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Category: Outdoors

The Softening

Posted on March 18, 2025March 21, 2025 by Melissa Perley

What I have always found fascinating about weather in Vermont is how, after only a lifetime here, I am able to detect the arrival of a new season without the benefit of a calendar. March arrived in full lion-glory, a snow storm with wind creating mini tornadoes chasing each other across our road. On the…

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Continuing To Spread

Posted on December 1, 2024December 2, 2024 by Melissa Perley

Yesterday I opened the front door and found three Wyandotte hens looking at me quizzically, none of us where the other expected. It took me a second to believe my eyes as we have a large pen that connects to the sheep paddock where the chickens live, the fence is very high and has an…

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Another Chance

Posted on November 5, 2024November 6, 2024 by Melissa Perley

October, so full of color. Walking down our road I pull my sunglasses down onto my nose so I can see with a proper filter. Everything looks like a party until the north wind begins to whisper, cold rain riding its back. Suddenly there are only a few tenacious leaves swinging precariously from their branch,…

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Bounty

Posted on August 20, 2024August 20, 2024 by Melissa Perley

Bronte and I walk the older flock down to the lowest pasture. I lean hard on the corner post of the moveable fence driving it deep into the earth, wrap the black tie around both sides of fencing, and knot. After making sure the tub is full of clean water we head back uphill, stopping…

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Sounds

Posted on August 5, 2024August 5, 2024 by Melissa Perley

I hefted a laundry basket piled with wet sheets out to the deck. Pulling in the line hand over hand and pinning them on, I sent them sailing out into the darkness. They drifted with the warm evening breezes like soggy ghosts. I watched them for a moment and heard a bird begin to call:…

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And Suddenly……

Posted on June 7, 2024June 7, 2024 by Melissa Perley

I fill vases and large Ball jars with fistfuls of lilacs. We can’t see each other across the table for the purple. The moment you open the front door you can smell them, their scent short-lived but powerful. We pull the plastic taut over the green house and anchor it down. I can now see…

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The Only Way To Grow

Posted on May 21, 2024May 21, 2024 by Melissa Perley

On the corner of the cherry bar in our kitchen is a pile of notebooks. We have a few years of date books, just in case we need to look back for some reason, a six slot wire holder that is stuffed with business cards, pamphlets of places we have been and places we would…

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What Frequency

Posted on April 29, 2024April 30, 2024 by Melissa Perley

I’m spending a lot of time sending out baby photos. Baby tomato photos documenting the growth from seedling to the true-leaves phase. I’m as proud as any new parent. Our kitchen has an eerie grow-light-glow that colors everyone’s face pale green. We began with about fifty seedlings. This afternoon I stood at the kitchen counter,…

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Totality

Posted on April 14, 2024April 15, 2024 by Melissa Perley

Saturday we were on the Interstate headed north and began noticing the number of cars from out of state. Like the game we played as kids, counting license plates, we added up the amount until we reached our destination. I bought two pairs of paper “solar-proof” glasses in Montpelier several weeks ago before the supply…

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The Firsts

Posted on April 2, 2024April 2, 2024 by Melissa Perley

The breeze from the north felt hard but the almost-April sunshine is warm enough for us to want to walk down to the pastures with the dogs. I have a pan of chopped potatoes coated in olive oil and sprinkled with herbs waiting to roast. Bright green stalked of asparagus stacked into the depths of…

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Dirt Roads

Posted on March 17, 2024March 17, 2024 by Melissa Perley

There is a kind of buzzing under my skin in late February and March: it’s not bees, it’s a persistent, recurring agitation. It is mud. Late February, regardless of cloud cover, the sun is warmer. Driving the dirt road to our house I notice a new shiny slickness. The road becomes consistently wet, resembling the…

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Deep Roots

Posted on February 11, 2024February 12, 2024 by Melissa Perley

We began February under a Wolf Moon: a large full moon named by Native Americans. It is believed that they named different full moons to differentiate seasons, and that when the large Wolf Moon was up it would be at the coldest time of year. Wolves would howl in response to the lack of food…

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From The Ground Up

Posted on January 28, 2024January 29, 2024 by Melissa Perley

In January 2024, it seems all of our talk centers around weather, especially temperatures. We received an Alexa device for Christmas from one of our sons a few years ago and one of the few functions we use is asking about the upcoming week’s weather… and how to spell things. Early January was characteristically blustery…

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The Flock

Posted on January 9, 2024January 10, 2024 by Melissa Perley

The wrapping paper has been rolled and stored, the gifts carefully stuffed into created corners and the last of the holiday leftovers eaten. We spend New Year’s day pulling down the shooting star off the shop, burning boxes, and feeding wreaths and trees, stripped of ribbons, to our sheep and curious chickens. There is a…

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The Most Quiet Time Of The Year

Posted on December 7, 2023December 8, 2023 by Melissa Perley

I sit watching the snow fall from the sky in thick, ponderous plops to the ground. White rain. I can see Paul dragging chunks of wood that he had cut from the tree that had toppled into our driveway during the night. I finish plugging in the two crockpots of chili on the wood bar,…

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Melissa Perley is an
award-winning author, 
professional cellist, music teacher, farmer, mother and business owner. Follow her as she makes her way through life in Vermont.

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Latest Posts

  • HumanityJune 1, 2025
  • This Is WhyMay 11, 2025
  • The SofteningMarch 18, 2025
  • RememberingFebruary 25, 2025
Melissa Perley
Melissa Perley

Melissa Perley is an award-winning author, 
professional musician, music teacher, farmer, mother and business owner. Follow her as she makes her way through life in Vermont.

Contact Me

Latest Posts

  • HumanityJune 1, 2025
  • This Is WhyMay 11, 2025
  • The SofteningMarch 18, 2025

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