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Writer's pictureKelly

Hello, 2023!


For the past couple of months, Freya has been waking me up each day around 2:30 am. No matter the time, when she scratches at the door, I get up and offer her cuddles, a bone, and my companionship- in that order. I suspect as an LGD breed, everything in her is hard-wired to be watching over other animals throughout the night, protecting them from predators. I have the sense that she wakes me up because she is lonely and missing her herd, and it breaks my heart.


In the early hours of the pre-sunrise morning, I remind her that 2023 is almost here and this will be the year we bring our new family home. Though tired, I try to stay mindful of the blessings that the 2:30 am hour offers such as the ability to get a jump start on a busy workday and witness amazing sunrises.


Coffee is available all day long. When at Rivendell, the old Coleman camp stove and percolator keep us going. The secret to using a percolator is to (a) ignore the fill-line and (b) let it percolate for about five minutes.

We've a sumac tree growing in the construction zone. I've started to cut it down. It saddens me to have to remove something so pretty but it felt important that I remove it instead of a big bulldozer.

I'm not able to cut down the thicker branches, but my mini chainsaw does the trick with the smaller ones. I highly recommend this gardening tool. I purchased mine here.


It's nice to know that these branches can be repurposed into wood chips for the garden.

After feeling confident I had the perfect recipe and the black sage leaves had sufficient time to naturally infuse the oils, I made a large batch of black sage ointment. I poured numerous tester jars and will be asking friends and family to try it out. The ointment is silky-smooth and has a eucalyptus lemon balm smell. Though clearly I am biased, I happen to think it is the best ointment I've ever used.

As Paul and I have worked the land these past months, we've had many evenings of achy muscles. I wanted to create something natural and organic that Paul and I could use to help with the ache. Well, we now have it. As I shared in a previous post, black sage is known for its medicinal uses (pain and inflammation) and I'm a strong believer.

Lenny is, too! The ointment is great for little paws that easily become dry and irritated.


The recipe I developed was intentionally made-safe for animals and accidental consumption (aka dogs who lick their paws), inspired by Lenny's needs and the dissatisfaction with products we've tried in the past.

Paul and I bought a potted little Christmas tree for Rivendell. We'd like to make planting a Christmas tree each year, a new Rivendell tradition. Some of my favorite trees are oak, weeping willow, and pine. Right now, I have half a dozen weeping willow cuttings taking root, and a packet of 50 pine seeds ready to be planted.

This New Year's Eve will be an important one for us. The new year will require us to work harder than what we ever have. It will require a steadfast commitment to our mission and the ability to let go of our old life. We will be significantly downsizing our home and building a new one. We will be putting our development plans to the test and begin to build the animal homes and lower pasture. And...most importantly, we will open our hearts to new furry family members who will come to live with us at the sanctuary.


Hello, 2023!

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