Life lived abunduntly through nature, health and God
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Love!

Posted by Lacey in book review | gardening/compost - (0 Comments)

*****I recieved my first donation towards the Wild Hair Farm Campaign!!  I was sooo excited!  It made this feel even more real.  ‘We’re doing this!’, I thought to myself.  ‘Soon, I’ll be standing on my own land.’  I’ll tell you this much.  The day we purchase that property, I will surely sob with joy!  Thank you to my generous friends!******

 

I’m reading the book, ‘The Language of Flowers’.  Aside from the storyline, there’s an underlying theme about what each flower represents.  Lavender represents mistrust.  Which I think is unfair, because I love lavender.. Yellow roses mean infidelity.  Yikes.  Noted.  Lily of the Valley means sweetness, humility and the return to happiness.  I’m even more glad that I had chosen that as my bouquet at my wedding.  I decided to look up the meaning of my favorite flower.  Calendula.  The aroma is intoxicating.  Pungent, sweet and musky.  I’ve often been found in my garden with one just  about shoved up my nose.  It is pure delight.  The meaning: Passion and Creativity.  Sympathy.  Winning Grace.

I now love Calendula even more.  I want FIELDS of it.  So many that I could open my window and the breeze would carry in their scent.  I decided that will be the very first thing I do when we buy land.  I will walk the perimeter and sprinkle Calendula seeds.  Blessing my land with Passion, Creativity, Sympathy for others and Grace.

Much love to you all.   Whats your favorite flower?

Visions of Spring

Posted by Lacey in Animals | gardening/compost - (0 Comments)

Heidi Katt, lapping up ice water

 

This morning I stood in my usual place, in front of the glass door overlooking my mini-menagerie.  Hand on hip, the other cupped around tea.  I sipped slowly, barely touching the hot mug.  The hoary frost covered grass and trees and water and leaves.  I would need to break the ice on the critters waters again.  The sun began to touch the ice and melt the shimmering liquid into drippy gems.  The dogs were already sprawled out soaking up the precious gold and the chickens were finding high perches in order to touch the rays as they made their way into the yard.

Spring.  I began to think of spring and tall lush grass and birds.  The songbirds that wake you at first light.  Spring is along ways off, but it was good to catch the glimpse of a reminder.

I am planning to convert most of my garden space this year to medicinals, herbs and some of the vegetables that did best last year.  Kale, chard and the green mix thrived.  Carrots in certain places did splendidly and strawberries, despite the lack of sun in some spots really took off.  Perhaps more zucchini and summer squash, perhaps peas and a few cherry tomatoes.  The rest of the space will hopefully be filled with calendula, lavender, agrimony, yarrow, comfrey and whatever else I can fit in there.

I went through a few weeks of feeling constrained again by this space.  Wishing for more.  Hoping that more of my dreams will knock on my door.  I began to remove myself from what I have, discontent and even spiteful at times.  I just want a few acres.  A goat!  A southern facing slope that gets full sun!  I just, I just… I want more.  It was soon after, but not soon enough that I remembered what it was like to be in a small apartment.  What it was like to have no yard at all.  I remembered quickly what it was like to be able to grow a few potted herbs on a windowsill and how ecstatic I was to have that.  I remembered how much I have.

Rather than discard the resources and available space I have, I decided to work with it.   Again.  Not force it to be what it is not.  It is not enough space for all the animals I want.  It is not enough space for rows of corn and squash.  It IS enough space for a flock of chickens, a few fiber bunnies, herbs and climbing peas, a sunny place to drink tea and chat with a friend.  It IS enough space to learn new skills.  It IS enough.

I finished my jasmine tea watching the cats and chickens and dogs all take turns at trying to bust through the icey glass that kept them from quenching water.  Slipping on boots and jacket, I took out hot water to melt it away.  They all came to drink again, tails wagging, happily clucking and purring softly.  It was enough to fill my heart and be thankful.

 

What are your plans for spring?  How can you work with what you have?

Volunteer Surprises

Posted by Lacey in Animals | gardening/compost - (1 Comments)

 

Of the many sunflowers I planted, only 2 made it, but what beauties they are!

Gardening is so much more than controlling a plot of land.  It can be a giving, living soul that surprises you with just the thing you need.  Refuge, therapy, silence, a place to channel your stress by digging your hands deep into rich, dark soil.  The anxiety melts from your shoulders and soaks into the earth, as though it is compost.  Waste that has been sloughed off and reused to nourish beauty.

The Garden can also surprise you with gifts.  Plants I use often, like Evening Primrose and Mullein have volunteered themselves to my green space, happy to contribute to the guild of flora and fauna.

Evening Primrose, excellent for skincare!

I already ate the first blossom…. I’ll post another picture of it’s lovely yellow flowers soon!

 

Mullein, I use the flowers and broad leaves for respiratory remedies.

Other surprises being late summer strawberries, drier than the ones you find in spring, but holding intense flavor.  Little pops of Vitamin C.  I also discovered that a lovely little blue flowering weed turned out to be flax, or linseed.  I’ve been enjoying nibbling on the smooth little nuggets each time I’m out in the yard.

