Someday Orchard

Welcome to Someday Orchard...

Otherwise known as my side yard. 

We have lots of downed trees, leaves, and stumps right now; along with two high-bush blueberries, one cherry tree, and one pear tree.

I planted the trees yesterday..

But Someday it'll be a real orchard. With pears, cherries, plums, and apples...with a swing hanging on the beech tree and soft grasses beneath the trees.. 

Herbs

I've spent the summer gloating over our herbs and flowers as they took over their beds in the garden - today, I'm beaming down on them in their little jars. It's really thrilling to see something grow from seed to plant, then watch it shrink and dry on the rack, jar it up and know exactly where the herbs in your tea or salve have come from. Personally. It's a relationship, and I cherish these relationships.

We have Calendula, which has been an amazing producer for us in the past couple years..and has such a sticky, golden feel to it when fresh, and beautiful variety in the shades of yellow - from Jersey cream to bright gold. We use it almost exclusively in salves and balms. Calendula is so healing - skin just loves it! It does well in the tub too..in a little mesh bag with oats and oils. Or loose, if you don't mind cleaning up drowned petals. I like bathing with Calendula in the winter especially, because my skin tends to get dry.

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Comfrey is one of my favorite herbs. My midwife gave me a bunch of fresh comfrey after Yarrow's birth, and I've put it in her butt-balm ever since. Comfrey heals. It loves to heal. Comfrey is a resistant herb too! We tilled ours in twice this spring and it came up in abundance! Rashes, cuts, scabs..all manner of hurts flee from comfrey. Just make a poultice and rest it on the sore spot, or infuse an oil and rub little soothing drops onto wounds. I like mixing it in with St. Joseph's oil (he likes healing too) and letting them work together on my woundedness.

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Mullein was a surprise this year. We didn't plant it, we've never had it here before, but this summer we found five Mullein plants towering over our back garden. I was thrilled! Mullein helps with Asthma - which I have - either in tea form, or 'smoked'. It opens up the lungs and gives some quick relief (NOT as quick as an inhaler..so don't be careless with your health!). The transitional season - from warm days to cold - is the hardest time for my respiratory system, so I'm happy to have Mullein around as a stabilizer. 

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I mainly just put Bee Balm in teas..it tastes like pure youth and springtime. It goes well in apple jelly too..throw in blossoms at the beginning and strain them out before cooking down to jelly. Bee Balm is health-some though, all on it's own. It's a very safe way to fight off colds and fevers, calms digestion, and I think it's scent brightens the whole mood of the day - which is so helpful in February!

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We have so many more..but these are some of my favorites! We love our herbs, and their ability to last through the winter months in various useful ways is a delight. Now that winter's come -weather-wise at least, we're appreciating them more and more!

Do you harvest any of your herbs or flowers for the winter months? Tell me about it! There's no better time to start planning for next year.

Gardens

Growing Things

We’ve been planting. My lettuce is coming up, as are the peas and just a couple bean-plants so far. I’ve planted beets, broccoli, broccoli-Rab, spinach, radishes (watermelon and french breakfast), carrots, kale, arugula, and a nice bed of sweet-Annie where Seth spilled the motor-oil (we can’t put anything edible there!) We’ve really jumped into everything this spring - with bonfires every Thursday to clear the brush, and the building of actual beds in some parts of the garden. This dry spell has really been a blessing for us - a chance to dry out and clean up. But I’m looking forward to rain. We’ve added three huge metal barrels to our ‘system’ of water-storage, and Seth has been keeping up on filling and refilling the necessary ones. We’ve now got water stored near the front garden -where the pigs will be soon, two barrels near the house, and two big ones half-way between the house and stream (a do-able distance for me, while Yarrow waits in the yard).

I’ve looking around at perennials to add to our front garden, not that we’re spreading out a bit. I want evening primrose, hollyhock, and too many roses to count. And we’re picking up fruit trees this weekend as well! I’m not certain my elderberries made it through the winter, which is a disappointment. I’ll try again, I don’t see why they shouldn’t live, if I can keep the chickens from

bedding down on top of them! This year we’re extending our chicken-run to keep them happy without letting them free-range quite as often.

Fabric and Seeds

There is a lot of focus on the future in our house today. Seed catalogs have come and we are dreaming of spring gardens. I have such plans for the big space our pigs cleared out last summer - I want a dozen cabbages, too many tomatoes to count, more greens than we can eat! I won’t be ordering seeds for weeks, but the planning has begun and I love seeing all the pictures of summer produce.

Planning has also begun for the Etsy shop we’re hoping to open in the spring. I’ve collected enough fabric to keep me busy for months, but only today did I begin cutting and pinning. Time in the daylight hours is often had to come by. Today with the snow falling all around I’m full of enthusiasm and comfortably nestled in my little house. The light is dim, but not terrible and the snow outside makes me want to be buried in bright cloth - with pins in my mouth and a dog at my feet.

Autumn Canning

I’ve finally got my dilly beans canned. Some of them, at least. I’m not sure how long my beans will be producing. They’re hardy, and almost too prolific. In general we just eat fresh beans all summer and mourn their loss when winter comes, but this year, I decided to put a few by. Dilly beans are easy and so amazingly good, and since we really didn’t manage a surplus of cucumbers, I’d like something canned with dill in my pantry this year.

