Midsummer Strawberry Moon

The eighth moon is the Strawberry Moon and, yes, strawberries are bountiful this month — the first real fruit harvest. (I don’t count that rhubarb stuff… it’s chard, not fruit.) While planting and harvesting both happen all year long, this is the month when there is a shift from predominantly planting activities to mainly harvest… Continue reading Midsummer Strawberry Moon

The Midsummer Garden

Penstemon in the herb bed. It is Midsummer and as promised here is another list of essential plants for the ecological garden, my Language of Flowers. This list has more lore and fewer entries as I decided to break the growing season into three sections rather than two. Too many plants bloom after May to… Continue reading The Midsummer Garden

My Language of Flowers

As it is the last day of April and the day before Beltaine, I thought it good to give a reference list of flowers to fill your garden with love. I have an ever-growing list of essential flowers and herbs — annuals, perennials and a very few small shrubs. These are the plants that feed… Continue reading My Language of Flowers

Morning Hush

Here’s me awake in the dark of the morning again.  Quiet today. Not even a breath. Always leading into summer, there’s this rush and then a hush, grabbing fistfuls of life and then squatting behind the shed to gobble it up. Maybe don’t want to go back there right now. As it’s hush time. But… Continue reading Morning Hush

Errant and Unexpected

The Ameracauna hen has gone walk-about again. Third time this month. I’ve clipped her wings twice since she molted. There are no holes in the slump block wall; I’ve walked it twice this week. And the gate is as enveloped in chicken wire as it can be and still admit sunlight. If her pretty blue… Continue reading Errant and Unexpected

Hügelkulture

Because it's time to start planning those gardens, folks. And because there are all these broken trees after that last nor'easter. Hügelkulture (pronounced HOO-gl-culture) is the most fun word ever to come out of agriculture. Sounds like the hoopla around faddish felt gnomes or something, doesn’t it? Or maybe a really bad New Mexico cannibal… Continue reading Hügelkulture