Sophie's Garden Blog

How right is it to love flowers and the greenery of pines and ivy and hawthorn edges; they have been with us from the very beginning.

- Vincent Van Gogh

~Fin~

I have truly enjoyed my time working in the UMF Community Garden since I began in the late spring of 2023. As I pursue my graduate education, I will hold this garden and all of the memories I made in it close to my heart.

Merci et amitiés!

Sophie

5/8/25 seedling progress

4/29/25 seedling progress

4/15/25 seedling progress

4/10/25 seedling progress

4/8/25 seedling progress

springtime garden activities - looking ahead

Though it may seem that winter will never let up and the snow will never melt, as our days become longer and the sun shines brighter with every new day, we can finally begin preparing for the excitement of springtime! I for one am looking forward to seeing the first flowers break their way through the thawing soil, bursting forth with their bright colors, beckoning to the pollinators as they and the rest of the flora and fauna slowly wake up. The garden staff is preparing to participate in the Fiddlehead Festival that will be happening May 3rd, we plan to increase advertisement and direct people to the garden throughout the day, we also are planninng to have different activities going on for people to enjoy. Since our fall open house was such a success, we are keeping the activities from that day in mind as we look towards the festival. Earlier on than the Fiddlehead Festival will be seed starting in March once the threat of significant snowfall is reduced and new seeds can thrive in the greenhouse. We begin starting seeds so early so that our seedlings will be strong and durable once the time comes to transition them outside, another factor being that we try to have a variety of strong, healthy seedlings available at our annual seedling sale at the end of May or beginning of June.

results of functional recycling project

At the end of this project, 10 or 11 plastic bags were used in all. This bag now serves the purpose of hanging on the side of a shelf that holds towels and cleaning products, itself holding rags that are cut up pieces from old, worn out clothing. I would say this project was a success as these bags were consolidated, which saves me space, and now serve a functional purpose, along with looking neat.

functional recycling

Since there is less gardening to do outside in these freezing temperatures, the winter months present the perfect opportunity to devote time to other sustainable creative projects. Pictured here is my most recent project, recycling my excess post-consumer plastic grocery bags that I've accumulated in the past few years. While I try to use fabric bags as often as I can, sometimes I have to run to the store between classes, or I am already out and have no bags on me or can't fit everything in my purse. While I am happy that my local grocer uses recycled plastic bags, they are thicker and much more conducive to use many times, I have limited space and try to consolidate things where I can. This is why I had the idea to start this project, turning these bags into plastic yarn and using a hat loom (I am absolutely hopeless when it comes to knitting and crochet) to turn many bags into other functional items. What is shown in the picture is the result of loom knitting four bags together, I estimate this project will take up between twelve and sixteen bags. I am thinking that the end product will be a storage tote or woven bag of sorts.

popham

Piping Plover (protected species), rock feature, beach peas (wild edible), sand dollar.

Acrylic Gouache on canvas

Sophie Therrien

winter greenhouse

Though we can't grow plants outside at the mooment, and won't be able to until the ground thaws in the spring, we are still growing a variety of plants in the greenhouse. Our greenhouse already creates a pocket of warmth as it traps heat from the sunlight it is exposed to, but we like to cover the plants growing inside in a layer or two of a semi-transparent white fabric called remay which will create an additional layer of warmth within the warmth of the greenhouse. The plants we have growing in the greenhouse this winter are hearty leafy plants including varieties of lettuce, kale, and spinach that tend to do better when they have ample shade and temperatures on the cooler side. Some other plants that will thrive inside a greenhouse during the winter months are: radishes, cabbage, carrots, peas, herbs, swiss chard, microgreens, arugula, turnips, beets, parsnips, rutabegas, mustard greens, broccoli, cauliflour, brussels sprouts, and celery. Some of these plants have specific cold-hardy varieties that will do best in an unheated greenhouse environment. It is important to check in on plants every now and then in case they need water or extra layers of warmth (sometimes I add a mini greenhouse within the greenhouse over some plants using a cut open milk jug or two liter soda bottle), though in the winter water will not evaporate very fast so you typically will not need to water as frequently as you do in the spring or fall.

https://savvygardening.com/winter-greenhouse/

https://donnabalzer.com/greenhouse-growing/

https://blog.bcgreenhouses.com/start-planning-for-your-winter-greenhouse-now

https://millcreekgardens.com/cold-hardy-winter-vegetables-thrive-unheated-greenhouse/

