Journal

Sarah's blog has told her story and the story of SAIPUA over the past 20 years. We will continue to add older posts over the next few months.
STONE SOUP, LLC
STONE SOUP, LLC
Aha, you're curious about my new company? Funny to be back here on Blogger, a space I have not opened for years. I really just wanted to create a hyperlink... Read more...
personal news
personal news
[Above images from this morning's photo lesson with my nephew Finn, back on the farm for the summer] We have endured a lot of difficulties on the farm this year;... Read more...
Floral Residency Recap
Floral Residency Recap
We just finished our first floral residency week of the season here. An exceptional, uncanny and productive week with an amazing group of students. They just left yesterday and while... Read more...
brief update
brief update
So much beauty happens here everyday, it’s hard to share it all. We’re in the middle of a floral residency with amazing students from all around the globe. Such generous... Read more...
current state of affairs
current state of affairs
Our work here continues in joy and sorrow! Exuberant at times, somber in others. Always full to the very brim, regardless of grief. It is some full-catastrophe-living let me tell... Read more...
The launch of Saipua.tv
The launch of Saipua.tv
Its been a difficult 10 days here and I don’t want to get into detail but suffice it to say hardship, health scares, life and death have all visited us.... Read more...
From Susan in the soap factory…
From Susan in the soap factory…
Susan writes from the soap factory… Every once in a while we begin testing a new soap scent. It can be a long process, so not undertaken lightly. Both Sarah... Read more...
photos from the week
photos from the week
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the nature construct
the nature construct
Inside the ‘nature’ construct that seems to have been central to my work at Saipua, and here on the farm, is this ‘cameo’ quince, planted about a decade ago and... Read more...
alt-hospitality /coyotecafe THIS SUNDAY! / SUPERNATURE TICKETS!
alt-hospitality /coyotecafe THIS SUNDAY! / SUPERNATURE TICKETS!
Welcome to our agriculture school - I love it here so much - I’ve been outside all day in the field and I’m so energized! Above is Mark and our... Read more...
good morning from the flight deck
good morning from the flight deck
My first airplane ride was when I was 13; my parents put me on a flight from NY to Toronto to be with my Aunt Seija who would prepare me... Read more...
My thoughts on AI & the Coyote Cafe..
My thoughts on AI & the Coyote Cafe..
There’s a scene in the movie AI (2001) where the robot boy eats spinach at the dinner table when he’s not supposed to. It’s haunting and I’m reminded of it... Read more...
the great mother
the great mother
Motherhood is risky business. I was reminded of this when we lost a ewe earlier this week after an impossible birthing scenario - this sheep was just too small to... Read more...
all I ever wanted
all I ever wanted
Years ago I had a therapist who described the Saipua team as a ‘family that I could control.’ Ironically now my childhood family lives here or visits regularly. My dad,... Read more...
off and running
off and running
It’s week one of settling in together and it’s going great, with more structure and resources (almost enough!) than ever before, plus the hard-won lessons of years past. Jess Green... Read more...
inside the creative continuum
inside the creative continuum
Even with fresh snow on the ground this morning, the serene calm of winter has already been punctured and the spring rush of new staff, new lambs, new plants bursts... Read more...
aging, intelligence and retirement
aging, intelligence and retirement
AGING As I experience the awe of aging I’m simultaneously receiving targeted ads in my feed for things like face yoga, keeping ‘ballet arms’ after 40, and weight loss apps.... Read more...
Perfectionism, Texture, Tech and Fractals
Perfectionism, Texture, Tech and Fractals
I read a book about perfection; If you struggle with perfectionist thinking, I recommend a brief perusal of the audio version - once I got past the gauzy self-help lingo... Read more...
tea, cookies, community
tea, cookies, community
If you’ve been reading here, you know I want to live in a world without money. Specifically, I want to live in the Station Eleven post-apocalyptic Shakespearean traveling band. But... Read more...
choose your own adventure
choose your own adventure
Roberta Williams is an adventure freak. She was a game designer and co-founder of Sierra, Inc the company behind the popular Kings Quest series, a game my family spent many... Read more...
Floral trends and the desire to transcend nature
Floral trends and the desire to transcend nature
I was with another farmer yesterday and we were talking about the rather dire ice melt in western Antarctica and the impending rise in sea levels and specifically how the... Read more...
making soap with the Big Boss
making soap with the Big Boss
Soap - an accident of fat and lye, chemically bonded, that when mixed with water, create a lather. It is thought that the first soap was 'formulated' after early people... Read more...
some gratitudes and the (working) buckwheat cookie recipe
some gratitudes and the (working) buckwheat cookie recipe
The sheep are 10 weeks away from lambing, this is the time of gestation when they start drinking a lot more water. I say a prayer of gratitude every day... Read more...
notes on Posthumanism
notes on Posthumanism
January and February always prove difficult for me, and while I like to think that I'm special or an exception to the rule, I fear that I'm like many people... Read more...
new year, new ewe
new year, new ewe
In sincerity, I love the energy of getting through the holidays (I'm a complete grinch) and the opportunity of a clean slate on January 1st. This year I’m embracing the... Read more...
