Important dates:

Weekly: pre-order bouquet drop off at LilJumbo Coffee Company in Old Washington, Kentucky for pickup between 9 and 2. Call or text or email us ahead of time to order yours anytime by Friday morning when we cut flowers.

September 1, 2025: monthly email subscription giveaway drawing.

September 21, 2025: SAVE THE DATE! We will be hosting a sound bath + flower day here at the farm. More details to come but it is going to be on a full-moon so lets get together!

Perriee is at the farmers market selling some flowers and garlic today. I am home for the next couple of days in between week one of four weeks of treatments up in Northern Kentucky, so she let me stay home to fill my cup with cats, the land and our home. If you want to know what is goin on in treatment land, feel free to ask (long story, short, I should be fine), but what I really want to share is what I filled my time with when I was NOT doing that (although the people I interacted with there are lovely too, plus the flowers I brought them Monday were there every day to look at when I was coming and going which made MY days brighter). Get you a life partner who supports you like Perriee supports me. She is my angel incarnate.

Instead of staying in a hotel or other rented accommodations, I chose to camp at Big Bone Lick park for the week. People said, “but won’t you be uncomfortable sleeping on the ground?” and “wont it be too hot that week?”. To both of those questions I can answer now, yes, which I knew would be the case going into it that I would be sleeping on the ground in the height of summer heat and humidity. Us humans have come to expect to be a perfect temperature and without pain all of the time. This is a standard I wholeheartedly reject. Electric heating and air are not promised. Bodies deteriorate like flowers. We have to learn how to LIVE in spite of that. I suck at it, promise, promptly turning into a jerk when recovering from surgery in May, angry at the world for my inability to do things I wanted. This past week camping was merely some practice. Anyhow, the nighttime is the only time it got a little dicey, comfort-wise. Campgrounds are cooler than the hot parking lots of the city, every time.

We have to reteach ourselves how to thrive in less than ideal conditions. Know when to rest and how to seek shelter. Perriee and I are outside a lot all year round, and when the sun is blazing we take breaks inside or in the shade and plan activities out in the snow and ice when it is sunny, hats and gloves on, with a thick layer of cream on our cheeks to block the winds. Let us not forget that people sleep on concrete every night in the peak of summer while dreaming of a soft bed in an air-conditioned room. Incidentally, a woman asked if I was sleeping on the streets as I was waiting for Perriee to pick me up on Friday from the clinic, observing my tent and sleeping bag and other belongings I brought along with me. Unhoused people get cancer too. Hope that they also get treatment. That thought gives me pause.

The hot nights and the hard ground did not make the whole week however. I had a good book to read and one to listen to (smart phones are good for something). When the raccoons were out looking for snacks in the middle of the night, one time at my tent wall, attracted by the scent of my fancy ETC Produce sourdough loaf, I opened my book and read a few pages until I drifted off for another mid-night nap. That morning, I gathered my snacks and headed to the bathhouse before sunrise, having it all to myself as the rest of the folks in their RV’s and campers (the art of tent camping is clearly dying) slept into the dawn of the day. Experiencing the week in that way gave me a way to focus outside of the reason for being there. Each move had to be thoughtfully calculated to ensure I made it back and forth to my appointments. Creativity to fill the time in between was most important, ensuring my racing brain could remain on a road of intention as opposed to its usual anxiety and worry about everything. I got to be completely spontaneous, making plans on the fly to see old friends and even some new ones.

First stop after getting my nature BINGO card and combo whistle-compass at the camp store was to peep around the park I was staying at, making sure I saw the bison who calmed my spirit by allowing me to observe them up close for a bit. I took a chance on the hiking path the park attendants told me might be too muddy, and was greeted with serenity, some wildlife and a much cooler walk back to my campsite as it was one of those high humidity, high temperature days.

Tuesday was a banger, getting picked up at the clinic by my friend Jimmy Longbottom (Longbottom Bird Rescue) who let me help him respond to a few inquiries about some domestic ducks who were abandoned at some places around Cincinnati. It was both heartbreaking and exhilarating, ending the adventure by capturing a roughly 8-week-old duckling just getting her quack. She was left by someone at an apartment complex pond, fending for herself with some Canada Geese (I mean- the friendly Canadian extends all species) who are able to fly away from predators and find food elsewhere when needed. Please consider donating to his nonprofit rescue but most of all, for the love, do not dump feed store ducks of any age at parks or ponds. It will not end as well as this one did.

I attended two happy hours and got to see ex-coworkers, now just friends, who are usually too far to visit. Two of my very favorites happen to share the same last name, one of which picked me up at 21C in Cincinnati to help me get to one of the gatherings. I made it back to camp that evening by way of another who happened to live near the campground I was staying at. We had been at opposite ends of the table so it was just lovely to get some time to reconnect and share. Before the museum that day, I took the bus to Covington and found my friend Colleen (check out her pottery) at North South Baking Company and it felt like I was walking into The Planet on an episode of the L Word. The planets had to have been aligned as Madee of MJ’s Coffee Roastery was there, who I have not seen since our last time at Flock back in early summer. It was a pure trifecta of queerness only to be improved upon if our amazing signifs were there beside us.

Have you ever read the story of Buddah? A refresher is needed for myself, but it is about Siddhartha Gautam who relinquished all possessions and relied on the kindness of others for survival. Midway through the week, memories of this story were surfacing and really resonating with me. The best part of it were all of the beautiful interactions I would have never had if I drove back and forth between the farm each day, or if I had my own vehicle to take myself between the campground and clinic. I would have missed my Uber driver who shared the story of the peace lily she cares for so deeply and hugged me tight before going into my second appointment. There would be no awareness that there is no bus shelter right at the stop outside the cancer cente at St. Elizabeth in Edgewood, headed towards Cincinnati. I was told there is one on the Crestview Hills side, and now I won’t shut up about it at the clinic. Most likely, I would have missed that happy hour where I met a person who has local connections to a sweat lodge that my soul has been missing since freshman year of college when I used to attend a weekly ceremony while my roommates were out getting wasted on Saturday nights in Radford. I never would have eaten a whole plate of food from KungFood Amerasia in Covington, redeeming my shoddy choice of food from the evening prior. There would be no memories of a raccoon trying to steal my bread or walking right past so many peaceful deer. The hug I got to give Perriee on Friday would not have been as tender.

Anyhow, do whatever you can to shop local and meet your farmers and producers. If you have the money and don’t need the food, buy some for your neighbor. I will not stop screaming about how impactful you can be by diverting even ten dollars of your cash to a local business by buying a handmade bar of soap or some tomatoes or carrots or eggs, all things you use anyway. If you want to make positive change in the world, it is so simple to do the minimum.

George wanted you to know this: vfcgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

PS: I never turn down someone wanting to pray for me, as any positive exchange of our precious energy is so special and powerful. Furthermore, I lean into any person who follows a practice that uplifts one another and the earth. All I ask is to not just spend that time on me, as an individual. Include in the prayers everyone who is suffering from the consequences of the poisons we have blanketed our Earth with (kind of includes all of us…all eight billion of us). And stop using poison. Peace.