(photos used for examples: not mine)

arugula

parsnip

winter spinach

brussels sprouts

swiss chard

celery

kale

broccoli

mustard greens

rutabega

microgreens

beets

winter foraging in cold climates

Foraging is usually thought of as an activity one can only really do in the spring, summer, and fall, especially in colder climates like Maine where the temperature can go from seventy degrees Fahrenheit to thirty degrees Fahrenheit in a matter of a couple weeks, killing many less hardy plants in the process. In reality there are still a variety of food sources that can be foraged even in the cold of winter. In the nuts and seeds category we have: hop hornbeam seeds, black walnuts, dock seeds, acorns, beechnuts, pine nuts, maple seeds, and goosefoot seeds (wild quinoa). In the fruits category we have: crabapples, some hardy apple varieties that can be used to make cider, rosehips, hawthorn berries, chokeberries (aronia berries), juniper berries, cranberries, highbush cranberries, teaberries, partridge berries, and wild grapes (freeze dried from the cold). In the greens (that will take advantage of warm spells or melted patches in the snow) category we have: chickweed, claytonia, watercress, and daisy greens. In the tree leaves, sap, and bark category we have: the inner bark of birch trees, willow bark, pine bark inner and outer, maple sap, birch sap, ironwood sap, ash sap, linden sap, poplar sap, douglas fur needles, and pine needles. In the root category we have: burdock root, wild parsnips, Queen Anne's Lace (wild carrot), Jerusalem artichoke, chickory, and thistle. In the mushroom category we have: turkey tail, tinder polypore, birch polypore, oyster, chaga, and witches butter. In the moss, lichen, and seaweed category we have: usnea (medicinal), reindeer moss, kelp, and dulce. As always exercise caution when foraging, if you aren't sure on something don't risk it.

https://practicalselfreliance.com/winter-foraging/

https://www.eattheweeds.com/winter-foraging/

https://www.themainemag.com/a-beginners-guide-to-foraging-in-maine/

https://thedeadriver.com/discovering-maines-wild-edibles/

(photos used for examples: not mine)

black walnuts

goosefoot seeds

rosehips

teaberries

chickweed

maple sap

Jerusalem artichoke

witches butter

cranberries

turkey tail

pine needles

hop hornbeam seeds

trials in processing and spinning milkweed: attempt 1

milkweed fluff, dried with seeds removed

carding the silky milkweed fibers using a wire pet brush

small pieces of hand spun milkweed fibers

longest length of unbroken yarn using a marker as a rudimentary spindle

I found pretty quickly this first trial that attempting to spin milkweed by itself is extremely difficult due to the nature of the fiber itself. While the milkweed fiber is soft and slippery like silk, it lacks fiber length, this causes frequent breakage and unwinding when you try to spin it. In doing more research and watching some videos on the subject, it would seem that it is best to mix the milkweed fiber with another fiber like cotton or wool that can lend it's structural integrity to the spinning process while keeping the pearlecent shine and angora-like softness qualities of the milkweed fiber in the spun yarn. The next time I give it a try I will try cotton first, then wool, and compare results.

Here are some of the videos I saw, in the first one she blends milkweed fiber with wool fiber, albeit on a much larger scale than I have access to, but it is still very interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttnVj_MDNFw

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UssYGKmRiDk?app=desktop

2024 garden open house highlights!

During the UMF Campus and Community Garden 2024 Open House we had over 65 campus and community members visit. We made leek and potato soup on a camp-stove out of ingredients we grew here in the garden, leeks, potatoes, chives, and garlic (the soup was a massive hit!) We have a new garden bed thanks to the Seeds of Change English Class taught by Gretchen Legler. Among other activities such as poetry writing under the tree, pumpkin painting, card making, and a garden scavenger hunt, students participated in planting more cover crops in raised beds that we are preparing for winter.

October

O hushed October morning mild, thy leaves have ripened to the fall; tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild, should waste them all. The crows above the forest call; tomorrow they may form and go. O hushed October morning mild, begin the hours of this day slow. Make the day seem to us less brief. Hearts not averse to being beguiled, beguile us in the way you know. Release one leaf at break of day; at noon release another leaf; one from our trees, one far away. Retard the sun with gentle mist; enchant the land with amethyst. Slow, slow! For the grapes’ sake, if they were all, whose leaves already are burnt with frost, whose clustered fruit must else be lost— for the grapes’ sake along the wall.

-Robert Frost

purple aster

tiny garden toad

busy bee

"I'm so gladI live in a world where there are Octobers."

-Lucy Maud Montgomery

tasty

tomatoes

bright and beautiful

As summer comes to an end, letting autumn come forth with cooler weather and warm oranges, yellows, and reds, the garden is enjoying the many fruits of this summer's labour. The cucumber plants are coming towards the end of their life as the tomato plants have really hit their groove. Much of our flowers have turned to seed though some continue to decorate the garden in pretty colors. Our marigolds most of all seem to love the cooler weather, the flowers grow strong and full, beautiful warm tones matching the turning leaves of the trees.

lamb's ear, poppy, and spider

late summer harvests

sunny bouquets

september

“The first flash of color always excites me as much as the first frail, courageous bloom of spring. This is, in a sense, my season--sometimes warm and, when the wind blows an alert, sometimes cold. But there is a clarity about September. On clear days, the sun seems brighter, the sky more blue, the white clouds take on marvelous shapes; the moon is a wonderful apparition, rising gold, cooling to silver; and the stars are so big. The September storms--the hurricane warnings far away, the sudden gales, the downpour of rain that we have so badly needed here for so long--are exhilarating, and there's a promise that what September starts, October will carry on, catching the torch flung into her hand.”