I’ve been coveting pretty canning jars, they aren’t in my budget, but they’re so pretty! The normal, ball jars are getting old, these are so fresh, so funky. Someday I’ll have a pantry full of variety jars, when I’m an old lady canning beans and corn and whatnot for Christmas presents and housewarming gifts. When I have gardens on every side of me.

 

 

Tomatoes, sunshine, and rain

Our tomatoes are coming in! I’m thrilled. Tomatoes are one of my favorite things about summer - winter tomatoes are so different, completely undesirable. Summer tomatoes seems to soak up all the flavors of sunlight and thunderstorms, hot afternoons, and cool nights. I put in about 25 plants this year, all loaded with green tomatoes and little yellow flowers. We’re getting ripe fruits one by one right now, but I have high hopes that within a week or two, we’ll be over-loaded enough that I’ll have to begin canning.

Our eggplant are flowing as well. We have too many eggplant-plants. Too many, in a good way. A local farm-stand was giving out free flats of 7 or 8 plants, and I took 4 flats, with the thought of giving some of them away. I kept them all, and except for the one plant Luba trampled in her pursuit of an escaping toad, they are all full of little purple flowers. I think I might be sick of eggplant by the end of the fall.

Herbs and Flowers

Not herbs or flowers..but so green and pretty!

Everything is in bloom around us! I spent some of the afternoon yesterday harvesting Yarrow (the plant, not the baby) and starting a tincture with some of the fresh stalks and flowers, as well as drying the rest for winter teas. I found my lost, dried chamomile and started a tincture with some of that too, along with drowning some of it in olive oil. A friend mentioned steeping some the other day and I was enthused, I’ve really only every used Chamomile in teas, but infused oils are supposed to be wonderful for calming frustrated skin, and so here I go!

We’ve been putting in a few herbs recently, Comfry for wounds and bites, lemon balm for restful teas, roses for beauty and oils. Our red clover is spreading, which delights me, as clover is such a healthy herb! It drives away colds, brightens my mood, and is sort of a ideal catch-all herb for women. We don’t have much, but I’m hoping that, as our trees recede a bit, it will have some space to spread and grow.

Our Beebalm is blooming, and I’ve found a fantastic recipe for beebalm infused apple jelly. I’m excited to try it, though apples aren’t really in season. I’m going to do it anyway, maybe I’ll enlist the help of the family on their visit! But some of the flowers I’m saving to make bright, beautiful teas that lift winter blues, and smell just a bit like heaven.

Gardens

We are slowly spreading out here in our woods, turning trees into gardens. Most of the trees are themselves a joy and a beauty, but many of them are thin, sickly things, too close to each other to thrive. We are taking them down to make room for blackberries, raspberries, elderberries, and strawberries. This year we’ve had more time to play in the gardens, to till and plant and enjoy. We are moving beyond surival-mode here, and our list of things to do is getting less and less serious. Road work is helpful, but not dire, and most of my daily tasks fall under Beautification, not Essential.

My family will arrive again on Saturday. Not only my parents, but also my youngest brother. I’m excited to show them the changes, excited to bake for them, and show them the gardens. I have a whole list of tasks they’re welcome to perform. It sometimes feels exploitive to have them work when they visit, but they’re always so eager to dive in. This week I hope to have their help putting a fence along the front yard, setting up the summer (outdoor) kitchen, and cleaning out the yurt. All of this depends on the weather.

May work

Seedlings

We are a little late in starting our seeds. I had them, in their little paper packets on the desk, looking hopeful for weeks, but only planted them last week. This week if the weather allows, I’ll be putting in some of the outdoor seeds. I wanted to wait until the fence was up around the back garden, to keep the chickens out, we lost too many plants to their eager appetites last year. We are still waiting on a rototiller to extend the gardens and prepare the front yard to take grass-seed. After cleaning out the chicken’s this spring, I have an abundance of chicken manure for the front garden, but I’m still hoping for some cow or horse manure to mix in.

While my parents were up, they help in clearing along the road, areas I’m hoping to have cleaner, wider, and ready for gravel or planting by this summer. The days have been perfect for work. Bright sun, big white clouds, cool breezes and warm air.

I keep forgetting that it’s still only April. At this time last year we still had snow on the ground, a muddy road, and no front garden at all. A long spring is a blessing to cherish and enjoy, but even so, I’m impatient for summer to come again.

Cold Nights

The wind blew in late autumn last night. We could here it beating the trees against each other and making the stars brighter against the cold sky.  The chickens fluffed up their feathers and slept close. The whole yard smelled of woodsmoke. We nestled in, with candles all around as the stove radiated comfort, dancing Yarrow to sleep with Gotan Project and Bruce Springsteen. The night was lovely.

Tonight will be colder, I can feel it already. We came in to town today for more candles, kerosene for the lamps and to sip tea among people. I fell into a conversation with three, angry older folks. The want the protestors to become violent, they want riots and punishments for lawyers and wealthy men. The sky seemed grayer when they left. But Yarrow nestled in, clutching her scarf a little closer, while the folks behind the counter laughed and talked of Halloween, coffee, and quiche; normal returned, and I tried to love the angry ones. I suppose its easy to want violence from armchairs in cozy cafes, harder to want it when you are faced with another person.

The cabbage is almost ready to pick. Chard is a coninual blessing, still growing. The beets can come out anytime, I'm storing them in the ground until I get an opportunity to make borsch. Home is cozy, Yarrow's nameday on Friday is an exciting anticipation.