in our kitchen! When we have company, it naturally becomes the location where everyone gathers, drinking a glass of wine or beer, snacking on tasty treats, and all chattering at once like eager kids on the playground.

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That time is the most enjoyable time of the gathering. It’s the truest time, with everyone animated and sharing openly. It conjures pictures in my head of clans huddled around the fire, telling tales. This picture illustrates how important and comfortable this time is, and how it feels simply like a natural component of our social interactions.

Tastebuds was born

Years ago, a small group of friends got together after being inspired by the movie Julie and Julia. We were a group who all enjoyed cooking, and had yet to attempt to cook together. We began as 4 couples and committed to cooking a 4-course meal together from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. That night was the start of something that has lasted for approaching two decades, and is a big part of all of our kids’ early memories.

That first night, we began to create bylaws for how our cooking club would function. We’d meet every 6 weeks or so, choosing a different chef to focus on. Each couple would be responsible for one course and bring all of those ingredients with them. Here is what was different from other cooking groups. We would then we would all cook the meal together, from start to finish. When the kids were all small, we’d chat while having a glass of wine and chopping onions, cook the kids dinner, feed them first, and then set them up with games or a movie while we started preparing our meal. We began to call ourselves Tastebuds.

Inevitably, we wouldn’t sit down to our first course until we’d settled the kids in bed at 9 pm! Ah, to be young (and I mean us)! I can tell you that as the years have gone by and our various nests have emptied, our dinners now begin in late afternoon and are completed closer to 8 pm!

A few years in, we added a fifth couple, and we have cooked menus around individual chefs, types of cuisine, events, and themes (one menu was the 7 deadly sins)! Many of my best memories are intertwined with this group, and the simple act of gathering together in the kitchen bonded this chosen family.

This is the story of how a recipe box set me on my path in the kitchen.

The Meandering Muse

The Recipe Box

Fall is not only a new start, but it is also a time for reflection. How has the year gone so far? What am I harvesting right now, and what seeds do I want to plant for next season? This got me thinking…..Life is a recipe, but one without instructions. It is just one where you add a bit of this and that and toss in the flavors that you desire…

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8 months ago · 5 likes · 1 comment · Amy Ray 🍃

To read through my A-Z so far:

A is for Attention (4/1/26)

B is for Boundaries (4/2/26)

C is for Care (4/3/26)

D is for Daily Ritual (4/4/26)

F is for Food (4/7/26)

G is for Garden (4/7/26)

H is for Home (4/9/26)

I is for Intention, J is for Joy (4/10 &11/26)

K is for Kitchen—This post

L is for Listening (4/14/26)

M is for Maintenance (4/15/26)

N is for Nurture (4/16/26)

O is for Outreaching (4/17/26)

P is for Patience (4/18/26)

Part of the Blogging A-Z 2026 Challenge

Until next time,

Hello friend! My name is Amy. I am so happy you have stopped by 🍃 If you are new here, a warm welcome to you! This space is where I am learning to walk the wise woman road by returning to my true self through seasonal living, reflective writing, nourishing food, intuition, and resilience. Rooted in the rhythms of the earth and my lived experience, these writings are an invitation to slow down, listen inward, and remember what nourishes us. If this resonates with you, I invite you to subscribe and walk the seasons alongside me.

I’m posting this a day late as my thoughts of this post changed yesterday. Energy is quite a double edged sword isn’t it? I’m writing this coming off a crazy work day that sapped our energy like a sponge. It can happen when an emergency situation happens in the veterinary field; the cortisol push get’s you through, then your energy is sapped.

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This got me thinking that energy is not only the stored up potential of seedlings ready to burst through, or what we say amplifies a busy day. Energy is vital, and it is more than the fight or flight response that happens in stressful situations. It can be a good night’s sleep that propels you into a new day, or a gentle thrum under the surface that fills you with warmth. It can come from a good meal, interactions with a friend, or as a result of doing something you love, to name a few.

What got me thinking yesterday, is above all else, your energy is something that needs to be protected and nourished. Sure, there will be the unexpected that happens. However, if we take the time to take short breaks each day and set boundaries, we can protect ourselves from the mental fatigue that winds up. It will allow us to be more proactive in our responses, instead of reactive, which tends to even further drain energy.

The Good News is if you have been slowly incorporating the habits we have discussed on gratitude, journaling, breathwork, staying grounded etc. you are already beginning to do much of what you need to also protect your energy! For reference here are a few key posts that give tips that can be used to protect our energy.

The Meandering Muse

Staying Grounded

March is always a time of excitement. The longer days inspire grand plans for the outside. Visualizing this year’s garden to be. What we will expand and how we will nourish our souls as we move into the seasons of growth. The hardest part is staying grounded and not getting too far ahead of myself, perhaps inspired by having just ‘sprung forward’ wi…

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2 months ago · 5 likes · 3 comments · Amy Ray 🍃

The Meandering Muse

Winter Listening Rituals

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” — Vincent Van Gough…

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4 months ago · 10 likes · 14 comments · Amy Ray 🍃

The Meandering Muse

Mindset & Menopause~How to Feel More Like Myself?

