This week my goal has been to begin clearing the land for the chicken paddock we are going to build. I have to cut back the bushes around the trees where the chicken coop sits.
All of this has to go and so does…
most of this.
My daughter asked me tonight how my week has been. My word was “constant”. It has not been a bad week. It has been a really good week actually. It has also been a constant work of preparing for ministry or working on little unexpected projects.
Today I had a small unexpected project pop up at the church. Our building and grounds crew has begun another project for then church. They are working on refurbishing the green room (which is a large meeting room with couches and a kitchenette. When it is all said and done, it is going to be amazing. This week the volunteer crew began taking down the popcorn ceilings which were put up in the 1980’s.
My friend and one of our deacons, Jody Clapp
All was going well until one of the smoke detectors got some of the oil being used to remove the ceiling goo on it. That set the fire alarm off which caused the alarm company to contact me (the lead contact on the fire alarm list) and then the fire department.
With the fire captain’s help we tried to reset the system to no avail. So the fire captain gave me instructions about how to clean the smoke detector. We got the alarm silenced (though we were unable to shut of the emergency strobes throughout the church) so I went home for lunch and to clean the chicken coop while Jody finished up the ceiling. Then I went back to the church and followed the instructions on cleaning up the smoke detector. It involved paper towels, Q-tips and a shop vac.
In the end, I got the detector cleaned, the fire alarm reset and I even got a wheel barrel load of brush cut from around the chicken coop. I feel really accomplished. Still, I can’t wait to get the chicken paddock built. It is a lot of work moving the chickens back and forth between their coop and their play pen.
I went for coffee with my daughter the other day and we were talking about the forest garden at the Vicarage. Amanda said, “It’s like we live in Snowwhite’s Cottage, Dad.”
Today I was on a call with my sister and she commented, “You have let the gardens go for so long that what you have is a mature forest. You don’t need to make it into a forest garden you need to prune the forest and make it more usable.”
She is right, of course, Our little micro forest is severely overgrown. I do need to make it more productive as I practice permaculture.
I guess the questions I need to ask are “what do I really want my forest to do?” and “what do I want my forest to be?”
Honestly I love the gardening aspect. As I have turned back to it this year I have loved cultivating my own flowers and my own food. I want to do more of that next year.
Eggplant, tomatoes and green beans from the forest garden.African daisies in the front garden
But it is not just about the productivity of the gardens; I also love the wildlife and the domesticated life we have in the garden.
The chickens in their playpena red squirrel at our feedersOne of our wild rabbits at The Vicarage
I love the animals. As I prune the garden I want to make it a more usable habitat for us as a family but also for the little creatures that live in the forest around us. I can’t imagine not having cardinals and woodpeckers and bluejays and grackles and squirrels and rabbits and chickens. I love that I have to leave the clover long for the rabbits to eat and I love that I have to buy birdseed and suet for my winged critters. I even love it when the squirrels and chipmunks come to steal the food from the birds for their midwinter snacks.
I love being able to cook a meal straight from the garden and I love being able to eat that meal while watching God’s creatures from my dining room windows. I realize that everyone had goals in gardening. These are mine.
IF YOU HAVE A GARDEN, WHAT ARE YOUR GARDENING GOALS?
As some know, we have spent a lot of time fixing up the interior of The Vicarage over the last several years. It is always a work in progress, and maintaining what was done remains a challenge. That said, this summer I wanted to turn my attention to the forest garden at The Vicarage, which has been neglected for seven long years.
I have done a lot of work rearranging garden beds and planting herbs and vegetables. The time of harvest has begun. Tonight in fact I am frying up our second egg plant from the garden and making a chopped salad of tomatoes, cucumbers and green bean garnished with nasturtiums.
This week The forest garden had two large projects that took place. The first project was…CHICKENS!
We got our first four chickens! They are named Squash, Partly Sunny, Eggplant and Spot.
Because their coop is a little smaller than we would, we have built them temporary exercise yard as well. My plan is to do some more brush cutting around the coop , buy some wood and fencing and set up a larger coop before the winter sets in. This will have to do for now.
The other project we had done was our Northern driveway. I got a good price from Art’s Paving, so we did this on Friday afternoon.
