Success, Failure, and Happy Accidents

A tale of two pickles

I’m not sure why I ever thought I was a gardener. I don’t come from a long line of gardening types. All but two years of my adolescence was spent in apartments with no real land to call our own. I don’t remember any houseplants with the exception of a very stringy asparagus fern and a snake plant that just wouldn’t die. But when I moved into my current condo seven years ago, I was elated that I had a tiny deck-an outdoor space that no one could trample, mow over, or otherwise mutilate. And I decided that I would be different from my fellow condo dwellers, and forgo the deck staple of choice (the propane grill) in favor of about 20 unruly plants and a seat/deck box.

I started with herbs, because they took up the least amount of space, or so I thought. Currently my apple mint is invading my downstairs neighbor’s airspace, and my dill just won’t stop getting taller. Some herbs I thought I’d use the most I didn’t even touch, except to dry for the winter, such as parsley. I bought some baby herb plants just because they were different and I wanted to see what would happen, such as my curry plant. The rest were herbs I just adore and use all the time, such as my Lemon Balm.

But sometimes, things happen that you don’t expect from year to year. My Lemon Balm was viciously attacked and nearly dead from a Japanese Beetle invasion (I guess they like the smell too.) My catnip got totally out of control, to a point where I was clipping it down every day, and finally I just had to cut the whole thing down to the dirt.

My recent foray into vegetables was mediocre this year as well: my cherry tomatoes didn’t produce like they did last year. My string beans were decent, but I could only harvest a few at a time. My radishes were a complete failure, and my scallions have refused to grow out of their toddler-hood. My chanciest thing this year was pickling cucumbers. It’s said they won’t even sprout if it’s under 75 degrees. I chalked them up to a loss before they even started to push through the dirt.

And look at that picture! Two lovely little pickles. Of course, I don’t know if they taste good, but I’m astonished that they grew so big on my little deck. (The cucumber plant leaves are practically big enough to be hats!) So, is it a success, or are two harvested pickles a poor turnout? I guess it depends on how you view success. Will I be able to sustain my nutrition through my garden this year? Um, no. Did I get a few nice salads with my mesclun salad and cherry tomatoes? Yes! Will I try to grow all of this next year? No.

No?? Ms. “I have a cottagery and gardening blog” isn’t going to inundate her outside space with foliage? Nope. I admit, I over did it this year. I have a ton of herbs, some vegetables, five baby trees from the Arbor Day foundation, a tray of cat grass, and no place to sit. I have Morning Glories that FINALLY grew and proceeded to take my tomato plant hostage, twirling its viney fingers around the sturdy branches and pulling it away from it’s natural course. It’s like garden anarchy this year. I need to step back, rethink, and plan a new garden that will benefit me more than zap my energy.

So now, I’m starting to think towards autumn, and harvesting what I can to dry for winter use. I feel bad about “harvesting” and such, so I take the entire plant I won’t be using-roots, dirt, and all-and dump it into the woods, where it is free to go dormant or keep growing if it wants to. I have to find a place to plant my baby trees. I have to clean out my deck box because I noticed a beginning beehive in it (yikes!) I feel the need for a fall cleaning now.

The Little Path

You know, it’s not like I can’t find what I need in nature. For years I’ve walked my dog down a little woodland trail, pondering where I could find some certain herbs that didn’t seem too popular. We’d brush past this amazingly huge, taller-than-me abundance of greenery, and I never knew what it was. Finally, one day, I looked up the hard to locate herb in one of my books, just to see what it looked like.

Yep. It was the massively monstrous group of foliage the dog and I had ignored for six years. The plant is called “Mugwort” which you may have heard in movies with witches, midwives and healers. I knew it grew wild, but never realized I could practically open my own mugwort store with the amount that would touch my shoulder each day, politely, saying “I’m here when you need me.”

If it had teeth...

So now I have lots of mugwort to…well…scroll down for what you can do with mugwort.

I think nature will teach us many lessons if we just shut up, stop planning, and go where we’re led. We’re so obsessed with doing things the way we think we’re supposed to, and looking only at the destination, that we don’t realize the gifts of the journey itself. I garden because I like to work with the earth and watch things come to life. I like to find uses for everything available to me, like that old New England saying:

Eat it up

Wear it out

Make it do

Or do without

So don’t choose certain herbs, flowers or vegetables because they’re popular or they are “easy success” stories. Choose whatever appeals to you, watch what happens, try your best, then learn from it. Make it completely your own.

