​📝 Full Checklist is on our Substack.  The Prescott Garden Keeping Journal – March  Edition includes:

• 🌱 Plants & Planting
• 💦 Water
• 🦌 Critters
• ✂️ Maintenance
• 📝 Planning & Reflecting

👉 Get the full monthly checklists on Substack  Exclusively available to subscribers of Letters from the Porch on Substack.  Subscribing is FREE.
​
Coming soon: Bonus content and a private local garden chat just for Substack subscribers!  You won't want to miss the chance to join in on this!
​

​There it is - thanks so much for reading.  I know this one is a long list - hang in there!  Enjoy :)

Let me know if have any other items you typically do annually in March - I'd love to hear!

You can plan ahead too, because all of our monthly checklists have their own home here at The Whiskey Porch... Garden Keeping Journal.

With contentment & possibility,

Especially here in the high country, spring has a way of arriving slowly… and sometimes teasingly.

I recently wrote about my  late winter checklist  “All the Spring Fever Feels.”

Inside, I share 10 thoughtful, practical ways to channel that restless energy into gentle preparation - at home and in the garden - without rushing the season.  

If you’re feeling the pull toward spring but know it’s still wise to pace yourself, you can read the full letter here:

There’s a Swedish word that doesn’t translate neatly into English — but it may hold the key to a calmer, more balanced way of living.

Lagom means “just enough.” Not too much. Not too little.

In a culture that constantly pushes us toward more, this gentle philosophy feels surprisingly radical.

In today’s Porch Journal, I explore what lagom really means - and how it shapes the way I think about home, work, and daily life.

👉 Read the full Porch Jounral here on Substack.

I would love to have you join the conversatin there.

With contentment & possibility,

📝 Full Checklist is on our Substack.  The Prescott Garden Keeping Journal – February Edition includes:

• 🌱 Plants & Planting
• 💦 Water
• 🦌 Critters
• ✂️ Maintenance
• 📝 Planning & Reflecting

👉 Get the full monthly checklists on Substack  Exclusively available to subscribers of Letters from the Porch on Substack.  Subscribing is FREE.
​
Coming soon: Bonus content and a private local garden chat just for Substack subscribers!  You won't want to miss the chance to join in on this!

You can find lots more good stuff and inspiration on our Garden Resources page if you'd like to start dreaming about next season!

I explore this idea more fully in my latest Design Dispatches letter Small, Not Tiny, where I reflect on what “just right” looks like in real homes- and why the missing middle matters.

👉 Read the full letter on Substack → That’s where I share ongoing reflections on home, garden, and thoughtful design rooted in real life and lived experience.

With contentment & possibility,

With contentment & possibility,

​The American Dream has virtually always been:  more + bigger = better.

The fad and trend that's predominated the last many decades has been to stretch yourself to the limit in order to acquire the most impressive home possible.  This home would prove that you were successful, and obviously make you comfortable and happy.

Over many decades, that's turned into crazy-big homes which required large incomes to buy and maintain, along with massive consumption of resources to build and live in.

​Tiny is fine if that's what you really need or want, but it's pretty extreme and unsustainable by most standards. 

​A more manageable and still meaningful downsize might mean reclaiming older, smaller homes and shifting to a less consumerism mentality, while still participating in a mainstream community and lifestyle.
​

Before we can understand the difference between tiny and small, it feels like it's important to understand a bit about what's behind this movement...

​Tiny homes are the extreme opposite of the now typical American home.  It is generally agreed that the tiny house movement is something totally new and inspired.  It's a buzzy, trendy topic right now and the tinier the better according to media coverage.  It gets eyeballs and shares -- because it's pretty astonishing to imagine a whole family living in what most Americans would consider barely adequate for a walk-in closet.  

The Right Motivations
The motivation for the movement is generally focused on financial, ecological, as well as psychological benefits (as in: less stress about big bills and environmental impacts).  I think those truly are perfect reasons for wanting to downsize and simplify your lifestyle.  But I disagree that one has to go from what is now typical in the U.S. to the extreme opposite in order to be gentle on the planet and on your psyche.

​Bigger = Happier?
The average American home is now 2,700 square feet, which is a 50% increase over the still large 1,500 square foot average in 1973.  The overall trend is a forever increasing one.  Yet at the same time, the average size of a family has been decreasing.  So if the American dream includes living in the largest home you possibly can, does that mean that Americans are happier now?

According to a recent article in The Atlantic, this means that the average home provides each resident in an average American family almost 1,000 square feet of their own.  Each person!  Seriously?  By my math, I figure that your average, slightly overweight American can only occupy somewhere between 4 to 9 square feet at any given moment. 

And, not surprisingly, that study indicates that these people aren't any happier with their residential situation than they used to be.  Here's why - because bigger and better are always going to be relative terms.  If it all comes down to comparing how much home you have to the newest, biggest McMansion in the neighborhood, then you will always be disappointed.  

That feels unsustainable and misguided on many levels.  But so is the idea of going to the other extreme and cramming your life into a 100 square foot tiny home. ​
​

​​So what actually is a "tiny home" and how does that compare to a "small home"?

According to Wikipedia:

• A "tiny" home is anything less than 400 square feet, with some going as small as 100 square feet, and are often on wheels or a trailer, but not always.  

​

• A "small home" is anything from 400 to 1,000 square feet.  

Perhaps, it isn't really the exact square footage that matters so much as whether the house is "right sized" for your family size and lifestyle.  And that the focus of the home is now quality of materials and thoughtfully designed spaces rather than just masses of vastness.   