- Faith Baldwin, Evening Star

recent harvests

bouquets for incoming freshmen

radishes, shallots, cucumbers

At this point in the summer we are finally having a regular supply of cucumbers for us to pick. We are also getting to the point when some of our shallots and onions are ready to be pulled from the ground. Since it doesn't seem that we will be drying and braiding much this year, I at least wanted to let the shallots cure, hopefully so that they last longer for whoever got them. I've also been picking the last of the first radishes I planted, another round will probably be ready later in August.

harvest table

I am really proud of our harvest table this year. To temporarily help provide some shade so that produce doesn't just shrivel up in the hot summer sun before people have a chance to grab it, I made a tent out of remay, two large stakes, and string. So far it has been functioning pretty well. We also have a temporary sign that I drew up to let people know that the food and flowers are for everyone. Soon we will have a permanent wooden sign where we can list what is on the table, kind of like one of those cute café signs but made with barn wood by one of the Master Gardener Volunteers which is really awesome. I am excited for fall classes to start to have more foot traffic going by the garden and harvest table.

recent harvests

hungarian hot wax peppers

radishes

produce progress

cayenne

hungarian hot wax pepper

jalapeño

bell pepper

cherry tomato

zucchini

cucumber

big beef tomato

monarch butterfly

I am hoping that our abundance of flowers along with milkweed plants in the pollinator bed have encouraged monarch butterflies to come to the garden this summer. While I have checked for chrysalises or eggs on the milkweed so far I have not had any luck in finding either. I have noticed that more people are letting their milkweed grow rather than mow it down which gives me hope for monarch butterfly populations.

swallowtail caterpillar

Swallowtails make me think of lilacs. Every year I've found that I see them most often amongst the sweet smelling lilac blossoms. I am unsure if this caterpillar, found crawling on a queen anne's lace stem, will turn out to be a yellow swallowtail butterfly or a black swallowtail butterfly as I am not the best at identifying insects but however it turns out I'm sure it will be stunning.

lavender wands

Making bouquets from lavender is a surprisingly simple craft to do in the garden. All you have to do is bundle together an odd number of lavender stalks, tying a string or ribbon right under the flowers, leaving a long length of string/ribbon to weave with later. Next, you hold the bundle stem side up and fold the stems over the tied string. You then use the string/ribbon to weave a basket/cage like structure covering the flowers. Once you reach below the flowers, you can wrap the string/ribbon around all the stems, then create a handle by continuing down the stems about 5 inches, and tie off at the end and cut the excess stems to be equal length.

herb bundles

Mint, sage, lavender, and chamomile harvested and bundled together to dry. Drying herbs is a great way to preserve herbs for a long time, especially since many common garden herbs produce a lot once they are established; and those that flower have to be picked frequently so that they produce more flowers for a longer period of time.

making bouquets

Creating bouquets with recycled bottles and our large assortment of brightly colored blooms is an activity that will be fun to continue. It may end up being a way that we can raise some garden funds if we have a way for people to donate to the garden when they take a bouquet.

deer deterrent ideas - no nets, no pesticides

Fun Fact! A deer's sense of smell is much stronger than ours so they tend to stay away from plants that will drown out other scents with their own strong smells or rub off on their fur as this can leave them vulnerable and unable to smell predators. Deer also stay away from plants that are spiky or have odd textured leaves, fuzzy leaves for example.

What Deer Do Not Like:

Garlic - The strong natural odor of garlic plants, especially when pruned, is an unpleasant smell to deer.

Lavender - While many humans love the smell of lavender, deer stay away from the strong scent.

Mint - Another overwhelming smell that deer steer clear from.

Cinnamon - Deer, along with several other animals that can wreak havoc on a garden stay away from the powerful aroma of cinnamon.

Rosemary - The same strong smell we like to add to dishes is too strong for a deer's liking.

Russian Sage - Deer aren't fans of the dusty gray color, strong scent, or fuzzy texture of the leaves.

Yarrow - This plant has a bitter taste that deer do not care for.

Peonies - Deer do not like the thick, fibrous foliage of this plant.

Oregano - Another delicious herb that deer cannot stand.

Poppies - Poppies contain alkaloids that deer avoid as they are toxic to them.

Marigolds - Also good at keeping away insect pests, these pretty flowers also repel deer.