A patch of Lambs Quarter that was here last summer, has been replaced by a wild ground cover, which I cannot remember the name of.  But low and behold, a patch instead showed up in the U-topia garden space, which is much more preferable over its last home, which is in the direct path of the chickens dustbath area.  Mmm, the wild spinach!

Lambs Quarter, Replace for spinach in salads and quiches

A small crop of garlic that I forgot about last year, made a reappearance!

 

What would life be without garlic?

I love finding new critters in my yard.  It means it is healthy and diverse.  This week I’ve spotted new butterflies and buzzing insects, dragonflies and hummingbirds, a surge of honeybees and then this guy was found on an antique window that sits at the edge of the raised mulch beds.

 

Hello, little friend. Hide from the Chickens!!

 

Speaking of critters, our Rooster, Max-a-doodle, will be ‘gifting’ us with some chicken dinners in the near future.  He’s been stalking and threatening the children, and so he must go.  Which, really, is fine by me, because the stock that comes from our own homegrown chickens is unparalleled.  Absolutely delicious.  Our last rooster made several dishes, including southwest chicken quinoa, bbq chicken, chicken sandwiches and then lastly, a thick and flavorful stock that we will use in the coming months.

 

Sorry Max.

Lastly, Olive Oil, our Red Araucana Hen,  just started laying.  And her eggs are unique from our other hens by being a beautiful shade of Olive Green.

 

What gifts has your garden been giving you?

Hipster Corn and the late Garden

Posted by Lacey in gardening/compost - (1 Comments)

 

Its amazing to see how the garden has grown in just a few short months!

Earlier this season, when tomato plants were still just inches tall, and we were all dreaming of peas and spinach, I planted a sheet mulch garden with about 20 heirloom sweet corn seeds.  Word spread to the chicken yard, and the flock descended on the newly planted soil and scratched up all my non-GMO corn filled hopes and dreams.  Or so I thought.  1 single corn defied the odds and seemingly overnight we had an 8 foot tall corn stalk.  I didn’t think it would be pollinated as I had assumed you needed other stalks to rub up against each other in a corn like rave to produce any edible vegetation.  But low and behold, we have ourselves a single cob.  A very unique and colorful cob.  She listens to underground unsigned bands and drinks artisan fair trade coffee  from beans that her buddy roasts in his garage.  She eluded to her recent break up with our singular Tobacco plant (volunteered from last years) because he supported Monsanto and listens to Coldplay. (Least you be worried, it’s actually an heirloom seed from an organic local medicinal herb farm.  Whos the hipster now.)

Allow me to introduce our hipster corn.

 

She prefers the term 'Ombre', but it just looks like a bad dye job.

 

Like most things in our garden this year, it will be consumed heartily and without thought for preserving anything for winter.  Not the best strategy, but it sure tastes good now.  We’ve been eating zucchini fritters and roasted carrots, potato gratin and steamed green beans.  I picked my basil plant clean to enjoy in a salmon and basil baked egg dish.  We are eating like kings.  Or at least like first time farmers.  Last year I had a handful of tomatoes.  A few measly celery plants, 0 strawberries, some squash and herbs from our own gardens.  So I consider this years harvest to be leaps and bounds beyond that.  Instead of canning, blanching, freezing and drying as much as we can, we’re enjoying the bounty at its peak and loveliest flavor.  Next year we’ll go bigger and have a few more notches in our garden tool belt.  Surely a hardy harvest is in the cards for next year, and while I could go to the farmstands and markets and buy boxes of organic produce and can and preserve to my hearts content, I just cant justify the cost this year.  I will put in a winter garden and we’ll enjoy root veggies, cabbage and the apples that are nearing ripeness on our little tree.

My goal this year with the late garden, is to save seeds from the choicest plants.  It’s so hard to see the dark green kale that grows impervious to the pests that the other kale is falling prey to, and not eat any of it’s foliage.  I’ll let it go to seed and plant next springs garden with several of this strong kale’s offspring.  The largest and healthiest carrot and most robust beet are being left alone as they mature and grow past their choicest harvest time.  The darkest green bean has grown twice as large as the rest, becoming starchy and plump with bean-seeds.  Next year, I will plant my garden with these champions that I have chosen from my favorite plants.  Each year, the garden becomes more of a proverbial nursery.  A place to cultivate new lives from old friends.  My plants will become like family to me, and I’ll be able to recognize my own from others.  This is what I love about gardening in this way.  Its personal.  Instead of buying starts from a chain store, I am selecting the seeds, planting, nurturing and cultivating, studying and taking notes.  This is my garden grown to our tastes and desires.

Agrimony. A surprise medicinal that graced my garden with its presence!

 

Feverfew

The bean pole teepee with kale and collard greens to it's right.

It is the month of zucchini for every meal!

Hops.

Really, that’s all I had to say tonight.  The heat has withered me and I’m feeling claustrophobic after seeing the forecast predicting triple digits and there abouts for days to come.  I hesitantly turned on the AC today as I felt the panic set in at not being able to escape.  When it is cold, you can add layers and sit closer to the fire.  When it gets this meltingly hot, you can only get so naked and eat so many watermelons.  I look forward to the day I can build a shade garden with a permaculture pool and set up a hammock in a shady glen.

