Spring is Coming!

Mar 21, 2019

Ducks and chickens living together...and loving the mountain sunshine.

Spring is Coming!

Robins hop about in the yard. The year's first pairs of bluebirds check out the local accommodations. Mourning doves coo us awake as the sun rises. Black-capped chickadees sing their no-frills, two-note love song: "Deeeaar One." While chickadees (along with tufted titmice, nuthatches, and several kinds of woodpeckers) have remained here through the winter, robins, bluebirds and doves, avian harbingers of early spring, have been away for awhile. Where have they been? If only I had affixed a wee GoPro to their feathered heads! If only I could see what they have seen in the months since we last shared this ridge. I'm so happy to greet them, these pioneers on the leading edge of the wondrous waves of bird life that inhabit this land now through October. Merely imagining the winged beauty to come fills me with far too uncommon anticipation.

See Winter at Brightside

Our eighth showing at the Winter Blues Farmers Market, February 16, was our best ever! The statewide market, held at the Charleston Civic Center and sponsored by the WV Department of Agriculture and the WV Extension Small Farm Center, was, by any measure, an impressive array of homegrown entreprenuership. We're very proud to be part of this community.
When you buy local, you're a force multiplier for the WV economy!

Got Herbal Tea? We do!

Wildgrown Herbal Teas are the original vitamin water. Calorie-free and rich in antioxidants and trace minerals often lacking in our modern diets, herbal infusions provide a convenient way to ensure we receive the phytonutrients (plant-based nutrients) our bodies need to maintain a healthy immune system and fight disease. Go Tea!

Lavender Soaps are back!

Good news for lovers of Miss Clyde's soaps: Lavender-scented soaps are back! In addition to the traditional 4oz artisan mold and 6oz bath bar, I also have two NEW offerings: A super-sweet 3oz heart (pictured) and a set of 5 delightful goatmilk guest soaps in an eco-friendly abaca fiber bag. Switching to soap made with raw goat milk really can benefit your skin’s health! Shop online now.

Why is Goat Milk Soap better for your skin?

Goat milk soap is wonderful for people with dry or sensitive skin, or conditions such as eczema and psoriasis. It is also perfect for keeping healthy skin looking and feeling wonderful. Unprocessed, raw goat milk fresh from the farm contains the following beneficial ingredients:

Alpha hydroxy acids, which remove dead skin cells.
Vitamin A, which is necessary to repair damaged skin tissue.
Cream, which actually moisturizes the skin.
Selenium, which has a role in preventing skin cancer.

At Brightside, we blend our goat milk with sustainably harvested olive, coconut and palm oils, sodium hydroxide, and organic essential oils. We also offer our soap unscented. From the very first lather, we guarantee you'll feel the difference. Check out our shop.

The growing season begins...
With the first lettuce, kale and collard seeds planted in a warming greenhouse, I feel as if a starting gun has fired: And we're off! Off on a very time-sensitive race to plant and tend and harvest during the six or so months ahead. And also, contrarily, a race to wait. To watch and listen. To smell, taste, and hopefully, learn. Again. What a classroom!

Better Know an Herb: Coltsfoot
A true harbinger of spring, Coltsoot (Tussilago farfara) is the very first wild herb to bloom along the roadsides in our neck of the woods. Also known as "son before father" because, notably, the yellow blooms appear well before the heart- or hoof-shaped leaves, Coltsfoot was the symbol for an herbalist in ancient Greece and for the apothecary during the Middle Ages. Indeed, for centuries this little plant, native to Europe and Northern Asia, has been considered strong medicine, highly valued in the treatment of coughs and bronchial congestion. Brought here as essential medicine by colonists beginning life in an unknown land, it's now naturalized throughout North America. Try it!

What is life?
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the winter time.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass
and loses itself in the sunset.
Crowfoot, Blackfoot

photo@Brightside Acres March 18, 2019

Thanks for stopping by. See you soon!