Voting, avocados, mugs & more
November: Fall colors, voting, foggy mornings & chanterelles!
Hello from Oregon, where we’re being drenched in a record-setting rainy November! After a late end to our summer heat and wildfire season, the wetness and clean air is welcome.
Election time!
This Tuesday also brings Election Day here in the United States! If you are in a place with mail-in ballots (such as Oregon), have you voted yet? If you vote at physical polls, do you have a voting plan yet? If you need some further inspiration, here is a comic I drew last year about voting. I actually think about this silly comparison between voting and avocados a lot as I fill out my own ballot — it can be easy to get discouraged sometimes, and it’s important to remember that we’ll only achieve the results we want at the polls if we keep showing up!
Mug update!
My new vegetable mug sales this last month have exceeded my initial expectations! Thank you to everyone who has already ordered mugs. Many farmers are buying them as end-of-season crew gifts, which makes me SO DEEPLY HAPPY. Folks have been tagging me in pictures on social media, and I love seeing the warm scenes of vegetable mugs filled with pumpkin spice lattes. Awesome. Please keep posting and tagging me so more people can discover the veggie mug joy!
Thanks to a farmer’s suggestion, I also added a new fifth design, which has quickly become the best-seller (and my personal favorite) — it features five types of chicories/radicchios! This mug is perfect for this shoulder season, when we’re celebrating our ability to eat salad long past lettuce season. All five mugs are available to order on my website now!
An important reminder: my mugs are made when ordered, so it takes a bit longer for them to arrive. This is a busy season for my manufacturer and for shippers — for U.S. customers, place your order by December 12 to receive mugs by December 25! Order even earlier if you want time to wrap and deliver to your loved ones.
(Also, these mugs are available for international shipping, including to Canada, the UK and Europe — I’ve already sold mugs to someone in Austria!)
The new chicory mug, available in black or pink! See all mugs at my website!
New story coming in Taproot!
I am excited to announce that I have a new personal essay coming out in Taproot magazine’s upcoming issue, COMMUNE. It’s (appropriately) about seasonal wetness and flooding here on the river island we live and farm. If you subscribe by November 7, COMMUNE will be the first issue you receive! Subscribe now here.
Our farm during a previous winter flood … we’ll see what this season brings!
Buy your 2023 calendar now!
Friends, 2023 is sneaking up on us quickly. I always find that these last two months of the year fly by, full as they are with holidays, music!, food, and family. Don’t wait until the last minute to start preparing for 2023, especially when it comes to the fun stuff, like buying a super-simple seasonal calendar for your office or kitchen wall! My 2023 “Around the Green Wheel” calendar is available now as a digital-download on my website. If you live near me in Oregon, you can also buy print copies at Alchemists’s Jam (McMinnville), Chapters (Newberg), Local Faire (Lincoln City), and now at Ernie & Gray gallery in downtown Salem.
Other projects in the works …
What else am I up to these days? So much! I am immersed in a BIG dream-come-true illustration project that I will announce more about sometime next year. But if you’re curious you can see little previews of it occasionally pop up on my Instagram. And, of course, I am working on my book about balancing farming/homesteading and family life. If you’re still interested in sharing your experiences on this topic and haven’t reached out, it’s not too late! Learn more about my book project here.
I’m wishing you all a cozy and thanks-filled November. If you are like me and sometimes struggle with the literal darkness of the next few months here in the Northern hemisphere, I hope you will remember that candlelight, nourishing seasonal foods, and walks outside can go a long way toward sustaining us through late fall and winter. Also, warm beverages served in super cute mugs can help lift the mood too. Just saying! 😉
With gratitude …
— Katie