onions that walk - and (rose) hips that talk.

after what seems a long hiatus - of almost no crafting - and after many a full day of 12+ hours working at my real job(s) as a mad gardener and market coordinator - i have finally settled into fall.  into a new home.  and have started planning out my own home perennial gardens, harvesting whole native perennial plants to divy up to the various school gardens around, and gleaning crafty bits to prepare for fire-side crafting this winter.

yesterday i ordered egyptian walking onions.  which are pretty dang incredible because 1.) they are beautiful and 2.) they walk.  and in so walking, they replant themselves.  along with that same order to southern exposure seed exchange i ordered a loverly bouquet of native and herbaceous seeds that looked lovely - including borage, wild bergamot (ie what gives earl grey tea it's earl grey-ness), thai red roselle, hungarian blue breadseed poppies, soapwort (the roots of which produce a natural soapy lather), purple coneflower/echinacea, and pacific beauty calendula.  o-so stoked about making many lovely teas, growing lovely flowers, and crafting new soaps!

and then today i bought some citronella plants to keep us a wee bit less buggy this fall time.

but last week i harvested gi-normous rose hips from the woodway elementary school garden.  to the children, rose hips are also known as little pumpkins on a stick.  rose hips are awesome because:

• they are one of the most concentrated sources of vitamin C available
• they also contain vitamins A, D and E, as well as iron and antioxidant flavonoids that may reduce the effects of aging and help prevent cancer
• the iron in rose hips make them an excellent supplement for menstruating women
• they have a tart-sweet taste 
• they can be used to make tea, jelly, jam, soup or oil 
• they can easily be gathered for free!

so expect to see more rose hips in wildcraft & co.'s crafting scheme.  also to come, more local beeswax in the form of candles and lotion.  hurrah for local!

an epic day in the life of a promiscuous* gardener.

*i am a promiscuous gardener because the garden in which i spend the least amount of time is my own.  rather i find myself happily weeding, watering, tending to the beds of other folks.  promiscuous.

that being said, most days this week have begun with me on the road at 6am heading out to the home grown farm to stand waist-high in an epic acre of okra - alongside another 3 or 4 agrarian-minded gals, doing the bidding of farmer brandon and his epic acre of okra.  this morning - however - i was butt scootin' along the rows, thinning out that epic acre.  i might add that i only worked one double row out of a total of 83 rows composing the epic acre of okra before having to scamper off to four more gardens.

which brings me to my harvest total for today:  purple figs.  gypsy peppers.  sweet bell peppers.  jalapeno peppers.  chocolate cherry tomatoes.  mexican mint marigold.  boxwood basil.  sweet genovese basil.  lemon balm.  apple mint.  lavender (with buds!)  sage.  peppermint.  and bouquets of wild sunflowers.

champanel grapes and sunshine.

but my favorite of all to harvest were the champanel grapes.  today was my first time to eat a real grape - fresh plucked from the vine, still warm from the mid-afternoon sun.  my mouth exploded in flavors that can only be described as juicy velvet (setting aside all preconceptions of velvet as an awkward fabric worn by awkward people).

if you have ever eaten a ripe cherry tomato in the heat of the summer day - you know the pure joy to which i'm referring.  except it was a grape!!  i have now come to term this experience of such deep gratitude and elation (perhaps obscenely as i am prone to do) farmer-gasmic.  please let me know the next time you have a farmer-gasmic experience - and then i won't feel like such a dork . . .

the beautiful bounty from woodway elementary.

anyways, i harvested many a basketful of grapes - uber-jazzed on my creative high - and decided to harvest native perennials into bouquets for the market in the morning.  thus, i will be carrying flaming canthus-turk's cap bouquets and trailing rosemary-crepe myrtle bouquets with me to market.  (in my mind, i imagine that beautiful women who bathe regularly smell of rosemary and crepe myrtle blossoms . . .)

days like today make me feel like i live a fantastical life of flowers and farms and fresh-cut herbs.  but that also might have been me becoming ever more hysterical after so many hours in the texas sun.  (disclaimer:  i started holding conversations with chickens whilst working the epic acre of okra during the 7 o'clock hour of the morn).  i did start to notice that by 3pm i could smell my flesh burning - under my glistening gleam of sweat.  smelled faintly of bacon - which made me oddly hungry . . .

napping beneath the grape arbor.  and yes, i am wearing cut offs and boots.

all that to say - i am epically happy.  i shall soon by removing all the dirt from betwixt my creases - and all the brambly twigs and crepe myrtle blossoms that have woven their way into my braids.  for not only am i epically happy, i am epically dirty.  and then i shall sleep and epic sleep before rising once again with the sun to go to market.  o life.

wide open spaces.

life is full of our wee little unexpected and beautifully frustrating complications.  we've been looking to buy a house and land - because we can't afford to pay rent.  doesn't that sound backwards?  but we'd rather be investing in the future, than living month by month.  and honestly, i want to grow some perennials - really massive rosemary bushes and asparagus and peach-plum-pear trees that i know i'll be around to harvest. so we're hoping to buy land.  

