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Rainy Day- Trapped Inside
So it's a rainy, miserable day outside. Bad for moving forward on the many projects still left to do, but good for getting time to do some administrative work!
Since I last posted an update we've accomplished quite a lot. The entry trellis is built and the directional signs for around the property are posted. We prepared the beds for the front and back shade gardens and planted them. We planted what can currently be planted weather-wise of the Medicine Wheel and the Kitchen Herb Garden. We prepared the bed, built the brick crescent middle and planted everything in the moon garden except the three plants I'm starting with seed. We tilled up the goat garden and in accordance with biodynamic principles, we also tilled all the other harvesting beds including our garden. This was done on Friday under a Leo Moon Ascending.... we'll wait until we are in Moon descending (about 10-14 days from Friday) to re-cultivate and begin to plant out our garden and that for the sheep and goat. The reason this is done is that when the Moon is in Leo this is a very encouraging time for seed germination, thus you turn the soil over and get the weed seed to expend its energy. Then you come along and rip it up again- this helps you have a much lower weed issue going forward. We've planted all the trees and shrubs that were ready to go in the ground with the exception of 4 trees. I hope to get these done in the next day or so if we don't wind up with too much rain!!! We also finished out the orchard, both with trees and comfrey, and planted all the other fruit types.
So, we're down to the Labyrinth and the Children's Garden for major bed preparation and planting. We got the sprayer ready, so the next thing is to find a good time to put the biodynamic preps down and start up the compost tea blends for the year. This week-end is our first chance at a volunteer week-end and we have a few folks planning to come. I hope to get the Children's Garden beds ready, maybe work on some weeding around the pond and help Carson build the Grape-Room Trellis and the permanent hammock arbor in back. It's not a favorable time to be planting anything pretty much all week-end, so we'll have to build, mulch and weed instead. I'm hoping that someone who comes is artistic as well and may be interested in painting the quotes on the store wall finally! I'd love to get some solid time in with the bees this week!!
In other farm news, we have two chickens sitting a crazy amount of eggs and they are both getting hatchlings. When we go out to the coop now we visit these two broody girls who have been separated out and are greeted with tiny, fuzzy yellow creatures that pop out from underneath them to say hello- too cute!! There are a few duck eggs under there as well- which is good because sadly we no longer have any ducks. The neighborhood duck that stays with us quite a bit taught our ducks to cross the road. The other morning while Carson was out preparing things for my outside workshop, they all got hit by a car right in front of him. A REALLY bad start to the morning!
We are now officially working with an Otterbein professor and his students as a class project in creating a media and PR package. We're so excited to see what ideas they will come up with for us!! This week as I do some inside things I'm looking toward what needs to be done to tighten up our website and get some changes made in the way we're telling our story. Market season starts the week-end after next!!! I have new signs to make, flyers to print, honey to pour, jars to label, products to make... etc., etc.... Oh yeah, I also have Aidan who would like a spare moment of my time.... pshew! Gonna get busy! One of my main missions in the short term is to connect up with someone who might enlighten me on Native American ceremony that might be appropriate for our Medicine Wheel dedication due to take place in the end of May.... I was told there is a Native American society headquarters in downtown Columbus, I'm going to follow up on that, but if anyone reading has any personal connections or knowledge, please let me know!!
I will post an album to our Facebook page of all the new gardens and resting areas around the property as soon as Carson gets a chance to mow. Here's a couple for now:
United Plant Saver's Botanical Sanctuary Acceptance
Just found out today that we have been accepted by United Plant Saver's as a Botanical Sanctuary in their medicinal plant preservation network!!! I am so excited! This means that we are recognized as a habitat for the preservation of our threatened and endangered native medicinal species. We are officially recognized as a place to learn about these plants and will be part of the research and work being done to find ways to replant and preserve their natural habitat. Check out the UPS site here: www.unitedplantsavers.org/ 
Today in the afternoon is a "root" day, so I'm planting marshmallow seeds... this is one of the tricky herbs to decide on a good time to plant. Marshmallow leaf is also good, but I decided to plant on a root day because the root is where the most mucilage is. Some of these just come down to personal preference, how you plan to use the herb and your own judgement call. The rest of today, tomorrow until sundown and Friday morning are actually all root days.... I'm planning to get as many of the trees and shrubs into the ground as possible as I know they will be getting the best energetics focused on establishing their root systems right now.
This morning I had a visit from the Union County Chamber of Commerce folks. Specifically, the woman in charge of bringing in agritourism came to take pictures and see our farm. We had a good visit and we solidified plans for a farm tour with them here in June. We will have all our gardens in and be down to maintenance issues by then. I can't imagine having all this work done! It is so great though to finally see the farm taking shape in reality instead of being a fantasy in my head!
