#and the next harvest after that will be black walnuts

[gradientdescentcosplay]

I am excited to say that I’ve finished a long-term project!

This might look like a fairly simple knitting job, and it is, but the long-term aspect is the color. Last year I grew a one-foot square of dyer’s coreopsis. Just that tiny bit of space produced a mind-boggling crop of blooms. Every day all summer, I went out with a basket and a pair of snippers and harvested dozens of flowers, only to find dozens more blooming again the very next day. I filled up 3-4 mason jars before they finally stopped flowering. The wool here is dyed with those flowers.

It’s even more long-term if you consider that the wool itself has been in my stash for 4 years, purchased at a wool festival in New Mexico. The buttons are from a ceramics artist in Virginia who creates bespoke buttons specifically to match your garments (although I just bought this set “off the rack” so to speak). And finally the green roving was from a Virginian alpaca who kindly lent its fuzz to my endeavors.

One of the things I like the most about hand-made garments is not that I remember where I bought all the components, but that each piece evokes a little memory of what was happening at the time. I can look at this and recall feeling out of breath from my first time at the high altitude in Taos, and reading a Chuck Tingle book to relax after the drive. I remember the feeling of joy driving into the Berryville fairground and seeing someone’s prize-winning goats and knowing I was exactly where I wanted to be, doing exactly what I wanted to do. I can look down at those little smudges of green and recall getting to hold a baby bunny in my palm that day, and sneaking out of sight of the groundskeepers at Montpelier to scavenge fallen black walnuts for next year’s dyeing. I don’t take pictures - this is how I remember life instead.

#knitting #natural dye

[brightgnosis]

Hagging Out 🧺 When Life Takes Away Your Pears ...

When this month's Hagging Out theme was announced, I had no idea what I wanted to do for it at first. But then my Husband and I were driving back from WalMart one day and I spied a Pear Tree in someone's front yard and I was hooked on the idea of doing something with Pears; I thought maybe a nice Tart, or something that I hadn’t tried before.

There was a Pear tree out at my own family’s old farm, but going out there could cause some problems- especially since I’ve estranged myself from my family. There was a Pear Tree out at my Husband's old family farm that I knew I could harvest from instead, however. So I kept bothering him to take me out there- and I almost got to on our way back from the Music Festival ... But it just never worked out ... And it never worked out ... And it never worked out; when it finally did, we got all the way out there only to discover that not only was the farm an absolute wreck, but this year's double late Spring frost had killed all the blossoms.

No Pears for me. But I didn’t leave empty handed, however. And what did I get lucky and accidentally stumble across out there? The fact that my Husband's family farm also had a giant Black Walnut (Juglans Nigra) tree on the property, right next to the driveway; he hated the thing and couldn't understand why I got so giddy about it (though to be fair, if it weren't for @goadthings / @pagan-stitches posting about their own Walnut adventures, I'd've very likely never known or understood).

So what do you do when Hagging Out's approaching quickly and life takes away your Pears? You make Black Walnut Pie ... Well ... Except I ran into a bit of an issue with that, actually; after all the crushing, and hammering, and digging that I did, in the end I wound up with only half a cup of Black Walnut meat- a far cry from the full 1 cup that I actually needed for the Pie.

When my husband took me out to the lake to do my Offerings on his birthday, however, he stumbled across an absolute gold mine of Bur Oak (Quercus Macrocarpa) Acorns; Bur Oak Acorns in particular have been used as a food and medicine source by the Ponca (Ppáⁿkka), Omaha (Umoⁿhoⁿ), Cheyenne, Winnebago (Hochungra), Dakota (Dakhóta) and Lakota (Lakȟóta), Iroquois (Haudenosaunee), Menominee (Omǣqnomenēwak), Ojibwa (Ojibwe) and Chippewa (Baawiting Anishinaabeg), and Pawnee (Chatiks si chatiks) tribes for centuries. So I decided to throw those into the pie, too (while still leaving my Husband enough to plant- an easy feat since he brought a whole Pie Plate home).

After processing the Acorns, however ... The texture was wrong. I realized it wouldn't really work like I wanted it to. I didn't nix the plan, though, because I still wanted to use the Acorn meat; I didn’t process them for nothing, after all ... But it did take me far longer than it should have to remember that I literally live right beneath four huge old growth Pecan Trees and have a never ending stream of the dang things. So I opted to make up the other half cup's difference with some of the remainder of last year's dried Pecan harvest since this year's hadn't started dropping yet.

My best friend @justletmebeokay formally dubbed the Pie the "Oklahoma Hobbit" when they saw how much nonsense I was putting into it ... But lemme tell you ... It fits. In fact, I can't think of anything else, after putting in all that effort and eating the thing finally, that could possibly fit it more.

I wound up roughly grinding the Acorn meat into chunks and soaked them for 2 days, draining off the water and replacing it every day to remove the tannins as guides instructed. But I left the Black Walnut and Pecan meat as it came out of the shell (which was pretty hapdash; I'm not great at nut cracking, as I discovered, ha. And since Pecans are significantly easier to crack than Black Walnuts ... Well, you can imagine how that game played out). Then I just refrigerated it until I needed it.

The recipe wanted me to put the nuts over the bottom of the crust, then pour the filling in. So I sprinkled over the Pecans and Black Walnuts- but the Acorn Meat got put into the filling itself and poured over. Then it all got baked at 375°f for roughly an hour, and cooled for another 2 or 3 before I got too impatient and couldn't wait another moment longer.

The Black Walnut meat is so creamy and melts in your mouth. The Burk Oak Acorn meat is soft, but has a nice texture to it that you'd expect to be kinda gritty but just kinda mushes well instead. And the Pecan gives it a nice crunch you didn't know it needed until you got it. And between the Lemon Juice, Brown Sugar, and Maple Syrup, and all the nuts? Somehow the thing comes out with a hint of ... Almost a slight Bourbon flavor that's just ... Perfect- if confusing.

There's a lot going on flavor wise and texturally, but absolutely none of it is overwhelming or overpowers any other element of the Pie ... It's just perfect. And it's hilarious to me because honestly? I hate Nuts, and I hate Pies ... I shouldn't've liked this. But yet I do. And if it weren't so much effort? I'd probably make this a regular thing.

Considering it took me a whole week to gather and make, though ... I think I'm ok with it just being a @msgraveyarddirt / @graveyarddirt special for Hagging Out 🤣

#Casual Reminder That Oklahoma Is NOT A Midwestern OR Southwestern State #Hagging Out #Personal #2022 #ReTaming The Farm #Food Is The Ultimate Love Language #A Direct Look At My Practice #Great Plains Foraging #NonTrad Housewife #NonTrad Homemaker #My Experiments In Food #Original Content #Original Community Content #Hearthkeeper #Verderer #Religion & Magic #The Trees Speak #Prairie Magic & Medicine

[meinemung]

Five hundred miles of shimmering cracked concrete, the median filled with mile after mile of pitiful looking bushes to prevent head on collsions, lay before you. The town names are strange, a legacy of the odd lot who settled this area for its agricultural fecundity, the only trace being brightly lit truck stop towers advertising the gas price and garish ambulance chaser billboards. Blacked out Dodge Chargers with school-bus engines, gigantic bro-dozers with flashing high-beams, and Altimas with their bumper hanging on solely by the saving grace of duct tape race each other at mind-boggling speeds, determined to be the first to get to the next traffic jam, caused by the very same recklessness. In the summer, the heat is unfathomable, beaming down from a merciless sky - from the cataracted eyes of a wrathful demiurge. In the winter, an unwholesome yellowish fog creates an apocalyptic scene, especially with the ramshackle buildings that are overcommon in this area.

The region is bookended by the high alpine mountains in the east, some of the tallest in the country, that separate it from the desert interior, and by a lower but still seemingly unpassable set of mountains in the east separating it from the coast. Despite it being a running joke that the number one benefit is its proximity to better places, it has a unique climate with a growing season that lasts all year long and reliable irrigation. Many of these crops - pistachios, walnuts, and cherries - are also uniquely profitable, yet unlike wheat, their harvest is resistant to automation. Thus millions of poorly-paid workers reside in the area, most illiterate and many non-English speaking. Partly because of nature, partly nurture, their children, who are usually too poor to move, often lapse into crime, drug usage, and other vices.

#central valley

[vegi1]

Can vegans eat shrimp?

Vegans shrimp for environmental, health and ethical reasons. Shrimp has a very complex nervous system and is able to feel pain and suffering.

The answer to this question is pretty simple, but there are some additional factors that I have to tell you about to complete the solution you will get from this statement.

I’m Sara, and I have been vegan for seven years, and because this lifestyle has offered my family and me many benefits, I would like to share my experience with you.

Let’s begin. Many people, including some vegans, claim that shrimp do not feel pain However, most vegans agree that there are no exceptions to the rule of not eating animals, even on the basis that an animal may or may not feel pain.

Vegans can replace shrimp with other alternatives on the market without breaking their way of life.

So the final decision you have to make as a vegan is to choose one of the alternatives, and luckily in the next section of the article, I will tell you about some of the alternatives that may come in handy.

So, let’s get to the next section and see the vegan alternatives to shrimp. Most of the pescatarians follow this pescatarian diet for religious reasons, and some may avoid eating meat and poultry due to concerns about the environment or animal welfare. Some pescatarians eat fish, shrimp, oysters, and crabs because of the omega-3 found in seafood. But vegans believe that there are vegetable alternatives rich in omega-3, which have more protein and omega-3, and we humans will not need to eat seafood and shrimps to supply omega-3, and instead, we can get omega-3s from walnuts, flaxseeds, chia seeds, spinach, and pumpkin. If you used to eat shrimp and now you have decided to become vegan, you should know that there are extremely delicious foods that taste like shrimp and fish, but are made from plants and have many more benefits. I personally love the taste of vegetable shrimp that we make from tofu and it is very tasty and nutritious.

In this section of the article, we shall discuss the fact that shrimp has alternatives in the vegan world, and you can easily replace it with other excellent vegan food to get everything that you would get from a shrimp.

Keep in mind that vegans are not obligated to eat shrimp because there are a lot of other foods that you can replace the shrimp with, and it would have the same benefits.

