HEIRS.
As a punctuation to my recent musings on Antique Farming, Hannah and I planted some heirloom peanuts yesterday from Pearl River County, Mississippi. I'd received them from two of my seed-saving heroes, John Coykendall and Jeff Ross, the respective master gardener and farmer of the famous farm-to-table–to-bed resort, Blackberry Farm. But what could be more antique than heirloom seeds?––saved generation after generation by people trying to keep a special piece of diversity and culture alive. According to John, this particular peanut can be traced back to 1850, and we feel honored to be keeping it alive another year. Year 162.We have a great love for seed-saving and it will no doubt occupy much of the blog as the season goes on and as we plant and harvest our way through the year. Our shareholders will not only enjoy heirlooms of all shape and flavor––from colorful butter beans to wild tomatoes, popping sorghum to sweet potatoes––but by supporting us can also enjoy supporting this very important act of preservation. Hundreds of heirloom seeds go extinct every year, but Hannah and I, along with our lovely shareholders, can say with confidence that we're doing our part to carry on the tradition, keeping these antiques in use.- Jesse.
FREAKS OF NATURE.
I started planting our flower bed a few days ago. Jesse and I know very little about flowers, but are eager to grow and learn about them. When we were ordering seeds, there were only a few types of flowers I knew I wanted. Other than that, it was mostly an adventure in guessing ....picking what sounded nice or looked pretty. One of these mystery varieties was "calendula." When I opened the packet, I honestly almost screamed and dropped the seeds. Seriously, they are the MOST BIZARRE seeds I have ever seen. I called Jesse over and he peeked into the package and said, "Are they alive?" The seeds look like little tiny octopus tentacles or sea creatures or worms....so strange. This picture truly doesn't do them justice. It was terrifying. But I am obsessed with them. There is so much to learn and discover about plants and vegetables and farming and nature...and I hope to never stop being surprised by it.- Hannah.
HERBS.
We have quite the little herb garden started....sage, rosemary, thyme, orange tyhme, oregano, catnip, and lavender. Right now, we are keeping them in pots because we want to plant them near the house (which we should be moving into THIS WEEKEND!) Herbs are something we know little about but are very interested in....especially some more medicinal herbs.
Also, update on the PEST situation: We flung some peppermint oil-soaked cotton balls around the garden a few days ago. Apparently, mice hate this insanely strong smell. So far, so good! However, we are also contemplating getting a cat. Just in case.
- Hannah.
ANTIQUE FARMING.
"The longer Levin mowed, the oftener he felt the moments of unconsciousness in which it seemed that the scythe was mowing by itself, a body full of life and consciousness of its own, and as though by magic, without thinking of it, the work turned out regular and precise by itself. These were the most blissful moments." - Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
Yesterday, with the garden saturated in another half-inch of rain, Hannah and I spent our day antique shopping. I had one particular item in mind, one I'd seen at antique malls before but always passed on buying: a scythe. We hadn't had much use for one until now, but as we slowly make our way across the garden we've been letting the grass grow up in one half so we could cut it and collect the hay. Instead of bringing in some insane piece of equipment for an eighth of an acre of grass, however, we decided we'd cut it by hand, and that's where our new scythe comes in.
Scything is indeed a magical act, if I may be permitted an understatement. Nothing connects me to the olden days quite like the motion of swinging a scythe crisply across the grass and laying it down in front at my feet, a quiet horizontal pendulum, physical and satisfying. I think of Levin from Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, watching the men scythe proficiently with awe and jealousy. I think of the value people once placed upon tools like this, now easily found under a pile of shovels and pitch forks in an antique mall and sold as novelty––$45. Our scythe is a handsome and well-crafted tool, I can only imagine what it cost brand new, and what it meant to its owner. I joke with friends that we buy our farming equipment at antique stores...but with the addition of the scythe, and another hand scythe we purchased recently, perhaps it's becoming more true than I realize. Since Hannah and I have no real desire to ever be organically certified, or biodynamically certified, or to be certified by anything other than ourselves and our customers, maybe we'll just describe ourselves as antique farmers from now on, breathing purpose back into novelties, and constantly working to reduce, reuse and recycle.- Jesse.
