end of summer | Loisaida Nest

I spent the summer in a 1976 Marlette trailer home in the northern Catskill mountains. Our rural homestead is totally off the grid, without electricity (until this summer) or running water. I love that when you stand at the mailbox and look down the road, you don’t see any electrical poles. It makes me think, what a pristine place, so pristine that I once saw a fisher cat cross the road in full daylight. A fisher cat is a creature so wild that it only exists in a place where nature is in balance and the forests are deep. At the end of summer, yellow goldenrod in full bloom grows thick on the side of the road and the colors of the vegetation change and take on a muted hue – soft purples and maroon start to appear among the lush green leaves.

This summer we installed an off the grid solar energy system (more on that to come), we made a lot of good meals, getting our vegetables from our neighbors “honor system” style roadside stand and our eggs and meat from our friends at Heather Ridge Farm. I am now spoiled by the eggs with bright orange yolks laid by happy hens who peck in a garden eating bugs and other good things. We gathered with beloved friends around bonfires and listened to the coyotes at night. We swam in the inky black water of ponds as smooth as glass and in swimming holes underneath waterfalls. The smell of the last hay harvest was always in the air.

So long summer – see you next year.