Have a favorite pair of socks that has a hole worn through? Do you throw them out? Repurpose them as something new? Or try to save them? When it came to my favorite pair of Carhart socks, the answer was to try to save them with visible darning.
With a little time and a little yarn that I already had in the knitting stash, I was able to patch up the holes well enough to keep the socks going a little longer. I’m very sensitive to uncomfortable socks, but these are every bit as comfortable now as they were pre-hole. The darning is neither bulky nor terribly noticeable when you put them on.
There are a lot of tutorials out there on how to darn, including some fancy options that leave your garment looking more like art than a salvaged garment, but I found this a good place to start: https://blog.seamwork.com/tutorials/make-do-and-mend-darning/.
The garden is blanketed in snow and the growing season is done for the year. Even the hardy herbs that held out for Thanksgiving have lost their leaves, but I still have dried herbs taken in the late summer and early fall to play around with. And lately, that has meant making herbal teas. Here is the most recent:
This is a mixture of 4 herbs: sage, mint, lemon balm and rosemary. I love the flavor. It is savory and complex, minty and full-bodied. It warms the body and the spirit on a cold winter day. The sage and mint together leave your breath smelling sweet after drinking. The mint will sooth the nagging stomach upset that comes with poor eating decisions this time of year, the lemon balm is relaxing, and the rosemary may act as an immune booster. All around a great combintation for the season!
I’m sharing a “recipe” for how I like to prepare this tea. Nothing about this is set in stone. If you don’t like one of the ingredients, reduce the amount you use or leave it out. If you love one, feel free to add more of it. This is how I like the tea – it doesn’t mean you have to make it the same.
Michelle’s Sage and Mint Herbal Tea
4 parts sage leaves, dried
2 parts mint leaves, dried (I used a combo of spearmint and apple mint)
1 part lemon balm leaves, dried
1 part rosemary leaves, dried
Break the sage, mint, and lemon balm leaves into small pieces – maybe a quarter inch across. This does not need to be exact. If you’d prefer a more uniform look, you could pulse them in a food processor or coffee grinder – I personally like the way they look when they are hand processed. Combine with the rosemary leaves and store in an airtight container.
To drink, steep for 10 minutes.
This is enough for one small pot of tea, but you can (and probably should!) put together more than one serving at a time. You can store the dried tisane in an air tight container so you have it on hand whenever you’d like a cup. Enjoy!
As a side benefit, Sage tea is said to be good for your skin, gums, digestion, and memory. Some sources say not to drink more than two to three cups a day, as it can induce seizures or kidney damage in high doses. If you have any left over after your 2 cups, consider using the rest to rinse your hair. It’s said to be a good natural dye for covering grey hair!
I’ve mentioned my under-the-window compost bin before. It sits just outside of our kitchen window, making it possible. in theory, to simply open the window and toss any kitchen scraps directly in, rather than maintaining a compost pail inside the house that has to be taken out regularly.
This is a view of the compost bin taken through the kitchen window today in the snow. When we first built the bin 10 years ago, we thought we might possibly be setting ourselves up for a rodent problem, having it so close to the house. As it has turned out, we don’t see many critters in it other than chipmunks (and one summer a mess of voles, but they did not stay long). We compost way more than we did when the bin was in a back corner of the yard, because it is so convenient. No one is tempted to just quickly clean the compost bucket into the trash to avoid walking across the yard, and there are no more complaints about a compost bucket sitting on the counter.
Here’s the problem, though – I’ve subverted our carefully planned compost system by having too many house plants.
What started out as a couple plants has grown into a miniature forest. It is no longer possible to open the window without knocking one or the other of these lovely friends over. I’ve subverted by own carefully planned and previously-very-effective system. I would move the plants to improve our access, but this is the only south-facing window in the house and they are very happy here. Time to come up with a more creative solution, but until I do we are getting clips of me like this on the trail cam.
We’re still composting, which is good, but I’d like to get back to a time when I didn’t find myself tiptoeing barefoot through the snow. And here is my warning – when you come up with a system that works for you, try not to be your own worst enemy by breaking it!
Another really important plant in the prairie is Common Milkweed. With its thick, round stems, large leaves and beautiful flowerheads, it is hard to confuse with our other native plants. And you only have to see the seedpods open in the fall once to understand where they acquired the “weed” part of their name.
The west prairie at GDS has a rather large stand of Common Milkweed. It may be the most prolific native plant out there. You can see it here surrounded by grasses, asters, Butterfly Weed, and thistles.
You probably already know that they are an important host plant for Monarchs (and the plant where I’m most likely to find Monarch eggs and caterpillars in the garden – they really do love these plants). But did you know they are also very fragrant? The next time you see one in bloom, take a minute to smell the flowers. They have a lovely vanilla scent.
