The beginning of the new year has had me reflecting on some of my favorite moments from 2022.. in the garden! Among the many excitements that my garden experiences provided this year one of my favorites grows on a stalk and comes wrapped in a husk! Over the years my mom has grown this decorative corn a handful of times. Past years have set our standards high but this year did not disappoint! It is so exciting to unwrap each ear and get a colorful surprise. This corn can be dried and tied into decorative bundles which maintain their color for years. Another fun thing to do with this corn is to take off the kernels, soak them, and make corn bracelets or necklaces (as shown below)!

For garden growers, mid January creeps up on the time of year that we start to think about what seeds we already have and what seeds will be on the docket tp order for the coming summer.  When my mom texted me the other day to ask my opinion on seeds to order, it caught me totally off guard! But then I was giddy as I began to think about it. Soon, here at the UMF garden, we will start to think about our winter sowing and our seedlings that we will plant and raise inside in the next couple of months. 

These poppy seed heads are a reminder from summer of some of the unique ways plants cast their seeds out into the surrounding soil. Once these beautiful, deep purplish black poppies discarded their petals for the summer, their tender green heads dried out and their little crowns popped up. When these crowns pop up they make space for the tiny black seeds stored inside the centers to come out. When turned upside down dozens of seeds come pouring out, and rattle around like a little morocco.  These are salvaged poppy heads from work this summer. My coworkers and I shook out their seeds to use for planting.. or for baking! 

In light of the holidays, my mind has been on another tradition involving the fir tree. The little Christmas-y smelling satchels that most of us have come across in some gift shop or another, are much more fun and sweet smelling to make on your own. The bright green, tender tips that grow from the end of each existing fir branch are easy to gather in the spring when they grow. I have memories of traipsing through the woods by my house in April, picking a few tips from each tree and adding them to my basket. One of the best parts of this process is spreading the collected fir tips somewhere where they will receive sunlight. The drying fir is enough to make the whole area smell amazing. Pictured to the left is a small container of dried fir from several years ago. These can be crunched up and used to stuff sewn pouches, satchels, or decorative pillows! 

Growing up, my name was often met with blank stares or well intentioned mispronunciations, but every so often someone would look at me and say "oh I love yarrow".  Yarrow is a wildflower and herb which is often seen growing on the side of the road or in over grown fields, but is also sold and grown as a perennial. It grows in varying shades of pinks, reds, and yellows but is most commonly seen in white. One of my favorite stories to tell about yarrow has to do with its latin name, achillea millefolium. The first part of this name may sound familar.. because it sounds similar to the story of Achilles' heal. This is no coincidence. According to the story of Achilles, he River Styx, which Achilles' mother dipped him in as a child to make him invulnerable, was told to have been a potion of yarrow. This is an ode to the many healing properties that yarrow has. I could fill a page describing the benefits of yarrow, but in short, this herb is known especially for its pain relieving qualities, digestive help, and blood related healing from stopping bleeding to easing menstrual discomfort. 

For more on the history and many uses of yarrow! 

https://www.indigo-herbs.co.uk/natural-health-guide/benefits/yarrow 

Over the years I sold bouquets of flowers we grew, in a little flower stand on the side of the road. I started the stand as a little gig the summer before my first summer job. This became a super fun hobby that I kept up with throughout high school. My mom and I had a lot of fun discovering new flowers that we picked from the fedco catalogue and started as seedlings in the early spring! Some were awesome and became go tos, while there were also plenty that we found out were not ideal cutting flowers. Growing up we had always big veggie gardens , but since the flower stand our veggies were joined by many rows of colorful flowers.

This is a question that is hard for me to answer because it feels like such a given for me. Ever since I can remember early spring was when seedling trays took over our counters and tabletops, many, many summer hours were spent outside in the garden, and falls were taken over by harvesting and cleanup.  I used to take it for granted. The garden was a chore.  Hours and hours were spent transplanting, weeding, watering, picking veggies, and cleaning, chopping, blanching, and freezing.  But now, all I want to do is garden. I want my hands in the dirt and I want to tend and care for plants.  As an education major I want to teach kids the grounding and connecting powers of gardening, spending time outdoors, and watching the outcome of their efforts as seedlings grow and transform. I am so grateful I spent so much time in the garden growing up.  As a junior at UMF I am excited to be a part of the gardens here on campus, to work with other people who share my love of gardening and to show those who haven't gardened before, how rewarding it can be.