What a day...what a wedding! It was a beautiful day. The bride was gorgeous. The party was so much fun! It was two weeks ago now...I wanted to save these photos for us, for this day. Those of you that read here...I hope that you enjoy them. They are a bit fuzzy as they were all taken with a phone camera.
I have been able to get out a bit on my land. I don't go far but, far enough to check on some of my favorite plant friends. This has been such an amazing lush and green spring. Here's a peek at some of what's growing prolifically here. I love that I feel like my whole property is my "garden". Yes, we grow vegetables...and it's very satisfying. But, I really feel more connected to the beauty of the wild plant medicines that grow here. They surprise me every year and it's like seeing an old friend after all these 25 years of living here. Our footprint really lives on this land now. I know directly where to tromp to...to find the beautiful jack-in-the-pulpit, or lady's slipper, ginseng, starflower, solomons seal....all of them. I am loving Motherwort this spring...she is standing so tall, so huge Everywhere! I feel like motherwort is holding us this season in her arms....we need that.
Motherwort
Poppies are everywhere here~
Geranium
Johnny-jump-ups
Mullein
Mullein
I call this Kamala's Plant...an old friend, now living in India gave this to me many years ago...
A small stand of Nettle...
Rhubarb
Lady's Mantle
Beautiful Iris about to burst out...my husband loves Iris
Chives
White bleeding heart
Pink bleeding heart
Jack-in-the-pulpit
More Jack
Even more Jack...
Emma came home with some vintage pillowcases. Well, they went to immediate use. I have been thinking of how I want to package items from my Etsy shop and after consideration I am going to try to package everythihg in vintage or used fabric...as long as the item fits. I made this drawstring bag out of a pillowcase and some ribbon that I had already. Inside each of my packages will be a poem. This may need to change at some point but, for now it feels right.
Randy brought home this find for $1.00! I own this bbok. I've owned this book since I was a young girl of 13. It was one of those important books of my youth. In fact it is because of this very book that I wanted to be a farmer. This is a feminist book on farming. It is filled with beautiful drawings, photos , quotes, stories poetry...and of course great farming knowledge. It's about being a farmer and the experience of it as a woman. This book was part of the back-to-the-land movement and if you were living in Vermont going to weaving school...it was on the shelf down at the Food Co-op. I have a handful of books that fit that category of ....transformative, memorable, sigh worthy, welling up inside. A few of those other books were Helen & Scott Nearings books, Annie Dillards Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Walden of course, Woodswoman by Anne LaBastille....how many hours did I make secret drawings of cabins and plot my escape to the wilderness. My life has alot of those elements in it now....but, that's a post for another day.
So, on this dreary Tuesday afternoon...I am sharing a few photos from this favorite book of mine. If you can find one and you love farming, gardening, story and poetry...and importantly feminist ideals...search around for this book...you will love it.
I know alot of you are either hoping for chickens this year or already have them. We were planning on getting chickens again. We had them for maybe 6 years. We live on the edge of a huge forest and too many predators did them in time and time again. It's not looking like we're going to get it together with everything that's going on. Besides...in my ideal world I am eating vegan...and why have chickens, work and expense if they are not what I will be eating? This is a cool drawing of a chicken house. I have to admit though....the down and dirty side of me loves this...but, the lover of pretty and vintage also loves this chicken house....yea, yea I'm embarassed to reveal this to my herbalist and farmer friends...it's my little secret! But, wouldn't you like this if you could have it?!
Recycle...it's the best use right? Start collecting a pile of "junk" and soon enough you'll have all the materials you need. My husband is an expert at this. If you go down to our local flea market on Sunday mornings...you will find a whole pile of folks just like us...collectors. We rationalize it really well don't we? If you have a pile growing somewhere on your property...just tell people you're collecting stuff for your next chicken house or outbuilding artist studio...it sounds so much better!
Elegy for the Bees...it's magical. This is one of my favorite pages in the book. It's strange to read this passage now 35 years later. The bees weren't in danger then....the last lines of the elegy says...
"No, my grief is not for that. It is the bees, the beautiful determined bees that sacrifice to me and the bear."
So many things I want you to read from the book! This little poem closes the book...
Sometimes in my dreams
I still see
my Kentucky grandmother
thin, strong and hungry
holding her egg money
out to me
saying
buy land, Mary,
buy land,
buy land while it lasts
they stopped making it.
So, do you fancy yourself a writer? Check out this great vintage typewriter! An Underwood No. 11 4476056-11. It's in really nice shape...all the keys work, the carriage return works and the bell still rings! This model is from 1923. Listening to the clack, clack of the keys makes me think of poets tapping out words or a mystery writer banging out another scene.