Lamb's Ear - The soft, woolly textured leaves and spiky flowers have an unpleasant mouth feel that deer avoid.

Iris - This plant is toxic to deer and as such they stay away from it.

Daffodils - Similar to poppies, these plants contain an alkaloid that is toxic to deer, so they stay away.

Chives - Deer tend to avoid anything with that strong onion odor.

Bleeding Heart - This plant is toxic to deer and as such they stay away from it.

Bee Balm - Both mosquitos and deer hate the smell of this plant.

Acanthus - Deer stay away from this spiky plant, similar to barberry and globe thistle

What Deer Do Like:

It is important to note that much of the same things we like to eat are also on the menu for deer.

Some examples of deer cuisine that may be in your garden include lettuce, beans, clover, peas, berries, roses, geraniums, hostas, sunflowers, juniper, hawthorn, dogwood, rhododendron, and fruit trees.

Sources:

https://www.epicgardening.com/deer-resistant-herbs/

https://www.borstlandscape.com/articles/top-smells-that-deer-hate/

https://roguecompost.com/ask-allen/tips-tricks/what-can-i-plant-that-might-help-repel-deer

beginners composting guide

greens (yes)

Grass clippings, tea bags, egg shells, rice grains, hair, feathers, fresh leaves, fruit, vegetables, seaweed, flowers, manure, coffee grounds and filters, kitchen scraps.

browns (yes)

Paper, pine needles, sawdust, woodshavings, dry leaves, hay, woodchips, twigs, vegatable stalks, used napkins and paper plates, peat moss, cardboard, corncobs and stalks.

(cut/shred larger items into small pieces)

do not compost (no)

Meat, bones, greasy food scraps, plastic, styrofoam, metal, fish, diseased plants, glass, fat, butter, oil, dairy.

*I do not own photos used above

flowering in the garden

geranium

chamomile

petunia

strawberry

marigold

yarrow

garlic scapes

Garlic scapes need to be cut from the garlic plant because if they are allowed to continue developing they will take too much nutrients from the garlic bulb. They are curly and look simmilar to a crocus or daffodil before it blooms.

cooking with garlic scapes

Rice, quinoa, greenbean, and garlic scape curry. I had never had garlic scapes before but they ended up being very good. Once they are cooked through the bite of the garlic flavor becomes more mild and they taste like if a greenbean was garlic flavored. I highly recommended this produce item.

what's going on in the garden 6/17

garden progress 6/8

lettuce

chard, radish, green onions

peppers

strawberries

peas

tomatoes and more seedlings

dyeing fabric with hibiscus flowers

seedling/garden progress 5/13

daffodils have bloomed

"When daffodils begin to peer, With heigh! The doxy over the dale, Why, then comes in the sweet o' the year; For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale. The white sheet bleaching on the hedge, With heigh! the sweet birds, O, how they sing! Doth set my pugging tooth on edge; For a quart of ale is a dish for a king."

-William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale Act IV, Scene II

seedling progress 5/5

planting onions and shallots

We're going to have a LOT of onions and shallots this year! Two of the three sections of the U-shaped raised bed, along with two more individual raised beds are now dedicated to onions and shallots. Along with all of that, the large raised bed we used for potatoes last year is being used for garlic this year. I'm going to have a lot of drying and braiding to do this fall, I can't wait!

Well, let it pass; April is over. There are all kinds of love in the world, but never the same love twice.

-F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Short Stories

flowers

On soft Spring nights I'll stand in the yard under the stars--Something good will come out of all things yet--And it will be golden and eternal just like that--There's no need to say another word.

-Jack Kerouac, Big Sur

seedling progress 4/21

seedling progress 4/10

sage

peppers

parsley

peppers

tomatoes

chamomile

peas

beans

eclipse

Here you can see how each tiny speck of light filtering through the leaves turns into a naturally occurring camera obscura, projecting hundreds of images of the eclipse onto the pavement. This happens because the sun is the brightest thing in the sky and as that light passes through the very small spaces between leaves it gets inverted and projected onto the ground as if passing through the lenses of our eyes or the lens of a camera.

we have so much kale!

more seedling process, right before an april snowstorm

cucumber

chamomile

green beans

peas

tiny mystery seedling

planting more seeds

Bushsteak Tomatoes
Sweet Peppers
Red Cherry Tomatoes
Orange Cherry Tomatoes
Lettuce

seedling progress

kale!

