Earth in her Self-cleaning Cycle

The moon is waxing, closer now to full...

There are daffodils swaying on the hillside, and lilies of some sort poking their green lances up through the clay...

I woke to a birdcaphony earlier this week, and made a mockingbird mock my whistle three times!

Therefore; tomorrow morning, bright and early, I am going to put dirt into some freecycled plastic pots (Yay!) and start some of the chilly weather plants for our first garden! The seeds were also free, which is wonderful. Free food just waiting for the ideal conditions to manifest, right from the very ground!

Well....maybe from the ground. I'm not sure. You see, I've been trying to figure out why it feels like my yard does not want a garden in it.

I just can't sort it out. There's a couple of very good spots for a garden, full of sun and with light windbreak...but it doesn't feel right. The groundhogs, birds, and rabbits certainly WANT me to have a garden in the yard, but I keep balking at something.

So I've been thinking and walking and looking and listening.  Secret Agent Amber has been put on the task to investigate the local flora and learn the names of new weeds and strange flowers...counting mockingbirds and marking the difference between crows here and crows in the swamp. I've been breathing the air and feeling the vibrations that go down through the clay and bounce from rock to rock. I listened to the space on which I live and hope to grow sustenance, and it said gently, kindly, "No."

So I've looked even closer and I keep finding a problem...as I've mentioned before, our yard is chock full of trash from the previous tenants.  Eric's found a truck bed shell, a chain link fence, a doghouse, and three bicycles in the long dead grass on the edge of our yard, and that's just the BIG stuff.

The worst kind of trash is the bits of rusted metal, broken glass, chips of plastic and even strips of tarps left to rot under just an inch or two of clay. Overall, the yard feels like a beaten creature, cowering and hoping it will be ignored and passed over. This land isn't ready to nurture.

I gaze around at what IS growing, at the weeds: poke that grows with a force to be reckoned with, bittercress making a white haze over the earth from her flowers, clover patches cracking the clay and the biggest dandelions I've ever seen swaying in the March winds.  "Ditch weeds," I think to myself.

All I know about ditch weeds is that they grow where there is cleaning that needs to be done. Filtration systems for the ecosystem, and for our bodies.  For example, Dandelions are liver cleansers, blood strengtheners...what is it finding in this soil that is making them grow to Audrey-like proportions? What is the astringent, nutrient rich bitter Pokeweed pulling from the ground and offering up so that the birds won't eat it's berries? They always ate the poke berries in Virginia...

I think my yard is in the middle of a cleanse.  Let me give you an example of WHY I think and feel this way...

This is the result of my digging around in the picture above. In less than a square foot of clay soil, all of this was at the surface, completely visible to the naked eye. In less than one minute, I had two handfuls of sharp, rusty metal to throw away.

So it's been decided. This yard deserves a break, and while we are still going to keep the poke trimmed back a bit, we are going to allow the earth here to do what it must to clean itself. I'll keep picking and throwing away the mess left by others.

We will use raised beds for our garden this spring, summer, and fall to produce the food that will help to sustain us, and the local ecosystem.  We will know what is in the soil it grows up from, and have more control over growing conditions and predator control.

I'll try to get Sarah to take more pictures tomorrow of the first raised bed and the seedlings that will soon be reaching up towards this lovely Spring sun!

Catfish, this ones' for you.

Paul Russell Canon, aka Catfish, was a really awesome guy. I should know - he is my daddy.  And I'm pretty awesome too! You just can't dispute logic like that.

I mean, just look at us: you can't just win the Buffalo Bill lookalike contest two years in a row without being awesome. TWO YEARS! I suppose it helps if you have a daughter in a bonnet.  Aren't I cute? I still have that bonnet! 

Also, try to carry a rifle into downtown Portsmouth any other day of the week and see what you get! 