This season of life does not happen all at once. It is a journey and can be a long one at that. But with journeys also come incredible growth. Beneath the surface, we are slowly emerging into who we will be in our next phase of life. Getting there is a marathon, not a sprint, but it can be quite exciting to ponder what comes next when we come through …

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5 months ago · 4 likes · 2 comments · Amy Ray 🍃

If you would like to see where the A-Z of tending has led us so far, my posts are listed below.

A is for Attention (4/1/26)

B is for Boundaries (4/2/26)

C is for Care (4/3/26)

D is for Daily Ritual (4/4/26)

F is for Food (4/7/26)

G is for Garden (4/7/26)

If you enjoy my free content, consider buying me a coffee to support my work!

Buy me a coffee☕

Until next time,

Hello friend! My name is Amy. I am so happy you have stopped by 🍃 If you are new here, a warm welcome to you! This space is where I am learning to walk the wise woman road by returning to my true self through seasonal living, reflective writing, nourishing food, intuition, and resilience. Rooted in the rhythms of the earth and my lived experience, these writings are an invitation to slow down, listen inward, and remember what nourishes us. If this resonates with you, I invite you to subscribe and walk the seasons alongside me.

April begins a month of tending. I am excited to participate in this year’s A-Z Challenge once again. Getting started with the letter ‘A’ feels like perfect synchronicity with this month’s theme. What better way to tend ourselves and the world around us than by paying attention?

You might wonder what attention has to do with tending? This season is not only for tending our gardens and feeling in sync with nature, it is also for reflecting on the quiet work that we did during mid and late winter and to train our attention to tending to ourselves.

humanity’s greatest potential lies in our ability to pay attention. Everything we think, create, remember and love relies, most essentially, on how we were paying attention in the first place. Before your great idea was born into being, it was first conceived by your attention. The world is bursting with meaningless stimuli. Expressions, movements, objects and experiences all lie dormant until they are brought to life with human attention. This is precisely why two people experiencing the same event can swear to have lived two wildly different realities.

Traumas and tragedies are, in part, searing stories of pain and of darkness—but they are also invitations to open ourselves in ways that we have not previously been opened. The mechanism that does this hallowed work of transformation is gratitude. The change begins when we choose to shine the light of gratitude into the darkest recesses of our minds. Psychology Today

With so many competing stressors; from high speed digital content to 24/7 news cycles inundating our attention spans, the average person’s attention lasts only 47 seconds.1 So how can we get our focus back?

Re-train yourself to really listen. Have you found that in conversation, you will latch onto a comment and then spend the next several seconds creating a response to it in your head, while missing the end of the interaction? It is not uncommon for any of us to want to present our points concisely, however, as a result of this we aren’t truly listening to begin with. Our attention is turned on ourselves and our response instead of being fully engaged with the speaker.

Focus on going back to the basics when it comes to listening. Minimize distractions (yes, silence your phone), pay attention to body language, don’t interrupt and be comfortable in silent pauses, and make your listening judgement free. When you are focusing on the act of listening, your attention will not wander.

Gratitude is important because it trains our attention. Why might this be? When we begin to utilize a gratitude practice, it stems from noticing what is around us and how it makes us feel. Not only does gratitude focus our attention to the here and now, it also gives us the opportunity to tend our minds.2 It takes us from a outlook of lack to one of abundance.

A couple of simple ways to hone attention and tend to yourself.

Over the years I’ve incorporated a couple of steps into my morning routine that help me focus my day.

• While I’m in the shower and take a brief moment to bask in the hot water, I close my eyes and list everything that I am thankful for that morning. Sometimes I simply start by expressing gratitude for having hot water to bask in.

• When I go downstairs and pour my cup of coffee, I stir my creamer in, counterclockwise (as I have to think about that), and I say almost as a mantra; release. This is a cue for me to release all judgment for both myself and others for the day ahead. (A powerful trick I learned 10 years ago while my daughter was in DBT).

These two simple steps at the beginning of the day are a way to focus my attention and tend to myself. I find beginning my day this way makes a huge difference! What ways are you paying attention to what needs to be tended as we enter April?

Check back later in the week, and I’ll link the notes for letters B-D here 🍃

B is for Boundaries (4/2/26)

C is for Care (4/3/26)

D is for Daily Ritual (4/4/26)

If you enjoy my free content, consider buying me a coffee to support my work!

Buy me a coffee ☕

Part of the Blogging A-Z 2026 Challenge

Until next time,

Leave a comment

Hello friend! My name is Amy. I am so happy you have stopped by 🍃 If you are new here, a warm welcome to you! This space is where I am learning to walk the wise woman road by returning to my true self through seasonal living, reflective writing, nourishing food, intuition, and resilience. Rooted in the rhythms of the earth and my lived experience, these writings are an invitation to slow down, listen inward, and remember what nourishes us. If this resonates with you, I invite you to subscribe and walk the seasons alongside me.

Spring is officially here! I feel this time of year throughout my body. The change of light energizes me and it’s almost as if the thawing ground, first herbs and bulbs bursting forth inspire my body to come out of its hibernation. I am craving a new lightness and freshness in my space and on my menu. Early spring brings a gentle medicine. Our bodies naturally begin to crave greens, hydration, fresh herbs, and lighter broths or soups. These are foods that awaken us both body and soul.

