IN THE FLOWERS
This Week’s Flower Challenge: This week in addition to your usual bouquet consider picking a bunch of drying flowers! Check them all out in the picture below! The garden is currently bursting with them.
Pro-tip: Pick a single-type of drying flower to display all together, or to arrange in bouquets or wreaths later, or pick a varied bouquet of drying flowers that you can dry all together. For the best color, and to keep those stems straight, make a tight bunch (twist ties are great for this and can be found in the clipper basket in the barn) and hang upside down in a cool, dry place until they set.
Beautiful hand modeling by crew member Sophia.
Pictured above from left to right.
Top row: 5 colors of Statice, Ecchinacea, Fama Scabiosa seedhead, Breadseed Poppy pod, Pincushion Scabiosa seedhead, Flamingo Feather Celosia, Temple Bells Celosia, Pampas Plume Celosia.
Middle row: 9 colors of Strawflower, 5 colors of Yarrow, Nigella seed pods, Veronica seeds, 2 colors of Xeranthemum (Immortelle), 3 colors of Marigolds.
Bottom row: 6 colors of Gomphrena, Monarda seedhead, Baby’s Breath, Verbena, Godetia pods, and Amaranth.
IN THE HERBS
Oregano, Marjoram, Thyme, Chives & Garlic Chives, Lemon Balm, Lemon Verbena, Chamomile, Tulsi Basil, Purple & Green & Bi-color Shiso (aka Perilla), Mints, Italian Basil, Purple Basil, Thai Basil, Cilantro Flowers, Dill Flowers, Anise Hyssop, Sage, Tarragon, and Vietnamese Cilantro, Culinary Sage, Sorrel, Husk Cherries.
Herb Spotlight: The next time you’re in the garden, stop for a little snack at the Husk Cherry bed below the Celosia and above the thornless blackberries. These little berries go by many names including Cape Gooseberry and Ground Cherry. They are closely related to Tomatillos and have been said to taste like a tropical combination of orange and tomato. To find a ripe Husk Cherry, look for golden, papery skins. Inside the fruit should be golden yellow. Ripe fruit are usually carpeting the ground underneath the plants and are protected by their papery wrappers. Enjoy!
On the left: ripe Husk Cherries — the golden color of the berry on the bottom right is what you’re looking for. On the left: a new succession of Cupcake Cosmos! This elegant variety is reminiscent of Icelandic Poppies or the crinkled wrappers of cupcakes and make a delicious bouquet ingredient.
FARMER’S LOG
Today we’ll leave you with a poem. We hope that the garden, and the bees, and the goldenrod bursting into bloom in the hedgerow by the strawberry field has for a moment pulled you into the joyousness of sharing this earth, this moment, with all these other beings.
Goldenrod
By Mary Oliver
On roadsides,
in fall fields,
in rumpy bunches,
saffron and orange and pale gold,
in little towers,
soft as mash,
sneeze-bringers and seed-bearers,
full of bees sand yellow beads and perfect flowerlets
and orange butterflies.
I don’t suppose
much notice comes of it, except for honey,
and how it heartens the heart with its
blank blaze.
I don’t suppose anything loves it, except, perhaps,
the rocky voids
filled by its dumb dazzle.
For myself,
I was just passing by, when the wind flared
and the blossoms rustled,
and the glittering pandemonium
leaned on me.
I was just minding my own business
when I found myself on their straw hillsides,
citron and butter-colored,
and was happy, and why not?
Are not the difficult labors of our lives
full of dark hours?
And what has consciousness come to anyway, so far,
that is better than these light-filled bodies?
All day
on their airy backbones
they toss in the wind,
they bend as though it was natural and godly to bend,
they rise in a stiff sweetness,
in the pure peace of giving
one’s gold away.
See you in the fields,
David and Kayta
