Dear Homesteading and Hive Friends!
This is an exciting and upwelling week: I've finally managed to identify a few plants, one of which I've been asking around, about.... imaged above and below this paragraph:
The above at last seems to be anchored as Polygala Vulgaris or Milkwort! We were most fascinated by its strong perfume of bubblegum and calamine lotion (!!!) - and wintergreen and something very specific which neither of us could nail - a menthol type of hot, sweet, exotic smell - which was only detectable in the cluster of leaves at the tips of their wee branches. No sources mentioned this! Nevertheless it apparently has multiple beneficial properties (including improving the flow of mother's breastmilk), so I'm keeping an eye on where it's growing, and supporting the plants with a bit of mulch (and prayers). 🥰🙏
And this should be the Madonna lily, which has an edible root IF COOKED or dried, perportedly... as well as divinely-perfumed and spiritually significant flowers. As my Plants For A Future book suggests, we might not want to destroy a plant like this unless it is very prolific, as the flowers are not to be missed. Cannot wait to see them!
Another important root on our land is topinambur - wild jerusalem artichoke. I managed to recognise a very withered stem and curled up brown leaves, and dug below to liberate some tubers for planting further afield. Then we found GIGANTIC tubers at an organic market stall, which are added to our Great Sack Of Seeds.
chickweed
We'll start planting in our inimitably spontaneous and natural way, as soon as we have some more protected soil - there are either wild boar, badgers and/ or porcupine digging for roots, seeds, etc., so it's better not to make it too easy for them!
white bryony - one of the few (potentially) deadly poisonous plants on our land, as pretty and cucumber-like as it appears
I read once in a favourite book (I think it was Moon Time, by Johanna Paunger and Thomas Poppe) that medicinal and food plants will grow IN ANTICIPATION of new people moving to the property. I can sense this! Though I'm sure that some plants were cultivated by previous owners, they certainly also strimmed it aggressively and regularly...
pimpinella saxifraga or burnet saxifrage - though this name seems to bring conflicting results in different (though trustworthy) books (?!)
...Which suggests that many of these plants haven't had the chance to flourish fully on this particular section of hillside. As with most plots of 'cultivated' (i.e. overworked) land, this one has an inherited imprint of mechanical processing; harsh, forced growing systems, which suppress biodiversity and the true flourishing that should be happening between human and natural habitat.
narcissus/ daffodil
Comunque, it is a blessed inheritance either way, to be watching the new life raging into being, all over our land. The boughs laden with busting buds even appear to be stretching down to greet the new shoots and leaves that are reaching up to them!
carciofi, growing quickly now - I took some seedlings from this group and replanted them higher up
In our first 8 months on our sovereign homestead, we've seen massive changes, from dry heat and bare compacted earth - to now lush florally-carpetted meadows and vibrant green edges, with our (water) well methodically filling... And now we enter the four months that we 'haven't yet observed': March through to early July, each lunar turn bringing with it accumulated merit-gained and harvestable living wisdom.
this snapshot cannot communicate the immense splendour of these tons of huge daisies!
We had a difficult couple of days, between the joy and bliss of sunny happiness - out clearing where we hope to make our first wee round abode, beneath some big, wild trees. The contrast of working outside amongst God's perfection - then the return to this silly box of cement, rusty metal and cracked glass; a shared sense of claustrophobia at the end of a long work day, when we want to be years ahead, in a cosy circular cob house!!
It's super easy to feel the "I can't do this", and to have a perfect storm brew of tiredness + running out of supplies + low resources + the price of BTC + getting woken by the cat (whether she's inside or out) - equalling frictional energy needing to (gently!) erupt.
our first asparagus tips are also erupting forth!!
Talking of which, our first electrical storm in what feels like months is rumbling over nearby mountains, as it grows very dark for the early afternoon. I had better get up and cover the part of the room that leaks...
cornus mas flowers: who knew that they smell like wet dogs of an evening! these were lobbed in the garden soon after coming in the house!
Sending all power and incentive to you, towards positive change for the good of all things!