So, Catfish was cool.  He was also moody, hilarious, extremely simple, yet frustratingly complex at all the wrong times, and honestly one of the most godawful stubbornest old Aries goats that I've known. To know him was to be affected by him -  Catfish was one of those people who wave their arm and you feel the ripple of the motion through time and space.

He could stop windshields with his bare chest, and did it multiple times, flung from cars drunkenly weaving down dirt roads.  I don't know how many hangovers he conquered, or how many half-siblings I have running around the American south, not to mention Mexico.

A conversation was generally punctuated with "Hey! Look at that sunset!" or "Did you see that tree?" - so much so that for years in my teenage rebellious ire, I refused to see trees and sunsets or cranes flying overhead. He still loved me, and said that my black lipstick made me look like I'd been kissing someone's poopy ass.

Seven years ago, about seven hours earlier, on this very day, my Daddy dropped his body and left to experience a Great New Adventure. Seven years ago, about four, on this very day, I was digging through his empty bedroom still thick with his presence to find his folder of poetry.

Poetry is the biggest gift that Catfish gave to me. Feeding me Ferlinghetti, beat poetry at nine years old, playing word games with me, critiquing my work. Introducing me to Whitman, who I love, and Frost, who I tolerate...teasing me about liking Emily Dickinson and loving it when I started twisting words like wire.

His wishes were that I share his poetry with the world. Most of it was either scrawled in his left-handed cursive that he painstakingly worked to keep legible and attractive, or henpicked on his old typewriter with the "r" key that stuck when used. I translated it to the digital media back in 2003, and it still resides there now. GO. Read, please, and enjoy.

Click this link to see his two portfolios on PostPoems.com

Happy Spring, Daddy. Happy Spring, all of you! Go, and look at the trees and breathe in the air that surrounds you. Embrace the world and it's magnificence in the minutiae.

For So Many

branches bustling

               rustling resplendent

now lie

       dormant

in a february wind.

limbs rub

        numb songs

and groan now      

            waiting

just to mend.

pale winter

          run your course

and end

     let all

the children sing,

this is the day

           the lord

hath made

         behold

Eternal Spring!

paul canon, 91 

Pixie's Pocket Spotlight: Cocoa Honey

Cocoa Honey Heart by Modern Scribe Photography

Today, I had to whip up a whole new batch of what is quickly becoming one of the most popular items in the Pixie's Pocket shop!

And the excited customers are not wrong! The superbly decadent Dark Cocoa Honey is indeed a delight for the senses.

The magic begins with Haw Creek wildflower honey, which is gently warmed.  Then I slowly add the shaved 65% dark organic chocolate into the pan and watch them dissolve into each other...they dance and form beautiful swirls and spirals as I stir them together. 

After it is all joined together into a solid golden brown syrup and blended with the powdered dark cocoa, it is drizzled into the jars, onto a bed of cocoa nibs and Madagascar vanilla bean.

Once the Dark Cocoa Honey cools, it's texture is more reminiscent of frosting than honey - it is quite thick and creamy! It's great for toast, for heating and pouring over ice cream, for just about anything you put it on...which brings me to the most popular serving suggestion for the cocoa honey:

Cocoa Honey by MSP

1. Warm the honey VERY gently; you can microwave the whole jar it by taking the lid off, putting it in for a mere couple of seconds, or you can put the jar into an empty, heatsafe bowl and pouring boiling water from a kettle into the bowl.
2. In both cases, please allow it to cool for a moment, and then test the temperature. 
3. Dip a soft paintbrush into the honey, and proceed to decorate the bare skin of your loved one's body! Hee hee...now make sure you clean up your mess!

This honey would make a great gift for a bridal shower, wedding gift, honeymoon suite appetizer, or any sort of experience where luxuriousness is the number one goal. Stop by The Pixie's Pocket and try some today!

Appalachian Spring: Plant Identification 1?

Alright, so I am currently habitating in and about Enka-Candler, NC on the edges of the Pisgah Forest. It's a beautiful place, and I am really enjoying watching it wake from this long and very cold winter!

