What does it mean to live with integrity while remembering to care for ourselves? A quiet October morning brings reflections on gratitude, motherhood, seasonal change, and the small ways we show up for ourselves and others.
During a relentless East Tennessee drought, the streams are low, the elderberry cannot be moved, and nearly everything is wilting. Yet purslane remains—holding water, nourishment, and a lesson about surviving our own dry seasons.
This weekend at Tremont Institute, I came to learn about aquatic ecology. I left thinking about rivers, resilience, and how nature never resists change—it simply finds another path.
After a sudden bicycle accident leaves my husband needing surgery for a shattered elbow, I find myself sitting alone in a waiting room reflecting on caregiving, guilt, herbal medicine, and unexpected change. This Field Note shares honest moments from the surgery center, the plants helping us heal at home, a mysterious Pandora sphinx moth, and the quiet realization that healing isn't only about broken bones—it can also become the beginning of a new chapter.