Cultures throughout the ages have celebrated the return of spring after a long, harsh winter by eating the first new greens they can find. Native Americans took advantage of fresh, wild plants to supplement their winter diets of dried foods; foraging in woodlands or near streams could bring in an entire meal in some cases.

Mushrooms often sprouted with the renewed moisture of spring; experts had to hunt for this very nutritious, but dangerous food. Women hunted dandelions, wild onions and leeks, ramps, chickweed, poke, and wild mustard (or a related plant called “creasy greens”) as soon as possible since many of these plants get more bitter as they grow older. Even young, tender leaves and shoots can be bitter, but these wild plants are very nutritious and have long been considered a tonic to wake up the liver and kidneys after a long winter diet of dried starches (like beans and pumpkin) and meat.1

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As Spring rises pushing warmer days through the earth, we are beginning to put our plans in motion. This weekend we will seed spinach, radishes and kohlrabi in the garden to jump start our growing season. We are still a few weeks away from foraging the first wild ramps, asparagus, nettles and stalks from our massive rhubarb plant. These early crops whet our appetite for lighter fare soon to grace our kitchen table.

I made one of my favorite spring meals yesterday, Asparagus, Fennel and Spinach soup. It is a must try!!

If you are in an area where spring is in full bloom, I highly recommend harvesting and cooking with nettles.

This herb is a food. Our bodies know how to use the nutrients because we’ve co-evolved with plants—and nettles grow all over the world, so most of us have ancestral ties to this plant. We are evolutionarily familiar with one another. Nettles, like many green herbs that are suitable as food, are easy to digest and assimilate. I think of nettle as an ally that cleans up our inner waterways: the lymph, blood, kidneys, and bladder.2

This recipe is my go to for nettles but I think I’ll be trying several from the article in footnote 2 this season!

What special spring meals are you looking forward to? I’d love to hear in the comments, I’m always looking for new ideas 🍃

If you enjoy my free content, consider buying me a coffee to support my work!

Buy me a coffee ☕

Until next time,

Leave a comment

Hello friend! My name is Amy. I am so happy you have stopped by 🍃 If you are new here, a warm welcome to you! This space is where I am learning to walk the wise woman road by returning to my true self through seasonal living, reflective writing, nourishing food, intuition, and resilience. Rooted in the rhythms of the earth and my lived experience, these writings are an invitation to slow down, listen inward, and remember what nourishes us. If this resonates with you, I invite you to subscribe and walk the seasons alongside me.

This week marks the Spring Equinox. It is when the daylight hours are equal to the hours of darkness once again, now tipping the scales toward longer days and the growing season. We are coming out of the time of deep listening, rest, reflection, and beginning to emerge; much like the tender shoots that are beginning to press through the thawing soil.

As Wisconsin will never be go into spring gently, we began this week with a blizzard and will end it at 60 degrees Fahrenheit. I can’t wait to see what growth will be inspired by the warming temperatures later this week!

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A Light exists in Spring
by
Emily Dickinson

A Light exists in Spring
Not present on the Year
At any other period —-
When March is scarcely here

A Color stands abroad
On Solitary Fields
That Science cannot overtake
But Human Nature feels.

It waits upon the Lawn,
It shows the furthest Tree
Upon the furthest Slope you know
It almost speaks to me.

Then as Horizons step
Or Noons report away
Without the Formula of sound
It passes and we stay —-

A quality of loss
Affecting our Content
As Trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a Sacrament.

Marking, important seasonal days by elaborate rituals or celebrations is not a requirement, and an overwhelming thought for many. Feel free to go all out, and know that a simple recognition of these seasonal markers without adding to our already overly long to-do lists, is just fine too! We can take a cue from the listening and stirring we did in the last two months, and simply add a moment of acknowledgement or reflection.

Simple Seasonal Activities

• Plant some seeds: *tip: if planting wild flowers or a bee/butterfly garden, consider broadcast planting. This is the process of just sprinkling these tiny seeds over the area and gently raking them in, then watering. Easy, Peasy! You can also start some seeds indoors if the weather is still too cold.

• Open windows: now is the time to air out your house, even on a cool day open your windows for 30 minutes, it’s a huge boost to mood to move fresh air through your space.

• Build a bonfire….or heck just turn on your fireplace and set intentions for the new season.

• Take a walk: even if you just stroll around your yard, take a few minutes to listen to the birdsong, see new buds bulging or watch squirrels scurry around.

Whether you celebrate with a party, or just take a moment to acknowledge the day, Happy Spring!

If you enjoy my free content, consider buying me a coffee to support my work!

Buy me a coffee ☕

Until next time,

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This feels like a full circle moment. Ten years ago, I participated in the 2016 A-Z Challenge. The theme was mostly around our family trip to Spain. At that time our daughters struggles were coming to ahead and a mere six weeks later she was hospitalized for the first time. This is when my words began to dry up as we began to navigate the road to her recovery.

Now, ten years later, we are all stronger and have learned humbling life lessons. I began to dabble in this space three years ago, a new place away from my Blogger days, yet it was very comforting to be here, like I had arrived home. Maybe, because I had developed a broader life view, having found resilience I did not know I was capable of, and still staying true to what have turned into the pillars of this space.

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2026 A-Z Challenge will surround April’s theme, tending.

