Equinox Gifts

Yesterday was just a lovely, peaceful day with several unexpected gifts. Here at the homestead we consider the Autumnal Equinox to be our version of Thanksgiving, so it is important that I take the time to day to actually give gratitude to the wonderful things and people who made this year's equinox special.


Most important of all has been the deepening connection between me and The Bean. Though we both miss the twins everyday that they go to Head Start, I am so thankful for the opportunity to devote this block of time each day just to my littlest. Soon there will be another baby, one who needs near constant attention and affection, but I hope that I can continue to give this time to The Bean. We cuddle while reading And the Good Brown Earth, and I beam with pride as she hones her balancing skills on the bricks around the (seriously weedy) wildflower patch out front. I'm so thankful for this time and these memories.

The next bit of gratitude goes to my mother-in-law for sending along this set of gifts:

It's not actually an equinox gift but a belated birthday present. Unfortunately, with my in-laws living an hour away and gas prices being what they are, we rarely get out to see them. Regardless of our absence, I know they're always thinking of us, and we're certainly always thinking of them. Though I wouldn't buy Pampered Chef items myself, my kitchen is sorely understocked with tools, so I am very grateful for these gifts. The spoons are bamboo, and the whisks (can you believe I've gone this long without even owning a whisk??) are stainless steel. She also sent a digital kitchen timer, citrus peeler, and corn butterer. Thank you! And thank you for the wrapping paper too. It will be reused.

A gift from Nature herself:

Just like the burdock that took me by suprise last week, I was both startled and excited to see this new aster peeking up through my lawn near Sister Maple. I don't know if it comes through in the picture, but the new aster is purple. I really hope that this one comes back next year with a few buddies. Our other asters, though abundant, are white and as yet unidentified.

And lastly, a warm thank you to C, the Freecycler who passed on a bag and a half of her daughter's clothes to my daughters. It makes this pregnant, autumn-feelin' squirrel rest a little easier that Annie has clothes to grow into, regardless of how difficult the economy may get.

Merry Autumnal Equinox

A little equinox magic.

It may be just the slime trail of one of our resident spotted leopard slugs, but I was mesmerized by this bit of iridescent beauty on Mama Maple. It reminds me of something out the landscape of The Labyrinth. Even during these very rough times, there's magic all around us, things to enjoy, glimpses of bliss and beauty, moments without anxiety, fear, or depression.

The additional magic this year is that today is also the last day of my first trimester of pregnancy. Now I can take a deep breath, relax a little, and feel a little more energetic. I've already felt just a few little kicks, though they're still few and far between, and nothing is quite as blissful as that!

The equinox is a bittersweet time for me. In my faith, it is a day of celebration, a holiday, but it feels far too much like a farewell to me. Though I love the cooling days, the upcoming splendour of the maples' autumnal color, cuddling with all three of my babes under one huge blanket, the equinox is a reminder of the coming winter and much darker days ahead. There are many ways that I try to combat my winter blues, but those are best saved for posts to come. For now, I'll revel in the day of this annual event and be thankful for the familiar rhythm of the dance of our planet around the sun.

Time to bask in the waning sun...

Book Review: McGee & Stuckey's The Bountiful Container by Rose Marie Nichols McGee and Maggie Stuckey

I have avoided this book for a long time. I'm not really sure why, since my long term gardening plan has always involved expansion through potted edibles, but things got accelerated a bit when I sat down to plan next year's gardening expansion budget. So, I clenched my teeth and checked this book out.

The book is broken down into three parts: "You and Your Garden," "Down-to-Earth Basics," and "Plants for the Bountiful Container."

In Part One, the authors discuss both the basics of gardening, like climatic considerations, and those special issues which come up with containers, like vandalism. They even give the reader three schemes for succession planning in containers. I'll admit that I bristled a bit at the "Reality Check for Container Gardens," but overall it was a simple and effective primer on gardening within the limitations of containers.