Before getting to the alternatives, you have to keep in mind that some factors can cause the behavior of vegans, the shrimps have an advanced nerve system that can feel pain, and the way that harvesting shrimp can damage the earth, specially the4 ocean and sea beds makes an argument.

And besides, the method that these shrimps get produced.

And that is why vegans avoid shrimp and other meat, so I will tell you about the unique recipes that can make vegan fish or even shrimp.

So, if you are ready, get a pen and paper, and let’s get to the alternatives.

Sweet Potato The first one that we have to talk about is the substitute the shrimp for vegans is the sweet potato.

Let me tell you a recipe for a sweet potato that can replace the shrimp; you will need:

· Sweet potato

· Paprika

· Gluten flour

· Oil

· Garlic

Only mixing these ingredients and adding salt to them can make decent and very healthy food for your brunch or even lunch.

Remember, though, that after you have mixed the ingredients, you have to cook it once more, and it will be a fantastic meal.

Tofu The first matter of order about this food is that it contains a considerable amount of protein, the same substance that will help you to function.

For the foods where shrimp comes as a topping, like spaghetti, you can use roasted tofu instead.

Mix these ingredients for a perfect meal:

· Olive oil

· Lemon juice

· Red pepper

· Salt

· Black pepper

· Garlic

This is a topping for your food, and we advise you to make this food first thing and see what a fantastic meal it would be, and besides, you will get every mineral and vitamin that you need.

King oyster mushrooms

This food is one of the best alternatives because while it has lots of benefits, like shrimp, it has a similar texture, and using this food can be very beneficial if you miss the shrimp taste.

If you want to make this food taste like shrimp, go with these ingredients:

· Salt

· Paprika

· Noir sheet

· King oyster mushrooms

Mix these ingredients, and then you shall easily roast them with olive oil, and then you can use this food as a mixture of rice and these substances for a complete, healthy, and vegan meal.

[softgotheory]

Vegetable garden planner online

If vine plants are grown, they’re usually placed in the back with a trellis to allow the plant to grow up. One type of vegetable is planted in each section. Square foot garden plots are generally set up in grids of 4 x 4 squares with strings or wood attached to the frame to divide the bed into equal square-foot sections. This crop rotation will help reduce pests and soil diseases. After harvest, plan on rotating each group to the next square the successive year. The layout is generally from top-left and counter clockwise: heavy feeders, middle feeders, light feeders and soil builders. This type of garden layout has the advantage of forcing you to practice crop rotation. Soil builders are those veggies that leach nitrogen into the soil, such as peas, and will be grouped together. Turnips and carrots are light feeders that like potash in the soil and will be grown together accordingly. Middle feeders, such as tomatoes and peppers, will be in another. Heavy feeders like corn and leafy greens need lots of nutrients and will be included in one square bed. There are four categories of beds based on the amount of nutrients they need. Each square within the larger square represents a different bed. Imagine the bed divided into four quarters, as if you have a piece of paper and have drawn a square on it and then a cross inside the square. Four squareĪnother vegetable garden layout idea is called a four square garden plan. Short crops like carrots, lettuce and radishes should grow in the southern end of the garden. Medium sized plants like tomatoes, squash and cabbage, should be grown in the center. Grow tall items such as corn or beans, on the north side of the garden to keep them from shading smaller crops. A garden that runs east to west tends to get too shaded from the crops growing in the preceding row.

A north to south direction will ensure that the garden gets the best sun exposure and air circulation. The most basic garden plan consists of a design with straight, long rows running north to south orientation. Here are some of the most common garden layout plans for growing vegetables. Raised beds have the advantage of providing better drainage, warm quicker so you can plant earlier in the season, and the soil stays warmer than a garden plot which will bring the crops to maturity sooner. If you have black walnut trees nearby, a lack of sun in the desired garden area or inadequate soil, try planting in raised beds. Also, the garden site shouldn’t be near established tree or shrub roots that can steal moisture from the vegetable plants. Young plants will need to be watered often and you don’t want the watering to become such a chore that the task is abandoned altogether. Situate the garden near a convenient water source. If there is no adequate area in your landscape, vegetables can be planted in containers on a deck or patio that receives sun. The garden should also be located in an area of full sun. At this time, you can add compost, sand, humus, fertilizer or other ingredients. Once the results are in, you will know if and with what the soil needs to be amended. It’s probably a good idea to perform a soil test to determine its composition. The garden will thrive in well-draining, nutrient rich soil. Layout Options for the Gardenīefore planning a vegetable garden layout, there are a few things to consider. In the following article, we’ll take a look at different vegetable garden layout ideas and which garden layout plans might work best for you. There are several types of garden layouts, each with different advantages. The only problem is you have no idea about planning a vegetable garden layout. This is the year you’re going to do it! This year you’re going to put in a vegetable garden.

#Vegetable garden planner online

[aurosoul]

we moved in too late in the season to make the most of the plum harvest (though I did manage to use a few for sour plum sauce), but we DID move in just in time for FIGS!!

#there are many more left ripening on the tree #and the next harvest after that will be black walnuts #i'm really happy there are so many edible plants already in the yard #i found a random fence post that will make a great tomato stake #haven't put it up yet though because the last time i tried a yellowjacket got very interested in it #i have very strong willpower around buzzing insects but this one tested me #it landed on my LEG #i stood really still until it moved a little bit away and then i went back inside lol #i am friends to all bugs of this world but even i have my limits #picture journal

[tipsycad147]

Lilac in Magic and Medicine

Spring tends to be a favorite time of year for a lot of people. You walk out the front door and the birds are chirping, the weather is nice and there are flowers everywhere! As a Garden/Green Witch, I love plants and finding out ways to use them. One of my favorite plants, even though they are only around for a short amount of time, are the Lilacs. We have several Lilacs on our property that were planted by my great grandparents that still bloom every year. Lilacs are edible, have some medicinal uses and of course, contain magical properties as well. Keep reading to learn more!

Lilacs in the Garden

Lilacs, or Syringa Vulgaris, are a short term blooming shrub. It’s most commonly found in Planting Zones 3-9 here in the U.S. Most lilacs only bloom for about 2-3 weeks; but early and late blooming varieties can be staggered to increase your bloom time to a total of 6 weeks. Lilacs are available in 5 colors ranging from white, to magenta, to the traditional lilac purple.

Lilacs grow on old wood, so pruning after the spring is vital. A hardy specimen, lilacs can be transplanted by cuttings very easily to add more to your garden. Our lilacs draw bees, birds and butterflies with it’s tantalizing scent so we always try to keep them blooming.

Did you know Lilacs are actually part of the olive family? Native to the Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe; people emigrating from Europe brought the shrub with them to grow and preserve a piece of home. Western pioneers brought lilacs with them during the 1800’s. Now you can find lilacs that grow nearly wild in abandoned lots or parks. Lilacs prefer full sun and a slightly alkaline soil to grow and bloom. The wood is a sturdy type that can be hollowed out to make a variety of tools.

These shrubs are a beautiful plant and even though they have a very short season; their vibrant green grey leaves(which are heart shaped) and the clusters of fragrant flowers make it worth having. But a commonly asked question every Spring is; “What can I do with my lilacs in that short amount of time?” Turns out there are a couple of medical, edible and magical uses for lilacs. I’m going to touch on the edible and medical real quick. Then give you some ideas of how to use lilacs in your magic as well!

Lilacs as Food and Medicine.

One thing I’ve started to learn as a witch, herbalist and homesteader is that there’s a use for practically every plant! We harvest at least a dozen or more plants from our yard every Spring and Summer; not counting what we add to the gardens, harvest from the forest or buy online!

Starting out, I was surprised how many other uses most flowers can have, besides just being pretty to look at. Given the short bloom time for Lilacs, I never really thought about using them until this year. But it turns out that 2 weeks is plenty of time to gather and dry flowers for all sorts of projects!

Lilacs in the Apothecary Cabinet

Lilacs are astringent, aromatic and a bit bitter. While most of the medicinal uses stem(see what I did there, ha) from the leaves and fruit, the flowers still have their own uses. Ingesting raw flowers leaves a dry feeling on the tongue but are bursting with flavor.

The most common use of Lilacs is as an astringent. Many common weeds and plants are astringent, including but not limited to: sunflowers, black walnut, black raspberry and stag-horn sumac. Many people are already familiar with the commercially produced astringent known as witch hazel.

Lilac flowers can infused with witch hazel or a carrier oil. That can then be used for acne, fine lines and wrinkles and other anti-aging properties

Using lilacs as an aromatic is completely different. An aromatic works by causing irritation to the place where it is applied. (Think about how sensitive the GI tract is.) Which in turn brings more blood flow and thus promotes faster healing! Gastric issues such as excessive flatulence or constipation are normally remedied very quickly by eating just a few small flowers.

Infuse lilacs in your favourite carrier oils to make salves, soaps and lotions. Lilacs are good for sunburn relief or soothing scratches, light burns and itches. As well as the previously mentioned astringent properties.

Other Uses for Lilacs

As beautiful and lovely as lilacs are, the fragrance is a fleeting memory once spring is over. Unfortunately, there’s no way to preserve the fragrance in an essential oil. Like many florals, it would take a lot of flowers and would be very expensive. There are some ways to preserve the flavor and aroma through absolutes, enfleurage and infused oils. The Experimental Homesteader has a great tutorial and more info about making your own lilac essences.Find that Here

Most commonly, lilacs are used for garnishes and flavoring for foods and drink. From sugared flowers on cake to lilac ice-cream and lemonade; there’s a number of sweet treats you can make with these cute purple flowers.

Some of my Favourite Uses for Lilac include:

Tea

Lemonade

Infused Honey

Wine

Jelly

Ice cream

Syrup

There’s a ton of tutorials for each of these on Pinterest!

If you would like to try the lilac jelly recipe its super easy! Head over to our Forsythia Jelly Recipe but switch out the flowers for lilacs instead!( Find that here)

Lilac honey is super easy, just add the flowers to honey and let sit for 2-6 weeks.

Make a simple lilac syrup by simmering the flowers in a sugar water mix on the stove. Use that syrup to flavor your lemonade or top your favorite dessert(or pancakes!) Plus it’s a gorgeous light purple color so it makes for a great gift.

