Monthly Archives: September 2012

And then it got colder

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No frost yet, but certainly time for fall jackets and wool socks mmmm.

The time has come for seed saving and preserving.

Cucumber seeds are best collected from over ripe cucumbers that have been sitting for approx. two weeks after harvest. You scrape out the seeds, separate the seeds from any cucumber flesh, and then ferment them for a few days to get rid of the gelatinous sack. Then you rinse them and dry them, and store them away for next year. Really digging seed saving right now.

This salsa was so good, those six jars are almost gone already. M’serious. Just plain ol’ Bernardin vegetable salsa recipe.

These giant flower heads are approximately15lbs each – fyi. Tomorrow we’ll harvest most things and tuck the gardens in for the winter.

 

 

 

Blessingway flags

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I just attended a blessing way where everyone wrote birthing messages on pieces of fabric and I sewed them into flags. I got the idea from Marianne at Elderberry Herbals.

They’re meant to be strung up outside your house when you’re in labour…

…but I think our girl might just put them up in her house – they’re pretty!

 

A Really Nice Summer

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We gardened, and visited loved ones, swam in lakes and rivers, went on many walks in the woods…

….drank whiskey on the porch with old, cherished friends, sang to the night air and were visited by a flying squirrel…

…continued to process grief, rekindled an important practice, and celebrated life.

Town Fair

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Alnis and some best buddies took Esker to the town fair and he is still asking me if I remember how great it was.

Photos by Alni

Summer Colouriffic

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I can’t help taking pictures of the things we get from our garden. I am endlessly amazed at what has grown. Although, that pickling cucumber might be the only one of those we got. So many lemon cucumbers though.

This sunflower is over 10 feet tall. There are 6 of them. I haven’t decided yet if they make sense, but they are certainly neato. A friend who dropped by told us that the stalks harden and become next to indestructible, so perhaps we’ll be able to use them for a garden structure next year – WHO KNOWS?

Herb bed – all of the herbs did great this year.

We planted these beans after the peas were done in July and have gotten many, many beans.

Oaks and Acorns

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We went to Art of Mentoring in August. It is a course where you practice awareness in nature, community building, and wilderness skills that draws heavily on native american traditions. There are programs for adults, teens, kids, and mommy-baby.

Esker and I took part in the Oaks and Acorns program – the mommy/baby contingent. It was lovely and inspiring to be around such gentle, loving and strong moms.

We took daily trips to the river, learned about bird language and fire making, sang songs, and listened to many stories.

Even though Oaks and Acorns was a program along side the program proper, I felt very welcome by the Art of Mentoring community. After all, what’s a community without mom’s and babies?
 All of the Oaks listened to the talks and took part in the programming when we could. But we were also just happy sitting together quietly and watching our li’l tots play together.

Art of Mentoring Ontario is coordinated by the PINE Project (which I love and if you live in Toronto, you need to check out). Particularly, this class which I fully plan to take.