 

Morning yoga with the Zucchini and Nasturtium

Mornings have become a precious time for me.  A time when the sun is still behind the trees to the east.  I water the garden while drinking coffee.  Bare feet absorb cool morning dirt.  The dogs are not yet withered into puddles of sweaty fur and the chickens are cheery and clucky.  As soon as the sun is high, I retreat behind closed doors and wait out the heat.  I hate that I feel trapped inside until the sun goes down.

Summer, I have a very strained relationship with you.  I love your harvest, but loathe your torrid rays.  I am reminded that all too soon, you will pack your sunflowers and tomatoes as Autumn dances in with her apples and raspy leaves.  I have to find a way to enjoy this season more, and so I may escape to the mountains for a few days with the boys…. a dip in an icy lake sounds like a perfect cure for the summer blues.

For now, I have a date with the evening air and twilight in my late summer garden.

 

Camp, eggs, kits and tattoos

Posted by Lacey in gardening/compost | Life | The Farm - (0 Comments)

Hi friends.  It’s been a long while.  So long, in fact, that the broccoli has all been harvested, the remaining leaves and stems composted and strawberries and peas are nearing their finish.  My lettuce mix and kale are growing rapidly and the calendula and nasturtium are turning into jungle plants.  We also have a new adolescent rooster, affectionately named Max-a-doodle.  He’s a shy sweet little man, and hilarious with his crackly crow and scraggly legs.

Thank you all who’ve recently commented!  As I’ve mentioned before, I suck at returning the favor.  So I will collectively say ‘I read each one, and appreciate the responses you all give!’

The farm (as discussed in my last post) did not end up being in the cards, and after going through the 8 stages of grief, I have recovered and am seeing color in the world again.  That’s an exaggeration, but the initial disappointment did lead to a long and speedy drive to clear my head and a solo camping trip to the coast…. also to clear my head and gather my dreams from their shattered pieces and realize all was not lost.  We’re looking into new possibilities as opportunities rise over the horizon.

 

Coastal coffee on an empty beach

And yes, that means I took this photo…. cause who else was going to photo journal my journey?

 

I wasn't ALL alone. Freyja the White Fur Beast accompanied me.

It was delightfully misty and gusty. Perfect for clearing ones head.

Bonfire, hooping, wine and my dog. Therapy.

Camp breakfast of champions. Kombucha, farm eggs with salmon and camp spice.

A recent family camping trip to the coast was enjoyed as the boys stripped naked (the young boys, not the man-boy) and frolicked in the abnormally warm june coastal weather.  Seth and I took turns sauntering up the coast in solitude and gathering again around campfires, sand castles and camp food.  I think it’s good to rekindle love away from home.  There’s no distractions and it’s refreshing to see your partner with the eyes of an adventurer.  Several camp trips this summer have been planned, and I’m looking forward to all those fires, sleeping-bag snuggles, stars and early mornings.

Currently rose petals are drying on a rack and comfrey is being infused into jojoba oil.  I’ve made a new lotion/cream/moisturizer… what-have-you… that I’m crazy about.  It was originally created for the purpose of soothing tattoos.  The Man got more work done on his coastal pine tattoo and my original healing cream was too thick for the job.  Thus I schemed and crafted a new one with rose and comfrey, primrose and shea butter, aloe gel and kokum and coconut oils.  The essential oils in this one are slightly different than the original and are focused on gently soothing and promoting regeneration .  I’ve been plastering my face, neck and shoulders with it daily and it’s fantastic.  It will replace the original Healing cream during the summer time.  I’ve named it Light & Lavish Cream.  I’ve already got full orders for it, but I may have some extras to offer my readers.  I’ll let you know !

 

Outline

A blurry view of the beginning of the tattoo fill in

 

Let take a minute to revel in the goodness that is Eggs. The hens are laying eggs like coins popping out of 5 cent slot machines.  Raw eggs in kefir smoothies.  Poached eggs over asparagus.  Fried eggs and avocados, souffles and egg-y crepes.  I could eat eggs for every meal.  Thank you hens for your gifts!

 

Marilyn my best layer as seen from the hop vines

And lastly, we are all squealing with delight over our new babies.  Tiny feet and ears and sweet little furry bellies.  I like to nestle one in my pocket while I do morning and evening chores and occasionally cupping my hand around it’s fuzzy little bunny butt.  Instant smiles.

 

Ridiculously adorbs.

I apologize for the delays in my posts.  Part of the issue is the downloading and resizing of all my photos.  I wish I knew how to make it easier…. but part of the problem might be the dinosaur of a computer I use.  I think it’s upwards of 8 years old.  But it still works, and I’ll keep using it till it whirs its final breath.  Also, my children seem to get hungry several times a day.  This phenomenon is exemplified when I am on the computer.  So a post that should take me 30 minutes, takes me sporadic 10 min spurts through half a day.  It’s now past noon and I started this post around 9 am.  Time to press ‘publish’ and get myself outside!

Have I mentioned my new hobby of slacklining?  Look it up.  I have one set up in our trees.

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