Category Archives: Aimee’s Journal

Garden Boxes

Last fall we were able to salvage part of an old wood fence.  We love reclaimed wood in all its shapes and sizes and conditions.  The old fence posts were too short to be used as fence posts again, but were perfect for making garden boxes. IMG_5982
In our main production garden we use wide rows and sheet mulching, but up in the yard area where I will be planting my flowers and medicinal herbs we are using garden boxes. The boxes will line the whole outer perimeter of the yard area.  Each box will have one type of either herb or flower, the large grouping will keep things neat and create a big visual impact.
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Each box is simply two 4×4 posts stacked on top of each other and bolted together.
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The bottom of each box is lined with several layers of card board to kill the weeds underneath.
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On top of the cardboard goes several inches of dry leaves that we gathered from families in town.
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My little helper, my star child, wetting down the leaves in the boxes.
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On top of the leaves, we layered several of inches of well composted manure.  In a few weeks, after planting, several inches of chipped wood will go in the boxes and all around, helping to conserve water and build fertility.
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Collecting Fertility

This weekend Dadzoo put out a call to the people of our city, asking if anyone had bags of leaves or branches that needed to go to the dump, it being the big spring cleaning time. He got two bites and we piled a few kids in the van and went into town to pick up bags of leaves. While we were stopping at homes to get the leaves we were planning on we also noticed other bags of leaves laying on the curbs. A quick knock at the doors and we acquired several more bags of leaves. So proud of ourselves we filled our 12 passenger van with bags of leaves, bags of free fertility!

IMG_5988  The leaves will be used to fill garden boxes, used in sheet mulching, composting and mulching around plants in the garden.  Instead of languishing in a landfill they will be used to build something good, to fulfill the measure of their creations. IMG_5989

Ramble in the Woods

One pleasant spring evening we took a little stroll up into the foot hills. There is so much beauty in the wild place, the places that are seemingly barren in its browns and grays with a smattering of dusty greens. The quiet of the wild wood, thousands of years of secrets whispering through the wise old branches and evergreen leaves.  If you walk quietly they will not mind your presence and sing softly their songs, if your footfall is gentle the spell will stay unbroken and you can be a part of the age old sonnets of the trees.

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All the Little Green Things

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The cabbage are growing green and robust, in another week they will start going outside during the day and an occasional mild night.  I am planning on having them out in the garden in the next three week.  Their secondary leaves are coming and soon they will start to curve inward, the first makings of a cabbage head.
IMG_5960 IMG_5961 The tomatoes are also getting their secondary leaves, I am happy with their progress.  The biggest trick with starting seedling in doors is making sure they have enough light so they don’t get “leggy” where the stem stretches long and thin, trying to reach enough light. It makes the plant weak.  I keep the tomatoes under grow lights, the light hangs about an inch away from the seedlings, to prevent stretching.  Within the next week I will set them out side in the full sun during the days and that too will help prevent stretching.  The tomatoes have to be babied a little bit longer, they are a tender plant and can’t take any freezing.  They will be safe in the garden about mid-May and I will wait until the first of May to start hardening them off, depending on night time temperatures.
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Of Fairies and Things

I have a confession to make.  I believe in fairies, and many other mythical creatures of the forest, desert, streams and lakes. I always have, I just didn’t ever dare say.  I love the stories and folklore, the magic of it all and I often tell my kids about the fairies and other creatures that live among us.  We have slowly named areas and landmarks on our land, some names are quite practical, for example: the chicken yard, the garden, the drive way, or the wood lot. Other names are a bit more magical (and I’m always thinking of new ones), we have: The Mother Tree, Little Tree, Orchard Meadow, Greenman, and the Shay.  The Shay is a small area of land that we intend to keep wild, with very little modification, there is one Juniper tree that stands in the area, who is the guardian, he has yet to be named, and we plan on planting a few more (native of course).  In the Shay we are very careful not to leave any trace we have been there, unless they are gifts to the fairies that make it their home.  The kids have made small fairy houses out of bits of bark, moss and other natural materials and on occasion they will leave little bits of food, crusts of bread from a picnic or crumbs from a cake, to keep our fairy folk happy so they will bring us good luck.

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This weekend a bit of whimsy washed over us and we decided to build us a fairy castle, of course made of the finest material available.  We found a fairly flat area in The Shay, collected materials and went to work. (I got the idea here: http://www.hgtv.com/design/outdoor-design/landscaping-and-hardscaping/wildlife-wall)

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In all practicality what we were creating was a habitat or home for beneficial insects and places for smaller mammals and birds to hide.  A land that is teaming with life, from bug to human, is healthy, nourishing and giving.  Just the thing we are working to create.  When a land is sterile of all the little creatures it is dead, physically and spiritually, it cannot nourish.

Inviting the fairies invites life. IMG_5951 IMG_5952 

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The Not So Common Mallow

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One of my little Mallow plants emerging, you can see the stems from last years plants dead and brown around the new growth. She will be a magnificent plant come summertime.

 

Every spring, when the snow has melted, finds me on the hunt for the first wild greens of the season, Dandelion is usually one of the very first wild edibles, but even before the Dandelion comes the quiet Common Mallow. She lies close to the ground with her delicate little flowers and unique leaves, she is usually called a weed and is sprayed and pulled, but she is much more.  As kids we would eat the little flower buds and call them cheesies, little did we know the whole plant was edible and how incredibly nutritious our little “cheesies” were.

The common mallow is part of the large family of Malvaceae plants that include cotton, okra and hibiscus. It is an edible plant that has been used for medicinal care as well as food. The fruits are round and have cheese-like wedges which give the common mallow its nickname, cheese plant. Mallow stems are flexible and come from a central point, often lounging on the ground. This wild edible is used as herbal medicine in a variety of ways. It is an anti-inflammatory, diuretic, demulcent, emollient, laxative and an expectorant.

