Tag Archives: gardening

Discovering Hyssop: A Versatile Herb for Spring Cleaning (and the first plant in our mini-series!)

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Well. It happened. I didn’t think it would ever happen, but it did. It happened quickly and was painless. It was sooner than expected, based on what seemed to be happening, but then… all of a sudden… we have spring! Somehow, out of no where, came a warm front and a few rain showers: and our snow has finally melted! Well, most of it has melted, anyway. You can smell it in the air, you can feel the above zero temperatures, you can just sense the world awakening again, and you can see green! The girls have flown the coop and are out digging up the ground again. Life seems good. Except.

The current state of the barn… 5 inches deep in water!

Except, that all the snow melting has created a lot of water. A lot. Our fields are mostly squishy, spongy grass and mini lakes. Where there isn’t a lake, there is still a pile of snow. The sump pump has been working non-stop, so our basement is (thankfully) dry. The barn, however, is a completely different story. It is a mess. For some reason, the drains are still frozen underground and there is about 5 inches of water everywhere. We’ve tried shop vacuuming, we tried pumping it out, but because of the slopes to the drains, those lakes keep pooling back in. It is just “yuck”. Chicken and rabbit mess is softening into a sludge and everything is wet. Soaked, in fact. We will have to assess real damage when things get dried out a bit. My poor bunnies are propped up on a pallet and out of the water, but I can’t let them free roam until things dry out a bit. I am sure they are miserable, but I don’t know what else to do. Time should help… but it is supposed to be raining all day today and into the night, and then cold again?! So who knows. Yes, spring is here, but so is all that spring brings.

So. That was a very long introduction to my next thoughts: because it is finally spring, and traditionally we do a little theme for blog-a-versary, (which I didn’t do yet) I’ve decided let’s do it. And, because it is spring and it has been a very long winter, I’ve decided to bring some colour, and brightness and new life into this little theme for us for the next few weeks… drumroll… let’s focus on flowers!! Sound good? Great. I’m on it. And for some reason, my first plant I wanna learn about is hyssop.

I know nothing about hyssop. It’s in the Bible. The rest I had to look up. Therefore, according to the great inter web…Hyssop is a very versatile herb, often used in Mediterranean dishes and traditionally known for “purification”. Apparently, the oils are often used to help respiratory issues. My chickens and bunnies may need it after all this water and dampness. I’m praying they don’t catch colds.

Hyssop is pretty, actually. They say it is in the mint family. A tiny blue-purple flower, in a spiky little bush… typical “herb”. Probably spreads like crazy given the right space. Oh… it says the flowers can be red, pink or white too. Nice. I’m not sure why this one was my first choice in our little series… maybe it’s a God thing that I won’t know about until it gets shared with me, but hyssop it is.

So, let’s look at it’s biblical references, shall we? Apparently the “hyssop” as described in ancient times is not the common herb found in the middle east today. It was likely a different aromatic herb like oregano or capers. Still, shrubby fragrant plant with healing properties… Sniff ’em all for good measure. Traditionally “cleanse me with hyssop” is a phrase you’ll see in Biblical references. Those antiseptic properties maybe, but sources say it was more “figurative” than literal cleansing. I suppose only because it was chosen as the instrument for marking doors at Passover, and it was the type of stick on which the sponge of liquid was given to Jesus on the cross…. so it all got associated through time as representing “cleansing of sins” (which of course no plant can do on it’s own). But there ya have it.

Hyssop was likely a good one to start with considering the state of my property. There is plenty of water, but not much of it is good for “cleansing”. It’s muddy, defiled and stagnant. Spring reminds us of new life and new beginning, but it’s only once all that snow, muck and mess is purified. Cleansed, if you will. I’m looking forward to getting the power washer out and hosing down a few things so my bunnies can get back to running around, and the grass actually looks green again and fresh. The snow melt has unearthed some unpleasant surprises, and I am ready for the clean up. Perhaps hyssop should be in the repertoire. What should we look up next, friends? Drop me a comment!

Embrace Dandelions: Life Lessons from Nature

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Oh my beloveds! I am already behind a week and a day! We missed last week, and almost missed this one! There simply just hasn’t been a second to sit down with ya’ll and have a chat! Not that I haven’t been thinking of you! I have! Perhaps I am just getting overwhelmed with all my chores, or too old to keep up… or who knows what! Yet, here we are, behind again and making it work. So, this post, too, will be short and sweet, but I want to introduce a little “theme” that I have brewing for the next few weeks. A thought in my brain that I want to touch on for the next few blog posts. It’s not a new topic to us, but one I have been thinking of again: Dandelions.

Seems a little weird, eh? It hit me a few weeks ago, when at my uncle’s funeral, the pastor mentioned Psalm 103. Verse 15 starts by saying:

“Our days on earth are like grass, like wildflowers, we bloom and die. 16 The wind blows, and we are gone — as though we had never been here.”

Like those teeny yellow “weeds” that appear in the spring all over our field, we come, and suddenly, we are gone again. I read a cute little devotional that says we should be more like dandelions: without being asked or prodded, we should “pop up” in places where we can be seen as Jesus… and then be hard to get rid of… until the right time! It’s true. The sides of the country roads along my daily commute is a sea of yellow right now. And, it reminds me to be present. Be visible. “Pop” in where you need to be.