Lilacs in Magic: Green Witchcraft

Using Lilacs in magic has a slew of myths and stories behind it; as well as a few ways to use it in your own personal spells.

What’s in a Name?

Lilacs have a few names depending on the area and connections. In Arabic, “Lilak” means purple. In Greece, Lebanon and Cyrus, lilacs are referred to as “paschalia” due to the fact that they bloom around Easter. (Or as they call it “Pascha”.)

Actually, the scientific name for Lilacs(syringas vulgaris) is thought to be derived from the Greek word “Syrinx” which means pipes. This is due to the wood’s hollow nature. Which brings me to the next section of Lilacs in magic: the Greek origin story.

The Legend of Syrinx

According to Greek Legend, Syrinx was a dryad (also known as tree nymph) who was a follower of Artemis, goddess of nature and chastity. Pan, as god of the forest and ruled by an bestial nature and lust, sought after her beauty. As a follower of Artemis, Syrinx was sworn to chastity and denied him. He chased her to the nearby river where Syrinx sought help from her cousins, the naiads, or river nymphs. With their help, she transformed into a Lilac bush, also commonly called a pipe tree or reed tree. Pan, frustrated that Syrinx had slipped from his grasp; cut 7 branches from the gorgeous lilac tree and tied them together into what we know as pan pipes today.

The Pipes, combined with Pan’s mournful music over his lost pursuit, holds merit in the language of flowers.These purple petaled flowers symbolize lust, love, and the fleetingness of life in general.

Lilacs Magical Properties

Blooming Lilacs show up for a short period during the Spring, typically between Beltane and Litha. (May-June). Much like honeysuckle, dandelions and forsythia, lilac contains spring energy and helps to jump start your life. Use it to give yourself a motivational boost, a mental or physical spring cleaning. Or use as an energy charge for your job or a new business venture.

Lilacs are commonly used for spells involving: exorcisms, banishing negative energy, love and lust spells. As well as protection spells and spells symbolizing the balance between life and death.

Lilac for Protection

Plant lilacs around your property to protect those inside its boundaries. Planting lilacs by your front door keeps negative energy from entering your home.

Bringing cuttings into your home is supposed to help banish negative energy and spirits. Except for some superstitions in certain parts of the UK. It was felt that white lilacs were too close to death and were very unlucky.(Unless it was a 5 petaled white flower which were considered extra lucky.) Lilacs were commonly placed inside coffins to cover the smell of death, much like gladiolas and other “funeral flowers”.

Hanging lilac branches over a newborn’s crib was said to encourage them in growth of knowledge and wisdom.(Especially in Russia)

Lilacs for Love and Beauty

When used in love and lust spells, lilacs are best for short fleeting summer romances or flings. Adding lilac oil to your wrists and behind the ears helps to draw love your way. You can also use lilacs for a spell to bring the fun and light back into a relationship.

To combine the medicinal uses mentioned earlier as well as the magical uses; Lilacs infused in witch hazel for a facial toner can be used to promote beauty, glamour and attracting love.

Celebrate Beltane by making a flower crown for yourself or your love.

Lilac Wood and Flowers

Wrap and dry lilac bundles to make your own incense smoke bundles. Combine with rose, lavender and sage for a love incense. Find out more info on wrapping and drying at Proflowers.

Use the wood from the Lilac to make wands, staves or runes. Lilac wands are good for banishing evil or negativity, raising psychic energy and vibrations, and attracting love.

Lilac Trivia

Lilacs are part of the Olive family. The Oleaceae or Olive family also includes olives(obviously), jasmine, forsythias and ash trees.

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson enjoyed the scent of Lilacs and planted them in their Gardens.

Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet were inspired by the colors and appearance of lilacs. They included the flowers in several paintings such as “Lilac Bush” (1889 Van Gogh), “Lilacs, Grey Weather”(1872 Monet) and “Lilacs in Sun”(1872 Monet).

In the Victorian Era, widows wore lilac blossoms on their lapel. This served as a reminder of their love and the shortness of life.

Lilac is considered the traditional flower for the 8th Anniversary. This means it is a suitable gift as well.

The Celtics regarded the lilac as “magical” due to their incredibly intoxicating fragrance.

In the United States, the lilac is the official state flower of New Hampshire. It represents the ‘hardy’ nature of its people

Lilac Magic Correspondences

Latin Name: Syringa Vulgaris Other Names: Pipe Tree, Reed Tree, Common Lilac Element: Water Planets: Venus Gender: Feminine Deities: Artemis, Pan, Gaea, Hades, Persephone, Hera* and Hestia* (*white flowers only) Powers: Expansion, Growth, Protection, Life and Death, Spirit World, Love, Psychic Ability Use for: Love spells, Protection Spells, Exorcisms, Aromatherapy, Beauty Magic, Body care(magical or not) Crafts/Recipes: Toner, Tea, Honey, Ice cream, Syrup, Wands, Runes, Staves, Garden/Home Boundary, Incense, Dessert Garnish

Are you in love with Lilac yet?

Even though Lilac only visits for a short amount of time; it leaves us impatient for it to come around again. Even if you missed this year’s harvest, save this info for next year so you can fill your home with yummy flowers and magic next spring. Feel free to save this info for your Book of Shadows or Grimoire pages. Also, make sure you visit our other Magical and Medicinal Plant Pages.

Will you add Lilac to your magic workings?

If you want the smell of lilacs even after the season is done; we offer a Lilac goat’s milk soap in the Store that smells exactly like this luscious plant! Made with nourishing oils and skin safe fragrance oils; its safe for sensitive skin and makes for a great Mother’s Day, Best Friend or Self Care Gift.

If you are new here make sure to check out all of our other blog posts over on the Blog Page. And don’t forget to follow us on Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram for farm photos, trivia, shop updates and more!

By  Ariana

https://greenmanmeadows.com/using-lilac-for-magic-and-medicine/

[livingcorner]

How to Create Your Own Herbal Tea Garden

For these uncertain times, a step-by-step guide to growing brew-friendly plants at home, and using them to make infusions that soothe and restore.

Here, tea ingredients of rose, chamomile and lemon verbena are shown in their natural, harvested and dried states.Credit…Fujio Emura

Oct. 22, 2020

You're reading: How to Create Your Own Herbal Tea Garden

The tea garden — a typically modest plot dedicated to the growing of herbs and flowers for steeping — has its roots in ancient herbalist traditions and helped lay the foundation for modern botany. According to “The Gardener’s Companion to Medicinal Plants,” a 2016 guide to home remedies, the study of herbal medicine can be traced back 5,000 years, to the Sumerians of southern Mesopotamia, who listed the names of hundreds of plants — including fennel, mint, thyme, sage, myrtle and marjoram — on clay tablets that were later rediscovered in what is now Iraq. Modern scholars believe that the Sumerians used what they grew in medicinal preparations such as tea infusions that were intended to treat ailments from toothache to inflammation. And in England, says Timothy d’Offay, a tea importer and the founder of Postcard Teas in London, tea gardens have their origins in the work of 17th-century apothecaries such as Nicholas Culpeper, a botanist and physician whose encyclopedia of herbs, “The English Physician,” has remained in print since it was first published in 1653. “The apothecaries’ focus was on the use of herbs in healing,” explains d’Offay. “It was really the beginnings of modern medicine. We often think that drinking anything without caffeine is innocuous, but herbal tea has power.”

Image

In Deborah Needleman’s tea garden in New York’s Hudson Valley, rows of lemon verbena, lavender, calendula, basil, thyme and bush bean fill a rectangular bed flanked by boxwoods.Credit…Fujio Emura

Now, in this time of uncertainty, as we cleave to small, controllable comforts, the idea of the medicinal tea garden is taking root once again. Easy to cultivate on a windowsill or balcony, or in any garden bed, and yielding ingredients more potent than typical store-bought equivalents (specimens cultivated in artificial terrains tend to produce less flavor), these plots of herbs and edible flowers offer a chance to reconnect with nature, and a soothing balm for our collective anxieties. “Herbalists have long talked about the value of growing your own plants,” says Karen Rose of Sacred Vibes Apothecary in Brooklyn, “and with a tea garden you can propagate plants that will actively improve your health.” Since the pandemic hit the U.S. in March, she has seen a dramatic rise in homegrown plants, such as lemon balm, mint and chamomile, which are thought to relieve stress and help regulate disrupted sleep patterns.

Image

Needleman’s tea garden is attached to the 18th-century barn she uses as a drying and processing room. In the foreground, lemon verbena and calendula grow in a bed of dahlias.Credit…Fujio Emura

Image

Bronze fennel, whose burnished yellow florets are often used fresh in tea infusions, proliferates in Needleman’s garden.Credit…Fujio Emura

For the writer and editor Deborah Needleman, formerly of T, the joy of the tea garden is at once horticultural and aromatic. “Growing and blending teas extends the gardening season in that it allows me to be with my plants all through the year,” says Needleman, who nurtures herbs in her garden in New York’s Hudson Valley. “And the smells are so wonderful. Opening a jar of dried lavender during winter is heavenly.” Last year, she developed her first small-batch dried blend, Summer Tea, and this fall, her loose Garden Tea mix of mint, lemon verbena, rose and other fragrant herbs will be available at the florist and soap-maker Sarah Ryhanen’s World’s End farm and online store, Saipua. Here, Needleman shares her tips for establishing and harvesting your own tea garden — and she, Rose and a few other growers and herbalists share their ideas for putting your bounty to use.

Image

In a scrubland field beneath a walnut tree, Needleman has planted mint and lemon verbena. “They’ll just keep going until they form a carpet,” she says, “so if you have a space that needs ground cover, they’re a great, low-maintenance option.”Credit…Fujio Emura

How to Plant

While it is possible to grow your own black tea (camellia sinensis) in northern climates, without the warmth and abundant sunlight the plant needs to thrive, the effort is unlikely to be worth the negligible yield. A herbal tea garden, by comparison, is far more resilient and manageable, especially if you’re in a city apartment. “Use whatever space you have,” says Rose, who suggests starting with individual pots of lemon balm, lavender and chamomile — ingredients you can blend for a relaxing bedtime infusion. “Just a few sprigs can create an effective blend that you can use all winter.”

