There are lots of difficulties with forest gardening, but there is such beauty in having a small forest on the property, I wouldn’t change it for the world. These are the steeples of the Vicarage.
The Steeples Of the Vicarage
forest gardening
What’s Blooming At the Vicarage This Week June 12
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?

What is blooming in your yard?
A RANDOM SPLIT OF A DAY: A Funeral, Founder’s Day and the Relay For Life
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
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
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.
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
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.
The First Lily of Summer
Updates From Among the Trees
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.
In the Waiting
I called the bank today because we were supposed to get an e-mail confirming the submission of our HELOC application. We did not. Our banker, Deb, is checking on things, and I am in the waiting space.
Not that there is nothing to do in the waiting. Life doesn’t wait for the waiting spaces and even in them there are deadlines to be met as we continue to walk by faith toward our upcoming renovation. Besides the day to day stuff, we have a lot of projects to do before the renovation itself begins. I still have to chop out the rest of the bushes around the stone porch. I am leaving the hundred year old antique hydrangea though. It’s so beautiful and if we can help it I really don’t want to lose it.
Our forest garden is so beautiful this year….and the fragrance! I wish I could bottle it and save it for winter.
I mowed this morning and pulled some more of the gardens away from the house. The yard is full of herbs in the afternoon heat.
For the rest of the day I will work on the gardens to prepare them for the stone porch renovation. I am taking this slight delay as God’s way of blessing me to give me time to get all the work done by schedule.
Pathways At the Vicarage
Today was mowing day at the Vicarage. I love the smell of the forest garden when it is freshly mowed. There is one place where the mix of Bishops weed, wild carrot and goldenrod mixes to smell like cilantro. In one corner of the yard, the mown clover smells a little bit like what I imagine Heaven must smell like. When I mow the catywhompus garden the chives and oregano start to smell a little bit like the North End in Boston. Fragrance in a garden is probably more important to me than the look of it.
If I am being authentic, transparent and vulnerable, I have to admit that I enjoy sitting and gazing out at the forest garden almost more than anything else in the world. I love to breathe in the fragrance and listen to the animals chirp and twitter. I especially love in that symphony of nature, to listen for the deeper and quieter voice of God.
One of my side dreams is that the Vicarage would become a destination for people desiring to seek the voice of God for their lives. I can envision holding small prayer and meditation retreats or even hosting individuals who just desire to sit in the gardens to pray.
The Vicarage is not a very big piece of property but pieces of the forest garden are thick enough that a person can go into it and be completely sealed away from the sight of others.
Right now. I have two prayer spots on the property and a bunch of paths that go nowhere. But this renovation has me thinking that
these paths could be cultivated to twist and turn deep into the forest garden, leading listeners to sacred spaces that could open the very heart of God to them. I think that beginning this renovation process has awakened some dreams in me that must become part of the purpose and vision for the Vicarage.
Notes From the Vicarage 