Tag: gardening

Are you Awake or Asleep in the Garden of Life?

by Lisa, posted in Feeling Good, Our Homestead, Wellness

I love going into the garden daily. Everyday I approach it like I have a new set of eyes. When I’m looking, I always see something different. Yesterday’s blossom is now a teeny tiny bean. The bees have moved on from one plant who’s on the end of its blooming cycle to one that just started. A squash flower has opened, hoping for pollination so it can begin to fruit. A toad had burrowed in a different location, waiting to gobble up a grasshopper (oh thank you so much Mr. Garden Toad, mad love for you buddy!).

Green beans in all phases: blooms to beans.

Being surround by these changes, specifically, having the capacity to see these fine differences, reminds me that I’m part of something so big. Something bigger than I can comprehend or have words to explain. That the world is full of wonder. That I have a purpose within it (even maybe if I don’t have a clear definition of what that is). When I recognize small changes in the garden, I am able to do so because I am awake. And because I am awake, I feel alive!

Now, when we are asleep (figuratively), we lack the ability to connect deeply with the people, places and things happening around us. Snore. We might notice big changes, but we can’t see (or just don’t notice) the minutiae. Perhaps we are wrapped up in feelings that are so big we let them define who we are and they eat every ounce of our energy. We can’t see the forest for the trees, so to say. When this happens, what then are we missing out on because we’ve allowed certain things in our lives to consume us? In the garden, say I plant a lot of tomatoes and only a few snap peas. Obviously, I get more tomatoes because I gave them so much space and tomatoes plants tend to produce a lot of fruit. However, after tasting the peas I see how good they are, but now I have no room to plant more peas….because, you know, all the tomatoes. So I move forward managing tomatoes, picking tomatoes, eating tomatoes, selling tomatoes, when what I really want are more snap peas. (Snap peas are seriously so good, aren’t they?!) Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes. More snore. I’m going through the motions. I’m asleep.

In the garden, I recognize times when my plants are, figuratively, asleep. And there is most often a good reason for this state. Perhaps water is scarce. Or cold nights significantly slow growth. A plant puts all its energy into reserves, unsure what will come next, trying to protect itself. (Humans do this too, am I right?) Rightfully so, they can’t thrive without the right conditions. But, the plants sole purpose? It’s to grow. So, when the conditions improve, it doesn’t forget its purpose. It doesn’t stay sleeping, it begins to grow. A pea plant can shoot up 4 inches in one day. I’ve seen it, so crazy. And then it sends out a tendril to hang on to its trellis for support. With better support and conditions, it is now awake after being asleep and is following through with its purpose. Grow. Produce. Share. Feed. When we approach life with an awake mind, we can see, listen to, and experience the world around us in the finest of ways. We find wonder in small things. We listen to, because we can finally freaking hear, our intuition. We look deeper, because we want to know more. We have readiness to learn something new and we don’t keep what we learn to ourselves, because we want to connect. We thrive in community, and sometimes we need that trellis for support, just like the pea plant. Needing the support doesn’t stop our growth, it SUPPORTS it.

Being awake in life doesn’t mean perfection. Conditions might change, but when we are awake, we adapt and we grow, knowing we are moving towards, within, or fine-tuning our purpose. Just like the bees who move to a different plant when the blooms run dry. Or Mr. Toad who stakes out a new position because he’s awake, noticed a change in the number of grasshoppers he has access too, and went with the flow of it. Because he want to feed himself to survive.

So, how do you ‘feed’ yourself so that you stay awake? For me, it changes with the seasons, but I know for myself that the key is never abandoning curiosity and wonder. In summer, I know I can always find a place for this in the garden. In winter, it’s traveling to a new destination to explore new sights, food, culture and experiences. Year round, it’s moving my body, feeding it healthy food, spending time with friends who fill my bucket and support me when needed. If I don’t do these things, I start to fall asleep.

Staying awake isn’t always easy (think doomscrooling, an example of an asleep function that’s easy). But staying awake is always worth it.

I challenge you today to do just one thing out of your ordinary. Something that supports your awakeness. It could be as simple as doing a crossword puzzle, calling a friend, smelling a flower, watching a bird, or trying a new food from your local farmstand (hint). Then, afterwards, take a intentional moment to recognize how it made you feel.