Part Two gets down to the nitty gritty, covering all the hardware neccessities, storage possibilites, trellises, potting soil, when to plant, how to plant, seed saving, etc. I was particularly impressed by their consistent recommendation to repurpose or recycle various items that a gardener may already have, such as a toy box turned on its back used as a supply cabinet. I was unimpressed, however, with the authors' neutral stance on fertilization techniques. For hardcore organic gardeners like me, the discussion of anything besides organic options can be a bit frustrating. Still, I'm sure it's better for the popularity of the book overall.

The majority of the book it taken up by Part Three, wherein the various fruits, vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers recommended for containers are discussed. The section also includes various garden plans and recipes. Gardening books always get huge bonus points from me if they include recipes! Those included in this book range from the standard "Pasta With Summer Vegetables" (pg. 104) to the more unique "Green Garlic Soup" (pg. 122). The garden plans left something to be desired, in my opinion. I found most of them to be a little hoaky or lacking in usefulness, but there were a few unique and inspiring ideas smattered throughout. I loved the idea to use a child's dump truck as a planter in "A Kid's Garden" (pp. 86-89) and I have the perfect place for "A Hummingbird Garden" (pp. 232-234), though why the authors didn't think to include dimensions for the box and trellis in that plan is beyond me. The entries for the individual plants themselves were pretty informative. Even if you have a traditional in-ground garden, there are specifics for growing each specimen in the containers that should be read.

Overall, I think the book is a valuable resource for information and ideas, especially if you garden exclusively in containers. It's a little disconcerting that no photographs are included, since garden sketches always portray things through rose-colored glasses. I really wish there was more discussion of growing organically, but I'm biased in that area. I don't plan to buy the book, though I may change my mind once I get further into my garden expansion. For now, I've made notes of the specific information I need and will check the book out from the library again if neccessary.

Treasures of My Garden: September 19, 2008

A special critter edition of Treasures of My Garden comes your way today, courtesy of a morning spent cleaning up the yard in preparation for autumn.


One of about, oh, a billion diadem garden spiders we saw today. They've all been staking their territories on our fence and the females are huge this late in the year. The kids were fascinated, though not nearly as much as arachnophile Mommy. ;) I could have spent all day watching her.


Earlier in the summer, we got a special gift from our neighbor. Though I couldn't manage to get a picture of them then, it seems that at least one of them may have stuck around. I found this guy in the middle of a huge pile of rocks that I was trying to move (don't ask). Both Annie and Airius were eager to catch him, but neither one has my mad toad-catching skills. I took pity on the guy and let him be when the kids chased him into the borage. Fortunately, I didn't move the rock pile far. He may stay yet.


A spotted leopard slug, one of several, also found in the rock pile inhabited by the toad above. These bad boys are very common in our garden and especially love the stump of the redbud tree we lost in a lightening storm last year. They get enormous and are my least favorite garden critters.

Just At Eye Level

I had only just laid down on the cool grass in the shade of Sister Maple, arm draped across my pregnant belly, when a chestnut colored treasure caught my eye. There in the midst of my jungle of English ivy, something had gone to seed. Something I hadn't seen in my yard before. Something closely resembling a dock (Rumex spp.) species... But which one?

Skipping into the house, I grabbed one of the many baby food jars I have carefully stored away in my cupboard and headed out to collect the seeds. Normally I wouldn't collect seeds from a plant that is the lone specimen in an area, but, well, this is my lawn and an area that gets mowed, which might explain the extremely small size of this plant. That and the enormous amount of shade from Sister Maple. Oh, and the stranglehold of English ivy. The dock species that I'm familiar with from Ohio and Michigan are all large plants, at least a couple of feet tall. Some are 5 feet or more. What amazes me is that this plant managed to gather enough energy to produce seed, even at its tiny size!

Most of the dock species are edible in moderation, though there's a fair amount of oxalic acid in them. They are best cooked. There are, of course, medicinal uses as well, but I'll wait until I have a positive identification to go into those.


I know this is a dreadful leaf photo, but the plant is angled in such a way that it's difficult to get a good one. You can kinda get a sense of size if you compare the leaf to that of the English ivy in the background. If anyone thinks they know which plant I have here, please feel free to comment! I'm guessing that it's a dwarfed Yellow Dock (R. crispus). Regardless, I've saved the seeds from this little miracle. Next spring I'll sow them in good sun and see exactly what it is I have here...

