Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
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amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
@amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
900 followers 1.3K following 600 posts
Knitting, jam making, bread baking, gardening, writing, antifascist wife and mom from Western New York. Blogging since 2010 (no ads, no AI) at www.poemfarm.amylv.com 💙
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amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
Claude is cozy and he wishes you a world of coziness too. #Caturday #Cats #CatsOfBlueSky #LongHairedCats #Pets
A long-haired, buff-colored cat looks directly at the camera from a wicker chair draped in a quilt and woolen shawl.
November 22, 2025 at 10:47 PM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
There are still races! We can always write postcards of support! Let's get out the vote for @ashmarwah.bsky.social for Florida State Senate! #VoteBlue #WritePostcards #ActFromHome #Democracy #Resist #YourVoteIsYourVoice 💙 Register at @tovoters.bsky.social 🦕🐳🐋🐬🐦🐟💙
A hand holds 10 postcards written in support of Ash Marwah for Florida State Senate.
November 18, 2025 at 11:56 PM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
Today is the day I make wintergreen salve! I picked the leaves in summer, infused them in olive oil for months, and today heat with beeswax and wintergreen oil. #WitchyThings #Wintergreen #WithMyHands #PreparingForWinter
Small tins fill of golden salve, a wee metal funnel, and a bottle of wintergreen oil rest on a metal cookie sheet.
November 18, 2025 at 4:23 PM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
Winnie and Claude like the Vinebox box. #Caturday #Vinebox #CatsOfBluesky #CatSky #LongHairedCats
Two long-haired cats enjoy a box, the buff one in it, the white and brown one under its lid.
November 15, 2025 at 3:54 PM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
Today at The Poem Farm, my since-2010 (ad and AI-free) blog for young writers, I encourage students to look out of a window...and to write even when not in the mood. Find hundreds of poems and lessons here - poemfarm.amylv.com/2025/11/look... #Kidlit #Poetry #ELA #Writing #WritingInstruction #Birds
Text of Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's poem titled "You Ask Why I'm Singing." You may hear this poem read to you at the link in the post. Simple sketch of a bird flying between pine trees.
November 14, 2025 at 2:24 PM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
Hey, Tennessee! Help Democrats flip the House! Vote for @aftynbehn.bsky.social to feed kids, fund hospitals, and fix roads. Your vote is your voice, and it matters. I just mailed a handful of @tovoters.bsky.social postcards to your neighbors from Western New York today. 💙 @thetnholler.bsky.social
A handful of handwritten postcards supporting Aftyn Behn for the U.S. House goes into a mailbox in Western New York. Our votes matter. 💙
November 8, 2025 at 10:35 PM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
"And when she is good,
she is very very good. And when she is bad, she is horrid." That's our Winnie! ❣️

#Caturday #LongHairedCats #Cats #CatsOfBlueSky
A long-haired, brown and white cat looks into the camera.
November 8, 2025 at 9:26 PM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
A good friend gave me a box of apples, so on this rainy November day, our home smells like apples, cinnamon, and cardamom. The sights and smells of late fall are so cozy. #Apples #Fall #Friendship #Grateful
Drying apples sprinkled with cinnamon and cardamom dehydrate in an open oven at 200 degrees for a few hours. Yum!
November 7, 2025 at 8:49 PM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
More garlic! More garlic! Goodbye vampires! #GardenSky #Gardening #Garlic #GarlicGirl #SanityInTheSoil
A container of garlic cloves and a planting tool sits in the soil....ready to be planted!
November 7, 2025 at 12:53 AM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
I like knitting many socks at once. Cuffs are done. Legs are done. Heels are done. Gussets are done. Now it is time for the feet and the toes. (I am calling these next two months Sockvember!) #Knitting #Socks #SockKnitting #Sockvember #Maker #SanityKnitting #WithMyHands #AntifaHobbies #Autumn 🧶
A pile of colorful socks still on the needles sits on a wooden table.
November 5, 2025 at 10:13 AM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
I voted early, and today I will plant the elephant garlic, focusing on something beautiful and close to home. #Garlic #Gardening #GardenSky #Home
Large heads of garlic gather on a white and blue napkin.
November 4, 2025 at 12:01 PM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
I subscribe to the word of the Day from gratefulliving.org. Here is the word for today. #Vote #ElectionDay #Vote ❣️
Quote from John Lewis: "The vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democracy."
November 4, 2025 at 9:34 AM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
🧡👻Happy Halloween! Over at The Poem Farm (my 15 year old blog for young writers, no ads, no AI), I invite students to write poems that tell stories. Here's mine - about Boo the reading ghost. poemfarm.amylv.com/2025/10/let-... #Writing #KidLit #Poetry #Poem #ELA #TeachingWriting #Literacy #Ghosts 👻🧡
Text for the poem "Boo" by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater. You can hear the audio of this poem by clicking the link in the post. A line sketch of a ghost wearing a blue baseball cap, surrounded by books and reading a book.
October 31, 2025 at 11:32 AM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
This is one of our last garden harvests of the season, less than two weeks ago. Since then, frost. I am grateful to have wood on the porch and am readying to bring sage, rosemary, chives, thyme, and oregano inside for winter. ❣️ #Bloomscrolling #Gardening #GardenSky #GoldenHour #Fall #AutumnColors
A basket of dahlias and zinnias and tomatoes glows in golden hour sunlight.
October 23, 2025 at 12:36 AM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
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October 21, 2025 at 9:31 PM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
Today at The Poem Farm, my (ad-and-AI-free) blog for children since 2010, I share a poem about self-talk & encourage young writers to jot daily thoughts in a notebook. I welcome your students to visit this friendly space, to write along with me. poemfarm.amylv.com/2025/10/self... #Kidlit #Writing 📝
Text of Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's poem "Like Kite, Like Bird" - you can listen to this poem at the link in the post. A colored sketch of a kite and a bird both saying the words, "I can!"
October 17, 2025 at 11:32 AM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
Fall raspberries are here...happy sigh!

