Life in the Magic Mountains

This July will mark a year since I've moved to the countryside, and still each week I find a new place right by me that puts me in awe. I'm getting attuned to the seasonal waves of blooms and where they're most concentrated, learning the land I now live in. I used to work in a corporate office hoping to one day find freedom, but I realized I was the only one holding myself back from my true passions. I heard somewhere that it's a luxury to pursue what makes you happy, but an obligation to chase what brings your life meaning. And mine is rooted in nature, my fingertips on pedals, not just keyboards, helping people reconnect with our planet. I want to hear the roar of the wind between the branches, not of traffic between towers. These and many more are the reasons I now live in the mountains. Perhaps some may think it odd to be so young and distanced from people, but there's a big difference between alone and lonely, and I've never been happier. A couple of days ago was the summer solstice, and with that came the strawberry moon. So a ton of the fields right now are covered with the wild strawberries. They're so ripe. One or two years ago, Kyle and I went up to a big field and watched it rise, and true to the name, it was a really beautiful hot pink. To kind of honor this full moon, I wanted to make a sourdough strawberry pie. So I've got to start making the dough right now, letting it have some time to ferment. I'm also going to be leaving here by myself, going on a little trip to an off-grid cabin. I'll be making the full pie there, probably living off of it for a couple days. I gotta put some salt in it, and our salt, it's so humid, the salt's kind of getting clumpy, so I might have to put some rice in there to absorb that, but yeah, a little bit of salt in here. All right, now I just cover this for eight-ish hours, and then I can bake it. I cannot believe this drive. I've been on back roads, weaving in and out of the mountains for almost an hour now. I must be close. I just got here, and I've got about a quarter-mile hike in. It's been raining on and off a little bit, so I'm going to grab all my stuff, and hopefully by the time I'm ready to head up there, the rain will pass. This view. This view is beautiful. I think I'm almost there. I just gotta get over this little bump. Here we are. Home sweet home. Holy smokes. Okay, the bed's up there. Kitchen. Fireplace. Man, what a spot. I'm blown away. I really am. I'm just so excited, and I'm so grateful to be here. There's also an outdoor shower right behind this, and a composting toilet, which I'm really excited about because I'm very interested in them, and I want one. I need to figure out the oven. It's a little bit vague. I don't know that I can get an exact temperature on it, but I want to bake that sourdough strawberry pie that I've been working on because I'm so hungry, and I also found some local rhubarb, so that'll give it a nice twist. It smells like fresh milled wood in here. It's so good. If I'm being honest, I could have waited a little bit longer to let that filling solidify and give the slice a bit more thickness, but I could not wait. The whole cabin filled up with the smell of this, and as soon as it came out, it looked so good. What I use in the filling to kind of help it thicken, too, since strawberry pie can be really yummy, but I meant to say runny, I'll add some arrowroot powder and chia seeds. Oh, this is so good. I think it's 5am. I got up half an hour ago and watched the sunrise. Breathtaking. A little groggy this morning, though. Big day ahead. I wanted to talk to you quickly about something that's become a non-negotiable part of my mornings and has had such a positive impact on my life, and that is Seed's DS01 daily symbiotic. I'm seriously so excited to say that Seed is the sponsor of this video. DS01 is a broad-spectrum probiotic and prebiotic formulated with 24 clinically and scientifically studied strains for whole body benefits, including gut, skin, and heart health. Personally, since I started taking DS01, my whole body feels great. I've had an ease in the bloating I was dealing with. I'm very regular. So grateful for this. Beyond this, there's the Viacap design. So it's a capsule in a capsule that ensures 100% survivability rate because probiotics are most effective when they reach your colon alive. Really, you guys, I feel so good since taking DS01. I recommend it to all my friends and family. It's such an easy thing to integrate into your daily routine and stay on track with, which I really appreciate. So with that said, you can use my code BROWN25 to get 25% off Seed's DS01 daily symbiotic. The link for that will be in the description. And thanks again to Seed United States. I started the morning in one set of mountains over in Vermont. Now I'm in the supposed to be really hot today. It's already full sun. So the plan is to get to the top of the mountain, hopefully well before that afternoon sun comes in because it's going to get so toasty. Okay, here we go. I just