Yips and Howls
A Writer's Reflections on Nature and Culture
  • Home
  • About
  • Biodiversity
    • Species of the Week
    • Wild Encounters
    • Wild Plants
  • Writing
  • Photos
  • Main Website
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
}

Elizabeth Enslin

Elizabeth Enslin

I’m a literary nonfiction writer, part-time yurt dweller, fourth-generation Oregonian, kitchen gardener, mother, anthropologist, and naturalist. I love frogs, snakes, bats, and the sound of coyotes howling. Some of my writing has been published in The Gettysburg Review, Crab Orchard Review, Fringe Magazine, Opium Magazine and others. I’m currently completing an ethnographic memoir – Sacred Threads – on my experiences as anthropologist, mother, and daughter-in-law working with a politically active Brahman family in rural Nepal. I’ve taught college and high school and currently serve part-time as a graduate advisor for the Master of Arts Program in Environmental Studies at Prescott College in Arizona.

Blushing pear

Race for the Pears

By Elizabeth Enslin on August 29, 2010

It’s that time of year again, when my taste buds give up on peaches and berries and begin longing for crunchy pears and apples. We have a lovely old pear tree above the old homestead on our land. Every year, I wait for the pears to ripen… …and every year, the competition beats me to  

...read more

Posted in Homesteading, Sustainable Food, Wildlife Encounters | Tagged bears, fruit, photography, trees, wild | Leave a response

Orion on the Horizon

Orion on the Horizon

By Elizabeth Enslin on August 23, 2010

Good news on the professional front….

...read more

Posted in Kudos, Publication, Recent | Tagged awards, creative nonfiction, literary nonfiction, Orion Magazine, publication | Leave a response

Temptation in the Apple Trees

Temptation in the Apple Trees

By Elizabeth Enslin on July 6, 2010

Last week, I spent an afternoon in the old apple orchard to check out the bird nesting scene. The cows found this fascinating….

...read more

Posted in Recent, Wildlife Encounters | Tagged birds, cows, photography, predators, reptiles, wild | 17 Responses

Edging forward

Wren Independence Day

By Elizabeth Enslin on July 4, 2010

The house wrens nesting on our yurt porch chose this morning, the 4th of July, to shoo their young ones out of the nest.

...read more

Posted in Recent, Seasons and Rituals, Wildlife Encounters | Tagged birds, holidays, Humor, nature, photography, wild | 3 Responses

Elderberry flower cluster

Elderberry Bloom

By Elizabeth Enslin on June 28, 2010

Elderberries are blooming in northeastern Oregon….

...read more

Posted in Biodiversions, Homesteading, Recent, Sustainable Food, Sustainable Gardening | Tagged food, photography, trees, wild, wildflowers | 7 Responses

Nettles in the hog sheds

When Life Gives You Weeds…Eat ‘Em

By Elizabeth Enslin on June 11, 2010

With all the rain out over the last few weeks and the challenges of getting the summer garden in, I’ve been grateful for food that sprouts with no effort on my part. I might not want stinging nettles in my cultivated garden, but I like having a patch on a distant corner of our property.  

...read more

Posted in Recent, Sustainable Food, Sustainable Gardening, Wild Plants | Tagged food, Homesteading, nature, Sustainable Gardening, wild | 5 Responses

Steaming bowl of gundruk soup.

Gundruk Saves the Day

By Elizabeth Enslin on June 4, 2010

Rain.  Day before last, it was relentless.  We had a reprieve yesterday, and I got some planting done, but most of my garden is flooded and impossible to work.  I’m already a week or two behind.  In this short season, that could mean a lean year for vegetables. So when I woke at five this  

...read more

Posted in Recent, Sustainable Food, Sustainable Gardening, World Travel | Tagged food, Nepal, patience, Sustainable Gardening | 2 Responses

Note the lovely platform to keep our feet out of the mud.

