It is easy to get overwhelmed by  your own expectations.  When it comes to gardening, visions of large beds with varieties of fruits, vegetables and flowers come to mind.  Sometimes,  it's better to start small.  And sometimes, it's also better to stay small.

If you just do what you’ve always done, you’ll just get what you’ve always gotten. If you want to make your life your own, you need to make that life on your own terms. In this episode, I refer to the book “Goodnight, Opus” by Berkely Breathed. For those not familiar with the book, pictured here, you can click on the… Continue Reading…

    It's wildling season! Time to fill your herbal tea cabinet! The wildlings are growing happily in my yard right now so I'm spending as much time as I can soaking up summer and gathering the teas that I use to help me stay happy and healthy when the Winter Hag romps outside, knocking on my windows looking for a… Continue Reading…

You might already know how powerful and potent plant and tree resins are… …and why older cultures have treasured them for ages, or why they’re one of the most popular botanicals in the aromatic arts… …or why they’re important internal and topical medicines, first-aid treatments, cold and flu symptom remedies, musculoskeletal cure-alls, and anti-aging beauty product ingredients. But how well do… Continue Reading…

In general, I prefer not to directly address issues but I feel so strongly about this recent panic caused by a shortage of baby formula that I feel that I must do so. It's unthinkable to me that one company's failure should cause so much distress. How did we allow ourselves to become so dependent on a fragile supply chain that… Continue Reading…

The Greek myth of Niobe and her pride is possibly one of the best known tales of the willow tree. It’s also one of the saddest. My first encounter with Greek mythology came through a book called D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths when I was about six. I loved that book then and I still love it now. The lessons that… Continue Reading…

Hello! I know it’s been quite a while since I posted here. A big thing happened in my life- a little boy. As much as I was enjoying writing the blog, my son captured all of my heart and all of my time. Now that he’s hit toddler age, I can get back to the other love of my life- the garden and the good things that come out of it.

One of the things that kept coming up during my research this week was the (apparently) erroneous belief that everyone in the Middle Ages drank beer and never touched water as the water supply was contaminated. It made me start thinking about the demand for water in Medieval days. How did they get it? What did they use it for? I… Continue Reading…

It doesn't matter whether it's medieval society or modern, is there anything that symbolizes “social” more than beer? People have been brewing beer since 7000 BCE in the East and 3500 BCE in the West.Hops have been being added to beer since at least the 9th century. The practice began in Germany and spread west from there. If you'd like to… Continue Reading…

For a plant that's been around for a long time, there are remarkably few older references to it. I have searched all of my usual herbals and haven't found mention of this herb under any name for it that I am familiar with in many of them. As with yesterday's post, I believe that I haven't yet found the name it… Continue Reading…

There are a fair number of uses for hops in the kitchen. I must state that I have spent the better part of a day trying to find older recipes (medieval and before) and have been utterly unable to do so. I am quite certain that it's because I don't know what the plant was called at those times. I know… Continue Reading…

In his book Five Hundred Points Of Husbandrie, Thomas Tusser gives these instructions.March drie or wet,hop ground go set.Yoong rootes well drestproove ever * best.Grant hop great hillto growe at will.From hop long gutaway go cut. According to the old calendar, now is the time to see to your hops. Hops are a beautiful plant. They are vigorous growers sometimes gaining… Continue Reading…