Foraging . . .

When I became ill with Lyme disease and co-infections in 2006 it brought me to a place where I could no longer keep my dairy goats or continue gardening.  When I did not recover after many treatments I stayed in the house and even refused to walk on the grass unless absolutely necessary.  A couple of years ago I once again underwent treatment and began to recover.  I was bitten by something and possibly re-infected.  My doctor fussed at me and told me that I needed to stop getting re-infected.  That is pretty difficult when I seem to live in the epicenter of the Lyme epidemic just a few miles from Lyme, Connecticut.

I finally plateaued after long-term treatment and decided, with my doctor, to stop antibiotics.  I have been better and I have been worse since that time.  One thing I decided recently was to stop hiding away in my house.  The political controversy caused by the CDC and IDSA guidelines have created an atmosphere of patient abuse and negligence.  So it is quite possible that I will continue to decline over the next few years.  I spent a few years waiting to get well, waiting for healing, waiting for a cure.  I am sick of waiting and from now on I plan to live as much as I can for as long as I can.

This long-winded preface leads into my current interest: foraging.  While a few years ago it would have become a passion because that is how I am, I step out my front door nearly every day to explore my property with curiosity.  Honestly, I have not left the perimeter of the yard yet.  I haven't needed to.  Eventually I will head farther out into the woods, explore the bog, and enjoy the pond.  For now I find something new each day to excite me just a few feet from my front door and make sure I spray on my peppermint oil spray  before heading out.

One of my childhood friends who now lives in Maine shared her delight in enjoying wild strawberries.  I sure wished I had some of those around here.  So what do I find this morning when making my rounds with my camera? Wild strawberries peaking out of the thick brush near my front vegetable garden.  Oh, the delight!

Wishing my camera took decent close-ups I took this shot of my tiny patch of wild strawberry plants, excited to see them blooming.  This is a promise of delicious, juicy berries in the near future.

I stepped back a bit and looked to the right and saw even more plants peeking out from beneath the shrubs.  I decided to grab my pruners and clear away a little bit of the brush so the berry plants could get more sun.  The more I cleared the more plants I found.

I was giddy as a schoolgirl as I continued to clear brush and overhanging tree branches.  Pleased with my first efforts I kept pulling out ferns, cutting some unknown shrub away, and pulling out grass.  My wild strawberry patch was looking good.

It seemed that no matter how much I cleared there were more berry plants growing beneath the brush and among the ferns.  I was tiring but kept up.

Here is my cleared wild strawberry patch.  They continue beneath the ferns to the right but I didn't want to destroy my fern patch so I stopped.

Stepping back for a final evaluation I was thrilled with my new wild strawberry patch and knew that in the next month or so I will be picking and enjoying even more sweet, juicy berries.

What do I mean more?

Yes, those are ripe blueberries in mid-June.  I just plopped every ripe berry I found into my mouth last evening.

This morning when I went back I found many more nearly ripe and the ripe ones did not make it into the house.  Yum!!!

Foraging is beginning to taste really good!

No Farther Than My Own Backyard

I have always loved a good explore.  I don't go far these days but I really don't need to.  I can step out my front door and spend an hour at the edge of my yard and in my poor flower beds looking for treasure.

Yesterday I took a picture of my evening primrose patch noting that the buds looks like they were on the verge of opening. 


To my delight I found several first blooms this morning.

In the gravelly area between our driveway and our neighbor's driveway I found a nice surprise: wild daisies.  We had a huge area closer to the pond covered in these happy flowers our first year here but they were mowed down before they could go to seed (I cried).  I am so happy to see them coming back, and maybe someday I will buy enough seed to replant that clearing.

The pears are looking healthy and disease free this year.  Last year we got very small but intensely sweet fruit.  This year I thinned the tiny pears when they first appeared so that there were only one or two per branch.  Can't wait to taste these sweeties.

 I was so excited to discover a few milkweed plants.  I believe they are common milkweed but won't know for sure until the flowers open.

Milkweed is an edible plant with medicinal uses as well.  This handful of plants is growing in our old chicken yard among the debris: chicken wire, 2x4's and other rotting framework.  Because I refused to purchase and use pressure-treated wood when we built the chicken yard (2001), I can burn the wood in our fire pit.  I have decided to clean up this area and allow the milkweed to spread.

My most exciting find so far is not just one, but three sassafras trees, very young and very small.  I am in the process of figuring out whether I want to move them or create welded wire cages to protect them from deer.

So much beauty just a few steps from my front door.