Instead of 26 days in a row of posts. I will be doing a weekly post with a reflection on the word of that day, a journaling prompt and a small tending practice that you can do. The rest of that week’s words will be in the form of photos and short reflections to notes.

The words for this year are:

A is for Attention (4/1/26)

B is for Boundaries (4/2/26)

C is for Care (4/3/26)

D is for Daily Ritual (4/4/26)

F is for Food (4/7/26)

G is for Garden (4/7/26)

H — Home

I — Intention

J — Joy

K — Kitchen

L — Listening

M — Maintenance

N — Nurture

O — Outreaching

P — Patience

Q — Quicken

R — Rooted

S — Stewardship

T — Tarot

U — Understanding

V — Vitality

W — Water

X — Exchange

Y — Yield

Z — Zenith

I can’t wait for you to join me for this fun exercise in April!

To check out this year’s challenge and all of those participating, click Blogging from A-Z in April

Until next time,

Leave a comment

Hello friend! My name is Amy. I am so happy you have stopped by 🍃 If you are new here, a warm welcome to you! This space is where I am learning to walk the wise woman road by returning to my true self through seasonal living, reflective writing, nourishing food, intuition, and resilience. Rooted in the rhythms of the earth and my lived experience, these writings are an invitation to slow down, listen inward, and remember what nourishes us. If this resonates with you, I invite you to subscribe and walk the seasons alongside me.

March is always a time of excitement. The longer days inspire grand plans for the outside. Visualizing this year’s garden to be. What we will expand and how we will nourish our souls as we move into the seasons of growth. The hardest part is staying grounded and not getting too far ahead of myself, perhaps inspired by having just ‘sprung forward’ with our clocks. Here in the northern US, we won’t really see visual emergence until later next month, but what is emerging is not only the stirring of the sap runs and the few early flowers shyly poking their head up through the still snow-covered ground, but also keeping the nourishing pace of late winter myself.

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March is a time that I call mud season. Snow melts come, intermittent rain, and then of course, more surprise snow, always bookended by beautiful ‘false spring’ days. I have been getting outside with loppers and, for the first time, on my own with the chainsaw, usually reserved for B’s projects. I have been removing volunteer bushes, ‘trash trees’, and masses of grapevines that have woven their way around what seems to be everything. It is such a good feeling to get out and clear things. It allows me to visualize the summer garden, and the future home of a chicken coop (oh, I have missed having chickens!) It makes our land look less overgrown in areas that we are manicuring and better highlights what we have let go back to the wild. It is the perfect time for this work as the leaves have not come out, and I can see clearly what needs to be done. As a bonus, I have tons of grape vines to craft into garlands!

So, I guess you could say that early March is the month of emergence before emergence, and a glimpse of April’s theme of tending, done in fits and starts between the unpredictable weather of the month. The trick to staying grounded is without letting emergence tip into urgency (a real challenge for me!)

What can we do to stay grounded in a time of building energy?

Firstly, we need to stay grounded in our bodies. Keep up with our daily rituals, whatever they may be. Focus on what fills your cup.

• Take a walk, noticing what’s around you. Chorus of birdsong, little green shoots popping up through the mulch, how the sun feels on your face.

• Stretch before bed, especially for those of us on the wise woman road, little aches and pains can be greatly eased by stretching and aid in the sleep that is so important.

When our nervous systems are soothed, we are better able to plan and appreciate the season without blowing through it in a frenzy.

Secondly, when you decide to take on a new task, sit with the idea for 24 hours before starting. I am horrible at this! I tend to get an idea and implement it in the same breath, going at it much like a bulldozer. By taking that 24-hour beat, we can approach our exciting ideas with more intention.

Finally, pace yourself, finding your rhythm versus the ‘I’ve got to get it done, now’ mindset is what fosters expansion. Try not to get too caught up in the momentum, remember the quiet months we’ve just come through, and our intention of a slow roll into the season. There will be plenty of time in the months ahead.

How are you approaching the emergence of spring? With Ostara next week, we will reflect on the traditions of the season on the wheel of the year and move forward with what rhythms were important in late winter and what we will take with us into spring.

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The Meandering Muse

Emerging in Rhythm

We have had intermittent weather, some days warm and spring-like, yet as I listen to the gale blowing outside, I am quickly reminded that we are still in the depths of winter. Yet, subtle shifts are still happening all around. Late winter seems to be loosening. It’s a soft nudge. The light is lingering in the evenings, and I’ve seen the first wisps of…

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2 months ago · 1 like · Amy Ray 🍃

Until next time,

Hello friend! My name is Amy. I am so happy you have stopped by 🍃 If you are new here, a warm welcome to you! This space is where I am learning to walk the wise woman road by returning to my true self through seasonal living, reflective writing, nourishing food, intuition, and resilience. Rooted in the rhythms of the earth and my lived experience, these writings are an invitation to slow down, listen inward, and remember what nourishes us. If this resonates with you, I invite you to subscribe and walk the seasons alongside me.

women have long been weavers.

weaving love through our households,

literally through knitting, quilting, making clothes, or

simply by stirring harvested herbs into the meals that sustain.

we tell the stories of our ancestors,

weaving the strands of time so that lessons and wisdom may be dispatched.

these shared stories build community and connection, a common ground from which to support and encourage.

the resulting bond reinforces the strength needed to stand, resist, and protect.

life’s tapestry, interconnected, as we navigate the wise woman road.