Last night's dinner- Stir fry pork and corn, carrots, palm, peppers and peas tossed in Mockingbird Meadows' Lemon/Ginger/Garlic Infused honey. It was really good- one note I thought I'd share.... it takes a little more honey than I thought... I initially used just a spoonful, but to get the infused flavor to come through in the stir fry I would use more and/or do a drizzle at the table.
Breaking Ground
This was a busy weekend! We are really sore, but we broke ground on several of the new gardens and trellises. The Moon Garden, Front and Back Shade Gardens, The Medicine Wheel and the Kitchen Herb Garden are all ready to plant. We also dug the post holes for the entrance arbor and the "Grape Room", an arbor in the back where we will have an outdoor dining area.
We used a sod stripper and flipped the sod upside down. There were a LOT of really great earth worms. I'm really concerned about disturbing the soil structure as little as possible, so aside from stripping the sod, we're not going to be tilling these beds. The next step will be to add soil over the upturned sod and then I'm thinking about using a broadfork to break stuff up after a while. My husband is skeptical and really wants to use the walk-behind tiller, so we'll see who gets to say "I told you so". We're getting ready to put the spring preps down and we're setting up our permanent compost tea makers. We have gone with two rain barrel setups because they come with a spot at the bottom of the barrel.
Today is really windy, otherwise I'd be out dropping trees and shrubs into the ground. Sounds like the wind may lay this evening and we'll get some of that done along with dropping in the posts for the Grape Room. In the meantime I'm going to head out to the greenhouse and put some seeds in. Today, per the biodynamic calendar, is a fruit day so I'm planting the Bitter Melon and the Anise seeds. The tomatoes that I planted about a week ago are popping up. I meant to get some heat mats out to the greenhouse but we never made it. The seeds have germinated in the greenhouse simply sitting on the permanent beds. So excited to see these little green friends coming up in the warmth and sunshine. I have a few more rounds of seeds to get in... root, flower and leaf and then all the seeds will be started. This past Friday my mother and I made a run down to Athens, Ohio to Companion Plants to pick up some of the bareroot and potted medicinals that I don't have time to grow. Can't wait to get it all into the ground!!! Can someone please invent some more daylight hours for me??!!!
Spring is officially here- the sheep are naked!
Here at Mockingbird Meadows it's not the daffodil, but the naked sheep that heralds the arrival of spring.
My poor babies are COLD! This picture from 1:00 clockwise- Rufus, Sally and Spot. They've been making a lot of noise out there in their shelter at night since Saturday. It's always so much fun to watch them trying to figure out how their pecking order should rearrange once they're small again. This is the first year we haven't taken the goat along with us to the shearing. When we got home and these naked "strangers" came back into her corral, she was soooo confused!! Too funny! I'm able to let them all out for some fresh spring greens lately, so that should smooth over any ruffled feathers. The good news is that I FINALLY know what I'm going to do with all the wool that's been building up in my sewing room for the past 3 years. I'm going to get it made into roving and rug wool.... and perhaps enough yarn out of Sally's dark wool to make a sweater.
I went out to the greenhouse today. The venting system is working really well and most everything is greening up. I'm a little concerned about the comfrey, asters and mountain mint but hoping that they show up later in the spring. Soon we will be receiving all our herb specimen plants for the gardens going in this spring and I'll be filling up the greenhouse. I have so much seed starting to do and need to get my Stella Natura out to map out when I'm planting what!
Honey tasting and meeting local chefs
Wow! I last updated this blog 19 DAYS AGO!! I really need to get on the ball here! Sooo much has been going on though and it seems like every time I go to write the blog I'm exhausted and need to go to bed. Aidan is napping presently though, so I'll get some stuff down while I can.
We've had our first two workshops of the season. We had some scheduled in February, but then had so much snow that they didn't happen. However, we're getting good sign-up numbers this year. This month I did a First Aid Naturally workshop and an Herbs for Better Sleep and Lower Stress workshop. Since Carson has finished the store retrofit I had everyone join me in the store. It was great there! In the past I've done workshops in our basement, but it's sooo dreary. In the store there is a lot of natural light and last Saturday I was even able to open the door and let in the fresh air.... and the occasional bee. =) Our summer workshops are fast filling up and that's a great thing!! Ironically, on Saturday when I was teaching about herbs for Better Sleep and Lower Stress I hadn't slept a wink the night before!!! Aidan had his first fever overnight, so here I am talking about how important it is to your health to take time for yourself and get good sleep.... HA! Teaching something like that with steamer trunks hanging from under your eyes takes some kind of guts!! =) Oh well, met some great new friends and I look forward to seeing them all in future workshops!
