This week, of course, what else except weeding! There are, at this point, only two and a half beds left to be weeded. I really hope to finish at least one by the end of this week so that we are ready to wrap up by week ten.
Garden Work & Research
05/18/21: Sun in Taurus, Moon in Leo
Today we weeded! The lemon balm is almost gone from the western corner bed which will allow all the other plants much more room to breathe. We also planted a mugwort!
This week I also constructed and email that will go out to PoF in order to hopefully be able to find a student to pass on the management of the garden to;
“Hello PoF!
My name is Alegra Sky, I am a student in the Terroir/Merior class and as a part of an in-program ILC, I took on the care and maintenance of the Medieval Herb Garden on the Evergreen Farm. The garden, overseen by Frederica Bowcutt, was installed originally to be an ethnobotanical resource for students on campus with the goals of promoting self-reliance in taking care of their own bodies and treating common health issues, as well as a being a learning space and demonstration of historical herbal plants and practices. I will be graduating in the Spring and would love to be able to pass the managing of the garden off to another interested student or group of students so that it continues to be a beautiful, magical space for people to enjoy. Luckily for you the hard part, weeding, should be completed by the time the quarter is up. There are however general upkeep and maintenance tasks, and things I wasn’t able to get to, that need to continue to be done. This includes;
- Building of a new arbor
- Trimming the hedge
- Solarizing/ re-mulching the pathways
- Fixing the irrigation
- Weeding
- Adding additional plants that got lost
- Updated signage and map
I really love this garden and put a lot into making sure all the plants living in it were happy and able to flourish again. It’s a beautiful opportunity to learn more about medicinal plants and work closely with them, if that calls to you. I would love to see it get continual care through the summer and into next year. Faculty Sarah Williams also wants to allow students from her Taste program, which begins in the Fall, to work in the garden, so there will be extra hands and hopefully new students to manage the garden once PoF is over. I want to make sure there is at least an idea of who will care for it next each year so that it doesn’t get forgotten or become an eyesore for Beth and the other farm staff.
Right now, there is also an ongoing project that involves the growing of hyssop, which will need to be harvested in the late summer and given to the SPSCC’s Craft Brewing and Distilling program to use. Head brewer, Frank Addeo, was the one who made this possible so it is a gift!
I would love to meet and talk to anyone who is interested! I’m usually in the garden on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30 to 11:30, and will sometimes be there as late as 1:30.
This is the link to the Evergreen Teaching Gardens blog which has more info about the Medieval Herb garden for those interested;
http://blogs.evergreen.edu/teachinggardens/the-gardens/medicinal-herb-garden/ “
05/20/21: Sun in Gemini, Moon in Virgo
More weeding today. We had Steve’s hands helping us today and managed to tackle three beds at once. We are looking right on schedule to be done by the end of the quarter. I would really love to have the beds done by next week so that we can maybe put some plants in week 10.
I ended up going back on Friday and finishing the lemon balm and burnet bed so that all we have left is the Valerian and angelica bed.
Materia Medica:
This week I took a look at everyone’s favorite culinary herb, Rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis. Rosemary is under the rulership of the Sun. An evergreen shrub with pale blue flowers and needle-like leaves, Rosemary is used as an antispasmodic, stimulant, stomachic and emmenagogue. The stimulant action of rosemary is helpful for promoting liver function, the production of bile and proper digestion. It is a warming herb, aromatic and flavorful. Too much rosemary can be poisonous. “Rosemary for remembrance” is a common adage for this plant, which can be helpful both for memory and migraines. It also has a history as an herb of protection. The fact that it is under the rule of the Sun points to all these factors; an increase in self-confidence i.e. protection, stimulation, and memory invoking.