Last fall I moved all of our kale plants into the greenhouse so they could continue to grow over the winter. We covered them with two layers of reemay cloth to keep their temperature up a bit more than if they had just been in the greenhouse without it; along with that they were given one last thorough watering before being left to their own devices for the winter. I was so happy to see that the kale were doing quite well considering they had gone the whole winter on just one watering and we had some very cold days and nights. Once the weather is consistently warmer and we are past the risk of frost I plan to replant the kale back outside of the greenhouse in an area of the garden where they will get enough shade to not get scorched by the sun.

chamomile

green beans

cucumbers

peas

sage

tomatoes

parsley

catnip

first seedlings

all greenhouse seedlings

sweet peppers

first seedlings of the year

I started thyme, basil, forget-me-not, and buttercup squash seedlings this week and they are all growing so quickly!

garden plans for spring 2024

We have a lot of plans for the garden this spring semester. Because the ground will be frozen and covered in a generous layer of snow for quite a while still, we plan to start seedlings soon indoors and set them up in a south facing window where they'll have enough warmth and light to begin growing. We already have garlic in the ground from last fall that should have gotten plenty strong from overwintering by the time the snow melts and the ground thaws. Leeks, onions, and shallots have already been ordered so we will have those again this year, they sure were a fun crop to have and to harvest last year. I was quite fond of the process of cleaning and preparing the leeks to be donated, as well as the process of hanging and braiding the garlic, shallots, and onions. I think it would be nice to give sweet potatoes a try again. While the leaves and vines thrived last year I wonder if there was too much humidity because of how most of the sweet potatoes turned out. As far as herbs and flowering plants go, most of what we had last year should be coming back again this year, though I think we should plant more lemon balm as it was very popular last year and we only had one plant. As far as activities go I think we may be able to have one that has to do with kale since that's what we have in the greenhouse currently, hopefully it will be doing alright by the time it starts to get a bit warmer. Further than that when we have seedlings we may be able to do a seedling step up like we had last year which was a nice way to get more community involvement. At this point, beyond that I am not entirely sure what we will do but I do know that it will be a good spring.

wintertime

What can be said of wintertime in Farmington...

Snow coats branches

Trees turn into steadfast ghosts

Birds bide their time, awaiting spring dances

Falling snow wipes the slate making room for new hopes

The New Year has come and gone

Upon the ground, footprints we've drawn

Looking towards fresh days

And all their expanses

how much did we harvest this year

This year I am so happy to say that the UMF Community Garden produced ~172.11lbs of produce that went to several places throughout the Farmington community. Gardening is a lot of hard work but it is in so many ways a labor of love. You can see plants growing and changing every day, the more work you put into it, the more growth you get to see. Each week seems to bring a totally new garden as the season progresses. Animal and bug life changes too, marking the week as a new part of the season based on what is choosing to spend time in the garden. Whether it be snails, frogs, toads, deer, cats, chipmunks, squirrels, bees, beetles, etc, each in their own way has a place in the garden as well as the season in time. It is so good to know as well that so many people were able to benefit from the fresh food we grew, especially since it is becoming harder and harder for most, including myself, to afford fresh produce. That is just one of many reasons why I think community gardens are so important. No one should have to go without fresh produce especially in a land of such plentiful resources.

owl

andrew wyeth

party

sky

growing times of popular thanksgiving produce

winter squash: 60-110 days

green beans: 50-65 days depending on variety

potatoes: 60-130 days depending on variety

sweet potatoes: 90-120 days

pumpkin: 85-120 days

sweet corn: 60-100 days

cranberries: 3-5 years for a plant to produce fruit

celery: 130-140 days

onion: 90-125 days

garlic: 8-9 months

apples: 3-8 years for tree to produce fruit depending on variety

carrots: 70-80 days

brussels sprouts: 80-90 days

drying, braiding, and curing

One of my favorite garden projects during the growing and harvesting season this year was the process of drying, braiding, and hanging to cure different plants. I did this for red, white, and yellow onions, shallots, garlic, and cayenne peppers. It is a lot of fun to braid the stems of the garlic, onions, and shallots after they've had a few days to wilt and become more malleable. The peppers, having short stems, had to be individually tied to string. The variety of colors that would be hanging up in the greenhouse was always a pleasant sight, and the neat but imperfect braids were a reminder of all the work that went into the plants before their harvest. Its a really nice activity as it allows you to really slow down and focus on the moment, one leaf over another, one pepper more on the string, it's like a practice in mindfulness and a needed slow activity in such a rushed world.

finished zentangle

I found it very helpful in the past week to intentionally put some more focus on to creative things, both as a way to get my mind off of things and as a way to be present in my emotions. As the garden is mostly done for the winter, aside from whats in the greenhouse and a few scattered heartier plants, there is less to do. Over the summer there seems to be a never ending list of tasks to complete in the garden, always something to keep you busy whether it be watering, weeding, harvesting, planting, donating, transplanting, removing aphids and beetles, etc. It's a bit difficult once the weather dips below freezing, once that happens things that were alive and well the past day would get frostbitten and wilted away overnight. All of a sudden you're pulling dead plants out of the ground or trimming them down to the ground and after that it feels like you've got nothing much left to take care of. Usually the garden is a place where I could let my mind wander as I busied myself with all the things that needed to be done, but since were now in November and mostly everything is done for the year, I find I need other outlets to let my mind wander while I focus on. The zentangle in this instance let me do that, it took hours to finish but they went by so fast.