On Sunday I went to a reception that was honoring two of our local chefs who are up for the James Beard award. Very cool that Columbus is starting to get this type of recognition. Chef Magdiale Wolmark from Dragonfly and Chef Kent Rigsby from Rigsby's Kitchen were there and I got a chance to talk to each of them. Chef Magdiale has a similar interest in biodynamics and is currently working to change his chef's garden behind the restaurant from organic to biodynamic. How exciting to talk to chef who believes strongly in infusing his food with healthy energetics and good intention! I hope to meet with him again and have him taste our honeys- it would be very exciting to see what he might come up with! In speaking with Chef Rigsby and his wife it was fun to talk of Greece and the spectacular honey produced there. He currently serves a cheeseplate as a prelude to the dessert course in which he uses an imported Chetsnut Honey drizzle. Clearly another chef I would like to talk to in more detail and definitely a restaurant I need to visit and soon!
In preparation for the reception we had Bear and Colleen Braumoeller over for dinner. Over several (headache the whole next day) bottles of DELICIOUS red wine we sat around a table decked out with all the varieties of honey we currently have available and 5 different kinds of cheese. I made homemade crackers and brought a creamy goat cheese and a picante gorgonzola. Colleen had chosen an aged pecorino and a young pecorino as well as a cheese none of us have yet to remember or been able to identify. We sat and tried every conceivable combo of honey, fruit, cheese and cracker. Some of them were not good! =) There were two top favorites though. The comb that Bear and Colleen served at the reception on Sunday was our Lavender Infused Honey drizzled over the young pecorino. Wow! The cheese was sharp but muted while the creamy fat melded nicely with the fruity notes of the honey- it really made the floral note of lavender pop! My personal favorite though... and one that will be served here at the farm at future events was the creamy goat cheese with a drizzle of the Rose Petal Infused Honey, topped with organic raspberries. YUM, YUM, YUM!!! I'm still dreaming of the flavors. This was also really good with our Honey Love blend, of course, but we didn't have any jarred up when they needed it.
Well, I'm now hungry and Aidan is awake and telling me in his special loud way that he would like to escape his swing. Much more to share, so hopefully I'll post more about what's going on here with the bees and herbs now that spring has sprung officially!
-Dawn
Melting and Cooped Up
The chickens are finally out again now that there are a few bare patches of grass in the yard. They're walking around with big mud shoes but don't seem to mind. They've been "cooped" up for too long.... having a baby this winter, I understand the true meaning of that term now. I've gotten crazy for the idea of getting out- a trip to the grocery is exciting to me! The chickens have continued laying regardless of the weather, but they seem to lay more when they are happy because they've been out in the yard. Cruel fate has struck as we've determined that Aidan is allergic to eggs and even more surprising seems to also be sensitive to poultry.... it's like some sort of sick joke of Mother Nature that I was planning to raise our chickens and eggs for our family's primary meat source! Oh my....
The sheepy children (and goat) are still having trouble getting out of their enclosure as their little pasture is pretty well covered in large drifts. I need to let them out to run around in the yard and get rid of some of their pent up energy. I've been trying to find a boyfriend for our Nubian goat, but not having any luck! I'm positive there are other folks out there with a male as these are pretty popular dairy goats but it's not going well so far. I really would like to start getting our own milk this year!!
In farm business news, the Marysville Chamber representative was here this morning checking out our setup. Looks like we'll be having a ribbon cutting to open our store in the next month or so and I'll be doing the rounds at the local business associations introducing Mockingbird Meadows. I'm looking forward to getting the word out. Actually, this morning someone from a community nearby emailed me for a garden group tour. She was surprised she didn't know we were here.... I think we're going to have a lot of that! I finished the plant ordering this morning, so now we must turn to figuring out how we will get the ground prepared as early as possible. Gonna be a real challenge this year with record snowfall.... I'm afraid we'll be wet for some time!
Starting tomorrow, I think I'll devote one blog each to our farm animals. I can't keep talking about them without a proper introduction! =) In the biodynamic model they are both members of the family and members of the work crew.
In Harmony
It's been a week or so since we visited Harmony Farm and had a couples massage, but I just had to share finally! What a great place! The family that owns and runs Harmony have put all their healing intent and energy into everything they do. Our massages took place in a room with one wall made up entirely of floor to ceiling windows. The building sits at the top of a hill and the rest of the property drops away down the slope away into the woods and finally to the Miami River. What an amazing view- no sterile spa with canned music here! They have amazing healers and artists coming from all over the world to add their energies to the Farm and they have an amazing vision of what more they can do in the future. I had felt for some time that I was "blocked"... I had been experiencing a lot of anxiety and was stuck in a lot of my projects. Shortly after my massage began, I started to feel the energy flowing freely through my body again. My brain clicked back into a creative place and I began to explore new ideas for Mockingbird. I have to recommend a couples massage if you've never done one. Right after our massage I was able to talk to Carson while we were still in that space. He marveled at what I was telling him about my experience. He also enjoyed his massage, but his experience was to have his mind go blank!!! =) This is an utterly foreign concept to me. We are such different people and I've never understood his insistence that he is able to "not think at all". I can't imagine it... it makes me wonder if this is a male/female thing, or just a difference in temperaments. Body work is so interesting and individual- too many people believe it is an unnecessary luxury! It is part of our personal health plan to go quarterly and untie the knots!!
