Spring, I think and teenage driving

Welcome to the first week of Spring, I think ??? Why the uncertainty? Cause the good people at the National Weather Service are telling us to expect snow on Friday and Sat !! Woot ! At least they aren't predicting below freezing temps, like they are going to get, just a little west of us. But we did get some rain last night !! yeah ! I went out today to pull some weeds and dig up some grass and Wow, the difference a little rain makes is amazing ! The clover I planted around the elderberries and the yard has popped up, plus I see tiny other bits of green in all my garden beds, this makes me very happy.
I worked in the yard, I planted my dwarf pear tree, and moved some gravel that was around the pool (that is no longer there) and put it around the door to my shed. I once again over did. How do I know, cause my muscles feel like putty and now that I have taken a shower, I don't even have the energy to get up and fix something to eat, but I must ! Fibromyalgia can be such a pain, literally and emotionally ! There is no, take it easy today, cause then I can work tomorrow, you learn that when you have the strength and feel like working, you take advantage of it, because you may have a bad week following. And no, it does not make a difference, believe me, I have tried ! But the research also supports it. So that is just the way it is

I promised to tell you about doing the OK Food Coop delivery, well that will wait a day or two, because I forgot to take my camera, so I bought a disposable, took it in to be developed and forgot to have it put on disc, but some pics are coming. Plus, my experience with pulling the trailer, OOPS !

I took my 15 year old out on Sunday for her first official "unofficial" driving lesson. She can't get her permit till she is 15 1/2, so I took her to a large, mostly empty parking lot and began her instructions. She listened to me, was very calm and the lesson went well. She told her daddy that he could not teach her to drive, because he would not have the patience. And I do ?? Has she met me?? LOL No, it did really go well.

My friend and webmistress and I are revamping the website, so you will be seeing a new look soon. But if you order anything now, mention this blog and receive a 10% discount on your order
http://www.healingherbals.org/
As far as future events, I plan on being at the Sand Springs Herbal Affair on April 18th, come to see me and my friends at the Peppermint Dragon, who are graciously sharing their booth with me, they have great starter plants !

Grow where you are planted

I saw a church sign just the other day, with this old but true saying "Grow where you are planted". I have come to realize the truth in this, for me. 8 years ago, we bought this house, because of location, it was only 2 miles from the school our daughter was attending, in the school district we had chosen, if she was going to public school; right off the expressways, making it easy for my husband to go to work, and in a nice, quiet neighborhood oh and the house is huge, because our nucleus family at that time was large (my father in law and 2 teen age kids, along with our youngest daughter). The size of our close family has changed, father in law has passed, both teenagers are now grown (and I have grandchildren) and along the way, I fell in love with the idea of living more "out in the country". Hubby is ok with that idea, because his retirement job he has been working towards, would require us to live within the county and that county is further east than Tulsa is, so we would be looking at moving. But, I have come to realize the dream is just that at this point in my life, because 1)Daughter still has at least 2 years of high school, then college that will be done here in town 2) My health will not allow me to work a large acreage and 3) My only close family is my brother and family, who currently live only a few miles from me, which makes it easy to visit, and I am not willing to give that up.

So, I am attempting to grow where I have been planted. How do I choose to do this?

Well, the first thing is that my business is not location centered, I can do it anywhere, but would like to stay in OK, so that I can continue as a producer for the OK Food Coop. The second is I am making improvements in my home; at first, those improvements where more directed at selling appeal, but now I have changed my to making improvements that will work better for my family and are pleasing to us. Third, I continue to plant and grow my gardens, including putting in a full orchard. Fourth, I know all my close neighbors by site, and my close neighbors (sides and across the street) by talking with them, but later in the spring, or early summer, I am going to have a get together of some kind, and invite all of them, just so that we can speak more, and feel more security with knowing others will look out for us and each other.

As I said, I am busy planting, so I am going to go out and do a little today, even though it is cooler than the last week has been, but all the early garden plants need to be in NOW, so I must finish !
The winners of the last 2 weeks contest are Tumbleweed and Kathi. I will contact you later today for addresses.
One further note, because of the exposure to dirt, sun and wind, my hands and arms become extremely dry and cracked. I combat it with my Healing Salve. I spread it liberally on, right before bedtime and it heals and moisturizes at the same time
http://www.healingherbals.org/Ouch.htm

Gardening Jan 09

Gardening has begun in earnest around here. Over the last couple months, during the times it was warm enough, and I felt good enough, I was doing more yard cleaning and bed building. Yesterday I went to get a load of my favorite pecan mulch and was very disappointed. I have been buying this compost for over 2 years, because with the pecans hulls, mixed in, the soil is lighter and makes a great potting soil, plus the extra nutrition from the pecans themselves.

Due to the terrible freeze we had last winter, there was not much of a pecan harvest, thus no leftovers for making mulch. I am very sad ! But the good news is, the compost that Tiner's did have was so hot in the center, that you could not touch it !! Which means it is very active and my gardens will love it ! So the front yard is newly composted and ready for the spring. Pic is from my driveway, looking east, and yes, it is sloped.