zentangle

It's felt like climbing a mountain just trying to get out of bed these past couple days, there is so much sadness in me now. I just started getting out of the shock and numbness on Sunday night and it feels like I'm already expected to be okay and get "back to normal", like theres an unspoken predetermined amount of days allotted to grief and then I'm just supposed to get over it because classes and work and midterms and sports and homework. None of that feels important right now to be entirely honest, the weight of what happened feels far more important. I worked on this zentangle for hours last night, the repetitive patterns and shapes help me zone out or focus on anything since I can't seem to focus on much of anything right now. It's not finished, but I wanted to share it, I think it's important to see how different people go through hard things.

arts, crafts, and mental health

In the past few days I have been working on some arts and crafts to help me process recent events. I find that it is an important thing for me to use creative outlets in this way as they are often the only thing I feel helps. I am also a psychology major/art minor, my goal is to go into art therapy. I just find that using a creative medium, especially in very hard situations, is a lot more helpful to me as a way to release some of that energy than talking would. Collage is a great medium to use because you can just get into a flow state and proceed without expectation or judgement.

pumpkins

I went to the farmers market yesterday, I got two small pumpkins, one white and one black; I put them with the tiny orange one I decorated at home. I needed to get outside for a little while, the air inside felt too stale, too suffocating. I am still trying to process what happened in Lewiston on Wednesday night. I used to go to that bowling alley. I remember going there when a peer had a birthday or on school fieldtrips. I remember there was a claw machine that was filled with candy that always worked and gave you a few pieces, I remember being excited about that as a kid since claw machines don't usually work that good or that consistently. It's hard to feel normal right now. I feel a lot of frustration at the politicians that have nothing to offer but thoughts, prayers, and crocodile tears (as they continue wearing lapel pins of the same weapon that took so many lives from my community). Those that now say they regret their previous standings on regulation, only now caring when it happened close to home; maybe if they actually ever cared they would have worked to prevent stuff like this happening. Thoughts and prayers won't bring anyone back. Maybe actually do something to prevent this from happening again. The worst part I think, is knowing nothing is likely to change, no matter what I do. Too many people care too much about weapons and not enough about human lives.

painting

with

plants

finding fungi

This delicate fungi was found growing under the blanketed cover of the sweet potato vines. I have not been able to identify them but they are new to me, growing in small groups with stems that seemed semitransparent. Tiny, though of varying degrees of tinyness, they have delicate caps that remind me of a lace parasol. Certainly an interesting and beautiful find.

looking forward to Samhain

As October nears its end, Samhain is on it's way. It is a time to release old energy, honor ancestors, connect with wisdom and intuition and insight, and reflect on the year that has passed. Samhain resides in the wheel of the year between Mabon, the autumn equinox, and Yule, the winter solstice. It is the third and final harvest and is generally celebrated on October 31st. This holiday, believed to have Celtic pagan origins, has been celebrated for at least 2,500 years; though The Mound of Hostages on the Hill of Tara is aligned with the sunrise around Samhain and is between 4,500 and 5,000 years old, which could suggest that Samhain was celebrated even before the first Celts arrived in Ireland https://www.newgrange.com/samhain.htm#:~:text=The%20entrance%20passage%20to%20the,Ireland%20about%202%2C500%20years%20ago.

I encourage readers of this blog, if interested, to research the holiday and its traditions as it is very interesting (as well as gives context to the more well known traditions of Halloween). As someone with Celtic heritage, celebrating these holidays makes me feel more connected to my heritage.

a season of harvest

The busy brightness of summer has given way to the serene calm of autumn. Where flowers of purple and yellow once grew are now leaves of red and orange. The plants residing in the garden, having soaked up as much energy from the summer sun as they could over the past few months, have produced much fruit for the local community; between the food pantry and the newly started harvest table we have been able to harvest and share the fruits of our labor with so many. As the plants wind down for the year, getting ready for the ground to freeze over and eventually be covered with a blanket of snow, we have picked much of what are the last fruits of the year. I am so happy to see how much the garden has thrived this year, I can only hope that next year brings as much growth.

inside a seed

So interesting and complex is the inside of a seed. This one in particular is from a maple seed, often colloquially referred to as "helicopters" or "whirlybirds". You can see the spiral that shows what would eventually unfurl, emerging from the ground and rooting into the soil. Beautiful how the beginnings of a mighty maple tree are all contained within one tiny, flying seed.

solitary white california poppy

sandy river flowers

pictures from the end of summer tea party

saving scraps

You can save vegetable scraps in a freezer bag, then when you have a good amount you can use them to make your own vegetable broth.

what's on the harvest table today

kapoor holy basil

jalapeño, hot wax, cayenne

german sage

assorted cherry and small tomatoes

assorted kale

paste tomatoes

harvest table

In efforts to let more students know that they are welcome to use the garden as a nutrition resource, I thought it would be a good idea to start a harvest table. This allows us to make produce clearly available as well as weigh it before putting it out on the table for bookeeping purposes. The first few days I set up the old bird bath as a temporary table but we were given a table, donated through the list-serve, which is much more suited to our needs. I will continue posting about the harvest table and include a picture of the new one in future posts.

Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love - that makes life and nature harmonise. The birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one's very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.

- George Elliot

rebuilding the raised table-bed

I began the process of rebuilding the raised table-bed at the start of one of my work days. As the original build was too shallow and allowed too much water to evaporate from the soil thus preventing the plants growing in the bed from having enough water to thrive and many plants like different varieties of lettuce and root vegetables were not able to grow well and some perished in the hot, all-day sunlight. After working on it for several hours the day began to get very hot and the drill ran out of battery so I left to cool off and charge the battery packs. I returned later that evening to finish constructing the new table-bed, now four inches deeper, and was happy with the end result as the sun began to set. The bed will be filled with the good soil we saved from before its deconstruction and reconstruction along with different moisture retaining materials like coconut fibre and will soon be filled with new plant life.

inch worm

unknown green bug

unknown yellow bug

cucumber and tomato harvest

It is so exciting to see so many plants begin to consistently produce food. One reason why I love plants like tomatoes and cucumbers is that once they start producing fruit they seem to explode, having new, visible growth every day. It is very nice to see tangible growth every time you see a plant, it is very encouraging to see your hard work visibly, consistently paying off.

cooking with harvested produce

Outside the food pantry there is a tart cherry tree planted by one of the churches in town. I learned this (as I had assumed they were crab apples) one recent and particularly hot day after myself, and a few others had gone swimming to try and beat the heat. We stopped at the food bank to see if there was any bread and we saw some people picking the fruits. We asked what the fruits were and if we could pick some. One lady gave us one of those blue papery containers used for berries so we could put the cherries in that rather than trying to not squash them in a towel in my bag. We picked one container full and brought them home. In looking for something to make with them we settled on a tart/crisp with a crumble on top. I had some strawberries from the garden in the freezer that we used as well. The crumble was very simple though we did use gluten free flour and margarine rather than glutenous flour and dairy butter. It took about an hour start to finish and it came out very good, just the right amount of sweetness and tartness. Another dish I made recently with garden ingredients was a simple vegetable soup, very similar to a classic minestrone but I didn't feel like adding the brown rice pasta because I was very hungry and didn't want to wait an extra eight to fifteen minutes. The main featured ingredient was peas that I had picked earlier in the week along with a couple leaves of fresh oregano. The soup was delicious, even though it's hot outside I still love a nice bowl of good soup every now and then throughout the warmer months.

swiss chard harvest

one bundle

The swiss chard had grown very tall with many leaves so it was definitely time to harvest them. I left the little leaves sprouting from the stalk from the middle and up but I did pick the large ones at the bottom. Swiss chard has such a gorgeous and striking red-pink color to it; it creates a beautiful visual contrast with the dark green leaves.

kale harvest

0.41lbs

The kale has thrived in the shade for about the past month in one of the raised beds that recieves less direct sunlight. This combined with the rainy weather during the past month led to a decent harvest. I used this kale in a plant-based peanut, kale, and jasmine rice curry which was very good. There was enough space to resow some more kale as well between the remaining plants.

lettuce harvest

1.71lbs

We had SO MUCH lettuce to pick. I am so pleased that it grew so well and provided so much as these were the lettuce plants transplanted to a shady bed from the table shaped bed because the table bed didn't retain enough water and had direct sunlight all day which nearly killed all of the lettuce that had been planted there. There was plenty of room where we picked these to resow more lettuce. This lettuce has made very good salads.

strawberry harvest

1.66lbs

The strawberry plants have really taken off in the past week. At first there were a few ripe ones here and there but this past week has seen over two pounds of berries. The ones I brought home are freezing so they can stay good longer, I plan to use them in desserts, breakfasts, and smoothies. A later harvest provided over a pound of berries which I brought to the local food pantry.

mint donation

0.88oz

sage donation

7.09oz

strawberries

I picked seven strawberries today, the bright red was a very uplifting sight in comparison to the dim grey skies.

