A Return to Roots

Well, April was an adventure! I changed jobs — so that I wouldn’t have to go on furlough for the whole first quarter of the year ever again — and had to deal with over two weeks of COVID, my second round of the virus. (Vaccines keep me alive and generally out of the hospital,… Continue reading A Return to Roots

An EarthCraft Origin Story

Every religion needs its mythos. I wrote this one a while ago and posted it last year. It seems a good day to share it again. Eve Eve woke up with the birds each morning. The piping and burbling of thousands of little brown birds in the reeds, so numerous in kind they’d not even… Continue reading An EarthCraft Origin Story

Autumn Planting

It’s planting season!  And here you thought it was harvest, right? You’d be forgiven for thinking that. There is very little talk about autumn planting. For that matter, there’s also very little talk of spring harvests. But both are integral to having a food supply all year long. If you don’t have a harvest of… Continue reading Autumn Planting

Language of Flowers for Ecologists — Autumnal Hues

Sunflowers & morning glories in August This is my favorite time of the year. There is the food, the cooling temperatures, and the lengthening night. But there are also the best flowers! This is the garden I wait for all year long. Sunflowers to asters, these are the flowers that speak to me. They are… Continue reading Language of Flowers for Ecologists — Autumnal Hues

Beans (Winifred Mumbles)

Well, this is unexpected. Here I thought I’d planted filet beans. Avast, ye mildewed squash! Prepare to be boarded! Been over a century. New round of seeds every year for more the one hundred generations. And these changelings still crop up. They used to say plastic was the most enduring ill from those people. And… Continue reading Beans (Winifred Mumbles)

Putting Down Roots

Moving house is hard on a body. It’s hard on the planet’s body as well as mine, maybe more so. I have never seen statistics on this sort of thing, other than a passing reference claiming divorced couples create over twice the waste they generated when married — which I sincerely believe is true. I… Continue reading Putting Down Roots

The Needful Garden

Herbs and sweet peas April is planting month up north. There is still a chance of frost, perhaps even snow; but it’s safe to plant peas, leeks, carrots, cabbages and other brassicas, many greens, and the cool-season herbs like dill, calendula and cilantro. Keep the row cover handy, but take advantage of the moist soil… Continue reading The Needful Garden

A Garden in the Plague Era

Spring strawberry patch In the last year we’ve seen many changes, few of which could be considered unequivocally good. But there is at least one real benefit of 2020 — many more people took up gardening in the last twelve months. Gardening is hard to track because it’s rather a broad category heading. It can… Continue reading A Garden in the Plague Era

Dandelion Break

the gardener i’ve got my trowel and my trencher she said i’m off to sow so saying, a-sowing she went with words hidden up her sleeves an idea or two tucked into her hatband and the rows await pull out weedy fallacy cut back dead superstition cultivate and amend and then drop the seed in… Continue reading Dandelion Break