Sprouts (Little tips this week)

• I can already feel autumn in the air. Starting this week, clean up your outdoor spaces little by little. Mow one last time, wash out pots, give away or haul off junk. You’ll be ready to enjoy the upcoming busy seasons without worrying about clutter.
• Gather up your unused, unwanted stuff (indoors and outdoors) and have a Labor Day yard sale. If you don’t have a yard (like me) either donate to a charity who can sell it, or join a group like Freecycle to offer it to your neighbors who might need it. (They might have something you need too!)
• If you have central air conditioning, freshen your entire home this way: take a small (3inx3in) cotton cloth, put a few drops of essential organic oil on it, and attach it to your filter with a pin or hook. When the air kicks on, your whole house will smell wonderful.

Botanical Recipe-Bath Soak

The first recipe I learned in aromatherapy class, and it’s so easy. Epsom salts (found in drug stores and health and beauty aids sections of the supermarket) with a few drops of essential oil. That’s it! Mix it up well, and bottle it for future use. Look online to find the oil right for you (invigorating, peaceful, healing, etc.)

Sprinkle liberally into hot bath and let dissolve a few minutes before getting in. Soak, inhale, enjoy!

To give as a gift, buy a cute bottle and some ribbon. Put a VERY few drops of food coloring into salt/oil mixture. Mix it up, pour into bottle and tie a ribbon. (Too much food coloring might stain the skin!)

Herb of the Week- Mugwort

Mugwort, the Dreaming Herb

Also called Artemisia Vulgaris and common wormwood. Do not confuse with Wormwood, which is toxic. Pregnant women should avoid mugwort.

• Mugwort was one of the first plants used to brew beer.
• It is called the Traveler’s Herb. It grows abundantly along highways and walkways. Roman soldiers used to put it in their shoes to alleviate fatigue while marching.
• It has been used widely for women’s maladies, as well as medicine for seizures.
• Mugwort can be infused as a tea or bath, and smoked. Bundles of mugwort can be burned to purify a space, much like sage.
• It’s most famous use is for dream pillows. Stuff a small cotton pillow with dried mugwort to have vivid, prophetic and fantastic dreams. Be sure to keep a dream journal if you start using mugwort!

Parting Thoughts…

Dreams are illustrations… from the book your soul is writing about you. ~Marsha Norman

The Thick of Summer

Summer is here. That might sound sophomoric, but seasons are quite capable of arriving with no regards to our calendars. When you’re trying to live a lifestyle that is in tune with nature instead of making nature fit our plans, you have to be a little flexible. Here in the Northeast, the heat has been stifling, keeping most humans inside with the air conditioner going non-stop. But the garden thrives in humid heat, so for us gardeners, it’s a mixed blessing.

Every morning in the summer, I walk to my tangled garden and enjoy the early cool of the day. I am not an especially eager morning person, but the outside is so gentle in it’s greeting, that I often like to enjoy a cup of tea amidst the greenery, watching groundhogs scamper around and hearing the birds twitter to each other, before finding a shady tree in the hot afternoon.

I know what some of you are thinking. How easy cottagery must be when you live in the country in a hundred year old farmhouse on twenty acres of wilderness! Well, that’s only partly true. I do live in a rural area, in fact, I was born here. But I don’t have a farmhouse, a country mansion, or even a sweet little cottage deep in the middle of nowhere. I live in a condo community, with no outdoor property except a 6 foot by 3 foot deck. I have one closet I can barely fit a suitcase in. My kitchen and living room are the same room. There is no dining space, save for a little portable table tucked away when the meal is over. This living space has actually been an advantage, because I have learned how to make this tiny condo into a temporary cottage, until I get my real one. If you have a desire or dream that seems far out of reach, just live as if you already have it, and it will come to you, in some way. Otherwise, when it does come, you won’t be ready for it!