Where you position your plants is crucial, though. “Many herbs are Mediterranean, and so they need at least six hours of sunlight a day and they want to be dry,” says Needleman. If you’re planting in pots, make sure they have drainage holes or stones at the base and, if they’re outdoors, she advises moving them to a sunny windowsill inside during the colder months. For those planting directly into the ground, she suggests using a corner of a vegetable plot. And approach the planting, or placing of pots, much like you would a floral display, juxtaposing the various colors, shapes and textures of different species. Low-lying plants such as lemon thyme look nice along a border, while the chartreuse tones of lemon verbena create a vivid contrast against dark leaves.

Image

Bunches of bronze fennel, lemon balm, sage and Thai basil bound with twine for drying.Credit…Fujio Emura

Image

Read more: Shed Organization: 8 Easy and Inexpensive DIY Garden Tool Storage Ideas – Gardening @ From House To Home

A damask rose sits alongside dried rose petals. “All rose petals are edible,” Needleman says. “But for tea blends it’s nice to use a fragrant variety like a damask.”Credit…Fujio Emura

How to Harvest

“The more you cut, the more they grow,” says Needleman, who recommends investing in a pair of sharp scissors for trimming (she likes Joyce Chen’s Original Unlimited Scissors). Aim to harvest leafy varieties (mint, lemon verbena, lemon balm, thyme) before they flower: “once a plant blooms, the leaves lose freshness and become bitter.” By contrast, gather the floral herbs you’d like to dry (rose, lavender or chamomile) as soon as they start to bloom and before the blossom starts to decline. The time of day can play a part, too: “It’s good to harvest in the mornings, after the dew has dried, but before the plants get stressed by the sun — that’s when they’re at their most fragrant,” Needleman says. The rule of thumb is to collect around 5 percent of a plant’s total volume each time you trim and, she advises, “you want to make a clean cut for the health of the plant, cutting down to the next set of leaves and removing any damaged ones.” Wash your harvest under the tap carefully and then gently dry the herbs and flowers with paper towels, otherwise you risk bruising them and leaching out their essential oils.

Image

Inside Needleman’s barn, sage hangs to dry on a ladder beside bunches of the willow sticks she uses for basket weaving.Credit…Fujio Emura

How to Dry

In the spring and summer you can snip plants from your garden and put them straight into your teapot, but as the colder nights draw in, it’s worth shoring up supplies by drying what you collect. To dry, store your crop in a cool place with good air circulation and away from sunlight. Needleman likes to gather her herbs into small bunches and hang them upside down. To preserve flower heads such as chamomile, she spreads them out in wicker trays or baskets. “You have to rustle them up a bit to get the air into them,” she says of the dehydration process, which can take up to a few weeks. “When it’s really crumbly, it’s ready.” Once your ingredients are completely dry, the meditative process of destemming can begin: Strip the leaves or flowers from their stalks before storing them in airtight glass jars. It’s a task that Needleman likes to carry out at the kitchen table after supper. “It’s just so mindless and relaxing,” she says.

Image

Needleman’s infusion of fresh chamomile, lemon verbena, mint, lemon thyme and damask rose.Credit…Fujio Emura

What to Make

Now that you know how to plant, harvest and dry your herbs, here are a few recipes — and a couple of less expected uses — to try. Unless otherwise specified, each of the drinkable blends makes one pot and can be made with either dry or fresh ingredients (loose or enclosed in a bag) in ratios according to taste. Use hot rather than boiling water to best preserve the potency of the plants and keep your pot covered during steeping.

Deborah Needleman’s Uplifting Aromatic Blend

“The chamomile in this tea is crisp and bright like a fresh apple,” says Needleman of her custom infusion, “while the mint and lemon balm are earthy and grounding, and the lemon verbena brightens everything up. It’s a balance between sharp and earthier tastes and scents.”

Ingredients (in equal parts):

Chamomile

Rose

Lemon verbena

Mint

Lemon thyme

Preparation:

Steep for 4-6 minutes.

Image

The herbalist Karen Rose prescribes a healing blend of, from top, echinacea blossom, lemon verbena and calendula blossom.Credit…Fujio Emura

Karen Rose’s Immune-Boosting Garden Blend

“I love this blend because it’s so accessible,” says Rose. “Echinacea blossoms are believed to have antimicrobial and immune-stimulating properties, lemon verbena is an antibacterial known for its nervous system and gut support and calendula blossoms can also help enhance the immune system. The fact that we can all grow these plants means that wherever we are we can have access to a form of medicine that has the potential to help keep us well through the cold and flu season.”

Ingredients (per cup):

A couple of echinacea blossoms

A few calendula blossoms

1 teaspoon lemon verbena

Preparation:

Read more: Harvesting Watermelons – When is Watermelon Ready to Pick? (Updated)

Steep for 20 minutes.

Image

Heidi Johannsen Stewart’s Le Hammeau blend combines, clockwise from top left, lavender, rose, chamomile and lemongrass.Credit…Fujio Emura

Heidi Johannsen Stewart’s Le Hammeau Blend

“Herbal tea is such a cathartic companion,” says Bellocq tea atelier’s Heidi Johannsen Stewart, whose own Park Slope, Brooklyn, tea garden features lemon balm, rosemary, mint and sage. “This hydrating blend — one of the first I ever infused from my garden — provides an overwhelming sense of well-being. Although the flavor profile is complex, the effect is both calming and uplifting, and it particularly supports the digestive and nervous systems.”

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon lavender

1 tablespoon rose petals

1 tablespoon chamomile

1 tablespoon lemongrass

Preparation:

Steep for 6-10 minutes.

Image

Deborah Hanekamp recommends a blend for the bath featuring, from top, lavender, calendula blossom, pink tea rose and sea salt.Credit…Fujio Emura

Deborah Hanekamp’s Bath-Time Soak

For Deborah Hanekamp, the founder of the wellness company Mama Medicine and author of the book “Ritual Baths” (2020), the windowsill tea garden in her Brooklyn apartment provides plants for both brewing and bathing. To create her soothing tea-inspired bath soak, steep a quarter of a cup each of dried lavender and calendula, along with a small handful of dried rose buds, in a teapot for a minimum of 20 minutes — or, for a more potent blend, up to 8 hours — before pouring the brew into a warm bath together with a handful of sea salt, a spoonful of honey and a few drops of organic cold-pressed olive or almond oil. Light some candles and enjoy. “It can be beautiful to have a few flowers in the water, too,” she suggests. “Let some roses float on the surface; it’s soothing for the skin and a healing visual meditation.”

Image

An arrangement by the floral artist Joshua Werber featuring rugosa roses, mint and hyssop — plants often used in herbal teas.Credit…Fujio Emura

Joshua Werber’s Edible Flower and Herbal Tea Ensemble

Herbs and edible flowers can be as pleasing to the eye as they are therapeutic for the body, and overgrowth and surplus cuttings can provide material for dramatic table decorations. “Homegrown herbs have these really beautiful, wispy shapes,” says the Brooklyn-based floral artist Joshua Werber, who fashioned the sculptural arrangement above out of rugosa roses, orange and hyssop, as well as mint harvested from his own city garden — all ingredients selected in homage to his grandmother’s blend of choice: Celestial Seasonings’s Raspberry Zinger Herbal Tea.

To recreate his arrangement, take a favorite teapot (Werber used one by the English studio potter Seth Cardew) and start with a base of rose-hip branches, which will give the piece its structure. Next, introduce a few of the rugosa rose flowers, making sure you remove any foliage that obscures the blooms and position them in a way that allows the deep fuchsia petals to play off the bright orange of the rose hips. Then, tuck in a few sprigs of mint to create flow and movement, and accent with a couple of flowering hyssop tips. For a final touch of whimsy, take a citrus zester and peel off strips of orange rind before wrapping them around a chopstick and placing them in the freezer; after 20 minutes, uncoil and drape them throughout the arrangement. “I wanted to show the cycles and the processes behind the plant materials used in herbal teas,” says Werber of the piece. “Even though they can be shared, making these infusions is often a personal ritual. There’s an intimacy to them.”

Source: https://livingcorner.com.au Category: Garden

source https://livingcorner.com.au/how-to-create-your-own-herbal-tea-garden/

#livingcornernews

[clinicalherbalist]

This is a pivotal moment in the wildfood year, in my part of the world. The blackberries are blooming. This is generally accompanied by a slinght cold snap, which we call “blackberry winter”, but not a freeze. These flowers signal that wild fruit season is beginning. A time to gather and stock up on a series of abundant wild fruits and berries. . . Wild strawberries, if you can find any, are getting ripe now and over the next several days. Within two weeks, mulberries and serviceberries will be ripe. Then as those are ending, black raspberries will be getting ripe, and they will last until the blackberries are ripe. . . . After that the nuts start to ripen, first the walnuts, then acorns and hicory nuts. During acorn time the red haws and pawpaws start to get ripe, and then the persimmons. And after that it’s winter. . . . Each of those events is an opportunity to stock up on energy-rich food that can easily be preserved. And each of them is an opportunity that can easily be missed for the year if you aren’t looking at the right plants at the right time. So knowing the cycle and seasons and the flow of one harvest into the next is important. . . . #wildfood #appalachianculture #lexingtonky #wildedibles #plantbased #foraging #nutsandberries #stockingup #preparedness https://www.instagram.com/p/BxYnidJFzuq/?igshid=tku05fcyjb32

#wildfood #appalachianculture #lexingtonky #wildedibles #plantbased #foraging #nutsandberries #stockingup #preparedness

[juchechat]

County thrives along with gold mountains

[The Pyongyang Times]

The land of mountainous Changsong County in North Phyongan Province was so infertile that it was regarded as unfit for human habitation in the past. The county, however, turned into a modern rural community envied by all in the era of the Workers’ Party.

~Autumn of affluence~

Changsong County in autumn is beautiful. Every mountain and valley is tinged with red and the panoramic view of the Yongju Stream, which meanders through the county town, against the clear blue sky produces a pastoral atmosphere.

The county boasts rich forests.