It forces you to really consider how much you really need and how much you can truly afford given the job or career that you really feel good about.  What are the things you own really worth to you in terms of a financial, practical, and ecological limitations or goals?


​

​​There are some obvious benefits of living in a smaller home:

• Less expensive to build and maintain
• Less work to clean and easier to furnish
• Less environmental impact from construction to energy consumption
• Mobility in the case of tiny homes on wheels

There are also many less obvious benefits: 

• More flexibility and freedom to pursue other interests in life
• The opportunity to work less, increase your free time, and spend more time with your loved ones
• Less stuff, less clutter, less chaos
• More connection to nature, your environment, the community and the seasons

There are challenges too, for sure.  It requires setting some clear priorities, making some choices, putting in the effort to off-load the material things in your life that no longer serve you.  The limits of less space force you to continue to live in a less materialistic way, and might make it tricky to put up guests or host large events.  Those can be emotionally charged changes for some people. 

Oh, and for some the fact that their home isn't the biggest and fanciest on the block might require eliminating their egos from the equation - big challenge for many Americans.

​​With respect to the environmental benefits, it turns out that the benefits go beyond the obvious reduced footprint and resource consumption. 

In a recent article, Maria Saxton found that people who downsized their lifestyles ended up reducing their environmental impact in surprising ways around food, transportation, consumption of goods and services and many other lifestyle choices.  This tends to make intuitive sense to me, since the people who are motivated enough to make the downsize choice are thinking about those issues in general.  But her point was that sometimes there were unintended reductions that naturally occurred.

Advantages of Smaller over Tiny
Something I haven't really seen talked about anywhere is:  what about the eco-benefits of recycling already existing older homes that by definition are smaller and in more human-sized communities? 

Here at The Whiskey Porch, I am advocating for smaller and simpler lifestyles, but maybe going extreme and buying/building new tiny homes isn't the most environmentally sound choice.  

​Often, it requires a bit of effort, time and money to bring an older home back to life, but the impact of doing so is much easier on the lifestyle adjustments while still reducing your overall environmental impact.

Consider that it doesn't have to be tiny to be a meaningful change.  And if it's less daunting for the majority of Americans to go small rather than tiny, wouldn't that amount to a massive improvement in our overall well-being that's more likely to occur than the tiny-trend?

I hope we can get more people talking and thinking about this idea - even though it's not as extreme or buzz-worthy.

Thanks for reading!  I wrote a recent blog post The Truth About Tiny Homes, that you might also find interesting.

Let me know what you think by sharing in the comments below.  I promise to respond...

Peace and contentment,
​~Miriam

📝 Full Checklist is on our Substack.  The Prescott Garden Keeping Journal – January Edition includes:

• 🌱 Plants & Planting
• 💦 Water
• 🦌 Critters
• ✂️ Maintenance
• 📝 Planning & Reflecting

👉 Get the full monthly checklists on Substack  Exclusively available to subscribers of Letters from the Porch on Substack.  Subscribing is FREE.
​
Coming soon: Bonus content and a private local garden chat just for Substack subscribers!  You won't want to miss the chance to join in on this!
​

That’s a wrap—thank you so much for reading! 🌟

I’m excited to share that I’ll be posting a new Garden Keeping Checklist each month, so stay tuned for fresh tips and seasonal inspiration. Plus, I’ll be updating them over time to keep them even more helpful!
​

Do you have any favorite January garden tasks you do every year? I’d love to hear your ideas—drop them in the comments or send me a note.  Let’s keep the gardening magic going together! 🌿✨

Peace  & Contentment,
~Miriam

(Originally written in 2024)

It's Hygge time.

​As the seasons shift to colder and darker days, rather than yearn for the return of summer, Nordic lifestyle embraces this time with a concept known as "hygge". 

It's not just during the fall and holidays though.

For me, now that the holidays have passed and the days have settled into more of a peaceful cadence, I'm really enjoying more time and space to settle down late in the afternoon with some hot tea and a good book, and also planning and preparing more of those comfort-food meals.  

You've heard the word "hygge" I'm pretty sure.   

What is hygge, though?
​

The word originates in Denmark but is thoroughly Scandinavian and more of a mind-set and lifestyle than a specific action or thing.

It's all about being in the moment, no phones or tech, creating a thoroughly enjoyable cozy setting or moment where you let go of what's going on in the world and celebrate some quiet time.

This can be done alone or with your family or friends.

You can be at home, outside, in a quite space while traveling.

You might decorate your space in a "hyggeligt" manner or prepare a favorite meal or just pour a hot cup of tea and open a book where you left off.

Candles are often involved (okay, always!). 

​For me, music that speaks to my heart, is essential.

After the holidays have passed, it's a time when I delve deep into garden planning and dreaming, with seed catalogs, sketch pads, and a comfy warm chair near a good view of the kitchen garden... waiting, resting.

​
The word "hygge" dates to the middle ages where a similar Old Norse word meant "protected from the outside world". 

​Whatever it is that gives you quiet and cozy comfort in that moment is "hygge" - so it's time to get your hygge on, my friends!

What's you're favorite way to hygge?  I'd love to hear in the comments below!

Peace & hygge,
~Miriam

• Nordic Cottages & Bungalows
• Fika:  The Nordic Coffee Ritual
• The Lagom Lifestyle

And more inspiration:  Seasonal, Artful, and Sustainable...
​

Thank you so much for following along, and for celebrating the beauty of midwinter with me.  I'm glad that you stopped by and I hope to see you over on Substack where you can see the whole story!

Peace & contentment,
~Miriam