Last year’s IWD post:

Until next time,

Part of International Women’s Day with , , , , &

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Hello friend! My name is Amy. I am so happy you have stopped by 🍃 If you are new here, a warm welcome to you! This space is where I am learning to walk the wise woman road by returning to my true self through seasonal living, reflective writing, nourishing food, intuition, and resilience. Rooted in the rhythms of the earth and my lived experience, these writings are an invitation to slow down, listen inward, and remember what nourishes us. If this resonates with you, I invite you to subscribe and walk the seasons alongside me.

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We have had intermittent weather, some days warm and spring-like, yet as I listen to the gale blowing outside, I am quickly reminded that we are still in the depths of winter. Yet, subtle shifts are still happening all around. Late winter seems to be loosening. It’s a soft nudge. The light is lingering in the evenings, and I’ve seen the first wisps of chives starting to poke through in the garden. I feel more awake, energy building, and I feel grounded as the tree roots expand and the sap rises; a little energetic push toward spring.

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Just as we began to stir in February, the awakening and emergence of March is becoming known. It feels like a quiet expectancy, not urgent, a readiness just waiting to break through. I find myself searching the ground, waiting for the first green tips of hyacinth to pop up and marveling at the plumping buds on the trees.

At the end of last year, I began using a monthly theme to highlight and combine what I see as the main pillars of this space. I want you to join me as we walk together the wise woman road, this beautiful rite of passage we undergo, as we become ever more seasoned matriarchs living our lives out loud and following the wheel of the year. I am excited that these first couple of months of the year seem to be building naturally upon one another. I love wrapping my writing in the embrace of seasonal shift.

Emergence can show up differently in all of us. It may feel like an awakening. Energetic, ready to get back outside and move! It can also feel like a craving. Enthusiasm for the freshness of spring, while still wanting to be warm and comforted, like emerging from a cocoon. Listen to your body and follow its cues. As the weather tends to be all too temperamental this month, some days you may feel like getting your hands dirty and digging, and preparing your garden. Other days, you may want to curl up with a good book by the fire. Both answers are right! Do you feel your energy returning, or are you not quite done with winter yet?

Rhythm is the right word for the season. So much of the world around us moves at a fast pace. Demanding reinvention, or new grand ideas. What if we settled into emergence as a rhythm? Why not protect new ideas like seedlings and nurture them?

A small practice for this month:

Take a few moments this week to find a quiet space. Utilize your breath (my breath technique chart is in this post) and notice one place in your life where something feels ready for a little more light. Jot down what comes up and set it aside. Come back periodically this month. Each time you are drawn to revisit it, add a sentence or two. At the end of the month, you will have a seed planted, and we can look forward to April’s theme of growth and tending. 🍃

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Hello friend! My name is Amy. I am so happy you have stopped by 🍃 If you are new here, a warm welcome to you! This space is where I am learning to walk the wise woman road by returning to my true self through seasonal living, reflective writing, nourishing food, intuition, and resilience. Rooted in the rhythms of the earth and my lived experience, these writings are an invitation to slow down, listen inward, and remember what nourishes us. If this resonates with you, I invite you to subscribe and walk the seasons alongside me.

As late winter can feel like a slog and seasonal eating a bit of a drag, I’m including a seasonal recipe that really highlights the flavors of winter in a fresh, light way to stir your taste buds for Spring.

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This salad can have any variation that you choose. It would be great with some diced pears! I said that it serves two, this is a large meal size salad and could easily serve four as a side. An easy time saving tip is to purchase pre-cooked beets. I get a package of vacuum sealed beets from Costco that are perfect to add to salads!

To read February’s other posts on Stirring:

Until next time,

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Hello friend! My name is Amy. I am so happy you have stopped by 🍃 If you are new here, a warm welcome to you! This space is where I am learning to walk the wise woman road by returning to my true self through seasonal living, reflective writing, nourishing food, intuition, and resilience. Rooted in the rhythms of the earth and my lived experience, these writings are an invitation to slow down, listen inward, and remember what nourishes us. If this resonates with you, I invite you to subscribe and walk the seasons alongside me.

It is late February, have you noticed a gentle tug? A stirring deep in your gut, anticipation for what is next? Sometimes this can feel exciting, or in converse, a little anxiety-provoking. This is the stirring of spring deep within you, getting ready to emerge through the soil of your mind. All the seeds of gratitude and reflection we have planted during the quiet listening of January, and the inner-stirring flame lit by Imbolc, are just beginning to germinate and are readying to poke their tender shoots through.

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As a gentle challenge to yourself, take a couple of minutes to page through any journaling or jots about your days that you have done so far this month. If you haven’t done any, no worries, just continue on with the challenge. From now through the end of the month, write a couple of sentences each day beginning with:

I keep noticing….🍃

As we move forward into the spring, any recurring themes will guide us toward areas where we want to grow. Areas of growth can be things you have already been working toward, entering a new phase, or something that has been coming up repeatedly and moving forward from your subconscious. Maybe you aren’t quite ready for this change. Honor that, it’s perfectly fine to feel some reluctance. The end of this month is a good time to acknowledge fears and be grateful for what is emerging without needing to define it. Acceptance of the idea gives us a soft landing space when it fully emerges, like a meadow of tender grass, lush and untouched.