When autumn comes, locals harvest pine nuts, black walnuts, fruits of toothache tree, hazelnuts, acorn, chestnut, wild grapes and fruit of Actinidia arguta in tens of thousands of hectares of forests, as well as such medicinal fruits as those of Crataegus pinnatifida and Schizandra chinensis in the pharmaceutical raw materials forest that covers several hundred hectares.

“We have gathered hundreds of tons of more wild fruits than last year. We have been busy every year, but this autumn we are too busy and short-handed to collect wild fruits in time. Perhaps it will be busier next year,” said Ryom Kum Chol, an official at the county people’s committee.

Dendrologists say that the forests in the county are perfect in terms of young trees nursing, tree planting, production of natural resources, protection of useful animals and maintenance of ecological environment, describing them as economical ones of great utility that are managed in a three-dimensional way.

The locals have benefited from them since the late 1950s, and not content with that, they planted over 1.4 million trees in some 350 hectares of forest areas this spring and autumn.

This autumn of affluence has been brought by the country population who cultivate the forests of gold and treasure mountains.

~Locally-run factories in full operation~

Changsong has some 10 locally-run factories including foodstuff, foodstuff-processing and furniture factories and paper mill.

The factories turn out hundreds of kinds of products and most of the products are made by relying on locally-available raw and other materials.

The Changsong Foodstuff Factory is the model of local-industry factories. It produces a variety of liquors, drinks, sweets, cakes and condiments. It is now channelling big efforts into the development of new, distinctive foodstuffs in keeping with the developing trend of global foodstuff industry. This year alone, it set a goal to boost wild fruit processing and developed five kinds of mixed drinks, three kinds of makkolli, omija soy sauce and sweets with wild pear and grapes, fruit of Actinidia arguta and other wild fruits as their main raw materials. Dozens of its products are widely known at home and abroad since they have original and peculiar tastes and high nutrition and are made from natural raw materials free from chemical synthesis.

The Changsong Foodstuff-processing Factory is also noted one. It was a small producer which specialized in the production of a few subsidiary foods including rice cake. But as it has drastically increased output and varieties now, so all the locals, to say nothing of housewives, are benefiting from the factory. In particular, the factory’s draft beer and sausage are very popular for their good tastes.

The paper, wallpaper, furniture, woolen products, soap, grasswork and many other consumer goods used by the locals have seen a marked improvement in quality and output year after year.

“All the factories in the county including ours are blessed with raw materials. Forest is the source of raw materials that do not run out and an important asset that makes us thrive,” said Kim Myong Ok, manageress of the Changsong Foodstuff Factory.

#dprk: news #dprk: pomoculture #dprk: industry

[the-panam-experiment-blog]

SERBIA

The first part of Serbia reminds us so much of home...!

Looks a lot like "Mostviertel", fruit trees everywhere, hilly landscape... we leave the big mountains behind for now. Our original idea of just crossing the country at its southern part and soon move on into Romania we changed quickly - somehow we just can't leave that early! Full of surprises, too interesting it is here. Diverse landscapes, every day totally different. So lovely people, so much nature. And this is how the initial idea of spending a couple days turned out to be three weeks...

Only one time the finding of a good place to sleep doesn't really work out... searching all afternoon without success, we end up pitching the tent in between the corn fields, just in time before the heavy thunderstorm hits us. This place is infested with mosquitos, the stream nearby useless for us, since it is full of trash and dirt and its shores seem to be alive from tons of crawling maggots. Damn! This means a waterless, thirsty evening and morning for us!

As a compensation, we treat ourselves with a cosy room in the city of Krusevac. This is one of the rare moments when we realize the weird impression we sometimes must make to strangers. It this certain case, we first don't want to park our bicycle in the parking lot - although obviously okay for a couple of motorbikes and fancy cars. Not secure enough for us, we stuff the bicycles under the stairway where is actually no space for them. But we are used by now to making space everywhere. Then, as the friendly hosts serve us coffee at the sunny terrace, just where we spread out all of our wet and dirty stuff to dry within seconds, and where us two exhausted, sweaty creatures sit, stuffing old bread into our mounths in our ravenous hunger... Gives us big laughs once we notice that this is not what "normal" guests would do after their arrival in a guesthouse. As a contrasting program, we get dressed in our "non cycling" clothes, go out, spend a great evening with good dinner and a couple drinks in this lovely city and totally fit in with the other people!

The regoin around Negotin is our next stop after a few more days of pedalling through the fields and forests of southern Serbia. Camping along rivers, underneath big walnut trees, crossing tiny remote villages where time seems to stand still. Here in Negotin, another very nice town, we find the perfect place for resting - a camp for cyclists - the backyard of a super hospitable family, we gather with other cyclists, having wonderful conversations and good, memorable evenings together. This is also the place where we reach the Danube for the first time. Exactly as we stop at its banks, our bike computer jumps over the 14.000 km mark! We can not believe it, this is it, our highway back home... We still have a few weeks left, but still, it already feels a bit like home, standing here at a so well known river. From now on it should get easier finding camping spots. Going slowly and easily along the EuroVelo 6 bike route now, experiencing so many perfect sunrises, sunsets, clearest night skies, super red full moons. The perfect package. Intially, we expected a kind of boring, dull riding in a kind of boring, dull landscape. But surprisingly, it is really beautiful and diverse. Going through the "Iron Gate" for instance, lets us stop several times in astonishment - leading though narrow gorges, passing by old castles, big lakes, just stunning nature at its best. Just a few kilometers before we reach Belgrade, as we stop for our daily picknick in the sun, we spot several white tailed ealgles, a large group of black storchs on their way south for the winter, huge numbers of white herons. Incredible, this biodiverity just outside a huge city! Out on the plains an enormous cloud is darkening the sky - a massive swarm of starlings is showing us its full beauty of their impressive flight formations...

As we stop one afternoon at a "beach bar" on the Danube's riverbank, we immediately decide to stay here for the rest of the day. It is so quiet, so nice, seeming to be the perfect place for us. The owner is happy to let us stay and pitch the tent, we are looking forward to an afternoon of sitting in the sun, staring at the water, reading a book, doing nothing. Well, so it was, until a boat landed from the other side of the river, carrying three men, who invited us for a drink right away. And so, this was it with our quiet afternoon. Not easy to get away again, having dinner together (great fish out of the danube by the way). The "boss" of this group, the one who is carrying a big bag full of cash, soon had a little too much Slibowica, as had his companeros. This, and the setting sun, finally gave us an excuse to leave, get into our tents, without the quiet afternoon we desired, but one more - well, 'interesting' - encounter instead.

Definitely, no more mountains here for us! After the "Iron Gate" it gets really flat. Such plains we did not see in a long, long time (crossing Arizona to the Mexican border, maybe?). But still not boring or dull, a quite nice contrast to the almost 140.000 m of elevation gain we did before. Fast and quick we pedal through the serbian fall, which is definitely not to be regretted anymore. Busy life on the fields, harvesting season is on its peak, the nights are getting more and more chilly and longer, the sun not as hot anymore. Well, our endless summer is indeed coming to an end as it seems!

Der erste Teil Serbiens erinnert uns sehr stark an zu Hause! Wie im Mostviertel sieht's aus, Obstbäume überall, hügelige Landschaft... Unser ursprünglicher Plan - das Land im Süden zu durchqueren, um im Osten nach Rumänien zu wechseln - ist schnell verworfen. Irgendwie kommen wir hier nicht  so schnell weg. So voller Überraschungen, so facettenreich, so interessant ist dieses Land! Verschiedenste Landschaften, jeden Tag ganz neu. So liebe Menschen, so viel Natur. Und so sind es dann anstatt weniger Tage drei Wochen, die wir hier verbringen!

Mit dem Finden von supertollen Schlafplätzen ist es nicht immer ganz einfach... Einen Nachmittag lang suchen wir eine Ewigkeit, finden nichts Geeignetes, bis ein Gewitter aufzieht und wir schlussendlich zwischen den Maisfeldern landen. Komplett verseucht mit Moskitos, ist zu allem Überfluss der Bach nebenan zum Filtern von Trinkwasser absolut unbrauchbar - verdreckt, vermüllt, das Ufer übersät mit Maden... So bleiben wir ziemlich durstig und ungewaschen im Zelt zurück für die Nacht...

Am nächsten Tag gönnen wir uns zur Entschädigun ein Zimmer in Kruševac. Und da wird uns erstmals so richtig bewusst, welch komischen Eindruck wir manchmal abgeben. Heute zeigen wir bei der Ankunft erstmal ziemlich unzufrieden darüber, unsere Räder hinten auf dem Parkplatz zu lassen. Viel zu unsicher finden wir, obwohl es für die Besitzer der teuren Motorräder und Audis offenbar reicht. Wir aber geben erst Ruhe, nachdem wir Möbel und  Zimmerplanzen im Vorraum verschoben, die Räder unter die Stiege platziert und am Geländer angekettet haben. Im Zimmer angekommen, serviert man uns zur Begrüßung Kaffee auf die Terrasse, wo wir gerade sitzen und bereits überall unser noch von letzter Nacht klitschnasses Zeug ausgebreitet haben und gerade dabei sind, im Heißhunger die Reste unseres Brotes von der Mittagspause in uns hineinzustopfen, das wir vorher in ein Glas Ajvar getunkt haben. Als wir uns vor Augen führen, wie das wohl alles wirken muss, kriegen wir uns kaum ein vor Lachen. Als Kontrastprogramm dazu machen wir uns am Abend schick, gehen aus, fein Essen in dieser sympathischen Stadt, und verhalten uns wie “normale” Menschen!

In Negotin, dem letzten Halt bevor wir die Donau erreichen, finden wir ein europäisches Pendant zu den lateinamerikanischen "casa de ciclistas". Ein Ort voll und ganz für Radfahrer, mit allen Annehmlichkeiten die man sich nur wünschen kann, und wunderbare Gesellschaft inklusive. Feine Tage und Abende, mit gemeinschaftlichem Kochen und langen, interessanten Gesprächen.