#Harvest #Fall #Raspberries #Home #CountryLiving #Autumn #BerryPicking #Thankful
A hand holds a glass bowl partway filled with fall raspberries over a raspberry bush.
October 15, 2025 at 10:37 PM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
Soctober continues with Petty Harbour socks (comforting 4 row repeat texture pattern) by Rayna Curtis of First Light Handcrafts in Fa La La La La yarn by The Sheepyshire. Dahlias are Jowey Winnie, & I am loving them for as long as I can! 🧶

#Knitting #Socktober #Dahlias #Bloomscrolling #SanityInYarn
A hand holds a partially knitted sock in white, pale green, and pink against some pink dahlias in a garden.
October 13, 2025 at 3:18 PM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
After a session of cat yoga, Winnie inspects the Grape Nut Bread. Recipe in the comments.

#Cats #LongHairedCats #LateFor #Caturday #Baking #BakingSky
A white and brown long-haired cat stretches out on a soft chair. A brown and white long-haired cat smells a loaf of bread set on a white cast iron table.
October 12, 2025 at 3:35 PM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
It's Banned Books Week, & here's a poem I wrote in 2012 about some important characters living in important books. I keep my poems and lessons for children at The (ad & AI free) Poem Farm & have done so since 2010. poemfarm.amylv.com/2012/10/are-... 📚

#BannedBooksWeek #ReadBannedBooks #Democracy
Text of a poem titled "Are You There, God?" by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater.
October 10, 2025 at 12:08 AM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
Stacking our front porch with winter wood, I carved out a cozy nook made from firewood walls. Tonight I am knitting here, listening to the glorious sound of much needed rain. 🧶

#Home #Socktober #Knitting #KnittingForCalm #AntifaKnitter #Socks #LibrarySocks #KimsDyedYarn #Home #Grateful #Cozy #Hygge
A pink bistro table with knitting scattered atop sits in a cozy nook made from stacked firewood.
October 7, 2025 at 9:49 PM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
Socktober continues with these Hermione socks in colorway Shifting Seasons by The Sheepyshire. I am thankful that my lovely Danish host mother Birte taught me to knit back when I was a Rotary exchange student in '87-'88. ❣️

#Socktober #Knitting #Socks #Handknit #Maker #Socks #ShowMeYourKnits #Fall 🧶
Two feet in orange and blue handknit socks rest in a garden with marigolds.
October 6, 2025 at 5:47 PM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
Claude says, "I will help you with the puzzle."

#Caturday #Cats #CatsOfBluesky #LongHairedCats 😽
A buff-colored cat with orange eyes looks up from his spot on the puzzle box.
October 4, 2025 at 1:58 PM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
Over at The Poem Farm, my (ad-and-AI-free since 2010) blog for young writers, today I share a tritina about the sleeping bumblebee I found stuffed into a dahlia. I welcome you & your students to join me for small writing jaunts in this friendly space. #Kidlit #Writing #ChildrensAuthor #Creativity
Text of the poem "Bee and Me" by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater. To hear the poem read to you, visit the link in the post. The bottom of a fat bumblebee sticks out of a bright pink dahlia.
October 3, 2025 at 11:06 AM
amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social
Mark walked up our hill this morning to find the first sparkles of frost. 'Feels like time for these cozy memade Noro socks and a mug of chai.

#Noro #SockKnitting #Knitter #Fall #Knitting #Cozy #Hygge 🧶
Two feet in socks of blue and purple rest on an old ice cream shop chair.
October 2, 2025 at 12:21 PM