As I mentioned, these little wildflowers are not foreign to mittonmusings.com. But we’re going to sit here for a little bit. And so, if you’re new here, take a look at where we’ve been before.

We’ll see you again, real soon!

The Beauty of Harvest Season: Lessons from Nature

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How many times have you heard or seen this verse? Especially around this time of year as the days grow shorter and the sun goes to bed earlier. Canadian thanksgiving has past and our turkey comas are subsiding. Harvest is upon us. Yet, I never fully understood it until we moved out to a more rural landscape.

Every morning as I drive in to work, the golden sun is just beginning to peak above the horizon. I’m a nighthawk by nature, but I am beginning to love the morning sunrise. The colours are fabulous, and as the dew and misty morning fog gets burned off by the early sun, it truly is a fabulous drive in to town. Along the route, I meander over the hills and valleys and the farmer’s fields all blend together with hues of brown, golds and yellows. Farm stands are filled with the last few sunflowers and wagons of squash and pumpkins add to the landscape with pops of orange. It even smells like “earth”. Technically, I suppose everything is dying… yet it is alive somehow with the change of season.

Now I certainly don’t claim to understand “the harvest”. On our drives, we marvel that some fields have already been clear cut to the ground. Others are still drying out and looking very sad up close. Our nearest neighbourhood farmer had half of his field cut … the other half sitting dormant for what seemed like days. We didn’t understand. Did he just get tired half way through? Did the machinery die? Did he get called in for an emergency? Or simply get hungry and gave up on his work in hopes for a leftover turkey sandwich? A few days later … the field was all clear. Seemingly worked on by fairy farmers in the middle of the night.

Speaking of the middle of the night, we have seen the giant headlights of monster machines working into the darkness (okay, darkness might be 7:00pm nowadays, but still.) So. What’s the deal? I have come to understand that harvesting of field crops: hay, corn, soy etc. are specialized feats of proper timing. First hay cutting and second hay have to be done dry, at certain temperatures to survive rolling into those big hay bales without molding. Soy beans are practically dead … shriveled into loose pea pods so they can be easily shaken out of their crispy casings and loaded into the harvester. Silage corn is also dry as a bone. No sweet juicy corn for the cows. Corn meal gets blown into those silos. It’s a wonder cows like it. Blech.

And the backyard farmer? Homesteaders with plots of veggies and flowers? That’s a whole other adventure. Our own garden was a disaster. The weeds took over and took over fast and furious. We chalked it up to an experiment gone wrong and just let it go. My kale is now five feet high and has all gone to seed. We did manage a few small pumpkins and some yellow cucumber like things? Plant pumpkins people… those things will grow anywhere. Vines are resilient. The other cucumber things? Not even sure what they started out as? Roald Dahl’s BFG fans will certainly label them as “snozzcumbers”. Slimy, but satisfying. I’m sad my strawberry plants are buried under there somewhere. There’s always next year, I suppose.

And so, we return to my muse about the verse in the gospels. Farmer’s fields are Huge. Backyard gardens are a lot of work. Trial and error have developed into perfect timing over the years to create “agricultural science”. Specific machines and gadgets that help with this or that. Measuring devices for moisture measuring for peak harvest timing. And then the labour. I don’t think a single farmer can harvest acres and acres on his own. Are their groups for these things? I suspect they share equipment. No one family can purchase those mortgage breaking pieces of machinery and survive can they? It has to be a group effort.

Snozzcumber anyone??

Which makes me think about the point Jesus is making in the verse… those plants grow full and expansive and wide on their own. The world we live in contains vast numbers of hurting, helpless people just trying to survive. No one has to “cultivate” wild weeds. They are doing just fine out there … in fact, they are flourishing. Pumpkins grow in the compost pile. Fed by the manure. Can you imagine what would happen if people took the time to truly cultivate the world around us? To nurture and feed and encourage one another to fully grow and bloom where we are planted?

There are plenty of people who need our love. Plenty of people who need God’s love and guidance. The fields are limitless. The weeds are thick. Those of us who are trying to do good in the world and live by His principles are few. Our task is hard. There are no fringe benefits. Only the fruit we collect. We go out into the pasture like “sheep among the wolves” (we’ve learned about predators out here too… they are quiet and sneaky and hide among the shadows…). So, please, encourage your fellow workers. Lend your expertise. Share your equipment. Put in the hours. Volunteer your time to be there when the time is right. It’s not an easy job…. but it is worth it. When your storehouses are full and you have an abundance of joy for when winter hits … your efforts will be rewarded with the peace that you can make it though the ‘leaner’ times in life.

I can drive up and down the hills every morning and marvel at the fields ready for harvest… and think how beautiful they are. Yet, I must remember to pray for more workers to do the hard stuff… and encourage those who are trying. For they are few and far between. And if you are one who is out there driving the tractors late at night: thank you. I’ll meet you at the compost pile for a snozzcumber snack.