Kurz darauf haben wie sie erreicht: die Donau! Genau als wir ans Ufer gelangen, springt der Tacho auf 14.000 km um! Kaum zu glauben, das ist er also, unser Highway nach Hause! Ein bisschen Weg haben wir ja noch vor uns, und doch fühlt es sich ein klein wenig nach Heimat an, an diesem Fluss zu stehen, der uns so vertraut ist. Ab jetzt wird es wieder einfach mit dem Zeltplätze finden. Wunderbare Sonnenaufgänge dürfen wir erleben, und so unglaubliche sternenklare Nächte, die es einem nicht leicht machen, sich ins Zelt zu verziehen. Haben wir beide eher mit etwas monotonen, flachen Tagen, auf Dämmen dahintretend, gerechnet, werden wir schnell eines Besseren belehrt. Es ist wunderschön und abwechslungsreich. Das Eiserne Tor zum Beispiel ist eine eindrucksvolle Landschaft, durch enge Schluchten und an alten Burgen vorbei. An unseren mittäglichen Picknicks am Flussufer beobachten wir nur wenige Kilometer vom Großstadttrubel Belgrads entfernt Seeadler, Schwarzstörche und riesige Schwärme Stare, die in grandiosen Formationen den Himmel verdunkeln. Ein Spektakel nach dem anderen!

Eines Nachmittags kommen wir an einer Beach Bar, mitten im Nirgendwo, vorbei. So schön ruhig hier am Wasser, der nette Beitzer lässt uns das Zelt aufschlagen, wir freuen uns auf ein paar gemütliche Stunden - denken wir zumindest. Bis ein kleines Boot mit drei Herren ankommt, wir von diesen auf ein Getränk eingeladen werden, um anschließend an ihrem Tisch hängen zu bleiben, mit ihnen Essen (hervorragenden Fisch direkt aus der Donau), ob wir wollen oder nicht. Der "Boss" der Runde, wie auch eine Kumpanen schon etwas zu viel Schnaps erwischt, trägt eine Kameratasche mit sich herum. Statt einer Kamera quillt aber das Bargeld nur so heraus. Erst die untergehende Sonne gibt uns einen geeigneten Vorwand, die illustre Runde zu verlassen. Nun, soviel zu einem ruhigen Nachmittag am Donaustrand.

Mit den Bergen, oder Hügeln, ist es nun endgültig vorbei. Nach dem Eisernen Tor wird es dann so richtig flach. So eine Ebene haben wir schon lange nicht mehr gesehen! Eine angenehme Abwechslung nach knapp 140.000 Höhenmetern im letzten Jahr! Und so geht es ziemlich flott dahin, durch den serbischen Herbst, der sich langsam nicht mehr verleugnen lässt. Auf den Feldern herrscht reges Treiben, die Nächte werden schon ziemlich kalt, die Sonne ist nicht mehr so kräftig. Ja, unser nahezu endloser Sommer neigt sich nun tatsächlich dem Ende zu!

#serbien #serbia #donau #eurovelo #danube

[peter-horrocks]

En vadrouille in Alsace

Getting out and about and switching off from everything that is going on in the world is a pleasure which I personally savour more than ever after the physical restriction and weird subtle mental stress of the confinement days. Though it was actually watching an interview on French television with the legendary actor Pierre Richard during the two months stuck in our flat that I came across the real meaning of the wonderful French expression “en vadrouille” it is getting out and about. When asked what he enjoyed doing most in life Richard’s response was that he loved doing just that, especially on foot from his doorstep. I’ve been adopting that method recently combined with an enhanced desire to appreciate small things and on our recent visit to Alsace visiting family it came up trumps.

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy. “ Dale Carnegie

The old six bucket well in Obernai center.

We have been up to the charming small town of Obernai in Alsace a number of times now and like you do we visited the local classic’s, the idyllic Christmas markets, the magnificent city of Strasbourg and my personal favourite Colmar. Ferreted around in the shops filled with amusing Alsacien memorabilia which are like permanent Christmas and spent pleasant moments trying out the local specialities in tea shops, bars and restaurants where we indulged in bretzels, streusel and sauerkraut as well as excellent beer and wine and much more.

But I wanted to get away from all that and as my French wife was occupied with her family I set out “en vadrouille”. From the kitchen window of Caroline’s house, I could see a huge white cross set on a hill in the distance, that would be my first point of call. So, on a fine morning, I crossed town on foot having donned my obligatory mask then headed up the hill on the other side free of the need to protect and be protected and got away from people in general.

The Mont National is a 320-metre-high limestone hill which extends for 3 km and dominates the town of Obernai. The towering white cross on the summit is a war memorial dedicated to local men who lost their lives during the great war having been forcefully enlisted into the German army, an unusual twist which I subsequently came across a number of times in the area. From the hilltop, one can clearly make out the historic old town of Obernai, the fields and surrounding villages on the plane as well as the Voges mountain range to the south-west, and on the eastern edge of town the huge Kronenbourg, Carlsburg factory which produces a third of the beer consumed in France and in the distance beyond the long line of the hills of the Black Forest in Germany.

Grape pickers in the vines above Obernais

The Mont itself is covered in vineyards and it was grape picking time, which was nostalgic for me having done a couple of seasons in the Bordelais in my youth. I knew a bit about Alsace wine and the local vigneron had gone to the trouble of putting up signs explaining the types grown on the Mont and which food they complimented most. It was a perfect way to casually enhance my wine knowledge whilst basking in the morning sun, admiring the beautiful pristine vines and watching the grape pickers harvesting in some rows whilst the grape picking machine was deployed in others.

Grape picking machine on Mont National, Obernai

That really took me back to the day when the very first of these high tractors equipped with beating sticks and a system to suck up the grapes made its appearance in a vineyard near us when I was grape picking. It was a revolution back then and few of the vineyards were prepared for its use, we were quite awestruck by it and aware that huge change was there in front of us. The long-established vendange system was of local farmers helping each other, complemented by annual travelling gipsy groups from Spain and foreign students like me. The modern machine is obviously much more efficient but I preferred the manual days of secateurs, the comradery and the hard work picking entailed, we laughed a lot and the gentle chug of the collecting tractor and trailer with its big open wooden casks was the only noise, unlike the present-day machine which sounds like an aggressive oversized hoover.

Grapes ripe for picking

As I walked around the hill on part of what is known as the “route des vins” I enjoyed observing the different grape types and the leaves already gradually changing to their beautiful Autumn colours of golden yellow, soft purple, pink and light green. 

Autumn colours of the vine leaves

Then descending downhill back towards town I was struck by the similarity of the high church tower in Obernai with its distinct four decorative statue holders and that of the one in the village beyond in the direction of the Voges. I decided that would be my next out and about project.

The spire of the church in Obernai centre like the one in the nearby village

Back at the house, I worked out that it was only a kilometre and a half to the village of Bernardswiller and I asked Matt if there was anything to see there. He said, “you know what, we’ve never been”. Which I think is often the case when you live somewhere and are so busy going about life and doing what you have to do then trying to do fairly exceptional things when you have some precious spare time. We were exactly the same with a young family living in fascinating Oxford, it was our visitors who discovered what was under our noses, not us.

Next day was another fine day and Eliane came with me this time. It was a flat easy ten minutes’ walk to Bernardswiller and as we entered the village we heard the loud hum of bees coming from behind a high wall and saw a small sign by the gate “Miel” with a telephone number. On the way back we rang and encountered a charming Alsacien couple who took us into their garden which was huge, with an abundant vegetable garden, orchard and beehives. We bought some delicious organic honey for half the price one normally pays in the supermarket and took it back for Caroline, Matt and the kids to dig into for afternoon tea.

The village was very quiet, typical, like stepping back in time, with lots of large archways with big wooden doors and a stone family crest above and a smaller insert door leading to courtyards and other buildings beyond, very pretty. I noticed another small sign for a beer microbrewery and resolved to knock on their door next time we visit. There were no shops and the old bar was closed, there were two small wine “caves” in full vendange swing, then there was this gigantic church with its soaring tower, quite out of proportion to the village, a reflection apparently of the regional dominance of the church and the riches generated by the surrounding vines in the old days. The village was very pleasant and beyond we walked through more gorgeous vineyards lined with occasional walnut, apple and pear trees. We picked up some nuts and fruit lying on the ground as we understood from Caroline that it was perfectly acceptable behaviour and considered a local perk.

Saint Odile convent on the hilltop beyond the vineyards

We wandered along the country lanes and tracks to Saint Nabor, the next village, which was at the foot of the Voges and Mont Saint Odile. I had half a mind to walk up through the forest to the Convent on the top which is a tourist attraction but settled instead for just locating the start of the steep track, I was enjoying the “vadrouille” too much.

The next day I resolved to find the Weibel wine cave which sold the wines made from the grapes grown on the Schenkenburg domaine up on the Mont National. I thought it would be in the centre of Obernai as I had seen some rather posh wine selling establishments in passing but it turns out it was in a leafy lane just a few hundred yards from Caroline’s house, suburbia had engulfed it. It was my sort of place, rustic, family-run, with a lovely old lady who helped us taste the wine and explained everything whilst her rugged handsome son directed operations for the grapes to be pressed, and I couldn’t help noticing you could still see the huge white cross up on the hill. 

Loading the grapes into the press

I had a lovely time chatting about the old days with our hostess though not wanting to take up too much of her time as she was also in the process of preparing lunch for the grape pickers and I remembered very well how important that was after a typical six in the morning start.

Some of the wine on sale in the Weibel domaine shop

You can find the Weibel Marcel and Fils wines on www.vins-weibel.com and I can recommend the Gewurztraminer (which can only be grown in particular conditions, namely on south-facing limestone hills like the Mont National), and the Pinot Gris is pretty good too.  

Incidentally, Le Grand Vadrouille is a classic French comedy film which is shown over and over on television in France, it’s fun and stars the amazing Louis de Funes.

I quite liked my Petit version.

All the best

Peter H.

#Alsace #vadrouille #wine

[brightgnosis]

The weather's supposed to be in the 100's for the next week or two (one last hurrah before Autumn sets in finally), but we had a cold front today so it was nice and cool. So we took advantage of it to get as much done around the house and basement as we possible could.

