The following posts were taken from the website for Harms Vineyards and Lavender Fields, which we operated from 2010 until 2019. They offer a window into our lives on the farm and the ways the farm changed us. In 2018 we decided to end our lavender business but we continue to work with our land in ways that bring balance and health. Posts on this website will continue to follow our work.
Agaleah at work on spring’s first poison oak. There is an old practice, I am told, for building immunity to poison oak. You are to eat a leaf of the plant each day for two weeks, starting when the leaves are tiny and first unfurling from their buds. In this way, you get progressively larger… Read more »
Besides plum trees, the black oaks are budding out with miniature red leaves. Baby Black Oak leaves Soon they will have tiny, pollen-filled flowers dangling from them like pearl earrings. Same Black Oak, six days later. The rosemary bushes are still favorites with the bees. The dry season has meant very few wildflowers, at least… Read more »
Rain is coming, they say, all day Wednesday, all Wednesday night. We hope! Meanwhile, the wild bloom proceeds! Wild plum blossoms on forest edge on red morning (“sailors take warning”) View Our Lavender Products
Boris’s Plum Tree This time of year plum blossoms of volunteer trees planted by scavenging coyotes, deer, and birds, skip through the forest foliage. They are descendants of those prune orchards of prohibition. Butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds are delighted! Today some trees bear only swollen buds, insuring this bloom will go on for weeks; some… Read more »
Thursday afternoon the air became acrid with wood smoke, and everyone grew nervous: where is the fire? This is a question that we usually do not have to ask in February. When I returned home, we could see a grey cloud hugging the mountain across the valley in the Soda Canyon area, and about it,… Read more »
Mystery squash in the bowl. They are beautiful! The plant looked benign enough; it was supposed to be a cantaloupe. I bought sets after the birds had eaten the melon seedlings that I had sprouted so carefully in the green house, chose this one because I wanted more melons. Early on I knew I had… Read more »
Yes, it is dry and it feels like we have missed out on serious storms, at least so far, but the bluebirds arrived this afternoon and had a bath in our fountain! They think spring is on the way! View Our Lavender Products
Honey bee visiting rosemary blossom. Many people are surprised to learn that in moderate climates, cities are one of the best places for honey bees to forage. They never go hungry! If you live in such a climate, consider planting a variety of blooming bushes and plants so that your garden always has… Read more »
Pruning was finished February 8! Ramon is still tying canes. Nothing is growing much yet. The garden is in a kind of slumber; beets and cabbage rest in the garden to harvest as needed. Today, February 15, is the end of the crystallization period, that time of fallowness and rest. The plum tree prepares to… Read more »
One more week of the crystallization period, this quiet, dormant time when our psyches and the earth open to larger energies. More suggested reading (a little like studying seed catalogues!): C. G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Jung’s “so-called” autobiography, edited. Still, a great read, and a real introduction to his life and work. Gary Lachman, Rudolf Steiner:… Read more »
© 2024 Patricia Damery.
Recent Comments