Lately my senses have been overwhelmed with fresh spring inputs:  The scent of wet, warming earth as I walk the dogs, tangy homemade yogurt so clean-tasting, strong sunshine bathing my face, birds singing their heads off, and bright yellow daffodils goofily nodding their blossoms in the wind.  I just have to love springtime!

The senses, though, are really overlooked by a lot of people.  It is so easy to hardly step outside these days or to never taste real food or smell a naturally fresh scent.  Wet clothes?  I'm laughed at when I tell people I do not use a dryer other than sun and wind.  Growing your own food?  From seed?  I get really blank stares.  It's easy to feel like an alien, but I wouldn't exchange my life for other people's weird worlds.

Yes, it's more effort to cook, hang laundry out, walk dogs everyday, and grow seeds right up into plants to eat.  But when I fall asleep on sheets that just dried out in the sun the sleeping is so deep and satisfying.  And when I grow kale from their tiny seeds that I harvested last year to plants that are 3 feet tall, the salad and soups I make from their leaves taste like nothing else.  Walking outside everyday, watching the seasonal changes and breathing that fresh air brings a calm that cannot be matched.

It is sad to me that many people miss these natural sensual pleasures.  Big-corporate America has convinced them that they need "air fresheners." Read:  chemicals that saturate your body and environment.  Oh, and that they are too busy for anything other than "convenience" food. Read:  food laden with chemical flavoring and coloring because it has been processed beyond death of every natural and healthful component in it.  Exercise?  They must need machines for this.  Sorry, but I'm laughing now.  Exercise machines?  There's a reason they tend to collect wet laundry! 

I wish people would stop wasting money, time and energy buying into the advertising gimmicks they are fed through the media.  Learn to taste real food, smell really fresh scents, feel the sun and wind on your actual face, watch something grow, listen to the birdsongs.  Welcome to my weird springtime world!!  

It's April and still freezing outside at times, but the garden is coming along.

Laundry drying rack hard at work.

Homemade Yogurt

Heat milk to 180 degrees.  Cool to 110.  Add starter (about 1/4 cup yogurt which contains live and active cultures.)  Stir and place on a heating pad on low (check that it keeps the yogurt right near 110 degrees) for 6-8 hours.  Chill.  Enjoy with raw honey and fruit or any way you like.  (Don't forget to pull out 1/4 cup to use as starter for the next batch!)