One of the basics of cottagery is the garden. I started with one of those little “kitchen garden” kits you see at the home stores (believe it or not, the Chia Herb Garden was the most successful one, if you can block out their annoying “Cha Cha Cha Chia” jingle.) All you need for an indoor herb garden is a sunny window, a surface to put your plants on, and TLC (no, it’s not a chemical additive, it’s Tender Loving Care.) Tend to your plants, and they’ll tend to you. If you can, buy nursery plants to start. Check on them daily, and if they seem wilty or dead, put “help me my basil looks dead” in a search engine, and you’ll find tons of free information. A good book I recently picked up on Amazon.com is Bountiful Container Gardening. (Try Amazon.com used books-cheaper, and you’re recycling!)

Speaking of recycling, you can grow herbs in a variety of containers. Clay pots (unglazed) work best for me, but in the past I’ve even used old plastic ricotta cheese containers (yes, truly ugly, I know.) Your container should be waterproof, but have drainage holes in the bottom (this usually disqualifies glass), and a shallow plate/container to sit on, to catch excess water. At the bottom of the container, put in an inch or two of big stones or broken pottery, to help in drainage. Add some potting soil (organic if you can swing it), mix a handful of perilite (also in the garden department, its light and looks like Styrofoam pebbles, so your soil stays oxygenated) and plant your herb. Water it immediately, not too much, just to mingle things together. Pay it lots of attention, like it’s a puppy. Enjoy. In future blogs, I’ll get into more details, but first, you need to get the garden going! There’s still plenty of growing time for annuals this summer.

Until your garden becomes self-sustaining, it’s possible you may need to buy your herbs and vegetables from others, like I do. In the summer, I highly recommend finding a farmer’s market. No matter where you live, I’m sure that at least once a week you can pay one a visit. I live an hour outside of NYC, and I know of a few good ones. It’ll be worth the trip.

What’s so special about buying from a farmer’s market and not from the supermarket produce section? First of all, it’s locally grown, which means it hasn’t spent a week in a truck getting to you, only to be handled by dozens of workers and shoppers before you even see it.

Secondly, it is locally grown. Yes, I know I already said that, but I mention it again for a different reason; it is wise to eat from your own environment. You know that if you travel to Mexico, you might exact Montezuma’s revenge. The water is different there. Notice in different cultures, the hotter it is, the hotter the food is. You don’t see many spicy hot Norwegian dishes, or creamy New England Clam Chowder in India. An occasional foreign treat is fine, but typically, sticking with the food that grows naturally in your region is a good thing.

Finally, the farmer’s market is fun! Gardeners, bakers, cheese artisans, wine makers are all selling their goods under little tarps. You grab a fresh baguette, a creamy portion of goat’s cheese, a bottle of wine, a bouquet of sunflowers and you can’t help but smile. You’ll enjoy everything so much more when you can meet the people who artfully prepare your purchases for you.

I’ve blabbed on enough for now. I can hear some thunder as I write, and I’m hoping a nice storm breaks the heat a bit. Time to go play in the rain…see you next week!

Sprouts (Little Tips this Week)

• Heat, poor diet, and stress can show on your face, literally, as acne, no matter your age. Take a cotton swab and dab the area with Tea Tree Essential Oil two or three times a day. It won’t dry out the surrounding skin. (Find Tea Tree at the health food store or online. Make sure it’s real Essential Oil!)
• Bugs love to bite me, and since I can’t bite them back, I have to find another solution. Eating lots of garlic will help keep biters at bay, but be warned, if you over do it, bugs and vampires may not be the only ones to stay away! In that case, feed it to the whole family, and they can’t complain! Feed it to your dogs too, to help protect them from fleas and ticks!
• Keeping your shades and drapes drawn in the daytime helps keep cooling costs down. Make sure you change or clean filters on your air conditioning units every month to keep them running efficiently.

Botanical Recipe-Mint Facial Cleanser

This cleanser is nice for summer; cooling, mildly astringent, and makes the skin silky smooth. It will keep for several days in the fridge. Mix up a batch and share with friends!

• 1/4 c of whole milk, 3/4 c of plain, unsweetened yogurt (not low fat), 2 T. of fresh mint, chopped.
• Blend all ingredients in a blender until combined.
• Cover and refrigerate for 12 hours.
• Strain through cheesecloth into a clean bowl or jar. (Get cheesecloth in the hardware section of your supermarket, near the mops)
• Using a cotton ball, apply the strained cleanser onto your face, avoiding the eyes. Rinse with cool water.