My Husband did the vast majority of the laundry while I bathed the animals then attended the Autumn Equinox Ritual I'd already had set plans to attend. Afterwards I helped my Husband make Peanut Butter Cookies. Then while he was working on one of his Pasta Bakes for dinner, I went out and settled into the garden to get some work done.

Tidied up the garden today after everything got neglected for a week while we were at the festival; cut everything back, trimmed off anything that needed trimming, and got all the debris chopped up and trenched in wherever I could. Also harvested the Herbs that got overgrown- including Parsley, Orange Balm, Oregano, Purple and Garden Sage, Pineapple Sage, and all the Basils. Processed all that and got it set out to dry, ad got the Peppers and Okra I pulled cleaned and into the fridge.

Processed all of the Black Walnuts we picked up from the farm yesterday, after that- which was much easier than I expected it to be, to be honest. Then got those scrubbed down as much as I could, and set out to cure; they'll cure until Monday, then I'll have the Husband beat the demons out of them and pick them through.

I've decided on a Black Walnut Pie for this month's Hagging Out. So I'll see how much I wound up within the end, after that, and whether or not I'll need to augment it with regular Walnut meat for the Pie. Only one of the nuts seems like it could be bad, but this is my first time working with Black Walnuts so I've no idea what the meat to shell ratio actually is and whether or not I've picked out enough. So we'll see! It'll have to cure another couple days after it comes out of the shell, anyways.

Now that I have that figured out, finally, though, I can focus on the other stuff ... I've got the grocery list for my Husband's Birthday Cake done now. Then I've picked the 'Cumberland Sausage, Apple, and Cider Casserole' for Porters Posse and got that added to the grocery list; since my Husband's cake involves Blackberries and the Casserole involved Apples, if I have enough extra leftover of both then I might make a small batch of the ‘Blackberry Butter’ from Porters, too, so the extra doesn't go to waste.

I still need to figure out what I'm going to do for the Ritual Loaf I need to make for the Harvest New Moon; I need to make pilgrimage out to the Lake to pay the Rents and I want to do something nice this year if I've still got some energy. Otherwise I'm not doing anything else for that since it's Erev Rosh Hashana and my Husband's birthday that day.

I'm not going to do anything for Rosh Hashana other than light a candle and leave out some Honey and Apples for the ancestors in recognition; I may make pilgrimage to the lake for immersion- or do immersion while I'm at the lake paying the Rents- but I'm not going to stress about it if it doesn't happen. There's so much going on already 😬

This month got away from me a little bit and became very chaotic very quickly. But thankfully after Rosh Hashanah it cams down for a bit and it's not so bad.

#Personal #Religion & Magic #Life Of A Disabled Homemaker #Daily Life #2022 #Food Is The Ultimate Love Language #Homemaker #Homemaking #Housewife #NonTrad Housewife #NonTrad Homemaker #NonTrad Homemaking

[lanierpens]

How Glamorous Wood Upright Pen Stand is a perfect tool for Pen Lovers?

Since 2005, Lanier has been crafting wood pens including Rollerball Pen, Fountain Pen, Ball Point Pens and Pencil, and exotic wood upright pen stands every day for customers throughout the world. Each Lanier upright pen stand has Artistic value and practical use that is second to none. Lanier Pens offers the most exquisite vertical pen displays, and pen stands to fit a broad range of Fountain Pens, Ball Point Pens, and Rollerball Pens.

Different types of woods used to craft the glamorous Pen Stand

Our upright pen displays and pen stands are made from different kinds of wood for you to choose from including:

·         Walnut

·         Maple

·         Rosewood

·         Bocote

·         Bubinga

Why our upright pen displays and pen stands are so exceptional?

Our customer's value and treasure every one of their writing instruments and a display stand made in the USA out of beautiful exotic woods is the best alternative not only to showcase your collection but also to extend the life of our favorite fountain pens. It is common knowledge that fountain pens contain liquid ink, and if the ink is left to dry inside the feeder of the fountain pen nib, the flow of ink to the paper will be interrupted and will sometime cause a blockage and the pen will not write. The best solution to avert this is to not lay your fountain pen down on a flat surface. Instead, display your pen collection proudly on a custom made Lanier Upright Pen Stand, which will allow gravity to drain the ink out of the nib and feeder and back into the body of the pen where it belongs.

Enough space for all Your Pens

Most of our consumers have a wide range of ballpoint, roller ball as well as Fountain Pens in their collection. They value and treasure every one of them. However, more than that, they are very proud of them, and therefore, almost all of them will have their pens on display. Our upright pen stands are made to exact specifications and out of the finest materials available. They not only display your pen collection the way that it should be to make a statement, but they also keep your pens on display within reach.

The design

You might wonder what makes our Lanier upright pen stands so exceptional. To begin with, it’s important to mention that our entire pen stands are custom items made to order and each unit will be a one-of-a-kind piece of art.

Each of our pen stands are made from solid exotic woods harvested from sustainable trees. Next, the customer selects the design that best suits their collection. We have designs ranging from 1 pen to 15 pen upright stands.  Then our Master Woodworkers layout the exact measurements to create the perfect angle for gravity to do its magic and for the stand to display the correct number of writing instruments.

After all the wood parts have been cut to specification, then the sanding and polishing process begins.  During this stage the raw wood is polished to perfection protection by hand and then protected with an Oil and Urethane Topcoat. The final step is assembly where the unit is put together with glue.  We proudly use no nails, nuts, bolts or screws to insure all parts of the stand are made of soft wood with no hard metal objects that could potentially harm or scratch your cherished writing instruments.

If you’re a daily pen user or even a moderate to extreme pen collector you should own owe one or more Lanier Upright Pen Stands!

Rosewood

Bolivian Rosewood shares numerous characteristics of true rosewoods including its colors, working properties, and density. Colors range from violet streaks to coffee browns and black. The trees grow in Bolivia and some of the surrounding Countries. Logs are small and usually only produce lumber 3-6 inches; wide. Only a small percentage of logs are large enough to cut high quality wide boards (boards 8" are considered wide for this species). Bolivian Rosewood makes a nice choice for acoustic and electric guitars but is also used for anything from high end veneers for corporate jets to jewelry boxes and everything in between. Other common names are Pau Ferro, Santos Rosewood, Morado, and others. Bolivian Rosewood glues better and is less expensive than other true rosewoods. Though Rosewood is in its name, it is not true Rosewood as the scientific name does not have Dalbergia in it; rather it is a Machaerium spp.

#Rosewood

[walnutsonthebrain]

Official Walnut Proposal

Upon further research in order to develop my approach to solve the problems I’ve outlined in previous blog posts I realized that the University of California, Davis has already implemented thoroughly developed solutions so I will be “piggy-backing” off their idea. Their Walnut Improvement Program has been around since 1948 and they’ve continuously conducted genetic research and implemented disease resistant scions (Walnut Improvement Program). I’ll outline an integrated approach about how I’d approach the solution, but I’m sure it will coincide with their research so I will be referring back to their timeline to create my own, which you can view on my page.

I’m proposing a seven year research plan to develop new rootstock genotypes to fend off the bacterial infection Brennaria (=Erwinia) rubrifaciens, also known as the deep bark canker infections that causes the scaffolds and trunks to crack while reddish brown ooze seeps through. This plan can be used for any bacterial pathogen, but I am using Brennaria rubrifaciens as an example. Since the disease begins in the trunk and works its way upward, I think it would prove to be beneficial to develop a successful rootstock lineage. 

I will begin in January 2020 and expect for my first orchard trials to begin 2024. Since the deep bark canker infections are not occurring in native walnut trees or walnut orchards near the coast I’ll travel to Southern and Northern California with two other individuals to collect cuttings from the wild type black walnuts that are present. I will then work my way back east, stopping at the coastal orchard of Santa Clara Nut Company in San Jose and then move to the orchards where I will have my trials - Concar Ranch and Chiappi Farms to collect cuttings of the Paradox hybrid, English Walnut, and other hybrids present. After returning to campus at UC Davis I will use a greenhouse in orchard park with a few undergraduate students who will help me breed the plants in the greenhouse. While the breeding takes place and the walnut plants continue to grow I will move to Wickson Hall to work in lab 1092 closely with Walnut Improvement Program lab technicians. 

I expect the next process will take two years to complete. Next I will extract the DNA from the wild walnut types with the help of lab assistants and once I compare my genes next to the genetic sequence of the walnut genome (A J. regia genome sequence was obtained from the cultivar 'Chandler' to discover target genes and additional unknown genes) (Martinez-Garcia, PJ. et al. 2016) I will use Smart Blast to find the specific location of the gene. Once the gene is isolated I will insert it into a plasmid along with the bacteria Brennaria (=Erwinia) rubrifaciens, which will then be inserted into media to see if a reaction forms. If a reaction does form and the bacteria spreads I will isolate the gene once again and compare against a non-coastal species in Smart Blast. If the gene reacts this means it is not resistant to the bacteria, if it does not react then it means it is resistant. If it is not resistant I will need to find another gene or go through the same process with a different species of walnuts. I anticipate If it doesn’t react then I have found the gene or genes I would like to implement into the non-coastal species and I will splice the gene into a plasmid vector to create a gene construct. Each successful resistant found will be a new genotype that, with the help of a molecular biologist, will be introduced to non-coastal species that do not have the resistant gene through transgenesis. 

With the help of lab assistants I will transform the non-coastal species with Agrobacterium tumefaciens (Figure 1). Using the non-coastal species of the Northern California Black Walnut (for example) I will infect the plant with Agrobacterium tumefacians which will highlight the T-region, allowing me to integrate the successful genotype into non-coastal Northern California Black Walnut. From here I will continue tissue culture micropropagation with in vitro and ex vitro rooting of microshoots to make the genotypes strong enough to be acclimated to the greenhouse.  I will also use dormant hardwood cuttings from the plants in the greenhouse to clonally propagated if they were tested successful for the resistant gene. While the plants are being propagated they will remain in a hormone induced media kept inside rectangular magentas held to a 99% humidity level under constant light. This means that when it’s time to acclimate the plant to the greenhouse we have to place the plants in a dark box for a week so they learn to adjust to a dark setting; this also ensures the plants can go through their respective Calvin cycles. 

