forest gardening

What’s Happening At the Vicarage This Week 6-26-24

/ joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

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.

How are you going to spend your day?

What’s New At the Vicarage This Week June 19, 2024

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We are heading into peak blooming season here at the Vicarage.



The day lilies are beginning to open
The Lupine is going by, but still looks and smells beautiful
The Daisy garden is in full bloom
The 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.

What’s happening in your world?

What’s Blooming At the Vicarage This Week June 12

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Over the years, I’ve tried to plant a perennial garden that would fill the grounds of the Vicarage. This is the first year that it looks like I succeeded, so what’s blooming at the vicarage this week?



The lupine is still in full bloom. I am hoping to gather some seeds to try and cultivate new little plants for next year.
The bishop’s weed is everywhere. I keep pulling it out and it keeps coming back. It does make a pretty ground cover though.
The gardens are also filled with wild buttercup. I am adding both this and the bishop’s weed to my garden vase on the mantle.
I am cultivating this little area as a wild Daisy garden.
The wild rose is in full bloom throughout the yard, and it is filling the air with sweetness.
There are several large mullein plants on the property. I can’t wait till they bloom later in the season.
The Kentucky rose, and the French rose also bloomed this week.
Our first squash flowers are on the vines.
And finally this little fella came backto life. We named him resurrection when he started to die, in hopes that he would make a comeback. It has been weeks and weeks, but it looks like our waiting has finally paid off.

What is blooming in your yard?

A RANDOM SPLIT OF A DAY: A Funeral, Founder’s Day and the Relay For Life

/ joseph elon lillie / 4 Comments

I was describing the job of a minister to a friend the other day. It is not like most jobs. It’s the ultimate split shift rotation. I start in the early morning and then take a break for breakfast and to walk the dogs. Then I usually have some morning work to do. Then I take a break for lunch (usually I go home and walk the dogs during that time). Then I have an afternoon commitment of some kind and always more prayer. Then I take another break sometimes I get to work around the house and the garden and then it’s more prayer and sometimes an evening commitment.

Today for instance. I started with prayer around 4 A.M. and prayed for a few hours. Then Amanda and I had a funeral to attend for a dear lady we know through disabilities ministry .

Anne-Marie was a wonderful woman of faith and Amanda and I were blessed to be able to attend her funeral. We stayed for the reception and got to catch up with many church friends from the area.

Then it was back home to meet up with Joe and Kristine and Sevy. They had an open house to attend in a neighboring town this morning. The house was not something they were very interested in but they keep looking and waiting for the right thing to come along.

Kristine, Sevy and I then headed out to one of the two big events going on today. It’s Founder’s Day in Winchendon.

And Relay For Life in Gardner. We had church staff and leaders at both. The Prayer Shawl Ministry gave out 64 shawls at the Relay!

Meanwhile we had several of our members working as volunteers at the Founder’s Day event.

I was just an attendee at the Founder’s Day, but I had some great opportunities to chat with people from town including one of my classmates, and one of the police sergeants whom I have known since childhood.

Then I went home to do a bit of gardening and to put together my devotional video for the church and to get myself ready for church tomorrow morning

I opened up the bushes next to the drive a bit.

I have one more prayer session for bed. It’s been a wonderful day!

WHAT’S ON YOUR AGENDA FOR THIS WEEKEND?

BITS IN THE GARDEN OF THE LORD

/ joseph elon lillie / 4 Comments

My yard has been completely neglected for the last seven years. Every year I keep meaning to “get back to it”, only to be sidelined by other projects. This year I am actually making some headway with the grounds of the Vicarage.

The garden boxes have been moved and all but one are filled with dirt and planted.

We have weeded the front gardens twice. I have to say they are filling in nicely this year. The irises are giving way to the day lilies and it is time to weed the gardens again. It just about time to bring in the first harvest of mint for tea.

It is also time to mow the lawn for the fourth time.

As you can see we have done a good job at encouraging the ferns to grow.

I have asked myself what is different this year from the last seven years.

  1. I think some of this is therapy helping me cope with the loss of my mom. It is certainly filling time I used to spend caregiving.
  2. Something has shifted in the level of importance I am giving the house. I am not sure exactly why, but this feels like part of the ministry right now. It feels almost like a prophetic work. I am going to have to ponder on that.
  3. I am not doing this alone. The kids are helping me as I work towards the finished product. Joe helped me move the garden boxes. Kristine and Joe have helped me move some dirt. Melanie and Kristine have done some weeding and Kristine has overseen the buying of the new chicken coop and chickens soon to be a part of There Vicarage farm.
  4. Perhaps the most significant change is that I have learned how to break this work down into small bits. I cannot and do not work for hours and hours on the gardens like I used to try to do. I am contenting myself at working on the yard for thirty minutes a day sometimes less. AND I celebrate the small forward movements. Each wheelbarrow of dirt moved is a win. It may not be fast, but it is significant.

WHAT ARE SOME THINGS YOU DO TO GET BIG JOBS DONE OVER TIME?

Spring Festival 2024: Finale: Ready For Summer

/ joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

We may have another month until summer officially begins. The rains may have returned the temperatures here back to the 50’s, but the gardens know the Spring is almost past and the summer is upon us.

The lupine is fully in bloom.

The Korean lilac has fully blossomed.

The tomatoes and the summer squash are in. The garden beds are ready to begin producing.

The daisies are about to open.

Even the hostas are giving attention to the coming of the warmth. Yesterday I caught the fragrance of the black locust trees mixed in with the scent of basil and mint. That is a sure sign of the passing of Spring into summer.

Photo by Nikola Tomau0161iu0107 on Pexels.com

I found two large patches of wild oregano growing where I was weed whacking another sign of what is to come. As we close out this FESTIVAL OF SPRING CHALLENGE HOSTED BY DAWN, what does it look like in your part of the world when Spring passes into summer? SHARE A PICTURE!

Garden Labors

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We are about three weeks from planting the vegetable gardens. I was just having a discussion with one of my subscribers in Virginia about how here in Massachusetts we can’t put in our annual gardens until Memorial Day or after. That is not to say there is nothing to do. I have been moving day lilies around the yard for the last week to make room for new growth.

Today my son and daughter-in-law and I moved the garden boxes into their new locations. Three of these boxes are really old. I am kind of shocked they withstood the move.

One of the three boxes did not. But that is OK. I might be able to salvage the ends for some thing or other.

My daughter in law made our first cut flower vase of the season this morning as well.

This is one of the little niceties I am hoping to add to the Vicarage this year. I want to use what is on the property to beautify our lives. Other than that what is the point of garden labors?

This afternoon I am going to tackle the Japanese knotweed patch at the side of the house and gather the old stalks for burning. Maybe tonight we will have a fire.

Updates From Among the Trees

/ joseph elon lillie / 1 Comment

I really love the forest garden at The Vicarage.

But the forest has encroached on the house over the years.

As we look at our big renovation project, the first thing we have to address is the trees that are rooting at the foundations and branching into the Shingles of the house.

On windy nights the branches of one of the maples actually scratch against my window like the scritching of nails in a horror film.

Today is the day! The tree guys are coming!

The work started around 7:30 A.M.

Mom needed lots of reassurance as the men worked outside her window. It sort of let me know what we will be looking at as we head into the house construction.


It seems strange being able to see every corner of the house.

Now to the trimming and cleaning work! The yard around the house will look a lot better when the contractors come to set up their staging for the siding work.