White desk with pink notebook, roses, keyboard, and gold paperclips that Francesca Varela uses to write environmental fiction

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  • Balsamroot Hill

    1–2 minutes

    The wind folds through the grass, turning it over, sculpting it, and, if you listen closely, you can hear the grass as it bends. In the distance there is the ever-present hum of the river, a muffled noise pressing in on you from somewhere far off, somewhere beyond the crest of the hill, and in

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  • Which Wild PNW Plants Bloom In Early Spring?

    1–2 minutes

    Yesterday was the first official day of spring here in the northern hemisphere, but the plants have been telling us that spring is here for a while now. Read on to find out which wild plants have already started blooming in Pacific Northwest forests! 🕓 Time to read: Indian Plum Oemleria cerasiformisRose FamilyNative to PNW

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  • Through Time

    1–2 minutes

    These are the scatterings of the wind—hemlock needles, and fallen branches, and hive-shaped cones, all blanketed in snow. Our steps are strange and lumbering, and, above us, the sky is heavy. It’s rain—the kind of rain that seeps out from tree branches and hillsides, the kind of rain that is somehow, in itself, green. Down

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  • How To Find The Winter Constellations

    3–4 minutes

    Finding Orion – The Hunter Orion is one of the most prominent constellations in the winter sky, and it’s bright enough to be seen in even the most light-polluted cities. The easiest way to find Orion is by looking for its belt—three bright stars in a diagonal line, cutting through the middle of the constellation

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Learn more about Francesca Varela's novels