Wishing you joy in your awakeness,

-L

What Are You Rooted In?

by Lisa, posted in Feeling Good, Our Homestead, Wellness

The garden is growing! As usual, year after year some types of vegetable plants do better than others. This year looks to be a great year for cucumbers, first time ever! I think we finally got the growing location, nutrients, and water cycle just right!

In a moment of zeal, I planted too many cucumber seeds in my second planting so I had to thin the plants. I find the process of thinning plants very challenging. I see every plant as its potential, so when I pull a small plant or seedling I see myself taking all of its future fruit with it. But for two reasons, I don’t need so many plants. First, too many cucumbers can be a problem. I only need so many cucumbers for our eating, preserving, and farmstand sales. Second, growing more than I need isn’t doing the soil any favors. It takes plentiful nutrients to grow these plants. Such as having a overly packed calendar schedule (we have 24 hrs in a day) is too much for the human soul, having too many plants in a small space is hard on the fertility of the soil (it only has the ability to carry and provide so many nutrients).

As I pulled the cucumber plants, I set the seedlings in a pile that would end up in the compost. They slipped easily out of the soil but I saw that they still had excellent root systems started. By the time I was done with my project, I went back to gather the first plants I plucked and noticed these plants were already visibly responding to having been pulled from the soil. They were becoming limp. In otherwords, they were losing the signs of being healthy and full of life.

The soil I pulled the cucumber plants from has many elements of nutrition that the plant needs. I fully pulled the plant from the soil, so I took it from the more important thing it needed, the support of the soil which gives it a sturdy foundation to grow in. If I had left it in the soil, it would still grow but it might not be as healthy if it was lacking certain nutrients from the soil. Also, it would not be as healthy if I added too much of a certain type of nutrient. Cucumbers love potassium in the soil, but if I gave it too much, that could be as detrimental to its growth as too little potassium in the soil.

People are like this too. We have the core thing we’re rooted in. We also have various nutrients we need to feed our souls. And, what we need to grow is different for each human (such as it is for plants too!). If a person is pulled from what they are primarily rooted in, they will begin to wither. Or, if certain nutrients are removed or given too much of, a person will survive, but not thrive in this scenario.

Life in balance is an ongoing personal project for me and is always changing because of my environment. Summertime, for example, has a lot more dosing of my necessary nutrient of community. In summer I get more of that, but adjust elsewhere to make room for it. Just as the cucumbers may find perfect balance, then suddenly there is a cold snap, they may struggle. But, if they are in healthy balance in the first place, the cold snap will be less impactful on them.

What are you rooted in? Family? Community? Faith? Adventure? Learning? Teaching? Nature? Or….what else? Which one is your SOIL? Which ones are your NUTRIENTS?

Peace, Love and Nature,

-L

P.S. If you’ve been on long-time blog reader, you know I absolutely love learning from nature. I enjoy being part of it and I’ve learned that its a major nutrient I need for my soul to grow. Nature teaches me so much. And, in return I love to teach about nature. Last year I held Foraging Adventure for Beginners at White Sky Woods. This year I’m partnering with The Keweenaw Land Trust (KLT) and bringing Foraging Advernture for Beginners to KLT’s Steve Farm Nature Area. We’ll explore, identify, sketch and experience what wild plant foraging the Keweenaw region has to offer. Get all the details here!

Time to Hustle

by Lisa, posted in Our Homestead

Friends, it’s been so, so busy. Please don’t read this sentiment as a complaint, I’m not complaining, I’m one of those people who enjoys staying busy! But, I do need to be honest. Keeping up with the hustle involved with tending the garden, collecting the harvest, preparing and then perserving it in a timely manner can be exhausting. I like to compare these assiduous 3’ish months of harvest and food preservation to the time a non-homesteading person would take to earn money for food, plan for shopping, travel to and from the grocery store, walk around the grocery store shopping, and finally a portion of time spent preparing the food…but all done in mid-day hours of about 3 months time. It’s worth the effort. A bonus of being responsible for our own food is that we get the relief of knowing where our food comes from and saving thousands of dollars a year.

