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A Writer's Reflections on Nature and Culture
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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  

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Posted in Homesteading, Sustainable Food, Wildlife Encounters | Tagged bears, fruit, photography, trees, wild | 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….

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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.

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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….

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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.  

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

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  

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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….

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

Wolf howling on glacial erratic at Little America Flats.  Source: Jim Peaco, National Park Service (public domain)

Erratica

By Elizabeth Enslin on April 29, 2010

Last week, I started writing and sharing photos around an idea I’m tentatively calling, Rocks I Have Loved. I’m not sure where that idea is going yet. It might be a series of posts, a photo album, a sequence of poems and/or essays, or nothing. I should clarify that I use the term “rocks” loosely to refer to caves, piles or layers of rocks, canyons, mountains, mountain ranges. This week, I consider one rock I should have loved from a distance….

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Posted in Around the Northwest, health, Recent, Rocks I Have Loved | Tagged geology, hiking, rock climbing, rocks, wild | Leave a response

Bushy Tailed Woodrat, Northeast Oregon, 2009

Bushy-Tailed Woodrat: Species of the Week

By Elizabeth Enslin on February 19, 2010

Tomorrow, we drive to NE Oregon to spend a week or so in our yurt (and a few other places). The creature I fear most on this trip is not the cougar, wolf or porcupine. It’s much smaller. Most females and the younger males of the species could fit into the palm of my hand….

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Posted in Recent, Species of the Week, Yurt Living | Tagged archaeology, climate change, Homesteading, mammals, wild | 4 Responses

Waking to the New Year in a Treehouse

Waking to the New Year in a Treehouse

By Elizabeth Enslin on January 1, 2010

I woke to the first day of 2007 in a treehouse in Northern Laos. That set a standard for New Year’s celebrations that I’ll probably never live up to again. It was just me, my partner Jerry, and all the wildlife of Bokeo Nature Reserve. We could have joined eight other travelers at the main treehouse for a night of revelry, but we longed for solitude….

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Posted in Eco Travel, Recent, World Travel | Tagged creative nonfiction, nature writing, photography, wild | 3 Responses

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About Elizabeth Enslin

A writer based in Oregon, I look for inspiration and distractions in nature. An anthropologist, I ponder the places where nature and culture meet. A kitchen gardener, I promote biodiversity and learn from farming traditions around the world. A recovering academic, I try to do all with compassion and humor.

Find out more about me here, or at elizabethenslin.com.

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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...

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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.

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