There and Back Again
And so it begins, the long journeys to Ohio and back for family functions and a few work projects. Mr Chiots and I don’t really mind though, long drives are something we got used to in college. The drive ends up being between 12-14 hours each way, depending on traffic and how often we stop.
We spend our time planning for the future, dreaming big dreams, discussing what we hope to accomplish this winter, and so many other things. Riding in the car gives us valuable dedicated time to talk without other distractions.
Another great thing is that there are so many wonderful things halfway. Every now and then we’ll break up our trips with stops in the Catskills, Winterthur, Longwood Gardens, at friends’ homes, and other wonderful places we discover.
After being away from Maine for a week, it’s good to finally be HOME! Yep this is home.
What’s your favorite mode of travel?
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Quote of the Day: Wendell Berry
“Soil loss…is a problem that embarrasses all of our technological pretensions. If soil were all being lost int a huge slab somewhere, that would appeal to the would-be heroes of “science and technology,” who might conceivably engineer a glamorous, large, and speedy solution – however many new problems they might cause in doing so. But soil is not usually lost in slabs or heaps of magnificent tonnage. It is lost a little at a time over millions of acres by the careless acts of millions of people. It cannot be saved by heroic acts of gigantic technology, but only by millions of small acts and restraints, conditioned by small fidelities, skills, and desires. Soil loss it ultimately a cultural problem; it will be corrected only by cultural solutions.”
– Wendell Berry found in The Small-Scale Poultry Flock: An All-Natural Approach to Raising Chickens and Other Fowl for Home and Market Growers–With information on building … feed, and working with poultry in the garden
I’ve always thought that gardeners grow soil not plants. Without soil, we wouldn’t have gardens. Since I inherited no soil at our previous place and spent 10 years building it up to a nice rich earth, I know what at it takes to climb back from ‘ground zero’.
It takes a lot of hard work, lots of manure, rock powders, humus and other inputs to grow mere inches of topsoil. I probably added a foot of inputs each year to gain a few inches of soil over the course of 10 years.
This is one of the reasons I’m always encouraging the use of mulches and cover crops instead of letting the soil lay bare. Also the reason I advocate for a no-till system and permaculture. Preserving our soil is one of the most important things we can do for future generations!
What soil preservation technique is your favorite: cover crops, mulch, compost, etc?
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Getting an Early Start
It was a matter of course that the lucky one whose holiday (birthday) came around could expect a present from everyone in the house; and of course, one didn’t just go to the store and buy with cold money something turned out by a factory with no relationship at all to the young sister or brother. A loving heart and gifted fingers can produce a wonderful of little miracles.
Maria Augusta Trapp from The Story of the Trapp Family Singers
While reading through this book (which is fantastic by the way, if you’re looking for great winter reading material add this to the list), I came across so many wonderful little quotes like this one. So true that the best gifts we will likely receive this year are those made with a loving heart and gifted fingers! Like these lovely stepping stones my nieces & nephew made for me.
We like to celebrate a homemade Christmas with my family, which means it’s time to start thinking about getting to work. I have a few great ideas, which I can’t share here since my family does read the blog, I’d hate to spoil the fun. We have a lot of options including home roasted coffee, what coffee drinker wouldn’t want that?
I’d like to encourage you to think about making a few gifts this year. You’ll save some cash and no doubt they will be greatly appreciated.
Do you make any gifts? What’s the best handmade gift you’ve ever received?
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Quote of the Day: Bernd Heinrich
The leaves of the red maple drop at the height of their color, and all the while that the forest is ablaze in color from the underbrush up through the tips of the crowns, the ground also is aflame as the magic settles onto the wilting ferns and last year’s decrying brown leaves. I want to pick up every leaf, for each one seems brilliant and unique. I want to know that the colors are even more precious because they are ephemeral–in a few days they all face to a uniform brown.
Bernd Heinrich (A Year In The Maine Woods)
Fall can be a flash in the pan kind of season. Some years it’s longer than others. When the weather cooperates, you get a few weeks of beautiful color and glorious weather. When it doesn’t, just about the time the leaves peak, the wind and rain arrive, washing most of the fall color to the ground, where it quickly turns brown.
This past week we had a windy rainy day that did just that. The nice thing about those windy rainy days, is that it clears the air, making things so crisp and clean. It seems this can only happen in the fall for some reason.
On Saturday morning we woke up to our first frost and freeze. It was 30 when I awoke, there was a skim of ice in my watering can when I went to the chicken coop. Winter is slowly creeping up on us!
How is fall progressing in your garden? Frost, freezes, changing leaves?
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A Bit of Restraint
I decided earlier this year that I wasn’t going to buy anything to plant this fall. Why? Because Mr Chiots and I want to spend the winter coming up with a master plan of where we think everything should go. We made the mistake at our last place of planting a few things early on then having to move them. We’ll spend the winter watching the sun travel across the sky, watching how the water drains, and looking for possible deer crossing patterns.
Yesterday, we went to the Fedco warehouse sale. I knew I didn’t want any bulbs, shrubs, or trees, but I was interested in buying a few herbs that I didn’t have. Just as I suspected, there were a few. I purchased just 5 plants: Sedum, Boneset, Licorice, Hyssop, and Codonopsis.
It wasn’t just about plants, we met and talked to a lot of great folks. No doubt people we’ll see again and again. You can bet we’ll be attending the spring sale to pick up all the trees and shrubs we want to add to new place.
Since we were in the area, we also stopped by Johnny’s Seeds order pick up office to chat. There is no real retail store, but they do have a few clearance items and sample tools to look at. We were pointed towards the research farm to have a look around, with a warning that most crops were coming out and cover crops being sown.
All-in-all it was a lovely day. We visited a few new places, traveled new roads, learning new towns and roads, met new people, engaged in lively conversation and were even invited to a secret farmers market and potluck that’s happening this morning at a local orchard. Sometimes you just never know where you’re going to end up or what’s going to happen.
Do you plant things in the fall or just in spring?
For more photos of both Fedco and Johnny’s, head on over to my Flikcr Photostream.
