Good morning. Off again today. Don't go back to the trail til Tuesday. It rained most of the day yesterday. It was sort of a lazy day. Got to spend time in the house together as a family. And I even got a nap in! After homemade lasagna for dinner we exchanged gifts for Annie's birthday and Father's Day. Then had homemade carrot cake to top it off. Earlier in the day it quit raining for a bit. Kelli had the cats out in and around our native gardens by the front deck. It's fenced in, so it kind of deters them from taking off. The penstemons caught her eye like they did mine earlier in the day. She texted me a few photos. I am sharing what I think is the best one. I am thankful to have a loving family. I hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. My 4th day off from the mail trail. 5 more to go. It's cloudy, cool, gently raining. I was out a few minutes ago taking pictures of smooth penstemon. I posted the best one below. Earlier I watched a hummingbird delicately go from flower to flower with its electric wings and long beak poking around for nectar. So that's what I decided to write about. Not much else is going on. Kelli says it looks like it's going to be an inside kind of day. Whether you have an inside or outside kind of day I hope it's a good one. #gm #coffeechain

"You have a king inside who listens for what delights the soul." ~ Rumi Good morning. It's 20 to 8. I sit on the couch in a quiet house. No one awake. I have written in my journal and read some Rumi poems. Rumi reminds me I have a king inside. That's why I read him. In the same poem he writes: "There are people with their eyes open whose hearts are shut. What do they see? Matter." Life gets heavy and hard when I only see matter. It got that way yesterday helping my son work on his car. Fixing the rusty steel on the exhaust and brakes that will inevitably brake down again got heavy and hard. Yet here we were in my neighbors shop being guided by his decades of experience working on vehicles, trucks, machinery, etc. Not your typical garage. Most of the time you drop your vehicle off and pick it up when they call to tell you it's done. We did a lot of the work using his tools and shop. His generosity allowed father and son time to work together on the teenager's car. Food for the king: Generosity. No mail trail for the 3rd day in a row. 6 more to go until I go again. I am happy about that. That's a photo of large-flowered beardtongue from the front meadow. I hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. It just got better writing to you. It's 8 AM. No mail trail today, and for the rest of the week. I think the last time I took off was before Christmas season. It's been awhile. I miss being home. I also enjoy the challenge of getting up and going to work in the world. It forces me to be around people that are different than me. This is day 2 of being off. Still easing into it. I see it as a soulful activity. Our place has its own soul. It takes me awhile to open up to it. I used to think it would be easy to walk away from the Post Office. I don't anymore. Every day I do it the incentive to stay increases. Not this week though. I am going to work on thinking and feeling into this place we've all created together. I'm off to do that. I hope you have a great day. #gm #coffeechain That's lance leaf coreopsis. There's a lot of them in the front meadow right now.

Good morning. That's harebell and the old farm house we used to live in behind it. Living in the old farmhouse with no running water was a rebellion against modern life for me. I don't know what it was for my wife and son. Just home perhaps. A paid for place we lived in while we built cordwood. Cozy I used to hear a lot. I am still uneasy with modern life. That's where the harebell comes in. It's beautiful. Older than me on an evolutionary time scale. Here long before me, and long after me. The algorithms of the Digital Age will spin me and everyone else every which way, but not the harebell. That constant is one thing that keeps me coming back to it and its relatives. Grounding and connection. I hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

Good morning Nostr. #gm #coffechain

Good morning. Time short. So much to say, but life gets in the way. Blooming in the front meadow now: Lance leaf coreopsis. I'm off to the mail trail. Hope you have a great day. #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. Currently blooming in the front meadow. Off to the mall trail. Hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

