Last weekend we camped as owners on our land. We set up our tent in the middle of the clearing that will soon be home to the yurt. We walked the land, relishing the sense of ownership. We played in the stream, took photos, and made plands. We even planted! Saturday we dug up some of the plants we'd scattered around the apartment yard and brought them out to the land. We were able to move all of our lilies, some mint, lemon balm, yarrow, and a few others to their new home. The plants thrilled to the new soil - they seemed completely at ease there and eagerly stretched their root down into the good dirt. It is a promising start - I can tell our new land nourishes beauty and I enjoy being there with the sunlight and the trees all around me.

We have so many young birches on the land - they make me think of wood-nymphs: naked and laughing under the shadows of larger trees. Birches bend so gracefully, they're so bright white against the forest. In the winter, though, I worry for them; they shiver and long to move them together, under a large, old pine whose needles will keep away the cold.