Slug Slime and Aphid Attacks

It is approaching the end of May and the first week of hot weather this year.  In the last few days my garden has come to life:  My tomatoes, beans and sugar snap peas grow inches each day, little seedlings  are popping up enthusiastic to greet the sun, and so begins the battle between mankind and pest.

One thing I learned early on in my gardening years is that healthy, organically-grown veggie plants attract more pests.  Another little tidbit I acquired along the way is that vegetable gardening is not for the faint of heart.  But don't let a few bugs deter you from growing your own veggies.

While I love the daily interaction I have with my garden, even enjoy pulling weeds, I really don't like bugs.  And take my word for it that slug slime doesn't wash off with soap and water.  

Tomato plants after an application of insecticidal soap

Discovering aphids on my tomato plants yesterday I sprayed them all with homemade insecticidal soap this morning (never spray anything on plants if the sun is shining -- it is cloudy today so it is perfect).  They are all kind of flopped over but after a few minutes I righted them and they look great (and yes, they definitely need to be staked).  I inspected them after spraying and found a handful of healthy-looking aphids so I just squished them and rubbed any eggs I found to destroy them.

Lettuce and spinach recovered after taking a beating

Last Saturday we had a crazy thunderstorm blow in: lightning, thunder, and torrential rains battered my baby lettuces, especially the red leaf lettuce plants.  As you can see in the photo above they have recovered and are doing well.  Still waiting for the bunching onion seeds I sowed in the spaces to germinate.  Seeds take so long to germinate up here in the northeast as compared to the south.

Beans, parsley, oregano and tomato

My container garden continues to thrive.  Beans, parsley, oregano, pepper and tomato plants all share a small space located on my driveway beside the garage.  Lots of sunshine and heat, it seems to do better than my garden beds.  I pick off at least one slug every morning before taking my son to work.  So far no aphids have found this little garden. 

Newest garden space in former goat yard

Finally, this is my newly formed 8x10 garden space.  Sod was removed and transplanted and my son turned the soil down approximately 10-12 inches.  I then formed three raised beds and a row in the back for climbing plants that will eventually grow on a cattle panel I have yet to install.  I am thinking about actually planting 2-3 pumpkin plants to grow up on the cattle panel trellis as an experiment.  It doesn't look like much yet but the seedlings are just coming up.  I sowed Dino Kale, peppers and something else I can't remember (why, oh why didn't I make a diagram and record what I planted where???) in the farthest bed.  The other beds are planted with zucchini and yellow squash and pumpkins.  There are a handful of bean plants growing on the back single row. 

Sugar snap peas are getting ready to bloom

Picking off slugs and squishing aphids . . . not my favorite past-time.  You do what you have to do!

Downcast? Look around you!

Over the weekend I finally planted my handful of seedlings and sowed the remaining heirloom seeds. Oh how I have missed gardening. I can take a small patch of ground, some dirt, and transform it into something beautiful and sustaining. It is pure magic.

Because it was also my first Sunday Family Dinner, a new weekly gathering of family and close friends, I was exhausted from cooking, cleaning (mostly managing the cleaning process while the kids do the physical work), and organizing.

Planting the garden the same weekend was probably insanity but the weather finally turned warm and you don't miss a single day up here where we have such a short growing season.

I had to depend on the boys to water the garden over the weekend. I was just too tired and sore to do it myself.

This morning I decided it was time to start my morning gardening routine -- check the plants, pull weeds, and water if necessary. The top 1/8th of the garden soil was moist but everything below that was bone, dusty dry.

Oops. We have had nothing but sprinkles for weeks so the soil was very dry. I hadn't taken the time to explain the watering process and the science behind it to my boys. They watered until it looked like the water was not being absorbed and thought all was well.

They didn't know that dry soil is very difficult to water. When it is completely dry water tends to run off. There is deep philosophical meaning in this part of the story, but that isn't what I am writing about today.

So this morning I started the real watering process. First, I had to create bowls around the seedlings I had planted to encourage water down towards the roots of those plants. Then I had to water, let it soak in, water, rest, water, scratch around a little in the soil, water some more. It took me about an hour to get water 2-3 inches below the surface.

As I finished up I saw a small patch of violets among some weeds near one of the garden beds. Somehow I had been so focused on the task of watering that I failed to see the beauty of these tiny purple flowers. I snapped a pic with my phone and went on.

A few minutes later I turned around and what do I see? A huge patch of violets right in front of both of my garden beds. How had I missed all of that beauty? I had been looking down, at the ground. I hadn't been looking beyond the task that consumed me. I hadn't looked up. I learned that I need to zoom out more often. A LOT more often.