Godd morning. Two minutes until I leave. Thunder and lightning has stopped. Rain gently falls at 6:35. The Ford is running. I have two Bean Brook Nursery signs to put up. One tight in Earl; the other by the junkyard. Thankfiul to both landowners for allowing us to stick them in the ground on their property. Harebell blooming in the front meadow and beyond. Annie found a wild patch of it along the trail her and Sophia ride horses on. Gotta go. I'm late now. Writing is timeless. Hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. 5 minutes until I move in the direction of the mail trail. Cloudy and humid out there. It rained yesterday. Some say we got an inch. It would help if we would empty our rain gauge from previous rains. Get a more accurate measurement that way. :-) I listen to a lot of content while delivering mail. I have noticed the most calming is always anything concerning biological life. Unfortunately it's the thing that's talked about the least. We forget we're biological beings. Or, as Carl Jung once said, we've repressed our animal. I'm off! Bradbury's monarda from the front garden. #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. Barely. It'll be noon soon. It's warm here. 83 degrees on our thermometer. We've had one customer at the nursery so far. She bought a few plants and a ring. We sell more than native plants. Annie, and Sophia (13) sell the crafts they work on while home during the winter. And we also sell Bean Brook Nursery T-shirts, bags, and such. There's other stuff, too. You'll have to check it out when you visit. I was trying to talk Hayden (16) into putting his hand forged bottle openers in there. They're 25 bucks a piece. He's hesitant. I don't know why. It can't hurt to put them out. We had another good weekend at the nursery. We've been open a month and just the right amount of people have showed up. It's pretty much Annie running it. The kids and I help out when we can. I don't think she's compensated nearly enough for what she does. But we knew that going into this. There's not a lot of money to be made in horticulture. Yet there's so much to native plants, and plants in general that is fascinating. I started listening to "Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't" videos on the mail route. They're two heavily tattooed guys with Chicago accents that know a lot about native plants and the effects our modern life has on the land and our souls. I like their style. It might not be for everyone though. They use a lot of colorful language. I'm back to work tomorrow. Should be my day off, but we're short on carriers. The extra money helps. I'm not going to complain. That's it for now. It's Sunday. A break from the get-up-and-go-gotta-get-it-done mode. Feeling appreciative to all of you who support our business online and off. Sometimes we wonder if we're going to make it. Anyone who has owned their own business understands the commitment it takes, especially when you first start out. And just how much you depend on customers to help stay afloat. 8 minutes until noon. It's still morning! Time to get outside. Hope you have a great Sunday! Photo of columbine and golden alexander's that caught my eye pulling out of the driveway last evening. #gm #coffeechain #countrtyliving

Good morning. Five minutes until I start the mail jeep. Sun is shining at 6:25. Cool in this house. T-shirt yesterday;; flannel today to start the day. Finally got some rain yesterday. Ground soft, grass wet during my barefoot run. Blue false indigo in this picture. We planted it a few years back. And I'm off to the mail trail. Hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. It's 6:22. I have to be up and moving from this kitchen table in 8; minutes. What's on my mind? It's dry here. Out earth roof I'd dry and dying. The yard grasses that don't belong here are browning. The ground I run barefoot on hurts my feet and hips. Nothing major, enough to notice though. Yet I noticed the prairie dropseeds we've planted in the front meadow are lush and green. So are the sedges I notice in and out of the meadow. They're built for this. They've been through this before. Guessing it's effortless for them. It's evolution at work. At least I think so. I am still learning. Off to the mail trail. Photo of more lupines I took at dusk last evening. #gm #coffeechain

6:25 AM. Off to the mail. Taking Bean Brook Nursery signs with me. I put the ones up I think the Highway Department will take more toward the weekend when they're not working. Then I get them picked up before Monday morning. Otherwise it's a process to get them back. Gotta drive in to town and ask for them and all that. Time is scarce these days. I noticed the lupines are starting to form seeds. The pollinators did their thing already. It goes too fast after a long winter. I'm out of time! I wanted to write about our long term vision with the cordwood house, homeschooling, plants, etc. Hope you have a great day! Photo: Columbine in full bloom up by the house. #gm #coffeechain

Good morning Nostr. Off to the mail trail. I hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. Short on time. Back to the mail trail today. Just before dark last evening I planted a lupine and a lead plant in the front meadow. Both near the ditch line of County E. Can't get enough lupine right now. The more blooms the better. Off to the mail trail. I hope you have a great day! 6.2.26 #gm #coffeechain