Speaking of pecan, I also picked up my new floor for the main part of my house, beautiful pecan laminate. I am going to have the walls painted, then find someone to install the floor for me. I got enough flooring to cover my office, the great room, the front and downstairs bedroom's hallways. Hopefully, my house will be looking good for the spring classes that will be held in my "great" room.

It is another warm day in the 50's, so I have started watering and need to get out to it.

Catching up

Since my last post in June, my life has been a roller coaster ! I found out I was truly anemic in August and went through treatment, my husband has had carpal tunnel surgery on both hands, my daughter fell and both exacerbated an old soccer knee injury and added new injury to her elbow, so we did physical therapy 2x week for 4 months; Gardening and yard work continued and I got some foraging, and canning done. Thanksgiving has come and gone and we are in the middle of what most Americans consider the holiday season. What I did not do during this time, was deliver products through the OK Food Coop, but will be up and delivering again in Jan 2009.
More notes and pics on the last few months will be added in the next week, so I hope you will come back and follow the goings on, of this herbalist

Pam

Confused Weather and gardening

There is no global warming, there is no global warning, there is no global warming, this mantra kept going through my head yesterday, while I was gardening outside with the temp a balmy 81, breaking a record set, I think they said, in 1962. Kind of hard to stick your head in the sand and ignore what is going on with our Mother (Earth), when Oklahoma is having temps like this and Colorado, is having so much snowfall, there is no where to put the snow they are clearing from roads and sidewalks, etc. Are we going to sit back and just let our environment go to heck or are we going to start begin concerned about the issues that our world is facing? To mention a few, dna altered and contaminated food, coming from outside the U.S., fossil fuels and energy use, the control by the government of what animals we own and food we eat. . . . and the list goes on. Anyway, I will get off this soapbox, but we need to wake up and get involved in making our world a better place to live and the best place to start is in your own community, research "Buy fresh, buy local" and and see some ideas of where to start.

On to my urban homesteading efforts. I am trying to make some huge changes in my yard this spring. Let me start by telling you, what I already have already done, and then I will take you forward.

We live on a standard, city lot, and we have a neighborhood association (better know as the neighborhood ass.) When we moved into the house (7 years ago), we had a dog, so he went into the backyard, along with the above ground pool and patio, that the person who wanted to put it in, has never taken care of it. Anyway, with that said, I planned to start herb gardening in my front yard. But I was still working part time, so I only planted a couple things, usually in pots.

Then a couple of years ago, I decided I was going to really garden, and the only thing the ass. has said, is, "no vegetables out front". Ok, no problem, the corn will go in the back yard, lol.

I started with putting a pond liner in the ground, and fill it with good soil and compost and surrounded it with more dirt to plant in and basically, a rock enclosure. I call this area my mother garden, a lot of plants have started here.

Then I brought in a load of river dirt and planted the front yard with wild plants and herbs. I now have beautiful blue salvia, wild strawberries, flax, plantain, wild onions and so much more growing. Then there is my elderberry hedge, lobelia, echinacea, primrose, lemon balm, lemon verbana, horehound, catnip and the list goes on.

I also planted a native plum, next to my mother garden. Then, this last year, I added a dwarf peach and apple, along the driveway, and two 4x4 raised beds in the backyard (we lost our dog, someone intentionally opened the gate!), whew are you as tired as I am hearing all this ???? I only work in short periods at a time, so I have to do a little at a time, but thank goodness it adds up !

So, now we are up to this winter . . . . I have a family pulling out the deck, in exchange for the lumber, and another family is helping me clear the overgrown bushes and trees in the backyard, so that there will be more space for garden beds.

Brief time out here, I want to share the music I am listening to you with you. I just discovered this artist at a local metaphysical fair over the weekend and I love her music, it is a blend of country/folk and she is a true storyteller, with most all the songs written by her family, who is also her backup band. Her name is Shawna Russell http://www.shawnarussell.com/. My favorites are "The Only One" and "Goddess".

Now, back to yard work and gardening. over the next few months months I am going to share with you some before and after pics of my yards and gardens, so you can travel this awesome with me. On Sat, we started clearing and trimming the back yard, this is one of my 2 compost boxes I picked up from a Craig's list ad, they are like brand new, and sell for $90 each, and I got the both for $5o. Great deal, huh? The 2nd pic is some of the bushes we are clearing, with my 2 big red junipers.

Ya know, if landscapers had to live in the houses they designed, there wouldn't be some of the disasters like these are ! I kept trying to figure out why the bushes are migrating south, instead of up, well, it seems they are actually a vine, anyplace where the limbs make contact with the ground, roots grow and the race is on !! Anyway, I love my wild birds that visit, but they are going to have to make do with a little less jungle, thank you very much !

So, the clearing began on a Sat, with the sounds of the men working on dissassembling the deck in the background.

I took advantage of the warm weather yesterday, and the signs be right for planting and planted a salad garden. This is the northwest corner of my house and the kitchen window. I planted Jerusalem artichokes, garlic, transplanted garlic chives, and the rest is varied greens, spinach and lettuce. I hope the rain (much needed and loved) today doesn't wash them into one pile.

It is time for me to get back with my herbal class, I am writing schedules for my new apprentices, so I will leave you with this shot of the sunset last night. Enjoy the beauty around you.

(NOTE: I am having trouble with putting the pics where I want them, sorry!)