Frog & Twig

08/20/2026

Summer is winding down. It’s my last week of doing nature weaving crafts with kids Wade Creek Farm this year. This was a fun group of pretty young kids, 7-9 years old and they did an amazing job making these cattail coasters! We’re talking about me doing a couple twig-themed holiday craft nights for adults this Fall and Winter so stay tuned for that! :)

08/02/2026

Just for fun.

08/01/2026

08/01/2026

I love everything about willow. There is nothing fast or rushed about it. Cuttings must be purchased, planted, tended, loved, weeded, watched over, harvested at the right time, sorted by length and variety, bundled, dried, stored, selected, soaked, mellowed and then, finally, woven into new forms, used, loved, and then, when no longer of use to humans, given back to the earth to be used by nesting insects, sheltering critters, broken down by fungi and finally returned to the soil.

It is beautiful in every stage: colorful new growth sprouting in spring, swallowtail butterflies laying eggs under leaves in June, long slender whips swaying in the August wind, yellow leaves fluttering down in Autumn, bright cheerful stems in December, sorting and bundling willow with freezing fingers in February, the feeling of possibility as a perfectly soaked bundle mellows, the repetitive click, click of weaving round and round. There is so much to appreciate about willow.

08/01/2026

I had a wonderful time WillowFestNorthwest last weekend! I learned so much from the amazing Katherine Lewis Katherine Lewis and all the other amazing Willow artists in my class! By happy chance I had the privilege to sit right next to Jes of Willow Vale Farm - her YouTube peony crown tutorial started me out on my entire willow plant support journey over 6-years ago. I still use the exact same jig I made, following her instructions, for every obelisks and plant support I make. It was wonderful to meet her and I learned so much just being near her. I brought home the willow clippings from the class to mulch my willows so myself and my willows both received nourishment from the festival that will last for years to come. 😊

07/23/2026

I need to catch up on posting pics for some of the fun Frog & Twig related activities I’ve been up to this month: I hosted a willow flower crown making activity at GOOD YEAR FARMS, I loved how creative and beautiful all the crowns were, I wish I had taken photos of everyone!

Backyard Habitat Breakfast Club Frog class was awesome, the only photo I managed to take was of the goats 🤪.

I need to catch up on posting pics for some of the fun Frog & Twig related activities I’ve been up to this month: I hosted a willow flower crown making activity at GOOD YEAR FARMS, I loved how creative and beautiful all the crowns were, I wish I had taken photos of everyone! Backyard Habitat Breakfast Club Frog class was awesome, the only photo I managed to take was of the goats 🤪. Lots of bug pic taking in my garden- always tempted to post them all, here’s a saddle bag dragonfly. Willow flower weaving class was amazing, I did not stick to the timeline but everyone was so understanding. Thank you, Tia, for sharing pics! BK (the cat) always helps. Potted up some native succulents, crevice garden style. Helps the roots travel down to the bottom of the pot so they don’t dry out as quickly. Available GOOD YEAR FARMS . Lastly, yesterday, my youngest and I taught cordage and wood bead making to the Lara Scanlon Summer camp kids. We started out with friendship bracelet making and then let the kids explore the concept freely, they came up with some pretty unique ideas! Sorry for the stream-of-consciousness but at least now I feel caught up!

Willow flower weaving class was amazing, I did not stick to the timeline but everyone was so understanding. Thank you, Tia, for sharing pics! BK (the cat) always helps.

Potted up some native succulents, crevice garden style. Helps the roots travel down to the bottom of the pot so they don’t dry out as quickly. Available GOOD YEAR FARMS .

Lastly, yesterday, my youngest and I taught cordage and wood bead making to the Lara Scanlon Summer camp kids. We started out with friendship bracelet making and then let the kids explore the concept freely, they came up with some pretty unique ideas! Sorry for the stream-of-consciousness but at least now

07/18/2026

07/08/2026

Another fun summer camp basket day at Wade Creek Farm! This group of kids was such a joy to teach, they were all so creative and encouraging of each other. We used a base of Doug fir, rattan reeds to hold the shape and make the handle and willow bark strips and cattail leaves to build up the sides. Now they’re off to fill them up with berries!

07/07/2026

I’ve been trying to catch this on video for awhile. They are surprisingly fast and it’s hard to get zoomed in and focused quickly! She is a Silver Tailed petal cutter bee taking semi circles out of clarkia flowers then she buzzes off as a little pink blur to where she is creating her nest. She lays eggs in hollowed stems and provides each egg with some pollen then creates a little partition of these petals before starting the next egg chamber. It’s hard work! . I tried to follow her but couldn’t keep up with her. I’ll keep watching though!

07/04/2026

Nature’s 🎆 🎇