Good morning. My last day off from the mail trail. That's sunset on the waters of Spring Lake last evening. Sophia took the picture. She's 13 now. We didn't do any fishing. Just seeing how the boat ran after sitting in the garage all winter. Today is our wedding anniversary. We've been married for 19 years. Prior to that was a 5 year trial run. That makes 24 in total. Waiting for me at my second to last box in Earl Saturday afternoon was a dressed up elderly woman. She had on a bright pink blouse, pink transparent sunglasses maybe bought at Dollar General, and a pair dangling red beaded earrings hanging from her esrs.. I noticed there some handwritten cards in colorful envelopes to deliver to her. She doesn't get much mail. I assumed it was her birthday. She confirmed it was after I asked her. She makes me smile every time I see her. The sunglasses did it this time. I told her I liked them and was looking good. She smiled and said thank you maybe a bit flattered. She's always interested me. I always wondered how long she lived in Earl. So I asked her. 39 years! She said. I asked where she lived prior. "Arizona. I got divorced and moved back here after my 16 year old daughter was killed by a drunk driver. Then I got hooked up with a guy here in Earl and we lived together for close to 40 years, until he died. We never married. We got along great. And figured we didn't need a piece of paper to prove it!" I eventually had to cut the conversation short. Told her my scanner lets the office know I am sitting still. She was aghast! "You mean to tell me Big Brother is watching you! Throw that thing in the ditch!" "They wouldn't like that," I said after a laugh. And I was on my way back to Spooner. Back to my marriage. 24'years feel like a long time on one hand, on the other it doesn't. 24 years! Where did it go!?! Raising kids and paying for property and place is where it went Sacrifice. Time to end this. I am thankful to be sitting at the kitchen table typing this in the house Annie and I built together out of cordwood and mortar. And now Bean Brook Nursery in the front yard. We've carved ourselves out a pretty unique life. Looking forward to what the future brings. Hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain #countryliving

Good morning. It's the middle of it. Quiet here. I hear a robin occasionally call and a cricket continuously. I am at the kitchen table. One of my favorite places. Outside it's 70, sunny, and pregnant with spring. I was out there earlier with Annie while she was watering plants. I asked her if she plans on dividing up a large pot of sweetgrass into smaller ones to sell. She walked over and grabbed a gallon pot of it. She said, "this one isn't selling." So that looks like something we'll be doing together today. I enjoy potting up plants with her. Good conversation and a brighter future on the horizon. And more native plants to going home in more hands. I planted another wild lupine along the ditch on County E last evening. That makes 3 total. I didn't see my neighbor or his dog. A few cars and pickups went by. One pickup has to be going 80. E is a straight shot east and west for miles. They just sealed the cracks in it the other day. To cover the sealant they use toilet paper. Guessing it prevents tire stickage. Toilet paper looks like confetti behind pickup trucks at eighty miles an hour in case you were wondering. I look forward to watching those tiny lupine grow in adversity. The soil is always hotter and drier down by E. Guessing it's the heat coming off the blacktop that does it. I planted that lupine barefooted with a soil knife. The ground dry and poky under my feet. I packed the fine, dry, sandy soul around the roots and watered it. I look forward to tomorrow's visit and years of blooms to come. There's a peace in planting plants. I felt it walking back to the house along the ditch facing the settings sun. I wasn't in the mail jeep on the blacktop like I was earlier. The skin on the bottom of my feet touching the earth. Like they did when I was a kid. Barefeet on earth is a simple pleasure I partake in every day. I remember my Dad push mowing our lawn in his barefeet. It was when we lived in the trailer park. He was young. He stood on factory floors all day wearing steel towed boots. Guessing once he got them off he wanted to keep them off despite the green feet he got out of it. That's it for now. This was another one that I let go wherever it wanted to go. It feels like okay writing. It usually does after working with plants. If you made it this far I hope you got something out of it. I know I did. Happy Sunday. 🙏 #gm #coffeechain #countryliving

Good morning. This is going where it's going to go. It'lI be cut short. I have to be on the road in 25 minutes. I planted two tiny wild lupine last night. Took them off the plant table that Annie has set up for the nursery. I couldn't resist. Seeing the blooming lupine that we have planted in the past as I drive by to deliver our mail encourages more. I remember planting them imagining I would someday do this. That I would drive down County E and see blooming lupine along our ditch line. Yesterday was that day. I want more of it. Tell me what you desire and I will tell you who you are, say the German romantics. While I was planting them one of my neighbors stopped by. He had his dog with him. It's 14 years old. He didn't know if it would make it through the night. It's dying. I was tired. Had a hundred things I wanted to get done before dark. He told me the news. I stopped what I was doing to listen and give my attention. I hope it was enough. It didn't feel like it. I was run ragged though. Delivered over a hundred packages and mail in 90 degree heat. Got home immediately helped Annie plant Pennsylvania Sedge. And.... I hope his dog hung on. And when it does go it goes peacefully. It's hard to lose them. Off to the mail trail. I hope you have a great day! #gm #coffeechain #coutryliving 5.30.26

Good morning! Off to the mail trail. 📬 Hope you have a great day! 5.29.26 #gm #coffeechain