Spring Update

My, how time flies on the Internet while stuff happens in real life. We have been welcoming Spring, with warm sunny weather pulling plants from the soil toward the sky. Some of our crew facilitated inoculating mushroom logs, so later on we'll have Shiitake and Reishi mushrooms fresh from the garden. (Special thanks to Saralin and Julian!) Molly and I trellised the raspberry patch, so it'll be easier to harvest and (we hope) less mosquitoey this summer. We have the usual spring bulbs coming up--crocus and daffodil blooming, with tulips and peonies leafing out. Oh yeah, and garlic and onions galore in the garden.

The elm tree and cherry bushes are in flower, and I swear I saw red buds on one of the little redbud trees. Dandelions are starting to show their bright smiley faces already.

Molting robins (with odd white spots on their backs) have been prowling the garden for bugs (they are birds of prey, technically). Our "garden tiger" Snapper has had a sore paw for a couple weeks, but he's healing up good, and he's back outside deterring squirrels and rabbits.

This morning K and I saw a bee and a butterfly, both on the cherry blossoms. If I understand correctly, a bee will keep going back to the same kind of flower it finds first, so hopefully it'll pollinate the cherries and we'll have some fruit later on. The butterfly may be a Question Mark, Polygonia interrogationis, whose adults overwinter and thus are often the first butterflies seen in Spring. Also, they like elm trees, which we have.

The average date for last frost in our area is April 15 (easy enough to remember), so there's still a chance some of our plant friends will get frosted. If we get a chill, perhaps the "heat island effect" of the city will help. It's been a relatively dry Spring so far, with March bringing us only 1.60 inches of rain, compared to the "normal" 3.15. (Per wunderground.com.) I scattered red clover seeds in various places--it's a TERRIFIC medicinal, not to mention nitrogen-fixer, bee-attractor, and beautiful. After a good rain, perhaps some of them will sprout. Weeks ago, I dug some experimental rainwater-channeling trenches (not really formal enough for me to call them swales), and I've been waiting a long time to see what actually happens when it rains. Still waiting. This may be a year to find out which of our yard/garden/feastfield friends are "drought tolerant."

Either way, thanks and praises to the One and Only, the Source and Sink, the Overarching Underlying, the Uncontainable Container, for such a beautiful season.

By Way of Introduction

Hello there.

I’m not entirely certain who I am addressing, but whoever you are, I would like to henceforth issue my warmest greetings.

My name is Molly, y soy la compañera nueva de Don. I have been living in the little house for a couple of months now. Perhaps I shall regale you with the delightful tale of how all of this came about… but, some other time, for it is long and complicated and not entirely delightful. But here we are, and life is indeed quite blissful in this present moment.

For a brief introduction: I am a “twenty-something” and a student at the University of Illinois at Springfield, studying experimental psychology. I am interested in homesteading (obviously), brewing moonshine fruit wine, growing, wild crafting, herbal medicine, studying psychology and philosophy (particularly the phenomenological and anarchist varieties), reading and learning, and pretty much anything that gets slapped with the “radical” label.

I reviewed some of the Little House blog to see what it is all about before I start posting. The history of the Little House, as well as that of the Zomban community, is quite fascinating. The recent posts seem to have taken on a rather philosophical tone, but as I went back, I found many different focuses, including a variety of homesteading activities as well as the importance of community.

As for my focus, at this time I am deeply interested in gardening, and I will likely be posting a great deal about my various adventures therein. Given the fact that it is currently just the beginning of winter and, though I’d like to deny it, I saw snow flurries this very morning, I find it quite the misfortunate timing. To turn a problem into a solution, however, I am focusing on reading (I’m engrossed in a copy of Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew, which is acting as an excellent guide), planning, building, and experimenting with winter gardens and methods to get an early start come spring.

Speaking of winter gardens, I already have a charming little garden growing in our large, lovely, south-facing window. In a long thin planter, members of the mint family – lemon balm, mint, and tulsi (holy basil) – are growing quite vigorously. Along side, my basil plant has exceeded 18 inches in height and my little rosemary plant is flourishing. I’m sure though, that they will all be exceedingly happy after the solstice, as the days begin to lengthen and they get more sun.

I have plans to continue to expand on this garden, hopefully in the coming week. Mi compañero, after reading a chapter of Square Foot Gardening, noticed that our milk crates are 13x13 inches – perfect for the square foot method – and we began to formulate the idea of growing vegetables in milk crates. I’m planning to line the crate with cardboard, filling it with potting soil, and plant some carrots. Left near the woodstove, the soil would get warm enough for the seeds to sprout. Then, being in a portable milk crate, they can be relocated to the sunny window to flourish into food. If all goes well, we might build something more elaborate… but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

We’ll see what happens.

peace,

Molly

The Circle Turns

Wow, it's been a while. Things have changed, things have stayed the same.

Sharqi and the sprout (she's more of a sapling now, actually) have moved to Urbana, which sounds WAY cooler than Springfield. I am back in the little house, feeding logs to the woodstove, snuggling with Snapper the Mouser, and scheming ... it's easier to imagine a complete sustainable utopia, than it is to see what steps to take here and now to get there!

I have invited my companyera, who's been spending a lot of time at the little house, to blog here. So y'all may be hearing from us, from time to time. Though we don't have Internet at the house, so we do it at the public library, where I am right now. And now I gotta catch the bus home, probably chainsaw some firewood, and get ready for my folks to visit.

I Love Swimming

by Kaleigh

Swimming is fun.
Running is fun, too.
Sports are fun,
And almost everything is fun.
I love kickball.
I love scootering.
A lot of things are fun.
Best friends are funner.
I love swimming,
Because it's fun.
And so is writing.

my mindbody enjoys

Love the earth and sun and animals,
Despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
Stand up for the stupid and crazy,
Devote your income and labor to others…
And your very flesh shall be a great poem.

Walt Whitman

smell this

Onions and garlic (bulbs and tops) sauteeing with the first two shiitake mushrooms (from my front yard log), with cleavers and new lambs quarters (edible weeds), seasoned with oregano and rosemary (from the garden)....topped with three eggs (straight from a friend's chickens' oviducts), scrambled, and fresh homemade chevre (goat cheese).

And, of course, being a midwesterner, I had to put ketchup on it!

carey

birds bords burds byrds

Birds, birds,
They come in herds.
Birds, birds,
Shaking the trees.
Maybe the trees have bees!
Be careful,
Birds who are shaking the trees.
You too,
Wind,
Be careful too.

poem by Kaleigh