It’s been raining off and on for the last few weeks in large downpours. Last night was another one of those. So, now we are having a great mushroom bloom! I know some of these are edible, but I’m not daring enough to try them.
Common Names: Horehound, White Horehound, Bull’s Blood, Seed of Horus
Scientific Name: Marrubium vulgare (Black Horehound is Ballota nigra)
Family: Lamiaceae (mint family)
The herbalists here in Asheville are putting on a Roots Festival for National Herb Day on October 14th. We are making t-shirts that will say “Root Diggin’ Herbalist” on it and will have this picture (painted by one of our own!)
If anyone would like a t-shirt, let me know and I can order one for you. They are $18, and come in women’s and men’s styles and all sizes. I think they are going to look great!!!
Hey, are any of you out there going to the AHG Conference in Boulder this year??
I have taken the Myers-Briggs personality quiz 5 times since I was 16 and it always turns out the same way!! Cool, eh?? If I had to be like any of the Harry Potter characters it would definitely be Dumbledor!! Thanks, Steph
“He that would live for aye, must eat Sage in May” – John Ray, 1678
Common Names: Sage, Garden Sage, Common Sage
Scientific Name: Salvia officinalis (salvia – “to heal” or “to be well”)
Family: Lamiaceae (Mint family)
We had a little tragedy at our house yesterday. Suki killed Buffy, one of our Buff Orpingtons (and our favorite chicken who liked to sit on my lap, roost on my arm and climb on my shoulder!). I think she was near the fence sticking her head under for some food that rolled and Suki grabbed her out. When we screamed at Suki “NO!” she immediately dropped her, but by that time, Buffy’s neck was already broken. It was a good opportunity to talk with Kaia about the circle of life and death, but I was having a hard time not bawling! Kaia was consoling me! We had a little burial and said thanks to Buffy for the short time that she was with us. Now, we have to decide how to work this out with Suki. I am thinking that building her an enclosed space is the best option. No, that means she can’t have the run of the land, but will us wanting to have other folks up here who are also wanting to homestead, it’s probably a good idea for Suki to get use to having an enclosed space.
On a happier note, I have found a bunch of new herbs on the land… all volunteers in my garden!! I have found some Mullein, St. John’s Wort, what I think is a type of Lobelia, and a Reishi (Ganoderma Tsugai). Cool, eh?
The rain is also doing wonders for the garden and the shiitaki logs! This is a shot of a small shiitaki bloom. Right now, I have one log that has ~40 shiitaki growing!!!
And check out this Phallic tomato!
So far, I have put up only 4 quarts of tomato sauce, but I have many more quarts ahead of me!
My herbs are doing well too. I harvested some boneset to tincture and dry, as well as Holy Basil, Skullcap, and red clover. Doesn’t my herb corner look nice?
Things are also going well at my school. I have been asked to continue on as a core staff member and teach for the Level 2 herb students this winter!!
OK, first of all, The Rebelles show was absolutely fantastic!!! I have already decided that I want to try out the next time they have auditions! My burlesque name will be “Dee Flowers” and I will be the hippie-hooping girl 
It was so much fun! I went out the next morning and got my mom and dad tickets to the show this Friday! (I was almost hoping that they didn’t want to go so that Toby and I could go again!)
Anyway… it looks like the trashy trailer just below our land is about to be hauled off. There was a fairly nice, though slightly unstable guy who lived there and collected junk. Now, when I say collected junk, you may picture a few toys and cars in the yard… but, I’m talking a full acre of total crap in his yard: at least 50 tires, a 4 foot pile of vodka bottles, old roofing tin, broken “no-harm” animal traps… the list goes on. So, the land is owned by the mother of the guy who lives there. After a few fines by the county, she decided it was time to clean the place up and the only way to do that was to evict her son. So, hopefully the junk will go soon too!
The chickens are doing well, although we think our Delaware, Ruby, might be a boy. The comb on her head has gotten more pronounced recently and her chin is starting to get some color too it. We’ll see…. Their favorite foods to date: pineapple, mana bread, tomatos. Dislikes: Seaweed and comfrey (what’s wrong with them?)
Toby and I have a preliminary house design. It is a 16 sided cord wood house, ~40 feet in diameter. There will be a second story 8-sided structure above for the “master suite”, woo woo! Toby has also started taking down some poplar to cut up for the cord wood siding. The bark that comes off of the poplar is amazing! I am hoping to figure out how to make something out of it, like bark baskets or something. OH, we hope to have some pretty bottle designs in the house too. So, if you have any bottles with cool shapes or colors, please save them for us! (Red bottles are especially rare because they have to use gold to make the color, so save ‘em!)
‘Husbandmen of Kent do give it their cattle against the cough of the lungs, and I, therefore, mention it because cattle are also in some sort to be provided for in their diseases.’ Coles, 1657, in “Adam in Eden”
Common Names: Mullein, Natures Toilet Paper, Candlewick Plant, Velvet Dock, and many more
Scientific Name: Verbascum thapsus
Family: Scrophulariaceae (figwort family)
Parts Used: Leaf (Astringent) and Flower (the flower is more specific for the nervous system, and are more demulcent) Continue reading
Tomorrow night, Toby and I get a night out!! Kaia is sleeping over at her grandmother’s house, and we get to play! So, I got us tickets to go see a burlesque show The group is called The Rebelles. I found out that the woman who plays Frau Von Lippenstift is an aquaintence of mine… so I have to go and check it out! It can’t wait. It looks like it will be a lot of light-hearted fun, which we are desperately in need of! Toby and I are burnt out already! It’s not easy to live this pioneering lifestyle. It seems like anytime we go to do anything, it takes 20 more steps than we expect! Our goals this month are to design the main house and get it into the code process. I am so ready to just be settled and not always have a mess to clean up or a project to do. We have moved 4 times in the last 3 years… It’s hard always being in the process, you know what I mean? Ugh!
Anyway… The Rebelles!! Fun!
I know, I am so far behind!! But, I am writing up some materia medica for a class. So, here is a new one…
Hyssop
“Purge me with Hyssop and I shall be clean”
psalm 51, verse 7
Common Names: Hyssop, Garden Hyssop
Scientific Name: Hyssopus officinalis (meaning “holy herb” “of the apothecary”)
Family: Lamiaceae (mint)
OK, here they all are, officially named by Kaia… From left to right we have:
Faye (Speckled Sussex; named after Kaia’s friend), Ruby (Delaware; again, kaia’s friend), Honey (Auracauna; so that you can say “Come here, Honey!”). Then from front to back: Sweetie (Auracauna; because she is sweet and likes to be held), Buffy (Buff Orpington, named after buffy the vampire slayer… I named this one), Rudy and Ralph (Black Australorps, named after two roosters in a story that Kaia loves), Spike (Buff Orpington; again, named from the Buffy show).
