Heigh Ho Heigh Ho...

Heigh Ho Heigh Ho, it's off to work I go...

I've been spending quite a bit of time working at a garden in town.  It has been quite a blessing for me for many reasons - I've been able to spend more time gardening in a lower area where things can actually grow well, I've got some useful experience with growing on an even larger scale (250 tomato plants, 3000 corn plants, 30 cages of potatoes and much more)  than I am used to, I've learned to drive a tractor properly and...I've been the lucky recipient of some early veggies - a very nice bonus of working for a gardener who is even more impatient than I am and also owns a greenhouse.

Early rutabagas.

And today...early peas.  So good!  E was over the moon.  He misses being able to wander out and graze in our old gardens.

I know a lot of people take a lunch along when they go to work but here's what I take.

Because once I'm done working on the big gardens then I spend some time working on my garden that is also there.  The newspaper is put down on top of the dirt and then the  grass clippings go on top for mulch.  These do a fantastic job of preventing weeds and I'm really not sure how I ever managed to keep up a garden before I learned this.  I have buckets of finished compost and a little unfinished compost that I dug into the beds too.  I've also started transporting containers of nettle fertilizer and I'm hoping that I manage to NOT spill this in my car. I do so love to garden.

Old Radios

We had a very busy and fun weekend.  We also went to our first auction and it was quite interesting.  I found, as a thrift store shopper, that things were going for more than I like to pay but S could not resist a few things.  He bid on a set of small old radios and, with that success, decided to bid on the big radio too (this one is as tall as the door handle on the door).  He has always loved old radios and we are now getting quite a collection.

And then he bid on some old bowls for me...and even my kicking him in the shin as he bid didn't stop him from getting them. ;-)

Comfrey, Calendula, Chamomile and Nettle Salve

When we were at Pike Place Market we saw a man selling salves. Evan has been quite enjoying his comfrey salve and so when I saw that one of the salve tins was marked comfrey, calendula, chamomile and nettle I knew we would have to make some.  I always have jars of dried chamomile and calendula on hand, we have a nettle patch down our bank and my generous friend had just let me come pick as much comfrey as I wanted from her house (and she helped me pick it!) so we had everything we needed.  I dumped it all in a pyrex dish, poured olive oil over top, put a lid on and then put it in the oven on low since I already had a big batch of granola on the go in there.

Several hours later I took it out of the oven and let it sit overnight and then strained it for a gorgeous green healing oil.

Add a bit of beeswax and there you have it...a healing salve. 

Drying Comfrey

My poor long-suffering husband.  He's been with me through many changes in our 20 years together.  He puts up with an awful lot of my "wackiness" as he jokingly calls it.  He has long since gotten used to me having herbs and "weeds" hanging around the house to dry and has grown accustomed to eating "weeds" in his dinner.  Recently I have been drying things for a friend too and so there is even more goodness around the house.  Last week I picked comfrey with a friend and brought home two boxes stuffed full.  I filled the drying line that I usually use.

I filled the sheet on the floor that I use to dry nettle.  As I was laying a second sheet on our bedroom floor to fill he casually mentioned that he "would like enough space to be able to get up out of bed" without trodding on comfrey leaves.  Imagine that...wanting to be able to get out of bed without stepping on Stinging Nettle or fuzzy Comfrey!!

Seattle Getaway and Trader Joe's

Last weekend we decided to head out of town (well, out of the country, actually), we wanted to visit family in their newly purchased house in the U.S. so we would be able to see their new property and picture them in their new home.  We had  a visit (and I ate some Salmonberries for the first time in years) and then headed furthur south to the city of Seattle.

The boys had a fun visit (and their first ever visit) to a Lego store and I had my first visit to Trader Joe's.  Oh, how I wish we had a Trader Joe's here, what a delightful store (with delightful staff too).  My first visit there I bought a package of dark chocolate pretzel bark - who could resist right?  It was on sale for 99 cents!

We ate it to tide us over between meals (Yes, chocolate hand-dipped milkshakes at Dyck's Drive can be considered a meal!)  while we played tourist and checked out  the Museum of Flight,  the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, the Pacific Science centre (love the butterfly room), the Washington Park Arboretum and much more.  The combination of sweet dark chocolate and salty crunchy pretzel was delicious so of course I had to go back to get more.  Lovely husband drove me back to the store and  Only 1 Left!  Horrors!!  You can only imagine how happy I was when a friendly staff member phoned their store furthur up the road and found out they had plenty more.  And I do mean plenty.  Somehow I managed to restrain myself and only buy...ahem,  14 packages.

Not to worry, I don't plan to eat them all at once.  I'm sure I can store them in the freezer and make them last - for a little while at least.  Anyone else a Trader Joe's fan?  I'd love to know what I should try next time we go to one.

Cleavers Tincture

We've been finding all sorts of good things growing just now and have been making sure we make time to harvest some of this goodness.  I have been gathering cleavers wherever I have been able to find them for a friend of mine.  Cleavers are good for all sorts of things and they have long been regarded as a valuable lymphatic tonic.  I wanted to make some into a tincture for my friend.  It is so easy to do and tinctures are so potent and easy to take. 

Just gather your plant material (tinctures can be made from all sorts of different plants).

Chop and then put in jar.

I like to fill the jar all the way to the top.

Then add your chosen alcohol.  This is the first time I've tried using gin.

The next morning you may need to add a touch more alcohol to make sure it is filled right up.  Then...just  store it in a cupboard and wait 6 weeks ( I like to shake it whenever I remember) and that's it.  Strain (although I quite often am lazy or forgetful and just skip this step) and it is ready to use.

Wild Gardens

Not that you would know it from any posts that I've been doing but there has actually been an incredible amount of gardening going on lately...just not so much at our house.  I've been working hard at a garden in town and enjoying it very much.  It is a huge garden...so huge that I get to use a tractor to get around. ;-)  (I can't tell you how much I like that tractor.)  I've been enjoying working in the greenhouse as well and am now coveting my own tractor and greenhouse for when we get our own farm.  All that to say that things have been very busy around here indeed and I have had very little time to share any of it here.  So, I thought I might play a little catch up starting with some photos from last week.

Last week when we had time to spare we went on a couple walks on this property.  We found some lovely wild things growing. 

Lady Slippers.

Elderberry in bloom (this year I am going to dry and save some of the blooms as well as the berries).

Columbine, wild strawberry, lupins, mushrooms, miners lettuce and lots more.  Little baby larch trees too, with the softest needles.

The boys even found some shaggy manes already, and I had thought they were only an Autumn mushroom around here.  Delicious!  SO much wild food growing up here but it still didn't stop me from spending this afternoon planting more vegetables and preparing more ground for planting.  You would think after spending 6 hours this morning gardening in town that I would have been tired of gardening but, for me, there is Just Something about time in the garden that energizes and restores.  I love it and I am so glad it is finally warm enough to plant things up here at our home.