Add to the above: 2 kids having the “best summer ever”, Tim working his regular job, me fullfilling contract work, me planning a year of homeschool, a social life that I’m so grateful for, renovating the cabin for rental, caring for the animals (oh my, we have over 30 babies animals in rabbit and duck form here, with goat kids on the way), getting ready for winter heat needs by splitting wood, hauling and storing hay, and caring for ourselves – it’s so important to just stop it all and……breathe. I know we all feel this way, this overwhelm, no matter what phase of life we’re in or what commitments we have. It’s so very important we make space for downtime. We do this by enjoying a hike in the woods, spending time at the beach, laying in the hammock, or unwinding with friends over a bonfire.

Alright, I’ve spent enough time on words for now. Plus, it’s almost time to do chores. Here are some images that give a snapshot of projects in the last two weeks:

  • Hay unloading time.
  • Looks like an awesome crop of broccoli this year.
  • The siding on the cabin is finished.
  • Baby bunnies.
  • Juneberry season is in full effect.
  • Preserving zucchini, making bread to freeze and enjoy in winter.
  • Pickled beets.
  • Zucchini. Zucchini. Zucchini. Zucchini. Zucchini. Zucchini. Zucchini.
  • Peas.
  • Beet prep work is messy.
  • Ducklings coming for a visit.
  • Trilogy Beans.
  • Gathering Calendula and Bergamot for wildcrafting.
  • Gathering St. John’s Wort for herbal tea.

How about following us on Facebook & Instagram?

Cheers! Peace, Love and Nature,
-L

Compost, Backaches, and Sprouts

by Lisa, posted in Our Homestead, Permaculture

Well, if the title of this blog didn’t give it away, it’s planting season! The last weeks have been busy, spending the majority of each day laboring in the garden to prepare the soil and then planting it. I’ve often heard people say gardening is a relaxing thing, but I suspect they didn’t garden at the level of hoping to provide almost all their own food, for a family of four, for a year. The last days have been enjoyable being out in the fresh air and sun, but not exactly relaxing as I raced to get everything planted before June 1st, my own personal timeline.

Northern gardening is a bit more challenging because we don’t get as high of temps for as long. Our current long range forecast shows daytime temps of mid-60’s through June 15th. Planting the garden too early is not an option because of the risk of frost (with the exception of cold hardy seeds and starts). Planting the garden too late is not an option because of the risk of cutting the season way too short. Also, since we’re relying on all of our own seed starts, some are smaller than what you would expect to buy from a garden store so they need ample time to grow.

This year one of our achievements is the budget we planted on. After buying some growing soil for our seed starts and a few seed packets we needed or wanted to try, our total cost put into the garden this year is about $30. Considering we planted over 3,000 square feet, that’s pretty reasonable, right?

Another achievement is that we expanded the fenced garden. Our original plot from our first full year (2018 growing season) was approximately 2,000 square feet. This year we took over the attached poultry/rabbit yard, adding another 800 fenced square feet. The chickens and ducks went on complete free-range and the rabbits moved to a better location that will be more suitable for winter care. Because the soil in that area needs to be managed for better growing, we are only planting a portion of it.

Gardening isn’t all about little green plants though. A major project I’ve also started (and not yet finished) is mucking out the goat shed from the winter. While starting this project I realized I didn’t have any compost bins to put it in. One bin was done and ready to go to the garden, so that whole bin has been screened and then spread in the garden with our new plantings, making way to refill it with poo and hay to then rot down into soil.

  • Screening compost.
  • Mucking out the goat shed, no more room in that bin!
  • Composting waiting to be screened.
  • Ready for the garden!

I still have over half of the goat shed to clean out, but with several weeks of working in the garden for long days, my back has seen better days. I was already nursing a sensitive spot that seems to continuously get aggravated from hiking (and snowshoeing in winter). That spot was weak and a new spot is now aggravated and worse than the original spot.

I finished planting the garden on Friday, 5/31 and had an appointment that afternoon with a magician (i.e. chiropractor). The next two days I’m on physical rest to help continue the healing process. The break will be both physical and mental. Knowing the garden is in for the season brings me such peace. In just several weeks of work, hopefully this will provide us with the majority of the food we need to sustain us for the year.

My Yellow-rumper Warbler friend.

While I was working with the compost, I noticed the activity of some little birds. A small flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers had taken notice to the recently stirred compost and were visiting often. One was so comfortable with my presence I probably could have just picked him up. What a beautiful treat to share my work time with these little birds who were fun to watch and listen to.

Hope you get a chance to get your hands in the dirt to either plant food for yourself or to beautify your space.

Cheers! Peace, Love and Nature,

-L