Calm and Quiet Work – Inner Life and Living Green in December

How do we meet the cold and the dark of the year in a permaculture way; what goes on with ourselves and our gardens, houses, kitchens and landscapes?

This dark time of year commands slowing down, nesting and conserving energy. The soils are resting under the thick blanket of mulch, leaves and twigs that were brought to the garden earlier. Orchards silently receive weak sunshine and strong night frosts. There are hardly any eggs in the chicken house, and goats are giving less milk.

Small Batch Sauerkraut

I am clear now that "small batch" is the way to go when making fermented foods. Typically kraut is made in large crocks (10 gallons or so), I guess because during harvest all the cabbage comes in at once; or maybe this tradition was invented by people with large families - either way it seems to be done in large amounts.

Celebration with the Pumpkin Patch Fairy

Dinner tonight was served by the light of my very own home-made candle - bees' wax from the hives next door; diligently dipped two candles at the time with my toddler drifting in and out of the kitchen.
Herbal tea from alfalfa blossoms, nettle leaf and strawberry clover, served cold. Bread fresh from the oven, dough mixed by my 2 year old son.

Herbal Goat Medicine Against Parasites

I am giving this post a long boring name to get it show up on search engines. My own searches brought next to nothing on the subject, unless you count vague statements that such and such herb aids in parasite control without any details on quantities etc. I got my favorite book by Juliette of the Herbs "The Complete Herbal for Farm and Stable", read the chapter on using garlic and went to work. Juliette recommends one full plant of garlic, leaves and all, chopped up and mixed with oat bran, pumpkin seed and molasses. I happen to have all the ingredients in either my garden or my pantry, so after a short time dedicated to chopping and mixing I got the aromatic goo delivered to my two princesses, Katia and Rosa.

Bee Cemetery

"Lovely honey combs" - say my friends coming to visit the house, once they see the line up on the kitchen table. The smell is honey-heavenly, but these are not honey combs but empty combs from my dead topbar hives. (you would not place combs full of honey on your table... some is bound to leak!) -
I assume some contained honey that bees ate trying to survive hungry winter; some were housing for their larvae, some cells are full of pollen. There is a thick layer of dead bees in the bottom of the hives, strange sight. They are dead and and the spring is quiet, one can just pull the hive apart and there is nobody there. Tiny native bees are working the flowers, and orchards are full of fruit, so life goes on - but the our little honey collectors are not involved in the spring chores. I hear, the US lost nearly 80% of honey bees in 2009.

I collected the combs to melt them for wax, to make candles. Broken combs are placed in cookie sheets in the sun, covered with a single layer of glass - slowly melting, with impurities that color the combs in darker hues rising and clean yellow wax on the lower end - or so it will be once they warm up. So far the melting process is very slow and I am not observing any separation of impurities. As always, the ways of living on the land and off the land sound oh-so-simple, anyone-can-do-this-without-trouble, and in reality there more questions than answers; and for sure I have not made a single candle yet! Not to mention honey harvest by the gallon.
Sometimes I wonder if people "out there" think that they can always change gears, plant a garden, grow their own food, meet their own needs - easy - while in reality the learning curve is steep and long and I definitely suggest if you are thinking about starting, start now - see you along the way!

Natural Dyes, Easter

Dyed with geranium petals, black-berry juice, marigold petal tea, onion skins tea - these eggs are edible and lovely. Shine is created by rubbing with a little olive oil.

Sorrel Soup, Fresh Asparagus - Sustainable Living in April

Finally there are some things coming from the land to eat besides eggs!
Fresh asparagus, French sorrel, dandelions, stinging nettle and armfuls of chives, garlic chives and onion greens. French Radishes poking their bright faces out of the cold soil. My ancestors made some great dishes out of above-mentioned ingredients which I am now replicating with gratitude and delight.