☼ Forest & Field Happenings ☼

It has been pretty rainy and cold around here lately, but, better than snow!  There was a brief bit of clearing so Runa & I got out for a walk.  Spring in Maine is a slow affair.  The world feels like it is at a stand still, somewhere between life and death.  It takes quiet to feel the earth waking.  It is easy to become distracted by all the things to do.  There are dead things everywhere, branches, remains of gardens that were forgotten in the fall. I found a dead porcupine that just look as if old age had taken him.  The scent in the air is not fresh, there is too much mud and rot.  Nevertheless, I felt the awakening today.  I hushed the to-do list and went to a still place in my mind.  As I walked, I opened to the aliveness around me.  I could feel the ripple of life pass through my body.  I took the time to relish this inbetween time before the soon to come hustle and bustle of gardens and lively life!

Last of the Snow

Raven Offerings

Slow Greening

Garlic

Soon Enough

 I try to see something new each day. The art of seeing is essential to any creative work in my humble opinion.  My favorites are the ones that stop me in my tracks!  Like so many folks I have a very busy mind that I struggle to quiet.  By creating this practice it has given me many opportunities to pause and be with a new wonder.  I love to wonder about wonders.  These little seeings can be just the jolt my creative process needs to get out of a rut.  But mostly, they provide a pause which is that moment of peace I need to heal from a frustration. These seeings are grounding for me and bring me to the present.  I will admit to laughing out loud with joy over some of my discoveries, they are a moments of childlike wonder!  

"When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky"     ~~~Buddha

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☼ Forest & Field Happenings ☼ ~ minty

My summers are filled with a lot, what some might call, work.  I'll let you in on a little secret, I wonder about my Self sometimes.  Do I work too much? What would I do if I didn't do what I do.  When I stop and think about it, it is all a choice and do I love it...I must right?  The question has been coming up more since it is a transition time in my life...post parent...sort of (I think in 3 years when college is done I will feel more finished).  You might be wondering, what has this got to do with mint?  Well, I came across this bit in an online book that I have been reading by Thich Nhat Hanh, The Sun My Heart.  This discovery happened on the day that I HAD harvested my peppermint along with asking my Self all those questions!  It AMAZES me how these things just "happen" ~ an answer!  

  

Now for my peppermint harvesting tips & story...

It is pretty easy and a wonderfully fragrant task.  I have read it is best to harvest herbs in the morning just after the dew has dried on a cloudy day... so this is my practice... allowing the plant to retain more of their essential oils.  It is also best to harvest before the flowers form and only collect about a third of the plant.  I have this handy hanging drier so I like to pluck the leaves off and then dry them on trays.  I had more than would fit on the trays so I bundled some too.  I sort through and remove any leaves that look questionable so when the drying it complete it will be tea time!

Bent paperclips make nice hanging hooks

Now the story!

I was given a little bundle of peppermint plant by my Mother-in-law back in 1981.  A friend had given it to her.  Ever place that I have lived since I have planted some of that mint.  Of course, I leaving some behind.  I have divided it and tried it in many places.  I have never seen it happier than by the pond! I give some to anyone who has asked.  This is a very minty peppermint.  It makes a tea that will warm you on a cold winters day and refresh you during the sultry summer.  The first place I planted it was around our little log cabin in Western Maine...I wonder if it is still growing?  I certainly am ~~~

☼ Forest & Field Happenings ☼ HOT!

Hello~ I am still here...we are having summer...it is HOT!  Heat is not my most compatible weather.  I may feel like floating in the pond all day but things must and are getting done.  Here is a little tour of the latest bits of work.  Weeding is a daily chore.  I prioritize what seems most important.  Garlic of course...the asparagus can wait until a cooler day...asparagus always last on the list...the food of the past, the future is before me.

Yesterday I got my 2 rows of garlic weeded and mulched again.  The early potatoes are looking good.  A few potato beetles to squish but so far no infestation.  The reward, a meal of new potatoes and garlic scapes!  YUM! It is that first real meal from the garden that makes me forget the hard work of spring.  It is all worth it!

But this morning I needed to remind my Self that it is still worth it.  Hotter today, I went out in the not too cool morning, to prune and tie up my 28 tomato plants.  A job I conveniently remember as easy but forget how hard it can be and how long it takes.  Just kept the mantra going ~~~ tomatoes love heat, tomatoes love heat, I love tomatoes, I love tomatoes...

Things to look forward too...berries!

Grateful for pond that help beat the heat!

Vern finds shade at the cooler bricks on the east side of the house..

Still getting some sewing in too.  I am finally happy with my new shark puppet design!  Shark week is coming and my DH is a fan!  Here is prototype shark...hope to cut out some tomorrow if I can stand being with felt and heat...

...also another project...girl dolls and seals...can you guess what I am making?

☼ Forest & Field Happenings ☼ Groundhog's Day

The gardens are growing as well as the weeds!  I had one little interesting set back...last week I headed up to the garden prepared to thin my beans, only to be surprised that most of their tops had been nipped off... a bummer!  But all was not lost since it was only the seedling leave where nip on some.  So my nature "friend" did my thinning for me.  I am pretty sure it is a groundhog that help itself.  So I put up some counter measures with a bit of snow fence and bird scare tape.  I replanted where the bean plants were completely gone..guess I will get a successive crop.

My defense system is working now for more than a week...the critter got some of my broccoli and cauliflowers too...ah well...

I went about my other gardening tasks which included a bit of rock picking.  When I was done I took the rocks over to the hedge row to dump them.  I threw them in and suddenly I was startled by squeaking and  squealing!  Guess I dumped the rocks unknowingly on someone!  That put runa into full alert!  She make it a practice to pester our friend when ever she is up at this garden with me.  The beans are growing fine again....but I am going to leave my fence up for a bit.

This is right where I dumped my load of rocks...hope squeaker finds a new place to live!

Other Garden News~~~

 Tomatoes are over their transplant shock!

Weeded my summer carrots and beet...can actually see them!

Summer Squash, Artichokes, & Crimson Clover looking pretty :)

....an occasional swing!

Maybe time soon to trim the trails!?

☼ Forest & Field Happenings ☼ FLOWERS!

I do not have formal flower gardens but I do have flowers!  Late June is the peak time for flowers here.  The Lupine it the favorite of my DH so I have planted and divided them everywhere I think they will grow ... and ... not get mowed over by the same DH!

Here is a little tour of the flowers that are blooming ~~~

Siberian Iris are at their peak all around the pond!

I received a gift clump 20 + years ago and have just been dividing & dividing...

The first plant that I planted on this land was my Rhododendron...the Washington State Flower.   It was hit hard this winter but I am happy to say that it is bouncing back with flowers and new growth...phew...I was a bit worried!

This ever expanding Wild Rose briar patch came with the land....looks like I should add gathering rose petals to my to do list!

Hoping for a good blackberry year...looking promising with the cultivated & the wild!

These Peonies I dug up and transplanted from the house we had before...never found a place for them around the house...but they seem happy here on this slope...a nice bouquet for the house!

Can't forget the wild ones...I am on a crusade to spread Milkweed to feed the Monarchs...more on that another time... http://monarchwatch.org/

Thought these spent dandelions looked sort of nice....

One of my favorite woodland flowers ~ Jack-in-the-Pulpit

“If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.” 

the Buddha