Happy Solstice Everyone!

June 21, 2017 ~ pebblesandclay ~ 2 Comments

Wild roses in the pre-solstice evening glow.

Here in the country we are very aware of celestial happenings. Most of us can identify the different moon phases and know the kind of light they shed on the nighttime landscape. Full moons, for instance, mean that events usually held in the day can be held at night. In the summer months there are full moon kayak excursions on the river and hikes on the mountain trails. In winter, it is snowshoeing or cross country skiing by the light of the moon. By contrast, on the dark of the new moon we know to bring a flashlight on any nighttime meanderings. And so it goes each month and through all the seasons marking the passage of time by the phase of the moon or the position of the sun in the sky.

One of the two biggest solar events of the year happens today. Summer and winter solstices are both very different but both really significant and worthy of celebration. The summer solstice happened at 12:24 am EDT this morning and marks the day with the longest sunlight hours of the year. The word solstice itself is derived from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still) because at the solstice the seasonal movement of the Sun’s path (as seen from Earth) momentarily comes to a stop before reversing direction. The pessimist in us might lament that it is all downhill from here. (I must admit this thought always surfaces for me at some point on this longest day.) However, the present moment beckons and with it the giddiness of this day filled with light.

I will be at a beautiful country setting overlooking fields and a lake this solstice evening eating outside with friends. I will probably return home before day turns into night but what better way to mark the longest day of the year than outside with friends.

Every solstice since I have lived on this country property I have gone outside and picked the flowers that are blooming at just this time. My only criteria is that they have to be wild and beautiful. I always pick the pink roses that bloom on our property and along the road. I combine them with the feathery foliage of an annoying weed like plant which is as robust and strong as the sun.

My bouquet this year is not really up to snuff: the torrential downpours and gale force winds yesterday got to the roses before I did. But it’s the thought that counts. Right?

Happy Solstice Everyone!

A Wee Garden Tour

June 12, 2017June 13, 2017 ~ pebblesandclay ~ 2 Comments

The early morning sun shines on the vegetable garden.

We have a small vegetable garden close to the house that I often refer to as a kitchen garden. There are a number of great reasons to have a garden close to the house: ease of picking is one and the second being that we don’t need a fence to keep the deer from having a feast every night. The tall onion-like plants you see growing are the garlic that we planted last fall. They will be harvested when they start to yellow at the end of July. The tunnel is covering kale and broccoli plants. They are hardy and don’t need the covering for warmth, but we are trying to keep the flea beetles from devastating them. Whatever we can’t grow in this garden we buy from organic growers in the area.

This garden is small by our standards because in the 1980’s we grew a few acres of vegetables in the sunlit field you see in the background of this photo. But that is a story for another time.

And, yes, we have flowers. Lots and lots of flowers.

Our flower gardens grew and expanded as we landscaped and tweaked the front of the house. We now have perennial flower gardens bordering the walkway leading to the house and beyond to a cliffside deck.

All of the shade loving plants had to go somewhere so we created another border on the shadier side of the lawn. The hostas loved the cold, rainy spring we had this year.

We also have a pool so adding more flowers there just seemed a natural landscaping solution at the time. Add to that pots and planters and the walled garden by the driveway and you have a whole summer’s worth of beauty…and work!

Most days in the garden start and end at the brook: perfect for washing off muddy hands and feet. And for giving thanks.

The Wheel is Turning, Summer Approaches

June 8, 2017October 29, 2017 ~ pebblesandclay ~ 2 Comments

Ragged-Robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi)

I mark the passing of the seasons by the wildflowers blooming along our roadside and the appearance of the first Ragged-Robin is always bittersweet for me. Ragged-Robin blooms here at the start of haying season which means the euphoria of spring and the first burst of growth is over and our thoughts have moved to stockpiling food for the less kind months.

When we moved here thirty-four years ago Ragged-Robin began appearing in the ditches towards the end of June which coincided with haying season at the time. But the fields are being mowed earlier and earlier now, sometimes starting as early as the beginning of June. So much for climate change deniers!

Ragged-Robin is a native to Europe and is found along roads and wet meadows there. It has become naturalized here in eastern Canada and certainly shows the potential for being quite invasive. I first noticed it growing in the ditches, but since then it has moved into all of the pastures and blooms alongside the buttercups, another invasive plant.

There is a lot of plant growth still to happen and a new season to greet, but spring with all of its promise is passing. The wheel is turning, summer approaches. At least Ragged-Robin announces the approach of the new season with flare.

I 40 Otherwise Known as Irene

June 1, 2017June 2, 2017 ~ pebblesandclay ~ Leave a comment

There was something wrong. I watched as the cow in the rear slowly hobbled after the others picking her way cautiously across the uneven ground. I turned as she rejoined the herd and continued on my way.

As I crested the hill on my walk the following day and the pasture opened up in front of me, I saw my cow lying by herself under the lone tree in the pasture with the rest of the herd nowhere in sight. I was worried now and made a mental note of her appearance so that I could let the farmer know. I heard myself telling him, “You know, the brown cow with the white face. The one that looks exactly like the other brown cows with white faces.”

That evening I flagged the farmer down on the road and began relating my sad tales of the cow with the limp. The farmer nodded his head and said he knew. “Yes, I 40.”

“ I 40,” I repeated. Of course. If I was having trouble identifying a cow in a herd, so would a farmer who had two other herds just like this one. The ear tag solved the problem for him, but not for me. I decided she deserved a proper name and so Irene it is.

Irene’s leg has healed and she has blended back into the herd, but I have a soft spot for her. As I walk by now with my customary, “Hi Girls,” I have added “and Irene.” We watch out for each other here in the country. That’s just the way it is.

In Search of the Wild Garlic

May 16, 2017May 31, 2017 ~ pebblesandclay ~ 2 Comments

Here we go into the woods in search of the wild garlic (Allium tricoccum). It is mid May and the leaves are just starting to make an appearance on the woodland trees. The forest floor hasn’t bloomed with growth yet which makes finding the wild garlic much easier.

We have two major patches of wild garlic on our land and this is the much smaller of the two located on the flood plain of the brook. I have come here today because it is closer to the house and I’ll just harvest a few. Here in Quebec the wild garlic is a protected species because of over harvesting. By law, a person is not allowed to pick more than 50 bulbs for personal consumption.

I have brought along a harvest basket, some gardening gloves, and my trusty trowel.

The garlic bulbs are plump. It is the perfect time to be harvesting.

Now it is time for a little wash in the brook before bringing them back to house for a final wash and clean.

All ready to be eaten. How perfect is this! They are delicious raw in salads, sautéed, grilled or added to risottos. Last year I made a wild garlic pesto that lasted us throughout the winter.

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