I am so privileged to live where I do! It’s a lovely little town and the neighborhood around the Vicarage is like one big garden.
The neighbors directly behind me have an entire lawn of paintbrush.
I have a few stands of Siberian iris, My Nextdoor neighbor has hundreds.
He also planted this stand of four o:clocks in the wild part of his yard.
The whole neighborhood is filled with the scent of my black locust trees.
WHAT ARE THE BEAUTIFUL THINGS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD?
Forgive the Game Of Thrones reference please. Today was the first day of daylight savings time. Two days ago it was 75 degrees here and we had enjoyed two more days of Indian Summer in Massachusetts. This morning the dogs were up at 2 A.M. and it was down in the 20’s when I took them out for a walk.
I got a lot done last month towards the winterizing of The Vicarage and the forest gardens, but there is much more to do before the true winter settles in.
There are still cellar windows to be covered in bubble wrap. It’s a new thing I am trying in the cellar to see if it improves the insulation in the dead of winter. This came as a suggestion from my sister who uses it on certain portions of her apartment in the Netherlands. The plastic at the cellar doors also needs to be hung. It was a big help last year with the winter wind.
Most of the leaves are gone now. Just the Norwegian Maples still hang onto their leaves. They light up the forest garden in the early mornings making the light almost magical. I still have some garden areas to prepare for next Spring. I am planning on planting a stand of Jerusalem artichoke out by the grape vines.
And I have plans for a pumpkin patch next year. So there is some cutting and dirt turning to do before the ground seriously freezes. I also have a few more rocks to move into place around the picket fence area before they freeze together in the winter storms.
It was a beautiful fall. Now it is time to get ready for the holidays and the New Year.
We are falling quickly into autumn here in northern Massachusetts. The evenings get down into the 40s, but the days are still in the 70s. It’s that time of year when I fight with myself about whether or not to put on the heat at night. So far my frugal self is winning.
This morning I admit, I turned on one of the mobile heaters in the living room just until I didn’t need to wear a blanket in the house.
Today is my Sabbath so I have been trying to be mindful all day about my prayer time and about taking in the beauty of my surroundings.
The gardens are still full of beautiful fall flowers, like this stand of Maximillian sunflowers.
The nasturtiums are in flower. I have been adding the leaves and flowers to our salads these last few weeks.
The Japanese knotweed is absolutely beautiful right now too.
This St. John’s Wort is letting us know he is ready for what is to come.
The white and purple asters have been remarkable this year.
These tiny rose hips are already attracting the wild birds around the area. We are sure to be loaded with cardinals and bluejays this year through the winter. I hope we can get some good footage from Kristine’s camera.
While my daughter is not a fan of the goldenrod I love the brightness it brings to the season.
Today was not a big work in the yard day. I have been sitting out for my prayer sessions, but most of the day I have been in doing paperwork. Last week was yard work week. I got a lot of mint harvested and hung to dry.
I also mowed the whole yard…except the forest path. That I am afraid is looking pretty unkempt just now.
But Kristine got the chicken paddock moved. The chickens love it!
Well, all except for Partly Sunny. She escaped this morning through a hole in the fencing. We found her hiding in the bushes just behind the paddock. She complained when we put her back in the chicken yard, but I just checked on her and she seems resigned to her fate…at least for now. Kristine moved some of the fencing to deal with the hole and I am going layer some field stone around the bottom edges of the paddock to shore it up. All in all we are doing pretty well getting ready for winter.
WHAT DOES YOUR WORLD LOOK LIKE THIS FALL? OR IF YOU ARE IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE WHAT DOES YOUR SPRING LOOK LIKE?
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.
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.
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?
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.
Notes From the Vicarage 