Hurricane Ike Backlash in Ohio

Cleanup Continues Across County

Sunday brought our little homestead in Marion the backlash winds of Hurricane Ike. The Husband was home, and it was Football Sunday of course, so our whole family was snuggled up nice and warm in our little nest. We didn't realize how much damage had happened around the county until we went outside the next morning. Our neighborhood, thankfully, did not get the worst of it. The picture above was taken from my front yard, and you can see a front end loader and dump truck in the background moving fallen tree limbs and debris from yards and the road.


BobbleHead Owl Homestead sustained nothing worse than a few twigs and very small branches scattered around the yard. The sunflowers have all been doubled over, along with the corn stalks, but for the most part we got off free of damage. The backyard privacy fence seemed to act as a windbreak. We would look out the front window and see the world swirling wildly. In the backyard, it just looked like a breezy autumn day.


On Monday morning, the kids and I headed outside to gather some sun and fun before the bus came for Head Start, and I saw one of my elderly neighbors down the road cleaning up her yard. We went down to help. The kids thought it was great fun having someone else's yard to explore, and our neighbor was grateful for the help. She's capable, but it's good for everyone to know that there are neighbors who care, no?

I hope all of my Marion friends came through the storm with as much luck as we had, and we're sending our well wishes to those who have been hit by the brunt of Hurricane Ike.

Activating Compost With Yarrow

“Yarrow is always the greatest boon, wherever it grows wild in the country — at the edges of the fields or roads, where cereals or potatoes or any other crops are growing. It should on no account be weeded out... In a word, like sympathetic people in human society, who have a favourable influence by their mere presence and not by anything they say, so yarrow, in a district where it is plentiful, works beneficially by its mere presence.”
- Rudolf Steiner.

Fall is one of the easiest seasons during which to start a compost pile because of the abundance of organic material likes fallen leaves and spent plant stalks. One of the plants you'll hear about often in connection with compost is comfrey (Symphytum spp.). There's been much ado in the blogosphere and gardening/homesteading community in general about the benefits of comfrey to the garden, both as a fertilizer and as a compost activator. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten around to adding comfrey to my herb garden. There is, however, a wonderful herb that can be used in the same manner as comfrey and that I have in abundance: Yarrow (Achillea millefolium). At this time of year, her (and by "her" I mean yarrow's) beautiful heads are heavy with seed, and her time to aid in the stocking of my medicine cabinet is pretty much over. She's an herb for all seasons, though, and autumn finds her the unfailing companion of Madame TrashHeap (as The Husband affectionately refers to our compost pile).

Just like good ole comfrey, yarrow acts a wonderful compost activator to speed up the decomposition of the green and brown materials you've added to your pile. It's been said that a single yarrow leaf, finely chopped, will give you marked results in as much as a wheelbarrow full of compost materials. This activation ability is connected to yarrow's ability to concentrate both sulphur and potassium, along with other micronutrients such as copper and phosphates. This year, knowing that I'd have an abundance of stubborn sod and crabgrass to break down in my pile, I added a couple chopped leaves of yarrow along with a handful of soil between my green and brown layers. In the biodynamic community, it is recommended that the yarrow be enclosed in the bladder of a male deer because of the herb's relationship in treating that organ (in a nutshell), hung in the sun throughout the summer and buried shallowly in the soil throughout the winter, before being added to the compost in the spring.

You can also use yarrow as a fertilizing tea, in much the same preparation as comfrey. Fill a bucket, or whatever empty container you have on hand, with yarrow leaves and then fill again with water. Let this concoction sit for two weeks or so. I recommend that you cover it because the smell is not pleasant. Once you've let your tea brew for a couple of weeks, gather some of the liquid into a watering can and dilute it with water. I just eyeball it, but a 10:1 ratio is recommended. Yarrow fertilizing tea is good for potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and fruit trees. Each plant has their individual preference in so far as fertilization goes, so be sure to consult your favorite veggie growing guide for this information.

Stay tuned for Spring when you'll hear me touting Yarrow's medicinal abilities, her amazing attraction to beneficial insects and pollinators, and her helpfulness in repelling various pests.