Distinguishing Features: Common mallow is a winter or summer annual or biennial, freely branching at the base, with a prostrate growth habit. It is a low growing weed, with a deep fleshy tap root. The seeds germinate through the summer and broken stems can also root. This plant has stems that originate from a deep tap root and are low spreading with branches that reach from a few centimeters to almost 60 centimeters long.

Flowers: The flowers are borne either singly or in clusters in the leaf axils blooming from June to late autumn. They have 5 petals and are white, pinkish or lilac flowers that measure on average, 1 to 1.5 cm across.

Leaves: Common mallow leaves are alternate, on long petioles, circular to kidney-shaped, toothed and shallowly 5-9 lobed, 2-6 cm wide. Short hairs present on upper and lower leaf surfaces, margins and petioles.

Height: This plant can grow anywhere from 10 to 60 cm in length.

Habitat: The common mallow likes to grow in lawns, gardens, roadsides, waste areas and cropland. It originated in Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa and is also in the Americas and Australia.

Edible parts: All parts of this plant are edible. The leaves can be added to a salad, the fruit can be a substitute for capers and the flowers can be tossed into a salad. When cooked, the leaves create a mucus very similar to okra and can be used as a thickener to soups and stews. The flavor of the leaves is mild. Dried leaves can be used for tea. Mallow roots release a thick mucus when boiled in water. The thick liquid that is created can be beaten to make a meringue-like substitute for egg whites. Common mallow leaves are rich in vitamins A and C as well as calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron and selenium.

Similar plants: Marshmallow.

http://www.ediblewildfood.com/mallow.aspx

I have never used Mallow medicinally, but this year I will, I have a large patch in my garden area and her little leaves are calling to me, I feel like there is a treasure waiting to be discovered in my little Mallow.

Mallow’s repute as a ‘cure-all’ medicine in the earlier times was owing to the fact that the herb, particularly its roots, encloses substantial quantity of mucilage (a glue-like substance secreted by some plants that are rich in protein and carbohydrates). Owing to the high presence of this jelly-like substance in mallow, rural herbal practitioners recommended the herb to heal digestive and urinary tract swellings and irritations (inflammations). However, mallow is more popular for its therapeutic qualities of relieving the mucous membranes lining the upper respiratory system, particularly when suffering from colds. In addition, the mucilage present in mallow also has the ability to control coughs set off by irritation or inflammation. Mallow is popular even today and is beneficial in healing several other ailments. For example, American Indians as well as modern herbal practitioners recommend using poultices (moist substances applied to injuries) prepared from the herb or its derivatives to alleviate pain or soreness from insect stings as well as swellings in the body.

http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_mallow.htm

I am a voracious user of medicinal herbs, I have dozens sitting on my pantry shelves, and I make and drink herbal infusions (and make my family) daily.  It is exciting to me to find an herb, such as this, growing not only in my garden, but in abundance.  I take it as a sign, that she is to be harvested, used and loved.

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Cabbage

I usually don’t start seeds indoor, I find it tedious and I tend to forget them and I have a hard time finding a place with enough light.  I think is much easier to just direct sow in the garden and that is what I do for 90% of my plants.  There are a few exceptions, I do start tomatoes inside, because the need a longer growing season than we have, and cabbage.  Cabbage can actually be sown directly into the garden in the early spring, even before the last frost date and I have done it many times.  I have found over the years that the delicate seedling of the cabbage have a hard time withstanding the springtime winds that rip through here and I have much more success starting them indoors and protecting them until they are a bit stronger.

IMG_5899 These little guys are our summertime meal of cabbage sautéed in butter, this autumn’s baked cabbage with sausage and next winter’s sauerkraut.  We love our cabbage. IMG_5897 IMG_5896

Cabbage, a week later

Cabbage, a week later

Tomatoes a week later

Tomatoes a week later

Spring Eggs

After a long dark winter the girls are laying again!  Hens naturally stop laying as the daylight hours decrease, it is nature’s way of making sure the birds are using energy to keep warm and not on producing eggs that can’t be hatched or if they were to hatch would have a low survival rate in the winter.  To keep hens producing through the winter months some producers and back yard chicken keepers will supplement with lighting and heat.  Here at Quail Run Farm we don’t do that, we let the hens go through a period of rest, we believe this is healthier for our birds, keeping them in their natural rhythms as much as we can. It can be a little discouraging feeding birds all winter long and only getting a couple of eggs a day, but as stewards over these animals we take on the good and the bad that comes with each animal and give them the best care we can.

That being said, I did a cheer and fist pump when my little farm boy gathered his first dozen eggs this spring! We are now, again, producing enough eggs for our needs and will soon have enough to sell.

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Peas Please

This past weekend we were able to get the first seeds of the season in the ground.  As always the inaugural vegetable is our little lady The Pea. She is a fabulous little addition to the garden, her seeds can be planted very early and then they wait patiently for the right moment to germinate and send their crinkly green leaves into the early spring sunshine. She is happy to spread her roots in areas that aren’t the most fertile, creating green beauty, leaving more that she takes. Peas are a legume, they take nitrogen from the air and fix it into the soil, preparing the way for other, more delicate plants to make their home. Peas a great for crop rotation, they will travel the garden through the years making the ground better because of their presence.   IMG_5887 Because of the size of her seeds she is very easy for little fingers to sow. There is much excitement when the first blossoms and peas pods appear on her bushes, for the children know they had a part in their creation.  IMG_5882In the warmer days of May, when the summer heat starts flirting on the backs of our necks, we will be out picking our peas, giving thanks for the bounty and sharing it with others.