A walk to the river

On the way I found some turkey feathers;

the tide was high and the grass was green.

Medicinal Herbs on Ivory Silo Farm: Echinacea

Used to fight infections. Has anti-viral, anti-fungal properties. Promotes tissue growth and reduces inflammation. Increases immune function, so therefore could be contraindicated for auto-immune related disorders.

A New Garden

Planted

and mulched on a rainy day.

Some of these hills were planted last week and are starting to sprout seedlings.

Medicinal Weeds: St Johnswort, a treat during the long days of summer

You may know it as a remedy for depression, but it also is the herb to heal nerves. I put these flowers as they start to bloom in olive oil and leave them in the sun for 2 weeks. The oil should turn red. Use it to treat skin conditions like eczema or damaged nerves. I once knew someone who had lost his voice due to damage to the nerves connected to his vocal cords. A Doctor had told him he would never speak normally again. I had been studying the medicinal properties of herbs, but was finally in an herbal apprenticeship. I gave him St. Johnswort oil to rub on his neck and hypericum-homeopathic St Johnswort. Within 2 days his voice was better and within a week his problem was completely resolved.

Whats fermenting?

Dandelion Wine

Pollinator Check in

A New Garden

Potentially

Happy Solstice!

Zinnias

Pollination on Ivory Silo Farm

Angelica

Honey Bee on Buckwheat

Milkweed for Monarchs

On the buckwheat and Angelica I saw wasps, honey bees, bumble bees, flies, and more, but I have only seen one Monarch on the farm this year. Ed has left patches of milkweed while haying and harrowing for them, so I hope to see some more now that the flowers are opening.

I always wonder why some flowers like dandelion and milkweed are deemed weeds. Hardy, beautiful, health promoting, and essential (environmentally,) these plants called weeds have a reputation of being unwanted. Are weeds wild and flowers cultivated? I guess I have always identified with weeds, feeling unwanted and having my own way of doing things. I have even felt most people thought me uncivilized. And yet we now come back to wishing there was more milkweed for the Monarch Butterfly.

Farmstand Open Saturdays and Sundays 10am-2pm

Hope to see you there!

Farm Happenings on a sunny day in Spring

In the Hive...

busy bees sun themselves on the porch, guard their hive and gather pollen.

In the Garden...last years onions,

and this years babies.

In the fields the farmer philosopher continues to sell

produce.

And in the kitchen, I use the

Daily Harvest.

Strawberry Jam

Strawberry Liquor

and there are still more strawberries to freeze.

Farm Stand Opening Saturdays and Sundays 10-2!!!

A selection of greens, scallions, radishes, plants, and more. Spring Harvest.

Still putting up the awnings.

Farmer philosopher muses on his fields.

Farm Camp: mowing

Grace on the lawn tractor.

Farm Camp: Daily Harvest from the Kitchen Garden-and more strawberries!

At the end of the day we picked more strawberries.

Quite a few actually.

And rhubarb!

And then the fog rolled in,

and we made strawberry rhubarb pie.

Farm Camp: mixing seeds and planting cover crops

Mixing seeds for a cover crop. And in the background there is a bee hive-called a Warré Hive. The girls also helped me to paint a strip of beeswax on all the top bars where the bees will build their comb.

Back to seeds: Barley, Buckwheat, Dutch Clover, and Field Peas mixed in the seeder on the back of the tractor.  

These seeds will go in the field with the bee hives, so forage for them is a consideration.

off to the field.  

Some seeds had to be spread by hand

to make sure the crop would grow evenly.

Ready for more tractor work.

The other tractor can

tamp down the ground.

And after a long hard day of work, the girls even washed the dishes.

Farm Camp: Bringing in the Hay

Grace

Tallulah

Daily Harvest from the kitchen garden-strawberries again!

Peaking through the fence at the June bearing plants, I spy a ripe berry.

And on further investigation, not just one!

Daily Harvest from the Kitchen Garden-strawberries!

Long awaited beautiful 

Berries!