May Is Cool

In spite of the coronavirus, life on the farm is actually lovely right now. Spring is cool this year (for the South), and it seems to me the flowers and vegetables are better than usual. Here's my lovely elderberry tree!

Each little blossom will be an elderberry.

I want to make jam so badly.
Last April, this tree looked like this:

Isn't that amazing?
This spring, I cut off five more exactly like that from my tree, and now I have five more starts. I want elderberry to be one of our prime products on this farm in future -- lots of jam, lots of syrup perhaps.

Sugar sweet peas are bearing.

We'll pick some flat ones for salads and stir fries. The others I'll allow to mature, and I'll freeze peas again for the winter.

Speaking of freezing ... I've put two gallons of our strawberries in the freezer so far, and they are still bearing!

Perhaps we've mastered strawberries?
Lettuce:

Last year I told Adam I wanted a small bed dedicated to just plantain. I use it to make an ointment. It's a weed that grows in the yard, but it gets mowed down. He was tired of me saying, "Wait! Don't mow there! It's plantain!" I wasn't sure how a weed would perform in a bed to itself ...

... but it's doing rather well! 

I'm kind of a nut about growing herbs. It's ridiculous; I grow way more herbs than we could ever eat, and I don't even like eating some of them. But I love growing herbs. I have no idea why. And I can't help but make a video now and then about my herb beds. It's a little like showing off your children to others and saying, "See how he's grown?!" Anyway, here is the current video. Welcome to my herb beds:

I have a few basil in little pots that I'm taking around to friends. I have two more lemongrass plants to put in the ground somewhere. And only five Matt's Wild Cherry seedlings germinated, in my packet from Jonny's Seeds -- quite a disappointment! Soon I'll be moaning about the heat, but for how, I'm loving working outside in the cool May weather this year. Blessings to all of you, friends!

Circles and Such

 I'm still spinning. Combing, dizzing, and spinning are calm activities.
Plying, dying and wrapping the yarn into skeins are exciting activities.
These two skeins are in an avocado dye.

 On the other side of the stove my homemade chai is reducing.

 Instead of throwing out this celery stump, I'm growing it in the windowsill. I did one last fall and now have a large celery plant, waiting to be transplanted into the garden this spring.

 I can't take much credit for the Bee Balm that is my small business's best seller. Everybody loves it and wants more. I'm shipping five tubs off to New York City today.

 The concoction below, however, is a new product: Healing Herb Ointment. It's a bit greasy, and it smells earthy. But oh-my-goodness ... is it full of good stuff!

 In addition to all these lovely oils and butter and wax, it's infused with plantain, yarrow, and dandelion.

My baby thyme plants are growing.

 One more circle from my house -- this large plate. My mother gave it to me. It was gifted her by an elderly lady whose parents were missionaries in China long ago. The plate came from them, and who knows how old it is and where it came from before that.

 If you don't follow my other blog, here are a few shots of the nearly-finished kitchen. All the shelves are up on the stove-side!

 One more long shelf will go up on the sink-side (below). But the shelves are full now, and the kitchen looks homey.

 Our local thrift store is rearranging for spring, but I found these jars amid the chaos. Those are 1/2 gallon Mason jars, at 50 cents apiece. I was chuffed, as the British say!

Otherwise, farm life is slow now because it's still cold. Freezing temps (just barely) at night, and windy during the day, and cold. I'm eager to put all these herbs in the ground ... but not yet. Not yet.

Adam Is Converted

As you know, I make a product called Salve Plantain. It's fabulous for burns and minor skin abrasions. It's also good relief for minor cases of poison ivy. But my family are not fans of my 'green goo,' and they turn up their noses at what Adam kindly calls my "prairie medicine."

old tub of salve plantain from my medicine cabinet

But Adam is severely allergic to poison ivy, and when a man is clearing as much weed, vine, and brush as he is, he's bound to catch a bit of that nasty rash. He did, Wednesday. In spite of correct clothing, immediate hot showering, and immediate clothes washing, he caught it all around his lower legs. Inevitably he will need a shot at the doctor's office. His poison ivy always gets that bad. By Wednesday night it was already seeping and oozing.

the area that Adam cleared of brush that day

But Adam's doctor moved, and his appointment for today was postponed. Oh no! Late Wednesday night, after I'd gone to bed, he scoured the internet for home remedies and solid advice. And you know what they told him to do. Oh yes. Plantain!

plantain leaf

plantain seed stalk

It must've been as hard for him as for Naaman to wash in the Jordan, but he did it. He took a blazing hot bath, and then he went outside in my lovely plantain patch ...

one healthy plantain plant

Oh, didn't I tell you that I'm cultivating my very own big patch of plantain? No?

The center bed is a shade bed for flowers.
All the green stuff around it is my plantain bed!!

Adam has told me it looks weedy. Whatever.

But he gathered big handfuls of straight plantain leaves, ripped them up and crushed them, and rubbed them vigorously all up and down his lower legs.

The next morning he told me his poison ivy has dried up. It's stopped oozing and is scabbing over. I can't tell you how amazing that is! His poison ivy never, ever does that on its own. He even used the word "miraculous," which is something, coming from a pastor.

And I'm feeling ever so slightly vindicated. :)