tiny plants

Though we experienced a frost here in west MI last night, almost all of my vernal seedlings are coming along well. The potatoes were bitten pretty well, but I can see that there is still nice thick growth of foliage under the frosted leaves, so they'll perk up soon enough.

The garden this year is focused mainly on medicinal herbs.  There will still be, of course, plenty of vegetables, but just not as many as in previous years.

Arnica

California Poppy

tiny Gotu Kola

Lady's Mantle

False Unicorn

Astragalus

the plants live on

I spent today gathering plants from the garden that would otherwise not fare well in the winter months ahead.  I was under the impression that my white sage and white horehound would live through a Michigan winter, but alas, it gets too cold here for them to survive.

So, in they came.

white sage

white horehound

I placed my new "indoor" plants next to my flowering maple, which is just beginning to grow some new flower buds.  It looked so lovely in the sunlight that I decided to take a picture of it, though it was already living inside.

And lastly... the hats! They just keep coming. Winter is coming, and the wool in this house is flying.  Cheers to cool weather and warm woolens! 

beauty

I didn't expect these to bloom this year, but since they did, I'll show you!

tarragon flowers

the busy season

'Tis the busy season, and I have every last minute dedicated to preparing for winter, both in the warmth and the food sense. Between spinning wool, shearing bunnies, knitting, canning garden vegetables, and working my "real" job, I have truly been a busy bee. My chores are my favorite kind of work though, and I take pride in accomplishing them.  They're all very satisfying tasks.  They're what we should all do for work.

cayenne

dried tarragon, my favorite culinary herb

marinara sauce

brandywines and green zebras

romas, yellow pears, and cherries

green zebras

moonglows

moonglow

single-ply angora

the angora wool from which I've been spinning --  available here.

Keep up your preparations for winter, folks! It will soon be upon upon us!

around the garden

It rained again this morning, which was just perfect because I am sure there will be more hot weather to come. Not only that, but plants are very, very beautiful with raindrops on them. I did a little garden tour this morning and gathered jalapeno and cayenne peppers, cucumbers, green beans, and a crown of heirloom Italian broccoli.  It is beyond satisfying to grow your own food.  If you haven't done it, I highly recommend it!

Here are a few photos of my rainy morning excursion:

tanacetum vulgare

calendula officinalis

artemisia absinthium

mentha piperita (yes, it has recovered!)

nearly ripe brandywine tomatoes

eggplant

butternut squash hiding in the weeds

common blue damselfly

honeybee doing some self-grooming

Herbs, Knits, Honey, & Veg

Today was very warm -- averaging around 85 degrees all day.  It was 82 by the time I got out of bed, but no matter, we had chores to do!

Agastache foeniculum (L) Scutellaria laterifolia (R)

Scutellaria laterifolia in vodka for tincture

Cherry tomatoes

Harvesting honey:

Four frames yielded approximately 1.5 gallons of honey

I am further along than this photo indicates, since I took the picture this morning.  I now have two inches left to knit, some blocking to do, and some seaming up the back before it's finished.  Perhaps Thursday I'll have a finished object to share. 

Wolfbait knitted in Cascade Magnum "Lichen"

Turnips & Autumn Planting

Hooray! We finally got some rain! It's been nearly six weeks, and with the soaring temperatures (in the 90s), the world was in desperate need of water.  With the rain came cooler temperatures, and I took this as my cue to get out and do some serious harvesting and autumn planting.  Though I only got two rows of beets planted before I was completely drenched from the rain, I did pull up every single last turnip to go into the stock pot for fermenting.

I'll be tackling this monster pile of turnips tomorrow.

Here are a couple of photos of "highlight" turnips that I pulled up -- they're monsters! 

check out that taproot! 

Hopefully the rain keeps coming! 

Cayenne

I picked my first cayenne pepper the other day. It was bright red and absolutely perfect looking.  After I picked it I smelled it and dang, that thing smelled spicy!

caliente cayenne!! 

I have four things that I plan to do with these peppers -- I plan to use some fresh, dry and crush some, dry and powder some, and infuse some olive oil with some for a great, stimulating ointment.  Since I only have one pepper so far (there will be more to come within the next two days), I had to choose wisely as to what I wanted to do with the first one.  

The answer:

cayenne - infused olive oil

One of my grandmothers has been having rheumatic complaints, sciatica included, so in four weeks I'll be able to make a fantastic ointment for her out of this oil.  I've also got some St Johns Wort infused oil that will be ready in a week, so she'll get to try that out as well. 

Good morning!

After a late night at work, it was a welcome thing to wake up, go outside, and find this:

calendula officinalis

and this

red hot cayenne!

and this, and this, and this...

hyssop

busy pollinating a male cucumber flower

cucumbers abound! 

Thank goodness for the little things that take a tired mind and bring it so much joy. 

Watermelon

Our biggest watermelon is getting bigger . . . see?

We're getting a little relief from the hot sun today.  It is still quite warm, but with some clouds in the way it definitely makes the heat more tolerable. We are still waiting on the rain, however.

Do a rain dance tonight for me! ;)