Touring Harmony Farm put me in mind that I have had requests in the past to do a girl's getaway week-end of intensive herbal study. I am putting this out there to see if there is still interest.... it occurs to me that Harmony is the place to go- they have overnight accommodations and in between workshops we would be free to walk the beautiful property or schedule massages or facials, etc. I'm putting out my feelers, it would be really great to put something like that together!
Carson has been working feverishly to finish our store. I hope to have pictures soon to share!
A meeting with our local chamber of commerce
Today I finally met with our local chamber of commerce! Seems pretty silly that we've been noticed nationwide and we have a local following in another city, but we've never let our local community know we're here! Anyone out there getting a business started- I highly recommend you do this earlier than I am. I guess in a way it makes sense that it's taken this long.... the farmer's markets that we've done have been in other communities and we have just built our farm store this fall.... but still... crazy! The folks I met there were really helpful and had loads of ideas on how we can network and work with other businesses to get our name out there. They were really excited about our honey's and had a few opportunities for us to take part in local agritourism. Agritourism is definitely an area we want to develop as we put in more and more of our public gardens. I feel like taking this winter off is really paying off. When spring comes we'll finally be able to hit the ground running and perhaps.... just perhaps we can be ahead of the game.
I'm still working to complete all the seed and plant orders. So far I've ordered from Johnny's Seeds, Seeds of Change, Horizon Herbs, Scioto Gardens, Miller Nursery, Bluebird Nursery and Davis Seed Service.... Just one to go- Companion Herbs- and I can sit back and wait for everything to come to me... oh yeah, can't really sit back because we've got to get the ground ready for all these plants!!!! Gonna be a busy spring, but we won't lack for opportunities to get our hands in the dirt!
The snow is high and we're expecting rain
In the time since my last post it seems as though it's done nothing but snow! We've shoveled our way out of the house and out of the driveway more this winter than all the winters combined out here to date! It's so nice to see the snow blanketing all my plants. I know this insulation will protect them and give us a good start in spring. The unfortunate thing is in the fact that as we get rain on top of all this today we are seeing the ground get more and more saturated. I expect this to be a year that we can't get into the ground until late- which is not good as this is the year we're putting in all the major gardens. We're breaking ground on the following: Labyrinth, Medicine Wheel, Kitchen Herb Garden, Moon Garden, Children's Garden and Goat Garden. I have all the plants lined up, we'll just need to get them in the ground!! All of these gardens will house harvestable as well as specimen herb plants. We are looking forward to being both a destination and a plant preserve. The application for becoming a United Plant Savers Botanical Sanctuary went in last week and is being considered currently. Cross your fingers! This will be a great opportunity for us to spread the word on native medicinal preservation.
Yesterday I was interviewed for an online magazine here in Ohio called Ohio Authority (Ohioauthority.com). They are doing an article on biodynamic farms and are adding us in. Should be out in the next 2-3 weeks. We'll be keeping an eye out and let you know in this space.
Well, looks like I've got to go change a diaper. This afternoon's jobs will be to start a batch of Kloss's Liniment and put together some of my new tincture kits and help Carson with the new shelves in the store. I can't wait to share pictures of the changes we've made while we were snowed in!
In Green Health,
Dawn
Harmony at the Farm
This has been a very busy week! We had a visit from our new friends at Harmony Farms. We had a really nice afternoon walking the property. Sounds like they are planning to build their herb drying and plant starting structures and were hoping for some ideas. Often when you've started a business based on alternative health and natural lifestyles you can feel very alone. Every time I start to get discouraged something comes along to encourage me.... Barbara at Harmony Farms says she calls these people angels. Well, she and her family have been that for me. Her daughter Cheri and I met when she and her husband came to our farm for a farm tour last July. We were destined to be good friends! What a blessing to find other folks who are trying to impact the community around them in the same way that you are! Recently, Cheri suggested I read a book called Anastasia that is part of the Ringing Cedars series out of Russia. I finished this book this week and really enjoyed it! I have a mind to try some of the planting directions.
This week I was inspired to set up a labor for workshop trade program here at the farm. We're not ready for internships yet though I won't rule them out for the future. I have a few people in mind that might be interested in trying this out with me. It'll take a bit to iron out the details, we'll just see how things go. It'll be great to have some help putting in all the new gardens this spring... not to mention the company! I'm getting quite a few registrations lately for this winter's workshops!
It's close to 50 degrees here today.... it's just a teaser for spring and it makes me hungry to plant things. I think tomorrow I will plant some salad green seeds in the greenhouse beds and see how that goes.
