What’s Coming Up In The Garden, 1: May Apple

Starting a new series, since everything I’ve been signed up for is now canceled - I’m all for “flattening the curve” when it comes to COVID-19. For someone who overextends as a normal mode of operation, this is pushing me to slow down, do the things that I already love doing but often rush through, and take the time to document some of them.

What’s coming up today, or at least what I’ll feature today, is the may apple.

This is a native North Carolina woodland plant that volunteered itself along our woods’ edge. I enjoy seeing the big patch of green in early spring, and will watch for the flowers and single berries that will appear as the plant matures.

A little more info:

Cressler, Alan 

Podophyllum peltatum

Podophyllum peltatum L.

www.izelplants.com

Mayapple colonizes by rhizomes, forming dense mats in damp, open woods. The common name refers to the May blooming of its apple-blossom-like flower. Although the leaves, roots, and seeds are poisonous if ingested in large quantities, the roots were used as a cathartic by Native Americans.

As you can see, we’re well on track for a May bloom, and keeping an eye on this beauty will help pass the days as we all live through the pandemic.

May we all stay healthy and use this time to putter, ponder, and do what we can to help those who need it most.

(Also, please consider the current administration’s poor response to this mess and prepare to vote for someone competent to lead in November.)

November Hill farm journal, 93

We’ve finally dried out enough to get a few things done outside. Husband helped me complete one big project yesterday which was to measure and cut the oak trunk that was taken down in the front pasture, and use the truck and a towing strap to move it about 30 feet to create a terraced area that will hopefully help with rainwater run-off.

His plan worked perfectly and once the huge tree trunk was in its new position, I worked on stacking fallen branches from the little grass paddock (which I call Salina’s Paddock) and the upper front pasture in a nice layer on the high side of the tree trunk.

Once this was done husband brought 4 wheelbarrows of stall waste and I layered that on top of the branches. The plan is to allow that to settle some and then continue layering with more branches and more yard/stall organic matter. After that and a rainfall or two, it should be settled enough to add the final layer of compost from our big pile, and then I’ll need to figure out something to plant there that can tolerate water run-off.

I meant to take photos but was so caught up in the doing of the thing, I did not. The area directly behind this new terraced bed is hard red clay and rocks which stays that way due to the run-off and resulting erosion. I’m hoping this will ease that enough that the area can heal a bit. I’ve got a small compost pile that’s been cooking on the edge of the eroded part and I began spreading it out a bit yesterday. When I plant the terraced bed I’ll finish spreading the compost down there and then plant some orchard grass/red clover mix to see if I can get some roots in the ground.

We also re-wrapped the tulip poplars with a green plastic netting material to keep the herd from chewing the bark. So far this year, knocking on wood here, they haven’t touched any living trees. I started their spirulina early and hopefully between that and the netting we won’t have any issues. Tulip poplars are not only regal and lovely, they are the largest source of nectar flow in our area for honeybees and also the native bees. Over the years of living here, we’ve lost several to storms and two more to equine girding. Not to mention the power company’s taking down several two years ago in Poplar Folly. I don’t want to lose any more!

While we had the truck in the pasture, we used it to move three large cedar logs that were salvaged when a dying cedar was taken down a year ago. These amazingly long-lasting logs are now in Brown Bunny Potager ready to create 1.5 garden beds. I’ll be working on that this week. There are more cedar logs in Poplar Folly that will have to be carried up by hand since we can’t get the truck back there. Between using brush pile waste and salvaged logs from dying/dead trees for the terraces and the garden beds, I’m getting some space cleared out. The brush piles mulch down pretty quickly even if left alone, and in that time they offer shelter for wildlife.

About a year ago I completed the paperwork and November Hill was certified as a wildlife refuge, and this week I did the same to have it certified as being on the Butterfly Highway. These are simple, honor system questionnaires that can be completed online. Getting the attractive signs that you can purchase is a good way to support the Wildlife Federation and also to remind yourself and anyone who visits that we can all participate in making our yards and farms part of the larger puzzle of supporting wildlife and insect life.

Two Advil and an ice pack at the end of yesterday helped avoid my waking up with sore muscles. Today we have to move one bluebird house, install a second one, and yuck chore but necessary, clean the dryer vent. Then I’m off to plant ecology class. :)

November Hill farm journal, 92

Rain every few days has really thrown my outdoor projects off course, but I’ve made a start on clearing the pollinator beds of winter growth. I left the plants as they were through the winter season so birds, insects, and other wildlife could have seed heads and shelter. A lot of the plants have nice visual appeal with interesting textures through the winter.

For the past 3 days I’ve spent some time while the dogs are romping to begin the cutting back and removing of the winter detritus. Since we have two brush piles in close proximity to the pollinator beds, I was able to put the cuttings on top, where birds and insects can still use them if needed.

Once I began cutting back I could more easily see the giant bloom of purple crocuses - lovely color with their bright green stems! And the daffodils are still going. Most of the pollinators are already leafing out at their bases, and I have a big job of transplanting goldenrod once I get things cleared out.

This week I’ll finish the clearing, and once we get some sunshine and things dry out a bit, I’ll order mulch to top off all the beds and plantings. It will be easy up front, but those things planted in Poplar Folly will take several trips with the wheelbarrow.

