Summertime is special, very special. The elders continue to flower, and Mike is slightly fixated on curing everyone we know of the Swine Flu with the honied flowers. We've got about a solid quart of infused honey, I'd bet. The best part about collecting the flowers, though, is the fantastic river exploration it necessitates. We wondered down the South Toe a ways looking for warm spots to swim and more elders the other day. I can't really explain how it feels to wander downstream with your lover collecting medicine and splashing among rocks older than you can imagine. O, and Toby the dog came and swam with us in the deeper spots, he is such a good dog. The benefit of living with folks with animals is the ability to share the companionship of those animals. We have a lot of animal friends here.
In any case, yes, the rain has finally subsided, at least for the better part of the last five days, and I don't believe there's much of any being called for this coming week. That's good in that the sun is the best motivating force I can think of, but it's a little bit lame in that the garden will need more regular watering (which is totally fine), but the rain barrels aren't totally full, and I'm quite sure we'll run out before the rains come again. Ah, well, this is how it goes. I watered with nettle compost tea the other day, diluted to about 1:10 or so (very rough estimate), and I smelled like poop the rest of the day. That girl who lives here sometimes between herb school and travelling abroad said she likes the smell of it, kinda, when I told her she smelled like poop last time she used the nettle tea. Now I understand.. it sort of grows on you, plus the plants really like it! We have a Rhode Island Red rooster who sort of completely separated from the rest of the pack of birds (the other roosters do not like him), and he roosts on the air compressor we have on the porch. There's a metal plate beneath him where we collect his poop, and it's generally what he's free-ranged from the yard, plus a little scratch Mike gives him when he's around during the feeding hour. So far we've been putting it in the compost, or on the potatoes, but I think it is a good idea to make compost tea from it, manure tea for da plants.
The blueberries are getting quite blue, and I've eaten two! We hope to get up the ridge to collect wild berries (they're so much more blueberry-ish) a bit later in the summer. The daylilies planted all over the property are blooming with lots of crazy beautiful colors and patterns. I had no idea there were so many different kinds. The peppers and tomatoes are starting to make plump fruits, and the squash is just starting to form fruits. The broccolis are getting bigger, and yesterday I thinned the beets and chard for a third time and came in with another great big bowl full of greens. We had chard pizza yesterday! :)
I suppose that's all for now, not much more than that going down in Berrytown. Well, much always go on across the drive over at the big house, but it's a bit removed from the news of this half. Steph's garden is covered in flowers, calendula, borage, lilies, spirea, yarrow, firepinks, tomatoes, etc etc etc. It's beautiful over there, and a definite inspiration to see so many cultivated perennial medicine plants mixed with the annual vegetables. I love the self-seeding borage and calendula, so much. :)
with summertime love,
abigail
ps- Over at Little House in the Ghetto (which is linked in my links list), there is a good article posted called something like Definancialisation, Deglobalization, Relocalisation. It's pretty spectacular straight-talking, and I'm feeling it. The link is http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2009/06/definancialisation-deglobalisation.html , but still do go check out the Little House blog. I love those people.
<3
In any case, yes, the rain has finally subsided, at least for the better part of the last five days, and I don't believe there's much of any being called for this coming week. That's good in that the sun is the best motivating force I can think of, but it's a little bit lame in that the garden will need more regular watering (which is totally fine), but the rain barrels aren't totally full, and I'm quite sure we'll run out before the rains come again. Ah, well, this is how it goes. I watered with nettle compost tea the other day, diluted to about 1:10 or so (very rough estimate), and I smelled like poop the rest of the day. That girl who lives here sometimes between herb school and travelling abroad said she likes the smell of it, kinda, when I told her she smelled like poop last time she used the nettle tea. Now I understand.. it sort of grows on you, plus the plants really like it! We have a Rhode Island Red rooster who sort of completely separated from the rest of the pack of birds (the other roosters do not like him), and he roosts on the air compressor we have on the porch. There's a metal plate beneath him where we collect his poop, and it's generally what he's free-ranged from the yard, plus a little scratch Mike gives him when he's around during the feeding hour. So far we've been putting it in the compost, or on the potatoes, but I think it is a good idea to make compost tea from it, manure tea for da plants.
The blueberries are getting quite blue, and I've eaten two! We hope to get up the ridge to collect wild berries (they're so much more blueberry-ish) a bit later in the summer. The daylilies planted all over the property are blooming with lots of crazy beautiful colors and patterns. I had no idea there were so many different kinds. The peppers and tomatoes are starting to make plump fruits, and the squash is just starting to form fruits. The broccolis are getting bigger, and yesterday I thinned the beets and chard for a third time and came in with another great big bowl full of greens. We had chard pizza yesterday! :)
I suppose that's all for now, not much more than that going down in Berrytown. Well, much always go on across the drive over at the big house, but it's a bit removed from the news of this half. Steph's garden is covered in flowers, calendula, borage, lilies, spirea, yarrow, firepinks, tomatoes, etc etc etc. It's beautiful over there, and a definite inspiration to see so many cultivated perennial medicine plants mixed with the annual vegetables. I love the self-seeding borage and calendula, so much. :)
with summertime love,
abigail
ps- Over at Little House in the Ghetto (which is linked in my links list), there is a good article posted called something like Definancialisation, Deglobalization, Relocalisation. It's pretty spectacular straight-talking, and I'm feeling it. The link is http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2009/06/definancialisation-deglobalisation.html , but still do go check out the Little House blog. I love those people.
<3
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