The Vicarage…. it is a never-ending work, but we keep moving forward.
Now that said, there has been so much water under the bridge since that post was written in 2019 that I have to say it hardly applies anymore. The world has changed, the town we live has changed, our ministries have changed, the Vicarage has changed and my family has changed.
These last few months have caused me to do some deep introspection. I have been asking the question “Where do we go from here?” over and over in my time of prayer.
So let me introduce you to the changes in the way I see the world. Let me introduce you to the changes that have taken place in our town, in our church, in our ministries, in the Vicarage and in our family.
LET’S START HERE:
WHAT IS THE VICARAGE?
The Vicarage is a Queen Anne style house co owned by Rev. J. Lillie (that’s me) and Rev. Brenda J. Lillie (that would be my sister). It sits on a piece of property in North Central Massachusetts that is currently what I call an out of control micro-forest garden.
WHAT IS “NOTES FROM THE VICARAGE”?
“Notes From the Vicarage” is a blog about the Vicarage and its micro-forest gardens and all the projects going on there.
It’s a blog about the characters connected to the Vicarage, both human and animal.
It’s a blog about what we believe and the ministries we all oversee.
And it’s a blog about the towns we live in and how they are changing with the times and how we are becoming influencers in them.
WHO ARE THE CHARACTERS OF THE VICARAGE?
PASTOR J. LILLIE- Part owner of the Vicarage. Older brother of Pastor Brenda J. Lillie, father of Joe, Pastor Amanda and Melanie; father-in-law of Kristine and James; Oz (grandfather) to Lela, Abigail and Sevy. Lead Pastor of Cornerstone Church. Currently resides at The Vicarage.
PASTOR BRENDA J. LILLIE- Part owner of the Vicarage. Younger sister to Pastor J, Aunt to Joe, Pastor Amanda, Melanie and their families. Missionary to The Netherlands where she currently resides.
JOE LILLIE VI- Son of Pastor J., husband to Kristine, father to Sevy, nephew to Brenda J, brother to Pastor Amanda and Melanie, Brother-in-law to James and Uncle to Lela and Abigail. ESL teacher in Jr. High School, Gideon, and missions team member at Cornerstone Church. Currently resides at The Vicarage.
KRISTINE BERNADETTE BARRAMEDA-LILLIE- Wife to Joe, mother to Sevy, daughter-in-law to Pastor J, sister-in-law to Pastor Amanda, Melanie and James, Aunt to Lela and Abigail. Teller at Athol Savings Bank and Administrative Assistant Cornerstone Church. Currently resided at The Vicarage.
JOSEPH LILLIE VII (SEVY)- Son to Joe and Kristine, Grandson to Pastor J, Great nephew of Pastor Brenda J., Nephew of Pastor Amanda, Melanie and James, Cousin to Lela and Abigail. Spends time being a little kid. Currently resides at The Vicarage.
PASTOR AMANDA LILLIE- Daughter to Pastor J, niece of Pastor Brenda J., Sister of Joe and Melanie, Sister-in-law to Kristine and James, Aunt to Lela, Abigail and Sevy, Next Generations Pastor of Cornerstone Church. Currently resides at The Vicarage.
JAMES FRANKLIN- Husband to Melanie, father to Lela and Abigail, son-in-law to Pastor J, brother-in-law to Joe and Kristine, uncle to Sevy. Pizza chef. DLT leader and Royal Ranger Commander at Cornerstone Church. Currently resides about 5 minutes from The Vicarage.
MELANIE FRANKLIN- Wife to James, mother to Lela and Abigail, daughter to Pastor J, niece to Pastor Brenda, sister to Joe and Amanda, sister-in-law to Kristine. Medical records transcriber. Worship leader and DLT leader at Cornerstone church. Currently resides five minutes from The Vicarage.
DANIELLA FRANKLIN (LELA)- Daughter to Melanie and James, Granddaughter to Pastor J, niece to Pastor Brenda J, Joe and Kristine and Pastor Amanda, sister to Abigail and cousin to Sevy. First grader! Currently resides five minutes from the Vicarage.