What themes do you find coming up? I find this gentle immersion into the year a steadying force, and goodness knows we need it with the world around us. Even if things like goals or ideas aren’t what’s coming up for you, utilize the prompt. Just answering that one question is a way to process the constant, rapid-fire, disturbing information that we are bombarded with every day. Taking time to note your feelings on the page is like taking a deep breath. It can help to reduce the cortisol hit and interrupt the fight-or-flight response that we find ourselves in.

Here in the Northern United States, we don’t really see spring most years until early May, so for next week’s recipe, I will raid some of my favorite late winter recipes that are lighter and may be more in sync with other areas that are starting to show the first signs of blooming.

If you would like to catch up on February’s theme of stirring:

For my Seasonal Stirring guide:

For the start of my year-long series on food as medicine:

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Until next time,

Hello friend! My name is Amy. I am so happy you have stopped by 🍃 If you are new here, a warm welcome to you! This space is where I am learning to walk the wise woman road by returning to my true self through seasonal living, reflective writing, nourishing food, intuition, and resilience. Rooted in the rhythms of the earth and my lived experience, these writings are an invitation to slow down, listen inward, and remember what nourishes us. If this resonates with you, I invite you to subscribe and walk the seasons alongside me.

A decade ago, a handful of fellow bloggers and I participated in a course on food and culture through MIT. It was an eye-opening course that more deeply informed and gave voice to what B and I were doing here on our farmstead.

Have you ever walked through a fluorescent-lit grocery store and felt a bit like you are having an out-of-body experience? Aisle after aisle stacked floor to ceiling with endless choices of food that is pre-made, highly processed, and filled with a list of ingredients that you need a degree to understand. As this month’s theme is stirring, I thought maybe I would stir your thought process on a concerning paradox. We have never had more food available, and it’s never been less nourishing.

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In the 20th century, beginning with WWII, we began to see the snowball effect of industrialization in our food. Processed foods like canned meats, melt-resistant chocolate, and powdered juice became a part of military kits. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, we began to see chemicals and the beginnings of genetic manipulation for crop growth, and the mechanization of factory farming. Nourishment began to take a back seat to shelf life, efficiency, and profit. What this led to was seasons of sameness with foods available in those fluorescently lit grocery stores, whether in season or not, and our increasingly fast-paced culture, which led to less time in the kitchen.

It is alarming that, as a result of how our food is produced, stripping it down one nutrient at a time, a reliance on processed foods, and a generalized lack of food sense, our children are now expected to have shorter life spans.

As we travel the wise woman road, we begin to reflect on the teachings of our ancestors. Food has not only been a part of survival, but the nutrients are medicine, and the process of making and eating food together is the glue that has held families and communities together. This does not mean that our ancestors had it easy; they worked hard, and feeding their families was only a part of a long day’s work. As we travel this road, it is time to reclaim our intuition and utilize the valuable knowledge that comes from it. Listening to our bodies and using our senses: taste, smell, satiety, and our energy after eating. Returning to ancestral wisdom restores trust in our body, supports healing without guilt, and empowers us.

What returning DOES NOT mean

We do not have to be perfect or grow all of our own food, and we do not need to reject modern life. Instead, we need to bring our attention to our food systems, research our history with curiosity, and have a willingness to slow down.

I invite you to try something this week. Choose one meal and eat it without distraction. Chew your food intentionally and notice the taste and texture. Then notice how your body feels when you are done, without judgment, just take a moment to check in with yourself and notice.

In this series, over the next several months, we will go in-depth into our relationship with food & listening to our bodies, seasonal nourishment, and ancestral kitchens.

Until next time,

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Hello friend! My name is Amy. I am so happy you have stopped by 🍃 If you are new here, a warm welcome to you! This space is where I am learning to walk the wise woman road by returning to my true self through seasonal living, reflective writing, nourishing food, intuition, and resilience. Rooted in the rhythms of the earth and my lived experience, these writings are an invitation to slow down, listen inward, and remember what nourishes us. If this resonates with you, I invite you to subscribe and walk the seasons alongside me.

Subscribe now

If you enjoy my free content, consider buying me a coffee to support my work!

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If you’d like to download a copy of your own, click here:

February Stirring Guide

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Imbolc arrives on Sunday and does not announce itself, it comes in quietly. It is the time when a new season is not quite ready to begin, yet the light lingering longer begins to stir something. This is a season of small flames being lit to symbolize the returning sun and what new growth is yet push through the still frozen ground. At Imbolc, we do not rush toward spring; we tend what is waking, trusting that rhythm will hold us while the stirring finds its way.

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My word for the year is Rhythm and I think now is the perfect time to break that down a little. Spending time listening in January allowed me to slowly and intentionally create a rhythm for the year, a pulse that will be my guiding light: daily rituals, seasonal cycles, breath, nourishment, and rest. Rhythm is a steady practice and with Imbolc, a first stirring of the year begins to move within that rhythm, propelling me forward.

My ideas are beginning to warm, they are not quite ready for germination, but gently readying to break through. I am looking longingly at seed catalogs, not quite planning, but dreaming of the garden to be, my hands itching to get into the soil. As a result, February is also a time for patience and paying attention to that rhythm of the year that is rooting me.