realized I haven't even had a proper breakfast yet. And this is a pretty tasking hike. So I'm absolutely eating my pie that I made last night for breakfast. I'm here. I need to get up here. Starting off with a big, nice, steep incline. Such a good burn. This hike is turning out to be a bit more challenging than I anticipated, probably because of the weather conditions and the humidity and the trail has been pretty wet. And a lot of places will definitely be taking my time on the descent. But I wish I could submerge in this. It's so nice and icy. I have one mile to the summit. My body was exhausted in truly the best way. The sun felt energizing, the air crisp and refreshing. I thought about how much perspective was gained with the elevation, what the mountains had to offer, adventure, realization, challenge, gratitude, presence, abundance, admiration. I felt calm, capable, connected, carefree. I was one with the mountains, the animals, the plants, the earth. Whatever the exact reason is or just the combination of it all, this is where I am meant to be. So after some mountain hopping in New England, I went back to my home, the old A-frame cabin. You know, having a small apartment in the past was nice for a more nomadic lifestyle, untethered and less responsibilities. But being here with the acreage and the garden we built has allowed me to not only grow our own food, but also the herbs and flowers for my small business. And I also get to play with new creations with every harvest, which is exactly what I did with this recent batch of rose. Rose is one of my favorite smells right up there with lavender. There's a ton of vitamin C in here and it's anti-inflammatory. I mixed in some aloe vera and water to get the texture right. The clay mask will draw out impurities, detox the face, help reveal a brighter, smoother, hydrated complexion. So you can kind of play around with the herbs that you want to mix in with the clay, which is really fun and super simple. So I need to get this on in kind of a thin layer and leave it on for 10-15 minutes and then I can take it off. I think I'm good. Okay, I've had this on my face for about 15 minutes and I can't really move my face anymore. I feel like that's a good gauge for when you know it's time to take it off. I'll just take some warm water and start gently removing it and then follow up with moisturizer. This isn't labeled because it's just mine, but it is my vial of youth. That's my favorite. I make it myself, it's in my shop. Okay, all done. As we've been working on renovations for our A-frame cabin, we had to do a lot of exterior work. So to meet the growing season, we had to build the garden in time, which included leveling a ton of the land, stirring things up, and Kyle finished our driveway. So things were just getting moved around left and right. Also repairing and leveling out parts of our side yard to avoid further drainage issues. And basically what I'm getting at is so much of the yard is dirt and it was time to plant some grass seed, but we had to prepare first. What we were working with was not perfect and that's okay, but we had to try to remove as many rocks and roots as possible, which it's like, how do you possibly remove every rock? But we did a good job in the end, making sure things were spread out and even. Also doing a couple more rounds of patching, smoothing, and filling in on the driveway. And oh my gosh was it hot. We have been in a serious heat wave up here in the northeast, but like Kyle always says, nothing good comes easy and all in good time. So we have been working our butts off because also in the forecast was predicted to be a lot of rain, so we did not want to miss that opportunity for the grass to grow well. The job was a little tedious and very labor intensive. By the end of the day we were looking good, we were ready to go, and little by little we were tackling another huge thing to help get our house to feel more like a home. Might be the type of thing too that we're gonna have to get as, get done what we can, let it start growing, and then get this repair stuff and add more. That is satisfying. And then just a really thin layer. Yeah just be very light. Around the time we were finishing spreading what we had for straw, a magical thing was unfolding right over the stone wall. The entire forest was twinkling with lightning bugs. Kyle and I talked about how usually in previous years we would have to travel to a field to see something close to this. To have it right in our own yard, in our own woods, it was so special and beautiful. They stayed all around us as we watered the seeds under a big bright moon, and it was one of those moments you just pause and really appreciate the little things. I felt like I was living in a fairy tale storybook. It really just affirms more so why I love being where I am, and I am so eager to see what other things unfold like this as our second year living in the mountains begins. Thank you again to Seed for sponsoring this video, and don't forget to use code BROWN25 at checkout.