Wayward Haven Farm

A sanctuary for learning and growing in seasonal rhythm with nature

From the Hermit’s Porch

The slow work of shaping a coherent life, one honest noticing at a time — spoken from a life lived close to the ground.

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  • Why the Basics Are the First to Go

    When life feels urgent, the quiet things—sleep, nourishment, movement—are often the first to go. But these basics shape the conditions of a steady life. This week, the Hermit reflects on why we abandon what sustains… Read the Essay

  • When the Body Calls You Back

    How often do we ignore our inner yearnings—the pull toward peace, retreat, solitude, rhythm? How often do we answer the email, the text, the call simply because we’ve assigned urgency to it? And what do… Read the Essay

  • On Soil, Capacity, and the Life We’re Actually Living

    There’s a saying that floats around from time to time—Bloom where you’re planted. There’s some truth in it. The soil we’re planted in is the set of conditions we didn’t choose: the family we were… Read the Essay

  • On What Fills the Field

    Some mornings I sit here and notice how easily we crowd the field of attention. Sometimes it’s because something painful is pressing through the cracks—old fears, old griefs, the quiet dread that comes with being… Read the Essay

  • On Misery, Attention, and the Human Condition

    Some mornings I sit on the porch and wonder why we humans stretch our attention so far past its limits.It’s finite—everybody knows that—and yet we load it up with more than any one life can… Read the Essay

  • Seasonal Intuition

    There’s a kind of intuition that doesn’t come from impulse or fear. It comes from something deeper—what I’ve started calling informed intuition. Most of what happens inside the mind never reaches consciousness. We feel the… Read the Essay