November, 2011

A beautiful summer has been followed by a lovely fall (with one notable exception - thank you very much Irene!) and we're still enjoying ourselves in the garden - in fact, it's our favorite time to plant perennials, shrubs and trees. A garden planted in the fall has several distinct advantages over the early spring garden because...

1) Perennials planted in the fall direct their energy into establishing healthy root systems, producing stronger, lusher plants in the spring.

2) There is little or no competition from weeds

3) Gardening in the clear, crisp days of a New England fall is simply an un-equaled pleasure!

After the ground freezes cover your garden with a generous layer of straw, leaves or other mulch. Do no use feed hay or next spring you will find a hayfield where you that you had a garden. You may cut back woody plants by one third to one half at that time or wait until spring to do so.

Judy is putting in several new gardens - dedicated just to herbs. Her first medicinal garden in a long time includeds horseradish, elecampagne, catnip, comfrey, horehound, peppermint, rosemary, sage, rue, St. John's wort, cayenne, thyme, annual and perennial chamomiles. Calendula going in in the spring.

A 4-cornered design with central cross path will be home to germander, costmary, lady's mantle, green and grey santolina, lavenders, a variety of thymes, hyssop, southerwood, silver king, culinary perennials and annuals in the spring. Her muses include Herb Gardening at its Best by Sal Gilbertie and Herbs: Gardens, Decorations and Recipes by Tolley and Meade (published in 1984). The latter includes a very early picture of Seven Arrows gardens that have long been transformed into something nicer. Both are available very inexpensively on Amazon.

Time to Plant the Garlic!

There's no doubt that after you eat a lot of garlic, you must kind of feel like you floating, you feel ultra-confidence, you feel capable of going out and whipping your weight in wild cats" Les Bland

Garlic is grown from the individual cloves. Each clove will produce one plant with a single bulb which may, in turn, contain up to 20 cloves. Choose a site that gets plenty of sun and where the soil is not too damp. The cloves should be planted individually, upright and about 1" under the surface. Plant the clovess about 4" apart. Rows should be about 18" apart. This year we have Russian Red Hardneck, German Red, Korean Mt., Idaho Silver and Polish White.

"Stop and smell the garlic! That's all you have to do." William Shatner

New Store Stuff

Judy and Miche ran across Elmore Mountain Farm, a farm based handcrafter of great goat soaps, while visiting friends in Vt. One of the owners is from Providence, proving once again you can't travel too far afield without running into a Rhode Islander. Come take a look at their lovely varieties of creamy goat's milk soap made from the mild of some very cute goats (our own Stimpy and Little Buddy, still #1 and #2 in that category, of course.) The pumpkin soap is made from lovely organic pumpkin puree, and as every soap and lotion maker knows, pumpkin is a great source of antioxidants and enzymes that act like alpha hydroxy acids, the latter which promote smoother and younger-looking skin. Pumpkin also contains beneficial nutrients that are said to help reverse the signs of aging and aid sensitive and environmentally damaged skin. www.Care2.com is a wonderful source of recipes in general. The following comes directly from there.

pumpkin

Pumpkin Peels and Masks

Ingredients: 2 tsp. cooked or canned pumpkin, puree, 1/2 tsp. honey (humectant, regenerative,) 1/4 tsp. milk or soymilk (alpha hydroxyl acid, enzymes digest skin cells.)

Optional ingredients: For dry skin: 1/4 tsp. heavy whipping cream (moisturizes, alpha hydroxy acid.) -OR- 1/2 tsp. brown sugar (exfoliates, moisturizes, alpha hydroxy acid.)

Optional ingredients: For oily skin: 1/4 tsp.apple cider (regulates pH, promotes skin circulation.)

DIRECTIONS: Combine the ingredients for your facemask. Mix gently and apply to your face, avioding the eye area. Rest and relax for 10-15 minutes while your pumpkin pie facemask gently exfoliates, nourishes and conditions your face. Rinse with warm water.

Second Hand Rose Consignment Shop

New items come and go all the time. Currently there are copper tubs and buckets, a large galvanized tin wash tub, an occasional maple table, dishes, more interesting accoutrements from a former (and popular) antique and garden shop.

October Hours: Time for the farm the humans to rest a little. We are open Tues.-Sat. 10am-5pm. Sunday 10am-4pm. Closed Monday

However.... you will be able to schedule a massage with Mairead Anne, (who at other times of the year, works in the nursery and store here at the Farm) on Mondays or other days as well, Mairead studied at the Kripalu Institute and offers a variety of therapeutic massage treatments which go way beyond just feeling great, offering many therapeutic benefits by acting of the muscular, nervous, circulatory and immune systems. Call her directly at (401) 225-3055 or email her at Mairead357@gmail.com

Linda H, who many of you know as the "front desk face" of Seven Arrows, continues to offer Elemental Crystal Readings and Celtic Reiki sessions on Monday or other days. Linda's style of "readings" combines here childhood gift of intuition, introspective and compassionate communication both with humans and animals. As a Celtlic Reiki Master, Linda taps into wisdom from many civilizations, Neo and Megalithic societies, Ancient Egypt, Native American, Nordic, and Shinto view of Ki to name a few. You can call Lin here at the Farm (508)399-7860 or email her at elemental.crystal.readings@gmail.com