right now the leading option is located 15 miles from downtown waco - or a 15-20 minute drive.  4 acres.  with a round pen.  perimeter fenced.  and a large barn/storage building.  with utility and water hook-ups.  $60k.  and seeing as we're poor - and prefer the challenge of living simply - we're thinking of living out of a finished section of the barn.  which will basically be like living on a bus.  hopefully.  (doesn't help that i'm reading a book called Twelve By Twelve right now . . . ) so our future plans - or at least our discussed dreamings - include:

• building a wrap-around porch (which will double our living space - and force us to be outdoors - piddling around with the sheep or the gardens)
• perennial orchard - with all the fruit tree goodness, grapes, blackberries, rhubarb, asparagus, herbs - medicinal and culinary, and wildflowers galore
• sheep.  we'll probably apply for a texas department of agriculture young farmer grant - which will give us $5k or $10k if we match funds.  we're interested in keeping our land mown - and i - in the art of shearing, carding, spinning, dyeing and beyond.  (see awesome cyclo-carder below.  i want to build this!)

cyclo-carder from felt the sun

brick-built oven

cob oven

• wood-burning stove, solar panels, rainwater catchment.  any of the aforementioned.  as we will be living in a tiny space - this means low utility cost.  but we have a large metal roof - so we might as well put 'er to good use.



move-able sink for the out-of-doors

• i want an outdoor kitchen.  built-up with a lovely cob oven/stove/grill that we hand build.  complete with some old reclaimed cast-iron sink.  and ready for processing all the harvested goods for market.
• and i'd like an outdoor bath/shower.  a solar-heated shower would be lovely.  and we'll plan on growing some evergreens or some sort of privacy barrier so we can bathe out in the open country air.

the infrastructure will be there - but we'll get to hand-craft the home into what we frugally will.  i'm excited to piece together old bits gleaned from the habitat restore and thrift stores and freecycle and craigslist and friends.  as well as give away some of our larger possessions that won't fit into living quarters that are 12'x30'.

lord only knows what we'll do when the babies enter the picture . . .

soap stories: eucalyptus mint & citrus calendula.

calendula!  wonder herb!

i'm trying to get into the swing of crafting soap each weekend to build up my stockpile (and to spread lovely herbal scents throughout the house as it cures!)  this past weekend's creations included:  eucalyptus mint & citrus calendula.

the story of eucalyptus mint:

a minty fresh soap with a zest. hand-made. and peppered with dried eucalyptus.

eucalyptus has antiseptic, anti-bacterial, and warming properties - which help in the healing process of cuts and scrapes and relieving aching pains and congestion (think vick's vapo-rub).  also works as a mild insect repellant.

although eucalyptus grows prolifically around central texas, the eucalyptus for this batch was recovered from a local florist's dumpster and crafted into table settings for my friends' wedding this fall.  from there i rescued and reused to scent this soap.  i grow the peppermint in pots around my yard - for soap-making and tea-brewing and whatever else my mind can dream up.

made with: olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, lye, eucalyptus and peppermint essential oils, dumpstered-and-dried eucalyptus leaves, and home-harvested crushed peppermint leaves. and that's it. plain and simple.

the story of citrus calendula:

first of all calendula is a simply splendid and silly sounding herb.  i love it.  providing citrus-y bursts of beauty in a winter landscape.  the calendula petals for this soap were harvested and dried from flowers growing at one of the local school gardens where i grow with neighborhood youthooligans.

calendula petals are perfect for the bath - refreshing and stimulating the skin - and for rubbing topically to relieve the pain of stings, scrapes, scars, burns, and rashes - a natural antiseptic. (the petals are also pleasantly tangy/peppery to taste and eat!) basically, you should plant your own!

add that with a touch of lemon and orange - and perhaps one of the most lovely/spritely/spring-ish soaps you could hope for.  cures all your winter blahs and blues with one whiff.  but can also lift your spirits after a day of sweating in the sun.

made with: olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, water, lye, beeswax, lemon and orange essential oils, and dried calendula petals. and that's it. plain and simple.

o-so-soon to be added to our lovely little etsy shop and to be appearing at the waco downtown farmers market at the urban gardening coalition's booth.

foxfire friday.

once upon a time, i was reading through the foxfire series.  a lovely series from which to learn many of life's little secrets.  like concocting moonshine.  or cobbling shoes.  or raising goats.  or making jam.  and i thought to myself, why not bring that into being here where i live - where we gather and share skills and learn from one another - none of us experts and none of us really knowing one another other than knowing what we'd like to know more about.  and so foxfire fridays were born.  a series emerging from the local whim and fancies of friends we know who craft and can and brew and stew and ferment and forage - and meet month by month.


but why the friday?  i also discovered a lovely little farm in birmingham, alabama (the jones valley urban farm) who ran a workshop series entitled 'second saturdays,' and yup, they meet on the second saturday of every month.  mash 'em together and here we are with waco's own foxfire fridays.

thus far we've learned about:

• canning and preserving
• kombucha brewing
• knitting
• cheese-making (hard, soft, and yogurt cheeses)
• soap making
• herb-crafting (tonics, salves, and syrups)
• rootbeer brewing
• diy household cleaners
• and backyard chicken keeping

and the story continues . . . this month - january - i'll be leading another soap making workshop at the urban gardening coalition headquarters.  stay tuned for more details and lovely stories and photos from what results.

ps - i'm hoping to name my first daughter tallulah falls - after a story (and place) mentioned in the foxfire books.  my husband concurs - so long as he can name a son jasper jack.