ABIGAIL FRANKLIN- Daughter to Melanie and James, granddaughter to Pastor J, niece to Pastor Brenda J, Joe and Kristine and Pastor Amanda, sister to Lela and cousin to Sevy. Practices being a little kid. Resides five minutes from the Vicarage.
SNUG AND MERCEDES: Elderly Maltese dogs owned by Pastor J. Currently reside at the Vicarage.
SUNSHINE, PARTLY CLOUDY, EGGPLANT AND SPOT-The chickens who live in the Forest garden at Tye Vicarage.
SO… This is us. This our home. This is our story. I encourage you to join us on the journey.
Today, in PRIME PRAYER, I felt impressed by God that I was to start looking at myself and my life through a gardener’s lens. You may remember that, just the other day I wrote a piece in which I confessed that it has been a good seven years since I had worked on the forest garden around the Vicarage. In truth, the forest garden at my home has been neglected for much longer than that.
When my family first moved to The Vicarage, back in the 1970’s, we didn’t own the little parcel of land to the left of our home. It was a wild patch of woods that came up almost to the edge of the house. Out back of the house, the yard was dominated by a giant weeping willow the top of which overshadowed the roof of the Vicarage. At night the willow’s whips would brush against my window panes giving me fits of fear. The Japansk was growing out of control all around the house and close in. Some of the bushes were as high as the second story windows.
When my father acquired the property next door in the late 1970’s his remedy was to clear cut the whole property. He removed the willow and most of the trees out back and he turned the forest next door into a field. I was so disappointed because I was already an avid birdwatcher by that time. In one day, the birds around the Vicarage, the squirrels, the chipmunks all lost their habitat.
While my father took down the trees and even stumped the property, he didn’t deal with the roots of roses, raspberries or blackberries. And that was the last time he ever really tended the property. He had good intentions. He just got busy with his business. The stockade fence he bought to surround the house lay out on the side of the Vicarage until it rotted away. The field regrew into a thorny hedge and once again into a dense forest. The animals came back again (well except for the flocks of evening grosbeaks, they seem to have left our state completely).
My father passed away and my mom who hated the outdoors as she aged just kind of let the whole house go. Then I moved back in after my divorce and the work began. It’s been a slow work, but we have made definite progress. We have now addressed most of the serious structural issues with the Vicarage itself. Now its time to look at the forest garden.
It is interesting. My first years in the Vicarage and as lead pastor of the church have been spent dealing with some rather large structural issues (roof, sills, plumbing, bathrooms, floors, siding). Likewise, our congregation’s first order of business when I became lead pastor was to replace the altar space and the ancient rug in the sanctuary. Then, we had to address the parking lot which had become largely unparkable. Finally, we had to address a plumbing issue we lovingly referred to as “the stink”.
I am no builder. The idea of me being a renovator or fixer-upper is actually laughable to everyone who knows me. I have spent these years feeling out of my depth… like I don’t know what I am doing. I have had to rely on others to tell me and direct me in what I didn’t know. I am thankful for those God has sent to help me over these years.
As I begin working on the forest garden. I realize I don’t even know where to begin. I don’t even know what I don’t know. As I begin the next steps of leading the church I realize I don’t know those next steps. I don’t know what I don’t know. And so just like I did with the house and the church in the beginning I am turning once again to the experts. For the garden I am beginning with this book by Dani Baker. For the church I am turning to the Lord in prayer and I am asking the congregation to join me in these prayers as I approach my upcoming sabbatical which is only nine weeks away, and I am connecting with my spiritual presbyter to find a mentor through the sabbatical process.
I am confident of this. I may not know what comes next for The Vicarage, the forest garden, or the church. This is a moment of many unknowns. But I serve a God who has known the answers for this time from before there was time. I will follow Him and the ones He sends to help, just like I did before. All is well, and all manner of things are well, and all manner of things shall be well!
I have not tended my garden for nearly seven years. I always had good intentions…but life just kind of kept getting in the way. This year life has changed. I find myself with a bit of “extra time”, and so I have gone back to the garden. It was foresty seven years ago when I last paid attention to it. Now, after seven years of neglect it is like I have a small Mirkwood forest on my hands.
All summer long I have mowed and weed whacked. I have moved raised beds. I have pruned and even weeded the beds. I have brought in new soil and turned over old soil. I have divided plants that were crowding each other and pulled up others to give room for new growth.