Teaching through exposure
Teaching through exposure
In last weeks newsletter (are you still not getting it?! Signup HERE) I promised I would share three distinct sparks that altered the course of my life - moments that... Read more...
Soap and Surveillance: Is there any way to stay clean under capitalism?
Soap and Surveillance: Is there any way to stay clean under capitalism?
Soap and Surveillance: Is there any way to stay clean under capitalism? I rented an apartment in Hudson, NY so I can get off the farm every week. As much... Read more...
On work.
On work.
I hear all the time from local business owners and my neighbors the same statement: ‘No one wants to work anymore.’ There is a lot that we could unpack from... Read more...
Notes on re-worlding
Notes on re-worlding
There is a story I tell on farm tours and in interviews about a sweater my mom made for me from my favorite sheeps wool. (Gracie pictured above.) Said sweater... Read more...
Catalog of change
Catalog of change
There has been so much change here, and though I pride myself on excellent adaptation skills and the ability to ride out stormy weather - the amount of change here... Read more...
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untitled
I google ‘how to get out of your own way’ but instead find myself clicking one of the autofill responses: ‘How to get out of your own bear trap in... Read more...
Interlude
Interlude
"There have been and continue to be a variety of alternative arrangements of existence to the current late liberal form of governing existents. But whether any or none of these... Read more...
the end of painful but purposeful year.
the end of painful but purposeful year.
View from the cabin I moved into in July - up at the top of Worlds End and overlooking the bees and sheep. The first part of writing is thinking... Read more...
Shampoo song of myself.
Shampoo song of myself.
This is going to read like sponsored content because I'm about to tell you a story about my bathing routine and truth be told my paycheck (let alone this farm)... Read more...
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There has always been a blue heron here. There could be many, but I can't tell one from another. I only ever see one at a time. The heron seems... Read more...
fall updates
fall updates
The frost came about a week ago and with it, a new breeding ram. The ram arrived with a pair of big bearded men inside a trailer full of travelers.... Read more...
september work.
september work.
What is the work? Is it to learn the piano? To get it tuned first, to find the man, to call the man, to leave the message. My aunts both... Read more...
on symmetry
on symmetry
I became obsessed with symmetry some months ago. I would feel it more than see it, in an erotic sense or an emotional sense - everything in equal halves; I... Read more...
musings on the shifting landscape of FLORISTRY
musings on the shifting landscape of FLORISTRY
There is so much I have to tell you. But before I do, I have to say something about a comment I wrote on Instagram that seemed to hit a... Read more...
soap notes
soap notes
It's a story I've told many times but I'm going to tell it again, differently tonight. As a money making hobby, my mother, sister and I used to design and... Read more...
cooking a pot of beans with dragons at the SAIPUA SCHOOL
cooking a pot of beans with dragons at the SAIPUA SCHOOL
Beans we grew and dried last fall. Scarlet Runner, Navy, and Purple Cow Peas. You wouldn't know this, but I'm excellent at impersonating Komodo Dragons, the largest lizards in the... Read more...
notes from here/building an Advisory Board
notes from here/building an Advisory Board
My winter of solitude is over, Zoe is back from her adventures and time at AZ West. The snowball gains momentum. Thank you to all of you who signed up... Read more...
yours truly, the troll.
yours truly, the troll.
I've been trolling around on instagram for the last two weeks. Like any diligent scientist, I'm studying it to see what my reemergence might entail. Because I gotta go back.... Read more...
further thoughts on women's work
further thoughts on women's work
Someone was angry about my last post and mis-interpreted my thoughts and I want to explain myself a little more. My mention of my 'big dick energy' refers to how... Read more...
women's work
women's work
I've been reading and thinking a lot about 'women's work.' Care-taking is rooted genetically and historically in women because of our wombs. I have a lot of complicated feelings around... Read more...
tricks
tricks
In my head I often categorize certain flower moves as 'tricks' -- for example one of my favorite tricks is shown here, the white currant 'dangle' which is simply taking... Read more...
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Things I love: wondering about human nature, watching economy in the natural world, romance, sheep, working dogs, making something out of nothing. Food, wine - really good wine. Pasta, bread,... Read more...
tomato soup
tomato soup
We are tomato rich here. Even in winter the basement is guilded with jars of sungolds, mixes of green zebras and cherry tomatoes, a few jars of strictly paste tomatoes... Read more...
winter Coyote Cafe planning.
winter Coyote Cafe planning.
Maremmas are like giant polar bears. This extreme cold spell, with temperatures falling to -10F at night, seems to suit these two dogs who stay outside with the sheep 365... Read more...
trend report from your wedding florist
trend report from your wedding florist
Yellow. Sometimes even...gold Bits of yellow and gold Light yellow. Mixes of different yellows, together. Yellow mostly, with some other colors to support the yellow. Read more...