Go to the Mattresses

One of my favorite movies is 'You've Got Mail!' starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. I love it so much I watch it at least twice a year and listen to the soundtrack in my car.

Throughout this delightful movie are references to 'The Godfather' which is not one of my favorite movies. I have seen it twice but it just doesn't resonate within so I have not memorized many lines until 'You've Got Mail!' came along. I guess I'm a secondary 'Godfather' observer, understanding that movie through the eyes of characters in another movie. No matter. Meg Ryan's character, Kathleen Kelly, brought new meaning to the phrase 'go to the mattresses!'

Every day of my life is about struggles and choices. Most of my struggles are physical, but a lot of them are relational and emotional. No longer am I allowed the simplicity of waking to a normal day filled with normal activities. Each day I find myself going to the mattresses.

What am I fighting? My own body is my greatest enemy, filled with who knows what from exposure to tick-borne organisms. My main exposure was the summer of 2006 when I had the classic bullseye rash and Lyme symptoms. Looking back, however, I realize that I had been infected much earlier with something that began to erode my health.

So each morning I get out of bed filled with pain. I drag myself to the kitchen where I work through the fog, make coffee and take my meds and supplements. If I could choose one supplement and no others were available it would be fish oil. Without my two daily doses of fish oil I am in excruciating pain and become useless. With the fish oil I push through, often add a single dose of Ibuprofen for the day, and get my boys up and off to school. I then indulge in the joy of my life, walking the many trails and roadways in Connecticut.

To get to that walk I feel as though I must 'go to the mattresses!' I have to fight how I feel, fight the horrible brain fog, fight the impression that I am wasting gas by driving to these beautiful places (because I am not earning any money I am not worth the expense -- talk about sick), fight the desire to give up and go back to the couch languishing away. Fight, fight, fight!!! I am Kathleen Kelly fighting and "daring to believe that I can have a different life."

Never, never give up!

Shhhhhh . . .

Shhhh . . . what is that sound? Oh, it is the quiet, a hushed moment when the cacophony of life is muted. It is a gentle symphony of faraway birds, soft rain and crickets chirping, one God composed just for me, for this moment in time. It is singing, crooning to me, comforting me: All is well.

Sadly, this moment was accidental. Why don’t I allow quiet into my life more often? Why do I allow the noise of the world to drown out the voice of God? Do angels blow their trumpets noisily to announce that God is near? They won’t, you know.

God’s voice is gentle, will not shout above busy-ness, will not drown out my own thoughts, even. He waits for me to stop talking, stop thinking, stop wondering. He waits for me to want to hear Him. He waits . . .

Never Forget to Cultivate Beauty

I have been sick with a virus I caught from the boys this past week: coughing, stuffy head, sinuses so sore my teeth hurt, and even more exhaustion than normal. What little I normally accomplished was forgotten as I spent day and night on the couch taking my prescription cough syrup with codeine every 6 hours, trying to stay hydrated and eat what little I could stomach.

This morning the cats decided to go exploring on the kitchen counter. Suddenly I heard this huge bang and the sound of broken glass. TJ, one of our almost-grown kittens, had managed to knock down a huge cutting board, casserole dish and my Bonnie Hunt mug. Everything was intact except for the Bonnie Hunt mug that was in pieces all over my floor.

While picking up pieces I glanced out onto the deck and saw my poor Mother's Day hanging basket, completely devoid of moisture and looking pretty dead. I remember thinking to myself the last two days that it would need some water soon because we hadn't gotten any rain lately. Of course, the moment I turned my head the thought was gone.

So we return to this morning and my poor, poor hanging basket. My beautiful flowers looked dead. I carried the basket into the cool kitchen and placed it in the sink where I sprayed the soil and every inch of the plant itself willing life back into it. While spraying my poor plant I realized that the last few months I had not been enjoying the beauty in life. A few nights ago I forced myself to sit out on the front steps and look up at the night sky. Our night sky here is breathtaking. Instead of soaking it in, this beauty free for the taking whenever it is clear, I usually ignore it. Instead of watering and cultivating my beautiful Mother's Day hanging basket I had ignored it as well.

A few hours later I dragged myself back into the kitchen to get something else to drink and was so blessed to find my flowers had sprung back to life. They had been on the edge; I knew that.

I then realized that I had been letting my infirmities overshadow all of the beauty in my life. There is much to be found and enjoyed. It takes just a teeny bit of effort and there is the night sky with millions, nay billions of stars painted on a background of space. My beautiful hanging basket blooms and blooms with just the occasional watering. It doesn't take a lot of work, but if I neglect the beauty in my life I let ugliness creep in and win.

I choose to cultivate beauty!