Still the forest runs wild around me. And you can never tell what wildness might visit you on any given day.
This little guy stopped by for a visit one day last week along with a groundhog I startles out of the daisies. Yesterday as I met with a missionary in the prayer tent we were visited by curious squirrels and chipmunks a flock of grackles and two hummingbirds. A rabbit even stopped by to chew the clover near us.
The flower gardens are out of control. I can’t keep ahead of the deadheading. But their purpose os fulfilled as they attract the pollinators to the forest garden.
This wall of hydrangeas is chock full of bees everyday. The harvest is beginning to come in.
I picked and ate our first tomato today. I also picked our first egg plant. It was tiny but Kristine cut it up and put it in the rice with tonight’s supper. We have picked a gallon of raspberries. The blueberries are just coming in this week. I think I missed the currants, but I will check to see if there are any left tomorrow on my day off.
I am just beginning the journey of permaculture in my yard, but I sense I am going to learn many lessons along the road. The first: I don’t control the harvest. It comes when it wants. I must catch it when it comes.
I went today to pick up Joe and his family from Logan airport. They are just returning from vacation in South Carolina at Joe’s mother’s house.
It has been a week and a half of working on the gardens and while everything is growing well, I feel like I have hardly pushed back the walls of the forest at all.
I did manage to mow a few paths through the bushes and I widened this path to the brook. I was hoping for more, but I suppose that was not realistic.
As July 4 approaches, there are lots of things blooming at the Vicarage
The second wave of lilies is beginning, even as the first wave has almost gone by. I have enough varieties now to get me through most of the summer.
The second variety of hosta is also beginning to flower.
I also have two stands of Queen Anne’s Lace putting in an appearance.
I have some baby tomatoes on the vine
And the eggplant is flowering.
I have been picking black raspberries for the last three days.
And the forest is filled with sumac berries
I will be spending July 4 in the garden when I am not grilling. What are you doing this weekend?
Today is my sabbath. I started the morning by drinking mint tea from my garden in the outdoor prayer chapel during Prime.
I have a pretty long to do list that I have compiled over the last week. I will probably get some of it done today, but it is Sabbath so a relaxed rhythm is in order.
Join me in my walk around the Vicarage gardens.
The day lilies are in full bloom now.
So is the giant hosta.
I love the delicate flowers of the lady’s mantle.
The fleabane is also in full bloom. These tiny white flowers on 3 foot stocks attract lots of pollinators to the garden. So many people pull these out of their gardens considering them weeds, but I love how they fill out space around the yard and bring in the bees.
The whole yard is filled with the scent of honeysuckle. It is really strong this year. I can smell it no matter where I am on the property.
This year the forest garden is attracting a large number of birds.
I have to pick up more suet for the feeders today. We have five or six hungry woodpeckers that are hanging around.
I have also set up an extra hummingbird feeder. I have a larger than average population of hummingbirds and they are constantly warring over the one feeder I usually put up. The second feeder seems to have solved the problem.
My Sabbath day is going to be filled with prayer and gardening and cleaning.
We are heading into peak blooming season here at the Vicarage.

The day lilies are beginning to openThe Lupine is going by, but still looks and smells beautifulThe Daisy garden is in full bloomThe tomatoes have started to flower and my herb garden has sprouted. I have cilantro, dill, parsley, chamomile, and thyme. I also have apple mint spearmint Greek and Italian oregano and lemon balm.
Of course, the Vicarage is a forest garden, a very old forest garden and as I walk about it this yearI am learning more about those who originally planted this small but very wild space.
The property is filled with liguster sometimes called Japansk. I’ve always called it honeysuckle because it smells so sweet, but it is actually a fragrant tree imported from Asia.We also have Walters Dogwood growing wild all over the property. It is a native of Korea.
At some point, somebody had a lot of Asian plants put onto the property. I am thankful because these plants add a wonderful fragrance to the garden.
We are also getting ready to add chickens to the Vicarage. my daughter-in-law is just putting on the final coats of sealant to the coop
I have yet to clear space for the coop. We have decided that a stand of sumac is going to be taken down to make space for our new residents.
Notes From the Vicarage 