Karen's Garden Delights Journal
2nd week of March 2011

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Spring weather is luring us outdoors any chance we can get. We put away the sleds and washed the snowpants and it feels good to work in just a sweatshirt as we trim berry bushes, haul away broken branches and clean up flower beds. We are gathering fresh water cress from the spring stream for a peppery addition to salads and sandwiches. The low tunnels are producing large tubs of spinach, chard and kale which we are enjoying immensely and I am using some to "pay my debts" before I start letting customers know salad is starting. One friend gave us left-over artisan bread from the market over the winter, another shared natural medicine for one of our cows and another family gave us old hay for mulching and each is very happy to be "paid" in greens (see my article on bartering in the spring Farming Magazine.) It was still too soggy in the garden for me to plant the traditional St Patrick's Day peas but if things dry off enough, the first batch of Sugar Ann snap peas will go in the ground this weekend. I plan to put a double row under row cover to get them off to an early start. In the greenhouse, my early peas are about an inch high and the arugula is starting to flower and go to seed. I have several large tomato plants growing indoors and I'll watch the weather to see when I feel safe planting a couple in the greenhouse. Meanwhile, I am starting my flats of main crop tomatoes and pepper seeds this week and letting them germinate near the heater.

There is great rejoicing from the children every time they spot a new spring flower blooming - crocuses, snowdrops, daffodil buds. The bits of color are a welcome companion to spring weather after the dullness of winter. Our pussy willow tree is just starting to bud and we came home from the Akron winter farmers market with a bundle of early Japanese pussy willows that were full and lovely. We made sure to stick a few in the garden to see if we can add to our pussy willow collection. Willows are known for their natural abundance of rooting hormone and will grow roots in a vase of water or directly in the ground. If it works, I need to be sure to move them to a better location before they get too big. In the past, I've forgotten to move some nursery tree plants in the garden and now they are permanently established.

Another spring event this week was the birth of the first calf of the year. Here is the new little heifer less than an hour old with mama Belle giving Ivy her first bath. We are celebrating the return of abundant milk by making pumpkin pudding, soft herb cheese and tapioca pudding. The next day, Belle came down with milk fever which meant her calcium levels were so low she didn't have the energy to stand up to feed the calf. The vet came out to give her an IV twice plus we gave her some natural remedies like cayenne pepper and homeopathic calcium and magnesium. Thankfully she is back in action and Olin is doing more reading on how to prevent this dilemma in the future by giving mineral licks a couple months before they give birth. So, quite a learning experience.

Another excellent learning experience was a health seminar I attended in Mt Hope last week. Rachel Weaver, mother of nine, midwife, master herbalist and author of Be Your Own Doctor, shared stories and remedies from her book to a group of about 200. It was an excellent seminar and I was amazed again at how marvelous God has created our bodies and the many simple herbs that can offer healing when we know how to use them. Some of Rachel's favorites were charcoal, cayenne pepper, comfrey and garlic. She emphasized the importance of diet in staying healthy and shared that many "diseases" are the result of dehydration or constipation. I am slowly reading through her book and adding some herbs like lobelia and cayenne pepper (a whole row!) to my gathering and planting lists for the summer. Many are ones that already grow wild on the farm like black walnut and mullein and I just need to learn more about when to gather them and methods for drying or tincturing them. Our daughter is going to the tincture making session in Mt Hope next week (unfortunately, I have a schedule conflict) and hopefully she will bring back more inspiration for using what is in our backyard for healing.