The Appalachian Forest

yesterday we all (except for aaron who was flying away to california) went over to our friend mary bartlett's house (that she shares with her daughter lily). she's gentle, wise, and so much fun. she's been gardening and growing her own food for about 30 years. we're all very excited about coming to know her better.

so we showed up at her house to help out in the garden. yesterday was on the biodynamic calendar a root day so we were planting beets, turnips, onions, carrots, potatoes... i think that's all.

what an awesome day we had! there was much camaraderie and love shared on the little hillside garden behind her house.

we're planning to participate in the garden tending regularly this season to help us grow our connection and relationships with mary (and hopefully with lily), learn from her experience, and participate in growing a good portion of our own food. woo-hoo!

she loaned me a few books before we left, one of which is The Appalachian Forest, A Search for Roots and Renewal by Chris Bolgiano.

the inside flap of the cover says:
"In the coves of southern Appalachia are fifteen hundred species of flowering plants, including more kinds of trees than in all of northern Europe. here are bewildering nuances of biodiversity, with mosses, fungi, spiders, salamanders, mussels, fish, birds, and people like none other on earth. Searching for home, we moved into one of the grand old mansions of the planet....

"The Appalachian Forest describes a place once rich with old-growth woodlands – American chestnuts ten feet in diameter, tulip poplars more than two hundred feet tall, warblers and wild turkey abundant beyond imagining – whose landscape has been systematically devastated by cutting and mining. Comparing the past and present land and people of this region once known as The Great Forest, Chris Bolgiano finds the promise of ecological recovery.

"More than a biological overview, the book explores mountain life and its many contrasts, such as generations of human poverty amid a wealth of natural resources. The mountain farmers, Cherokee, foresters, biologists, bear hunters, and grassroots activists that Bolgiano comes to know all define a part of the diversity of her Appalachian home.

"Meticulously researched, yet lyrically personal, The Appalachian Forest reveals a powerful message: the need to preserve mature, connected forests for the benefit of all living things in this great wilderness – including people."

oh wow. i think this is the book i've been looking for. perhaps it's been looking for me as well. thanks to mary b for bringing up together. i'm so excited to let this book help to introduce me to the history of this place i'm learning to love to call home. i'm excited to let this book help me proudly call myself one of the inhabitants of this land.

i'm drooling in anticipation.

cultivating stillness

"to meet everything and everyone through stillness instead of mental noise is the greatest gift you can offer the universe. i call it stillness, but it is a jewel of many facets: that stillness is also joy, and it is love." -eckhart tolle

the power of now is amazing.

i'm overcoming some of the painful stories i've come to tell myself. and remembering some of the beautiful stories i've had as a young'n and at various other points along the way. down with down, up with up.

on the more physical plane, there's now a little community blossoming in our little home in culpeper, virginia. there are seven adults and one asher baby living on the third floor of the medical arts building, a few blocks from downtown. (just about 3 blocks from the amtrak station if you're thinking about visiting...)

there's also 90 acres in nearby etlan that we're planning to build and garden on this summer. hopefully we'll have lots of work parties and events in the warm months for y'all to come out to. nudge. (:

and we're going to some hot springs on a visioning retreat next week to figure out how to fit all of our dreams into the span of our lifetimes. or something like that.

transplants

bj and i decided to take a few plants that are growing around here with us to the east coast and see if we can reestablish some of them there.

we dug up some comfrey from a large, hearty plant that was planted two years ago by bradley under one of the apple trees from some root stock.

comfrey extraction

we also extracted one of the many willow saplings that have sprung up over the past year behind this beautiful willow tree in a wet, swampy patch jump off the lawn area.

willow extraction

wheelow

we'll have to figure out a way to batten them down for the big journey across. we'll also take some apple mint and maybe some lemon balm too. they are all sturdy species so hopefully they'll fare well and we will be enjoying them years down the road.

saving seed

when beth was up here last time, she helped gather seeds from around the gardens. then over the past couple of days, i've been collecting whatever else i could find that will be nice to plant in, well, ya know, wherever we end up having a garden again... i'm not sure whether some of these things will even grow from seed so i'm experimenting.

what we've collected so far:
- 4 varieties of eggplant
- sunflowers (giant edible kind and pretty black ornamental kind)
- amaranth
- chard
- brocolli
- some type of white bush bean
- borage
- bachelor buttons
- arugula
- three kinds of mint (apple, chocolate and something else)
- lavender
- lemon balm
- plantain
- rose hips
- three kinds of peppers
- okra
- tomatillo
- basil
- echinacea (with help from my mom and logan)
- ten varieties of tomatoes
- job's tears
- rosemary

lavender

plantain

apple mint

job's tears

amaranth

some bounty from our garden

brocolli and okra and peppers and eggplant and basil and kale and probably some other stuff. yum!