The heart behind Thistle & Cypress begins with our roots. Our crest brings together the Scottish thistle and the Italian cypress. It is a visual representation of our intertwined roots—combining a resilient, resourceful spirit with a warm, generous devotion to place and hospitality.
Why We Built This Space
We didn’t start Thistle & Cypress because we have all the answers. We started it because we wanted to create a quiet, digital clearing in a noisy world—a place to document the slow, intentional work of building a life with our hands.
For years, we’ve found immense grounding in the simple acts of making: kneading pasta dough, waiting for bread to rise, planting roots in our Pennsylvania soil, and letting the seasons dictate our pace. But in a fast-forward culture that values optimization over process, we realized how easy it is to lose touch with those grounding rhythms.
We wanted a dedicated space to slow down, catalog our experiments, and build something beautiful out of pure curiosity.
Thistle & Cypress is our public notebook. It’s where we celebrate the trials, the successes, and the unavoidable garden mistakes. We cover everything that touches our version of an intentional life—from the traditional heritage of baking to modern workflows like using AI as a creative partner. If it requires curiosity and care, it has a home here.
Our hope for this space is simple: that it serves as a quiet companion for your own journey. You don’t need to move to the woods, buy a farm, or change your life overnight to live with intention. You just have to begin where you stand, one conscious choice at a time.
We’re here sharing our rhythms, and we’re incredibly glad to be cheering on yours.
— Jon & Rick