Herb of the Week: Basil

Typically used as a kitchen herb, a necessary ingredient in pesto and bruschetta. Some other lesser known Basil facts:

• The plant itself deters flies.
• Basil tea aids in digestion, but be careful-it is also a mild laxative!
• Add bruised basil leaves to a bath for invigoration.
• Inhale bruised leaves (just pinch and press leaves to release oils) to alleviate fatigue.
• Basil has been used historically in folk magick to remove obstacles to love, bring back wandering lovers, and unhex one’s self.

Parting Thoughts…

“Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.” ~Russel Baker

Akorn Hollo: The Unauthorized Autobiography

How, pray tell, can an autobiography be unauthorized? Isn’t it I who has the power to write what I choose in this virtual public forum? Yes, however I haven’t decided if I’m going to allow myself to air my dirty laundry to the world quite yet. I’ll keep you advised.

Actually, the only dirty laundry topics you’ll find on this newborn blog will be about organic cotton and homemade laundry detergent. Akorn Hollo, as the tag line above says, is about the “gentle art of cottagery.” I’m not sure, but I think I invented the word “cottagery.” I’ll notify Merriam and/or Webster later.

In our modern times, things race by us pretty fast. We don’t get enough sleep, we rush to sit in traffic on the way to work, we have looming deadlines, we multitask like demons, we inhale lunch from a vending machine, we rage at traffic on the way home, we fall exhausted into bed after setting our alarm clocks and planning to reenact the same scenarios tomorrow. We are unhealthy, we are unhappy, and we take most of our life for granted.

My mind often wanders back to my favorite Disney classic: Sleeping Beauty. My most vivid memory of that movie is seeing the soft, small cabin in a woodland glade, animals lingering around, a giant black kettle bubbling in the fireplace. How simple and peaceful life seemed to be back then, before we had gadgets, mechanical “helpers” and distractions running our lives. Something as simple as buying shampoo now requires an exhaustive, time-consuming search: we have to see what type of each brand name matches our hair format, we have to decide what scents we like, and we have to see which one is most economical at which store. Oh no! We just found out that our chosen shampoo has nasty chemicals in it that not only poison the environment, but cause rashes, hair loss and possible disease! Now, take this disatrous scene and multiply it by everything that you buy as a necessity. No wonder we need Prozac.

In an unrelated story, I began to grow herbs in tiny clay pots in my kitchen, since fresh herbs were not only expensive in the supermarket, but probably laden with pesticides. I got a big, beautiful book on herbs instructing on their care and tending, as well as their myriad of uses. I can make furniture polish that smells as good as Lemon Pledge with my lemon balm plant? I can use mint in a facial steam? I can make hair rinses, conditioners, facial creams and masques, body lotions from herbs and simple ingredients?? A whole new world opened up to me. I started to do more research on herbal uses for household, beauty and health. I learned that you can clean your entire house using lemons, baking soda, and vinegar-natural things that won’t poison your family or pets!

I started to learn how people who lived before the advent of industry and factories lived, and imagined a day in the life of Sleeping Beauty, with no television or radio. I realized that our modern lifestyle has lost its genuinity and appreciation of meeting our daily needs. Instead of watching our garden vegetables grow, harvesting them, and using them to nourish our bodies, we plunk a frozen dinner into the microwave, and complain that it takes five whole minutes to cook. Instead of knowing which herb leaves to pluck for an insect bite, we slather on expensive creams and a plastic bandage, worrying about how “gross” it looks. We believe the advertisements on television that we need to be tanned, skinny, and young at any cost, with no regard to building our character or life experience.

This is what cottagery is about. I am not suggesting we get a little life on the prarie, but take some steps decluttering, destressing, resimplifying our existence for the sake of the Earth, our communities, our families, and ourselves. The things you earn are the things most important to you, like buying your first car with your own money, or eating a slice of bread that you mixed, kneaded, and baked yourself. Right now, Western culture is an addictive system, needing more and more, better, louder, faster, sicker, wilder everything to keep sated. Cottagery is taking life and actually living it instead of bolting through it.

Each week, I’ll be posting observations, home care, recipes, seasonal activities, and suggestions to simplify a hectic life. It isn’t just about home maintenance, saving money or green living, it’s about consciously being in the moment, savoring it, and when you’re ready, moving to the next moment.

Thanks for having me. See you next week!