Sally Voris

Touched by Turkeys

This spring, I bought six poults on a whim for half-price at the local hardware store. Now families will feast on two birds at Thanksgiving, ending a season rich with experience and emotion.

“Gobble doesn't do the sound justice,” a visitor said on Sunday. I agreed. For me, a gobbler is like an Italian tenor striding across the . . .

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November 21, 2018

The Adventures of an Almost Independent Tough Old Bird

I considered calling a professional chimney sweep last spring when the stove began smoking. I heat the old farmhouse with a wood stove, “The Boss.” In February, it keeps me warm and the pipes from bursting. Toward the end of the season, I ran out of seasoned firewood and began using green wood. After the stove began smoking, I . . .

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October 31, 2018

A Shared Currency

I walked into the basement of the local church last week to peel apples for the church's apple butter festival. Some twenty older adults worked steadily; one or two welcomed me. I reveled in the buzz of activity, but felt slightly out of place. Though I had lived in the area for 14 years, my roots were in a small town near Baltimore. These . . .

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October 10, 2018

An Uncommon Art

To dance with life is

An uncommon art.

To waltz with the moment

To partner with wild, elemental forces

Beyond our conscious knowing

Moving with streams of energy,

that flow invisibly

From Heaven to Earth

From outer to inner

From light to darkness

From life to death

And back again.

. . .

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September 27, 2018

An Unexpected Flood

We should have known the flood was coming: a flood of weeds grew in the garden after our recent drenching rains. Now, mid-September, the forecasts called for more rain over the weekend; the ground was already saturated.

When I created the garden more than ten years ago, I created raised beds, four feet across, with trenches in between . . .

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September 18, 2018

A Delightful Day

Such a rich tapestry of life unfolded yesterday! I had called for help! Forecasters predicted four more days of rain, with the potential for eight inches of rain from Hurricane Florence. Last weekend, our local creek closed our road as five inches of rain fell on ground already soaked. I wanted to pull the carrots and leeks out of my garden . . .

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September 16, 2018

Spider Web Season

Yesterday, mist hung heavy as I slogged across squishy wet ground and into the garden. There droplets hung together like a jeweled necklace on the underside of the stem of a tithonia, the bright-orange Mexican sunflower. On the adjacent flower, tiny droplets danced on another spiral web. “Spider web season!” I exclaimed to . . .

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September 12, 2018

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