Figure 1. Scheme of T-DNA transfer from Agrobacterium tumefaciens to a plant cell 

The successful genotypes will remain in the greenhouse for two years before being taken to the field site to test in an orchard setting. I will need all hands on deck at the farm and in the greenhouse to perform these orchard trials. I will need help transporting, transplanting, and monitoring the orchards. Using the UC Davis designated orchard trial areas I will perform my studies at Concar Ranch and Chiappi Farms. Throughout the next two years I will collect bark and nut samples to evaluate in the lab for the disease and evaluate the plants for horticultural performance and natural occurence of bacteria disease. While the orchard trials are occurring a team of lab assistants are in the lab continuing creating tissue cultures of microshoots. Once everything has been tried and true I will contribute cultures on microshoots to any laboratory or nursery that wants them for licensed production of plants (Leslie, C. et al. 2011). The experiment will conclude in September of 2027 after harvest.

Possible Pitfalls

With any experiment or solutions to major problems pitfalls will ensue. I predict a likely pitfall would be that the bacteria I am studying for resistance will mutate before I completed with my trials, creating sub species in a bid to recreate the environment it came from. In order to anticipate for this I will precisely monitor my project for any mutations that will reside. Another pitfall that is likely to occur is that entire lineages of my genotype will become infected with a different bacteria, which would cause me to dispose of the micropropagation plants and start over. This one would be difficult to foresee, but if I plan ahead and have enough plants in the greenhouse to sequence I will have more opportunities to start over. 

.

.

.

Sources:

Leslie C, Hacket W, Robinson R, Grant J, Lampinen B, Anderson K, Beede B, Buchner R, Caprile J, DeBuse C, Elkins R, Hasey J, Vahdati K, Kluepfel D, Brown G, McKenry M, & Preece J. Clonal Propagation of Walnut Rootstock Genotypes for Genetic Improvement 2011. California Walnut Board.

Martínez-García PJ, Crepeau MW, Puiu D, Gonzalez-Ibeas D, Whalen J, Stevens KA, Paul R, Butterfield TS, Britton MT, Reagan RL, Chakraborty S, Walawage SL, Vasquez-Gross HA, Cardeno C, Famula RA, Pratt K, Kuruganti S, Aradhya MK, Leslie CA, Dandekar AM, Salzberg SL, Wegrzyn JL,  Langley CH, & Neale DB. The walnut (Juglans regia) genome sequence reveals diversity in genes coding for the biosynthesis of non-structural polyphenols. Plant Journal. 2016 Sep;87(5):507-32. doi: 10.1111/tpj.13207

National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine. Smart Blast. https://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/smartblast/smartBlast.cgi

University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Walnut Improvement Program. http://walnutrootstock.ucanr.edu/WIP/

[theoutdoorpursuit]

The Trials and Tribulations of a Public Land Hunter: Opening Day

What if I told you my Opening Day was a smooth success?

I found my tree, on the WMA I had scouted over the summer, with ease. Cruised to the top and sat with time to kill as I awaited the rising sun. Shortly after first light, the woods came alive. Groups of doe accompanied by their fawn, followed shortly by spike bucks and of course the one we'd waited for all year. I pulled back flawlessly, sending one straight into the boiler maker. Back straps and celebratory beer awaited me.

In reality, my Opening Day could not have been farther from the truth...

My Opening day began with a 3:45 am wake up call for an hour and a half drive to our public land destination. The weather was unfavorable for the second weekend in October with a high of 86. With odds against us, we flew down the empty highway blaring our favorite hunting songs and chugging coffee, hopeful for an Opening Day Miracle.

We were jacked up on caffeine and anticipation, cruising along making good time, yet in the back of my mind I knew some wrench in the plan awaited us. It was just a matter of when and where. We knew that our first time on public land would entail some obstacles, and sure enough upon our arrival, we were met with obstacle number one.

As the F-150 whipped into the gravel lot its head beams hit a gate, a big bright yellow gate that wasn’t suppose to be there. Over the summer, we had discovered what we believed to be a seasonal gate, open only to traffic during the hunting season. A mile or so walk while scouting but come Fall we’d be able to drive the truck and park 150 yards from our spot.  

My stomach dropped, “Why the Hell is this gate closed?!” we all said in near unison. We checked the information board. It was most certainly hunting season. As we scanned the board we heard the noise of oncoming vehicles. Two trucks tearing down the gravel road, but they didn’t stop in our lot. They continued across the street through another entrance, an open yellow gate we hadn’t noticed, until now. After further review, what we thought was a seasonal gate was closed… 50 yards across the road lay the assumed seasonal gate.

We stared at each other with blank faces, a demoralizing rookie mistake, but before we could feel sorry for ourselves a decision had to be made. Huff it to our spot, most likely reaching our trees as the sun rose, or drive down the unknown road and blindly look for a climbable tree.

“I’m sticking to the plan,” Ted announced. “Well looks like we got a bit of a walk ahead of us,” I replied in agreement.

We tore off our morning attire and jumped into camo. One by one we grabbed our bows and threw our climbers over our backs. With a bow in one hand, a backpack in the other, and a climbing treestand on our backs, we sprinted down the trail. A mile and a half walk ahead of us, the sun surely close behind. 

We walked for what felt like hours. I held my climber tight to silence its squeak that mimicked my every step, all while attempting to balance the rest of my gear and walk as fast as humanly possible.

My tree was the farthest away. We dropped off my brother, then Ted found his tree and then another 75 yards and I’d be on mine.

Fumbling through the woods, my gear sticking to limbs and briars, somehow I found the tree I had picked out of that summer. It was an old black walnut tree, battle worn from past hunts with marks visible from previous hunters’ stands.

6:30 a.m. The sun would begin to rise any minute. I unraveled my newly purchased climber. I had yet to use it, but how much different could it be from my old one? I strapped in the bottom and climbed on to lock in the top. I began my climb, however I quickly noticed how tough the bark of the tree was. The blades of my climber barely dug in. I now know how tough black walnut bark is and I believe past use by other hunters didn’t make it any softer.

Unfortunately this wasn’t known until 10 feet up in a tree. I’d move the bottom with my lower body and attempt to put my weight down when… THUD. The platform scraped down the tree, stopping a foot from losing it completely. This process continued to repeat. I barely got 15 feet up when I reluctantly decided to quit. But this was only the first mistake. I had positioned my climber on the tree at an angle, as instructed. As the tree begins to narrow the climber should level out, however this particular black walnut tree didn’t narrow out at all, it was the same width the entire way up. A detail I had failed to noticed in my rushed state.

I now had nowhere to sit, nowhere to put my feet. I look around the woods, it was bright as day. It had taken me nearly 45 minutes to get up the tree. Should I shimmy down and try again, it would be nearly 8:30. I decided to cut my losses. I’d shimmy down and hunt from an adjacent hill. Very difficult to do, but if I were able to get up on the hill before 8 and sit between the prime hours of 8 to 9, maybe I’d at least see a deer.

I sat down on the ground, ashamed and embarrassed. I debated whether I’d even tell the other guys.

For the next two hours I saw nothing but squirrels. I didn’t expect to see deer. The squeaking sound of me shimmying up and down the tree, multiple times, surely spooked anything remotely in the area.

With all hope lost, I sat and waited. We had agreed to climb down at 10:30 a.m. to meet back at the truck and as I was already down I waited with my ass parked in damp leaves, counting down the minutes on a phone that read “no service.”

It was up to the other two to find some deer, but in reality it was soaring towards 86 degrees, they weren’t going to see crap.

From my seated position I laid back into the leaves to stare up at the sky. It was 9:40… 50 minutes to go.

“MAH!,” I heard someone say. 

“Is Teddy fucking with me?” I initially thought, but what followed the “mah” came the unmistakable sound of a deer’s fleeting footsteps through the leaves..

15 minutes later and Ted appeared on my trail, “Why are you on the...”

“Long story I’ll tell you about it later,” I answered dismissively

A 30 yard shot across the creek on a quartering away eight point buck. Ted described his shot as a good one, entered through the back into the organs. The buck ran up the hill with the lumenok lit arrow glowing through the trees.

“You guys are early,” my brother said as we approached his tree. “We got a buck to track,” I replied knowing the work that awaited us.

We made the mile trek back to the truck, each step reminding us how far we'd be dragging the buck once retrieved.

A long haul it would be, yet excitement filled the air. Success on Opening Day, a buck to harvest, and meat in the freezer.

We spoke of a fire back at the house. Cold beer and back straps straight from the source. This was the vision we dreamt about each night during the summer as we shared beers and watched hunting clips on Youtube. The warm temps, the closed gate on public land we'd never hunted. It was all too good to be true...

Nearly two hours since the shot, we hiked back into the woods. The day was growing hot, sweat dripped from our brow. Foolishly, no one had packed extra water. In our heads, seeing deer was a stretch… a shot on a buck seemed unfathomable 24 hours ago.

Ted retraced his steps, showing us the angle of the shot. A difficult one, through some debris across a creek, but the buck had sprinted straight up the hill. Promising for a quick retrievable as the grueling climb would bleed out the buck even quicker.

There was no blood at the place of impact. We began climbing the hill where Ted had watched the buck escape, arrow lodged in its side. “Over here,” my brother exclaimed. A drop, a single drop of blood lay on a leaf yards from impact. But that was it, nothing more.

We started a grid from the speck of blood, scaling the hillside 150 yards in every direction. 30 minutes than an hour, still nothing. The look on Ted’s face said it all. No blood, no arrow, no deer. An unsuccessful hunt is one thing, perhaps expected on a warm October Opening Day, but an unsuccessful retrieval… gut-wrenching.

Perhaps the buck could survive, but it seemed unlikely. Either way, this was a hunter's worst nightmare.

We endlessly practice for that single shot. Months of preparation and anticipation for a fleeting moment. From high spirits and exuberant excitement to utter disbelief and remorse. This was our Opening day.

On the bright side, there’s an entire hunting season ahead of us. I hope the buck survives and that we may encounter him again one day. Next time we’ll be ready.

We hunted hard. Lessons were learned. It’s only up from here.

#openingday #deerseason #bowhunting #bowseason #deer #deerhunting