garden life updates

After a week that was primarily rainy and overcast much of the garden's plants began flowering or had significant improvements in their overall condition. This was especially notable in the leafiest of plants, the lettuce, kale, chard, herbs, and peas for example. On the topic of peas, the peas have progressed in their climb up the trellis. After replanting them they really took off, the suspicion was that the first batch that had been planted became deer food as soon as the sprouts got above the dirt. The newly planted peas have all by now grown at least a few inches, the tallest however have grown up the trellis at least a foot. Soon we will be sanding, repainting, and labelling new stakes to place throughout the garden to encourage people to walk around and see what is growing. There has been a lot of floral life since the garden got a good week of rain which was followed by sunny weather, it's nice to see so many bright colors speckled throughout the raised beds. Even some of the vegetables have begun flowering which is really nice to see. Hopefully we will be able to harvest some things soon, I think the leafy greens, radishes, and strawberries will be ready soon, as it is I have harvested a couple radishes and there are a few strawberries very close to being fully ripe. Hopefully the next few weeks in the garden are as fruitful as the past few have been.

floral life

faerie house

tomatoes, cucumbers, and buckwheat

Some buckwheat sprouted up from what was planted last year so I decided to keep it in this part of the greenhouse until it could be turned into the soil for nitrogen.

broccoli and eggplant

We had four different types of eggplant to plant in the greenhouse this year; swallow, rosita, rosa bianca, and black king.

peppers and basil

I am very excited for all the peppers and basils we have this year. Thai basil, kapoor holy basil, and tulsi basil. Jalapeño peppers, new ace peppers, and hungarian hot wax peppers.

stepping up

We hosted students from the Maine Gifted and Talented Student Conference and they stepped-up so many seedlings. Several varieties of basil, eggplant, and pepper are now thriving in their new individual pots.

new beginnings

Due to the threat of frost we have only been able to plant certain plants outside of the greenhouse, of these are coreopsis, echinacea, three varieties of potato, sunflower, cat mint (catnip), poppies, and oregano (pictured above)

sweet

potato

slips

plant sale! plant sale!

marigolds

Marigolds work as a pest repellant in gardens and are also beautiful to see. True form and function.

peas and ashes

Putting my pea plants into a hanging pot has been the only way to keep my cat Ashes from eating them up.

royal poinciana

I am very excited for my royal poincianas, yes now it it plural! I am so happy more seeds have sprouted!

indoor plants 🪴

I wanted to share in this post some of the plant life I have growing indoors on my own time outside of the garden. I got a lovely gift of a bonsai seed starting kit over the winter and procrastinated starting the process for several months, having struggled with indoor plants in the past and not knowing a whole lot about the seeds included in the kit I was a bit intimidated. In hindsight it is probably better that I waited until April to finally soak and then plant the seeds. They needed to be soaked for twenty four hours, the provided soil needed to be reconstituted with hot water and wrung out, and each kind of seed had its own instructions for planting depth and spacing. (I should mention I made them a makeshift "greenhouse" to keep their temperature from getting too cold). It took a little while to see anything emerge from the soil and after a few weeks I did worry that nothing would grow at all. Luckily after about three or four weeks the blue jacaranda (left bottom) sprouts started coming up. Unfortunately four of the sprouts died as the weight of their new leaves snapped their thin stems, this is why the two remaining are being supported by cut up drinking straws. A bit later the Norway spruce (left top) started growing. Third was one royal poinciana (right) sprout, I was most eager to see what would come from its seed which looked similar to a date pit. I am yet to see sprouts from the rocky mountain pine seeds so hopefully they will sprout eventually. This has so far been a process that has required a lot of patience and trust in the plants; as someone who is prone to worry it has definitely been a learning curve to just let them be and have hope that it will all work out. A similar thing happened earlier in the year with a money tree that I got from Walgreens, but I think that's a story for another post.

ramblings

This past month in the garden has been very rewarding, many plants are thriving, others are beginning to perk up, some are still waiting for their moment to emerge from the ground. It is beautiful to see all of these different stages of plant life all existing alongside each other. As I write the sky is grey, I think it is supposed to rain later. It is a welcome drink to the plants after the past couple days which have been climbing in temperature. While I enjoy rain and all that it does it is hard to keep up ones spirits when it seems the world is covered by a thin veil of grey. After enduring the winter it is nice to have warm, sunny days; people go out for walks with their dogs more when it is sunny, they begin to plant their own gardens, and as you walk or bike around town you can smell the heavy perfume of lilacs along the sidewalks of many houses. That's one scent I have found no simulacra for, no perfume or candle labeled "lilac" ever comes close to how they smell on a hot day in late May.

no more crispy lettuce

The lettuce transplanted from the sunny table raised bed is doing much better now in a more shaded raised bed that will retain more water with it being deeper and on the ground.

dandelions

I always find myself smiling at dandelions, it's nearly impossible not to when you really notice how their bright yellow hues mimic the sun they reach for even in the most uninhabitable environments. Dandelions never seem to mind where they grow, it's quite admirable; their perseverance and determination to thrive is unmatched.

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