As we move through February, we will start an ongoing discussion about food as medicine. How to be aware of our food systems and with that knowledge some easy practices to expand your kitchen wisdom. I will also share a February stirring guide, and a favorite recipe for the month.

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If you’d like to read a little more about Imbolc, you can look my previous posts below.

Until next time,

Hello friend! My name is Amy. I am so happy you have stopped by 🍃 If you are new here, a warm welcome to you! This space is where I am learning to walk the wise woman road by returning to my true self through seasonal living, reflective writing, nourishing food, intuition, and resilience. Rooted in the rhythms of the earth and my lived experience, these writings are an invitation to slow down, listen inward, and remember what nourishes us. If this resonates with you, I invite you to subscribe and walk the seasons alongside me.

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Over the years, my writing has focused on our family's attention to simpler living, growing our own food, and giving our kids a more free-range upbringing living on our 6-acre homestead. What is not broadly known about me is that B and I have spent years advocating and supporting our daughter, Rhi, through struggles with mental health and anorexia since she was 13 years old (now 24). This topic is very near and dear to my heart, and it felt like a beautiful synchronicity when a couple of weeks ago, I was contacted by the PR firm for , asking if I would be interested in collaborating on a post discussing her upcoming book release! I was honored to be asked, nervous and excited. Who was I to be having a conversation with a pioneering author on disordered eating who had been once interviewed by Oprah!? They were interested in my idea of the Wise Woman Road and how aging changes our growth and perspectives.

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Without further ado, my conversation with Geneen Roth

Amy: Love, Finally is your new book that is coming out on April 21st. I actually got a sneak peek of it. I finished reading it yesterday, and I loved it. It really touched my heart as both a mother and a daughter. I've read a couple of your books, and you write very much based on your life experiences. Some of those experiences have led you to struggle with disordered eating and trauma. How did menopause, or did menopause, affect bringing some of those buried mother-daughter issues to the surface?

Geneen: Well, you know, I would say, in a very roundabout way, that it did, but when I say roundabout, I went into an instant menopause at 42. I had my period one month, and the next month I didn't have my period. And that was that. When I talked to my doctor about this, what she said, and this is kind of the long way into your question, was that all those years of eating disorders really affected my whole system, bleeding, fertility, and things like that. And so it just wasn't a regular, normal progression from bleeding to menopause, hot flashes, things. There was no transition. No transition.

Amy: Wow, that's amazing. So you talk a lot about overeating in your books. Can you tell me a little bit about your anorexic experience? My daughter has been struggling with anorexia for the last 10 years, and went into the hospital for the 1st time at age 14. So I've been her advocate. She's stable right now, I'm just curious what your experience there was, especially since you were coming from kind of a binge. process, correct?

Geneen: Right, I was. By the time I was anorexic, I guess I was already in my early 20s, and I had been binging and dieting since I was 11. And so, let's say, it was about 12 years, maybe even longer. I would say the self-loathing and the self-judgment about my body were so pronounced, and the belief that if I were thin, if I were thinner, always, if I just could be thin, I would be better, it would be better. I would not be suffering like that. It just felt like being thin was the answer to everything.

Amy: In This Messy, Magnificent Life, you discuss the idea of ghost children. I love the metaphor of that, reinforcing these long-standing patterns of self-rejection and hunger; they're almost like your alter egos. Has your relationship with those ghost children changed as you've gotten older?

Geneen: What changed was my understanding that I had interpreted certain things about myself. This is what I ended up writing Love, Finally, about. Mostly, my relationship with my mother, that I had taken her unhappiness, her unhappiness with my dad, and the chaos and violence that we, my brother and I, lived in and amongst, I had interpreted all of that; I really took that in and believed those things. I came to certain basic conclusions about myself. based on how I interpreted what was said and done.

I don't call those ghost children anymore, but I would say that what has developed since This Messy, Magnificent Life is a sense of realizing that there were certain places in my development that just got halted, and almost shrunken. Based on this belief that I was damaged, I was unlovable. I didn't belong. Something was wrong with me, things like that.

Amy: I know you've done masses of different things, from following Pema Chodron and Eckhart Tolle, spending time in India, trying to find every way possible to make sense of and come to terms with yourself. I've got to say I absolutely love Coco in Love, Finally! She sounds like the most amazing, feisty woman you can know. Do you think that it was through your work with her that you really were able to start to separate what you used to think of as the ghost children and process those parts of yourself?

Geneen: Well, a couple of things. I think, without all the work that I had done before, I’m not sure I would have even recognized Coco. You know, or have been able to receive anything she had to say. I think it’s always standing on the shoulders of the people who have come before. I still considered myself a victim. I was the victim of an abusive and violent mother. And so I continued to blame other people. I, at no point, really [was ready], until I met Coco, so that was where I would say the catalyst was, for me to turn towards myself and realize that it was about me. It was about the conclusions that I was making: I’m wrong, I’m damaged, I’m bad, I’m unlovable, through which I continue to see every situation that I encountered in my life.

