New Side Project + 2026 Nature Calendars Available to Pre-order

Last week I finished designing my wall calendars for next year, and those are now available for pre-order through my website. If you’re interested, there are two designs: my nature photography calendar, which features twelve of my nature photographs, and my Love Dogs calendar, which features twelve photos of my beautiful dogs. Each calendar is printed on 80# glossy paper with a 100# glossy UV-protected cover. I’ve kept my tradition of including a poem in my nature photography calendar, which you have to buy to read. :)

I’ve been struggling lately with the idea of promoting my work with everything that’s going on in the world. My heart is with everyone affected by the flooding in Texas, and all others who are suffering right now, including a friend whose [far too young] daughter was diagnosed with Stage 4 ovarian cancer earlier this year and is now currently in hospice care. It’s a heavy time, and I feel it, as I’m sure many others do.

Admittedly, I’m not good at promoting my work anyway and have gotten worse at it in recent years it seems. But I do have bills to pay, and I’m still self-employed, so if you’d like a calendar, they are linked here in this post and from the images below. If you’re a patron, please use your special patron code (shared via Patreon) for 20% off. A few of you have already placed pre-orders, and I thank you for that. Much gratitude. ♡

In other news, I’ve been learning a new meditative skill/craft, and I’m sharing details of that experience on Patreon. I love learning new things, and I could use another side hustle to help with finances right now, assuming I can learn to do it well enough, so I narrowed my many interests down to two things from which to choose one at this time. The first option was making dog leashes out of biothane, an idea born from a backpacking trip during which it rained a lot and both of my nylon leashes got soaked and were cold and wet to handle for the entire trip. I like these particular nylon leashes a lot because they have loops sewn into the length of them which make them very flexible on trail. I can wrap them around pretty much anything and put a carabiner through the loops for hands-free maneuvering. But there is nothing of the sort to be found in biothane, which is a material that is quite strong and won’t soak up water, so I thought I’d learn to make them myself to fill that need. That was option number one. My second option was woodcarving. When I was a kid I’d watch my granddad whittle walking sticks, and years later my dad started making bows by hand (English longbows and buffalo bows, mostly) out of wood he harvested from the forest. While I thought I would carve smaller things, like spoons and bowls and cups and such (also motivated by my time on trail), the idea of working with wood in ways similar to those of my father and grandfather makes me feel more connected to them and to the woods I grew up wandering and feeling comforted by.

I may return to the idea of making biothane dog leashes in the future, but the connection to family and nature won out this time. I am unsurprised by the fact that I chose something that is deeply meaningful, if not spiritual, over something that is more utilitarian and probably more marketable to others. This is my life’s story. :)

I’ve been carving spoons for about a week now and have completed three. I started a cup, but the wood I harvested for it had white rot inside. Despite the challenges, I’m learning a lot and enjoying the process.

left to right and in order of carving: mulberry, basswood, and cherry

As I was busy carving spoons, a couple of contact mics I’d ordered to use in my ambient nature films arrived in the mail, and as I opened the package and put the mics in my camera bag, I thought for a moment, “Maybe I’m doing too much.”

The fact is: I’m trying to stay afloat as a freelance artist in a crappy economy by adding additional creative “side hustles” that I feel (hope) won’t burn me out. So far, the new projects excite and motivate me to keep working hard and moving forward. They give me something positive to focus on in a world that often seems to be going mad. One thing’s for sure, things feel more financially uncertain right now than they have since I became self-employed in 2018, and I’m trying to adapt in the ways I know how. “Adjust, adapt, and overcome.” That was one of many Army mottos back in the day, and I think it’s a useful one.

What things keep you inspired and motivated in tough times? Have you started any new projects recently? Leave a comment below if you feel like sharing. I’d love to hear from you.

Be well.