We arrived on this ridge in early August, just in time to watch the mountains around us begin their change from green to gold to red to brown, to covered in snow and ice...snow is still visible on the ridges of the mountains on the horizon, even with these warm days of the past week.  And I have noticed that plants are generally much hardier here in the Appalachians than in the fertile wet earth of the Dismal Swamp...roses and honeysuckle and primrose were in my yard, blooming as late as October!

Akasha by Modern Scribe

So now I'm watching my yard with keen eyes to see what pops up as the earth thaws under my feet. I've been pulling up the bull nettles and thistle from the spots that we care to tread regularly and tossing their rootballs into the wild field next to us where they can grow with no harm. Eric chopped the hell out of the dead poke last fall, but keeping the poke under a semblance of control is a full time job! I don't mind it sharing space with us, we just have to make it share more of the yard. Our steady traffic in the yard should help with that somewhat.

Yesterday afternoon and Eric and I were finishing up in the back yard, Sarah decided come outside and photograph some of the wild flowers that are coming up in patches all over the red clay yard so that I could work on identifying them. So she lay on the ground, lost her cigarettes, and suffered many travails to capture the flowers exquisitely! Flowers, and also my kitty, when she SAT on a patch of wildflowers we were trying to capture in the fading light.

Veronica persica by Modern Scribe Photography

So, first off, there's this dark green patchwork all over my yard, with lacy leaves and delicate flowers that range from purple to light violet to a rich blue. These guys are shallow-rooting, and their rose-like clusters of leaves remind me of succulent plants. I know just from seeing how prolific and hardy they are that they are probably a hated weed! And you know how I just love to harbor hated weeds.

I looked around a bit and found the name of this plant all on my own!
Veronica Persica is indeed a hated weed and a loaf-about, good-for-nothing scoundrel. Of course, they aren't much trouble either, unless you want your yard to look like a putting green. *shudder*

I googled "NC blue wildflower" and managed to come across "Southern Appalacian Wildflowers," a photography gallery by Rich Stevenson. Luckily, Veronica here was the first picture on his page...but I went through them all. I'm also looking for another flower which isn't proving as easy as Veronica...

? by Modern Scribe Photography

These beautiful little flowers just reach up for the sun out of the long, grabby grasses and dried chaff of last years leavings.

The stems are green and reddish brown, with those lovely dark fingers cupping the white petals. They are no taller than 3 inches from the ground! Does anyone have any idea what this little lovely is called?

In this picture on the left, she is snuggled up with Veronica on the mud-slab steps leading down to our lower lot.

I'd love some help figuring out this little flower, and I'll keep you posted the more I find out! Soon to come: Chicken Coops and Raised Bed construction. Whoo hoo!

Oh, March...you are going to be busy!

Modern Scribe Photography

So far, March has been a damn sight better than February!

Now, mind you, we woke on Tuesday to snow that didn't stop falling until it was 6 inches! So we did the logical thing; played dress-up, went outside, and had Sarah direct a photo shoot of me mincing around in the tumbling snow! It was a great way to spend a cold, gray day - cause I can tell you, the fascination of just staring at the snowflakes gracefully falling went away about mid-December...

But this evening, as I gaze around, I see more green on the ground than the frosty white and muddy red clay. The birds are out thick everywhere, singing and fussing and picking the ground for the insects that are rousing. It has certainly been warm enough to imagine their reemergence - we were just at 60 degrees on both Saturday and this fine Sunday afternoon.

I left myself sleep in until 11am on Saturday...it's been a long week, after all! Post-coffee, I  set myself busy to making some Chai Honey. I have to fill the abundance of Etsy orders that poured in last week! Then I get the call that I have empty shelves at the local shop, the Candler, NC "House of Herbs."  I put three jars of honey in just about a week ago, and two of them have already sold!