I also cleaned out one of the main drainage ditches that we created to help with the water run-off. It was full of very wet leaves. As the ditch got clean, the dogs got dirty! For some reason they love to walk along the wet ditches and as soon as I had it clear, all three dogs trotted over and made their way from beginning to end. Thankfully we have enough winter grass on the wildflower strip to clean them up a bit before we came inside. In retrospect, I should have held off on vacuuming and mopping floors until AFTER this farm romp!

During some of the yuckier rain time, I stayed inside and sketched out my new beds. The pollinator bed on the other side of the driveway will hopefully make big leaps this spring. I planted it in the fall, and everything has had the winter to develop strong root systems. I can’t wait to see what comes up and how it does. I also sketched out the potager plan. I need to get cracking with creating beds in there next week. I’ve decided to start the potager with mounded beds using some logs we have on hand, but not formal raised beds made with wood. I’d like to get a sense of how things do there before putting a lot of time into building wooden beds. We’ll see how it goes.

This week was a good one for writing time. For whatever reason, things kicked into high gear. I submitted my 12k short story, as well as 2 essays to 5 new places, reworked another essay for submission today. Gray wet mornings translate to good writing time, it seems.

The horses and pony and donkeys are dealing with the mud that is the dirt paddock. Thankfully I can feed them through the well-drained arena to the back pasture, which is sloped enough that it never gets too muddy. I try not to overuse it when we have these rainy stretches, but it’s a dance - any place all those hooves go in and out of is bound to be muddy in short order. Today the sun is supposed to come out as we hit 70 degrees and then a cold front moves through to bring us back down to 40s. I see a week of sunshine on the weather forecast and oh, do we need it.

For now, the fog is lifting, skies are still gray, and it’s definitely damp out. I think we’re all wishing for sunshine but until it comes through the clouds, I’ll be happily submitting my true tale of light being stolen. I’ll link here if/when it gets accepted for publication!

Snow and pumpkin pancakes

We indeed got the snow that was predicted last night, lost power for two hours, and woke up to 20s and sunshine. It was so warm before the snow began, and wet due to some early rain yesterday, the snow piled up but melted quickly on the driveway, gravel lane, and parts of the pastures. Today the sun is helping the meltdown, but with highs barely getting out of the 30s today, and another night of 20s, we’ll have it around for another few days.

Yesterday I finally roasted the large farmer’s market pumpkin I bought in November and never used at Christmas. It stored just fine on the kitchen island and with this cold weather I decided pumpkin soup would be good for dinner. I roasted half the pumpkin and used about a cup for dog dinners and the rest in a pot of pumpkin soup. My husband makes it the best - he purées the roasted pumpkin after removed the skin and usually adds coconut milk and cheese plus salt, pepper, and cayenne. For a richer flavor, we sometimes use caramelized onions puréed with the pumpkin.

This morning, happy to have power back, I decided to roast the other half and make pumpkin pancakes. We rarely make them, and I don’t always have flour on hand, but today I did. I made the batter up and added cinnamon, nutmeg, a tiny bit of clove, and brown sugar, then mixed in the pumpkin, an egg, some oat milk, and a little vanilla extract.

The griddle that came with our gas stove has never been used, but I pulled it out and wow - never made pancakes so easily in my life! I’ll definitely use it again next time we want pancakes.

I also had just enough walnuts to toast and simmer in butter, and a wonderful jug of NY maple syrup my daughter-in-law’s parents sent us for Christmas. This all added up to a wonderful snow day brunch.

The snow was lovely yesterday as it fell, and at bedtime it was very pretty out, but as it melts today it’s looking more like mush and all I can think of are the paddocks and gate areas at the barn, and how long it’s going to take us to dry out from this. Then I look up and focus on the snow still sitting on tree branches. Lovely, no mud, though the sun is melting it as the day marches on.

Happy Birthday, Redford!!

Our youngest equine turns 12 today and that is making my brain hurt. How can it be?

Redford donkey came to us as a young donkey, weaned and ready to help keep Rafer Johnson company. We’d been waiting for Redford since the day he was born, but of course we had to let him grow up a bit. His arrival was delayed when Rafer broke his leg, but then advanced again when Salina went into an estrus cycle and abandoned poor Rafer to chase after Cody, breaking Keil Bay’s heart in the process. Of course, they were ALL geldings, but after weeks of sticking close by Rafer’s side as he healed, As The Hormones Turn became the theme of the day and the black mare left the barn.

Redford arrived in short order thanks to his people, Ken and Marty, who got him here in a jiffy. He settled in and became best buddies with Rafer, put Salina into a tailspin (the look on her face when she came to the barn and found not one but TWO little donkeys!), and of course stole our hearts.

Redford is a red sorrel whose white star has turned into a white blaze as the years have passed. He helped Rafer keep Salina safe during her final years. They were often seen standing one on either side of her, and near the end when she would lie down and be unable to get back up by herself, he and Rafer would bray for us to come out and help her.

Redford is a bit shy compared to Rafer’s boldness but he’s a sweetheart and he loves the “big boys” Keil and Cody. I just can’t believe he’s 12 years old. (And as I type this, in my garret, he just brayed)

We’ll celebrate with carrots and apples for all. Happy, happy birthday, Redbug! We love you so much!

*** I’m a terrible birthday portrait woman lately - and today is so yucky out, I’m not sure I could get a photo lovely enough of Redford’s handsome self. I’ll try to get some good shots of him when the sun returns!