Amy: One of the things that I really appreciated from what you wrote about on learning from Coco was gently exploring those conclusions. The conclusions that you, or that we all make about ourselves, are based on how the child inside of us reacts to whatever's coming at them. I think that a lot of that is where we, as aging adults, we as the wise women, are learning. We begin to evolve and learn from these things more at this point in life than at any other time. Would you say that that's fair?

Geneen: I would say that with enough experience, trying so many things, and having many of them not dismantle the suffering. When I met Coco, my best friendship of 20 years had just ended, [she] had basically stopped talking to me on the day I got back from radiation for breast cancer. I was crushed. I blame myself for that. I mean, of course, there were moments where I was blaming her, but I felt ashamed of myself. And she [Coco] immediately started pointing me back to myself. by asking me what the first lie was that I told myself about her, Christine. This woman, and it infuriated me that she was pointing me back to myself. Now, if somebody had done that, this vis-à-vis your question about getting older and being wiser... I'm not sure I could have heard that 10 years ago. I'm not sure I would have been into that at all. I think there's something about aging, and about getting older, somehow realizing that a lot of my life is behind me. And now's the time. It's like now or never, sweetheart. Do you want to live fully? Do you want to let go of blame? Do you want to somehow reach your higher [self]?

Amy: What would you like to express to people about your book Love, Finally?

Geneen: One thing I would say is that everything is healable. There is nothing that is not healable. And that it's that we keep seeing our lives, ourselves, and the world through things that were developed before we were 3 or 4 years old. So there's a distortion in the way that we see things, and it's possible to take those lenses off and to see clearly. So I think this is the time to name those lenses, to name what you see in the world, as I wrote in Love, Finally, when you see the world through shattered lenses, the world looks shattered. We see the world based on our wounded conclusions about ourselves. I don't think most people realize that. I think there is an automatic default. I don't think we realize how affected our experience is, how affected it is by the particular conclusions that we make. We're filtering [the world] through our own conclusions, lenses, wounds. And, when you start clearing those, the amount of clarity and ease, and joy, and spaciousness, happiness, that's possible, is limitless.

A huge thank you to Geneen for taking the time to speak with me earlier this week. I felt like I was having an intimate conversation with a friend, and her openness has inspired me to begin taking on some of those difficult topics and conversations so that others do not feel so alone in their experiences. Thank you, Geneen! You can find Geneen on Substack here: Cookies and Consciousness

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Until next time,

Hello friend! My name is Amy. I am so happy you have stopped by 🍃 If you are new here, a warm welcome to you! This space is where I am learning to walk the wise woman road by returning to my true self through seasonal living, reflective writing, nourishing food, intuition, and resilience. Rooted in the rhythms of the earth and my lived experience, these writings are an invitation to slow down, listen inward, and remember what nourishes us. If this resonates with you, I invite you to subscribe and walk the seasons alongside me.

Cold winter days call out for soup simmering on the stove. There is something comforting about the warming aroma in the air. As our focus this month is listening, soup is a perfect counterpart. Soup, by nature, forces us to be methodical, slow down, and, in fact, listen. The rhythmic chopping of vegetables or sipping of the hot sustenance can lead us to inner reflection.

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I gravitate towards Love and Lemons’ Best Lentil Soup each year at this time. It is healthy, flavorful, and easy, and is perfect for batch cooking to freeze or share. The recipe below serves four.

Not only is this warming and healthy, but the ingredients are readily available from your local farmers’ market year-round, and are inexpensive when purchased at your local grocer.

Recipe Tip: I use the ReciMe app for saving recipes, and one of the benefits is that you can put in the number of servings desired, and it will automatically update ingredient volumes for what you need. It also allows you to import anything you’ve saved on Instagram or Tik Tok!

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If you’d like to catch the rest of this month’s series🍃

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I often talk about walking the Wise Woman's road. I thought that I’d share the following explanation by Judith Stafford, as it sums it up perfectly.

“The Wise Woman archetype can be found throughout many cultures and religions. She is often seen as a powerful, wise figure who can help and guide others.

If you look up the word wisdom, it means ‘someone who has the experience, knowledge and good judgement.’

I would also include the following as traits:

• Being authentic and trusting your intuition

• Learning from your mistakes

• Independent and resourceful

• Open to learning new things

• Being non-judgemental as they are aware that they are not perfect

• Wanting to work for the common good rather than self-interest

• When times are difficult, choose the path of compassion and love instead of anger or resentment.

Whatever your definition of a wise woman is, she is someone we should all aspire and work to become.” Judith Stafford

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As we walk this road and have been listening to the quiet this first half of the month, why don’t we take a few minutes to reflect? I’ve posted seven journal prompts below to help guide your thoughts.

Journal Prompts

1. What have I noticed most about listening to the quiet? Does it make me uncomfortable, or does the quiet calm me?

2. What little daily routine have I incorporated this month to embrace silence?

3. Visualize your inner wise woman. What does she look like? What energy is she giving off?

4. What am I doing when I am being my most authentic self?

5. When was the last time that I listened to my intuition?

6. What do I want to carry with me into February?

7. What can wait until Spring?

Next week, as we close out January and the process of listening to the quiet, I’ll pop on with a favorite recipe for a nourishing soup to warm us.

I am trying something new 🍃 If you enjoy my free content, consider buying me a coffee to support my work!

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If you’ve missed the first couple of weeks of our January theme of Listening, you can find them below.

Until next time,