Feeling motivated and accomplished, I put on jeans and boots and ambled down to the lower lot to poke around the future garden plot.  I turned the compost and found a couple fat and wriggling earthworms living in there. I welcomed them, thanked them for their hard work, and set off to work with Eric.  He has been checking our scrounged lumber, pulling apart pallets, and measuring out designs for the chicken coop.  As he worked away at our free lumber supply, I got busy picking up trash out of the dirt. It's something I do every time I visit the lower lot, yet I've only barely made a dent.

You see, whoever lived here before us wasn't as conscientious as we are with the disposal of trash...there's was a burn barrel that got dumped regularly. We are forever picking up bits of plastic and glass, metal cans, aluminum foil remnants - it seems like an inexhaustible supply of tiny trash bits that have malevolent intent and really want to stick in your finger when you pick it up!


Until we get the yard clean, raised beds are one of the garden projects that we'll be using the pallets for.  As we develop our plans, I'll be sure to post the progress...for now, here's our To-Do list for March:

• Build Chicken Coop (scrounged lumber, fence panels, pallets)
• Set up rain barrell
• Modify pallets into Raised Beds
• Gopher/Vole/Groundhog proof the garden beds
• Varmint-proof the Coop
• Feed and work the compost pile
• GET CHICKENS! 
• Buy local, heirloom veggies that will thrive here (zone 7b)
• Herbal First Aid Class (March 15, 6-9pm @ AB Tech, Madison campus, Free!)
• Spring Garden School (March 20, 8:30-3:30 @ AB Tech, Ferguson Center, $10)
• Healing From the Hive, Apitherapy Class (March 22, 6-9pm @ AB Tech, Madison campus, Free!)
• Continue to invest time in building and promoting my Etsy shop 
• Invest time in my local community by joining farm markets and supplying local shops with my products
• Take other classes that come up that can help me with chickens, bees, gardens!!

Phew! All that, and it isn't even technically SPRING yet...what do you all have planned for your March?

Visit "The Pixie's Pocket" on Etsy!

Photo and Design by Modern Scribe Designs

Ahem...

Pardon my dust, y'all....if it looks funny in here it's cause
I am doing some quick spring cleaning. 

Modern Scribe Designs is building me a new custom blogger background and header collection...and I love what we have come up with so far.

Now featured in Candler, NC: "House of Herbs"

Photo and Design by Modern Scribe Designs

"Pixies Pocket" is proud to stock our honey in a great shop in our local community -

 

House of Herbs in Candler, North Carolina!

• House of Herbs Facebook Page
• House of Herbs profile on Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project 
• Article about House of Herbs and Moondoggies Pet Food from Mountain Xpress
• Photo of Shannon Houn, proprieter, from Citizen Times "LivingWell"

Pixie's Pocket was Featured...on the Blog of CraftyMissusD

MissusD makes adorable monsters!

Are you familiar with the art of amigurumi? It is Japanese for "OMG you KNITTED a tiny OCTOPUS! *squee*" or "You crocheted a kitten! Eeeeee!"

Seriously, amigurumi is amazing. And tiny. And very, very cute!

Recently, I became a fan of one such artist; the Crafty MissusD!  She maintains an Etsy shop, a Facebook Fan page, and regularly updates her blog, "Missus D."

She makes adorable amigurumi monsters, slugs that guard your keys, snails and their children, and even an amigurumi inspired by Bender from Futurama! How cool is that?

Her shop also features handmade hair clips and bows, and multi-hued batik notebooks.

Chai Honey by Modern Scribe Photography

On her blog, Missus D recently featured a number of her favorite selections from the oft-overlooked "Edibles" category on Etsy.

In that post, she gives a mention to her favorite product from the Pixie's Pocket! I am honored that she could include our Chai Honey in that list!  

Thank you for your vote of support, Missus D, and keep on making adorable monsters and robots. The world needs them to keep things exciting (and painfully cute)!