Shower Under the Apple Tree

By Elizabeth Enslin on May 28, 2010

People often ask me what it’s like to live in a yurt. As I wrote in an essay published in The Smoking Poet last Fall, much of the living goes on around the yurt rather than in it. And that’s as it should be with a shelter traditionally used by nomads. Take the shower. There’s  

...read more

Posted in Homesteading, Recent, Yurt Living | Tagged beauty, Homesteading, photography, yurts | Leave a response

Domestic Challenges, Wild Beauty

Domestic Challenges, Wild Beauty

By Elizabeth Enslin on May 23, 2010

I’m ecstatic to be back on our property in Northeastern Oregon.  There’s lots to do: organizing inside the yurt to make cooking and storage more convenient, building a spring box and laying pipe to get potable water into the yurt, putting in the garden.  And there are many challenges: a muddy road, cars that get  

...read more

Posted in Images, Recent, Sustainable Food, Wild Plants, Yurt Living | Tagged beauty, Homesteading, photography, Sustainable Gardening, wild | Leave a response

Save the Frogs Day 2010

Save the Frogs Day 2010

By Elizabeth Enslin on April 30, 2010

Today is Save the Frogs Day. Over 2000 species are threatened with extinction….

...read more

Posted in Biodiversity, Politics and History, Recent | Tagged amphibians, political action, wild | Leave a response

Popular Posts

Next »

  • Topics
  • Tags
  • Calendar

Around the Northwest Biodiversions Biodiversity City Parks Cultural Diversity Eco Travel Explorations Featured Following the News haiku health Homesteading Humor Images Kudos NaPoWriMo On Blogging Pacific Northwest travel Pets Poetry Politics and History Publication Readings Recent Rocks I Have Loved Seasons and Rituals Social media Southwest Travel Species Humor Species of the Week Sustainability Sustainable Food Sustainable Gardening Travel Wildlife Encounters Wild Plants wordpress World Travel Writing Writing Process Yurt Living

amphibians beauty blogging books childhood climate change cows creative nonfiction cultural anthropology desert exploration food holidays Homesteading Humor inspiration literary nonfiction maturity memoir music nature nature writing Nepal nostalgia Obama oceans passion patience photography photography play Poetry rhythm sex snow species standard poodles stories Sustainable Gardening twitter web design wild wildflowers wordplay wordpress

September 2010
M T W T F S S
« Aug    
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930  

Recent Comments

  • Elderberry Bloom 
    • suzi smith: our flowers are fading in the uk… i love the elder, especially the older trees. An elder orchard...
    • Mike B.: You’ve got a great site! Unfortunately, we have tons of RED elderberry which are poisonous- but the...
    • Patricia J. O'Brien: I feel like I took a stroll through your woods and learned something new and wondrous. Thank...
  • When Life Gives You Weeds…Eat ‘Em 
    • Jennifer (ponderosa): You have clover among your miner’s lettuce. Can people eat clover? My guinea pigs love...
    • arati: ver y cool :)
  • Photos 
    • Nicole Raisin Stern: Hello Elizabeth and greetings from Kyoto, Japan. I found your website via a Pacific Yurts...

Networking

Nature Blog Network
Read Write Poem

Blog Carnivals


Festival of the Trees

Tweets

  • Our new farm website is up and running. Guess that makes it official: I am now a professional garlic farmer. http://ow.ly/2yCWD #profood
  • Grilled Walla Walla Sweets are becoming one of my all-time favorite foods.
  • Survived the city & big box stores. Happy to be back in #yurt with crickets chirping and rain pattering on roof.
  • is in the big city ... of Lewiston, ID fortifying herself with a cappuccino and sandwich before tackling the big box stores.
  • Didn't expect a day of thinning ponderosa pine to be so satisfying.

Blog Bling

Thanks Erin, Carole, and
Irene.

Copyright Elizabeth Enslin 2010 Yips and Howls. Please don't copy or use any content on this site (including photos) without permission. Powered by WordPress and Hybrid. Log in

Technorati
Blogged
Blog Directory
Non-Fiction Blogs - Blog Catalog Blog Directory
Blogher