Did you also know that the seeds were used to fill life preservers during WWII when other fillings were scarce? When I was a child my grandfather still had a couple WWII life preservers that he kept in the boat box on his speed boat. We hated having to wear them because they were bulky and heavy compared to the modern life preservers that had been added to the box more recently. I wonder now whether they were filled with milkweed fluff? There is apparently a company, Ogallalla down, that used it to make a down alternative. Maybe something to consider if you are in the market for down?
“Greenpeace found that no plastic — not even soda bottles, one of the most prolific items thrown into recycling bins — meets the threshold to be called “recyclable” according to standards set by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation New Plastic Economy Initiative. Plastic must have a recycling rate of 30% to reach that standard; no plastic has ever been recycled and reused close to that rate.“
Read that again. Plastic is not recyclable. Oof. For those of us who take care to sort out our recyclables, this is hard news to swallow. I read this today and had to spend some time turning it over in my mind. What does this mean for each of us? What does it mean for the choices we make weekly on what to buy or not buy?
*****
Another shocking statistic: the Wisconsin DNR has found that farm and maritime operations in the state “generate 20.4 million pounds of recyclable plastic wrap each year.”
“A 300-head dairy farm using plastic silage bags may produce as much as 6,000 pounds a year of waste plastic.”
A few days ago, I grabbed lunch with my friend Ben. Ben is an organic blueberry farmer in Southern Wisconsin. Ben’s little slice of heaven is on his family’s farm in a rural area which is surrounded by farms but also by rapidly approaching suburban housing developments.
Photo by Ben Lembrich
Ben is the type of farmer who is trying to do everything on his farm in the best way possible for the earth. His way of farming is labor intensive and slow-moving. Before he adopts a labor-saving technology, he carefully weighs the pros and cons of adopting it. It isn’t that he is anti-technology or anti-progress; it is that his background in environmental science means he understands that none of these technolgies are without cost.
For his first 5+ years farming, Ben did everything by hand, but this year he no longer could keep up. After much thought, he opted to add drip lines and weed barriers to the long rows of blueberries.
Photo by Ben Lembrich
How did Ben come to the decision?
Weighing the Impact of Chemicals vs. Plastics. The blueberries on the farm are planted in mounds of pine straw which Ben collected and built into berms which he subsequently planted. In addition to acidifying the soil, the pine straw helps to keep the weeds down. But this year the weeds were still winning. Ben realized he’d either need to use chemical herbicides, hire a lot of people to weed, or invest in landscape fabric. Since he has worked hard for organic designation and isn’t yet profitable enough to hire labor, landscape fabric was the best choice of the options he had.
Researching Recycling Opportunities. Ben was able to find a recycling facility for the landscape fabric he purchased. He did this before he purchased the fabric to ensure that his plastic would become part of that pool of less than 30% of plastic that does get recycled. He has a plan in place and knows what it will take to transport the fabric to the recycler when the day comes.
Making a Pledge to Care for the Plastic. When we met last week, Ben was planning to spend the weekend removing the new landscape fabric. Why remove it after all of the time it took to install? We live in a harsh climate with cold, snowy winters and a lot of temperature changes. Plastic does not last long outdoors in this environment. By removing the fabric in the fall, storing it inside and replacing it each spring, Ben should be able to add a few more years of life to his landscape fabric, saving himself money and keeping it out of the recycling/garbage stream that much longer.
This last point is the one that got me really thinking about the “Use and Value Renewables” tenant of permaculture. What if the problem isn’t just that we need to value renewables more, but that we need to value plastics more? When we value something, we take care of it. We preserve it as long as we can. We think twice before buying it, because it often costs a little more.
Isn’t this how we should be thinking about plastics? Because, truly, they can be really amazing things. Plastics are light and can be durable. They are more difficult to break than their competitor glass. They can be formed more easily into complex shapes than wood or metal. They can be made in many colors and textures. In Ben’s story, there is no renewable material that will do as well at keeping weeds down as the landscape fabric,.
But plastics also persist in our environment for ever and ever and ever. So what if the answer isn’t to give them up but to use them more concientiously and deliberately than we often do? What if the answer is to value them more when we use them? To buy them conscientiously, take care of them and keep them for as long as possible to reduce their environmental impact?
The bright greens, pinks, whites, and yellows of summer have given way to the muted purples, golds and olives of fall. Why have I posted a video of nothing happening you ask?
Look a little closer. Zoom in on the purple New England Asters on the left side of the video. They are absolutely humming with bumblebees and honey bees. I know it is a little grainy posted here – but can you see the way the bees work their way around the central disc of the flower, visiting each of the disc flowers around the edge in turn? They spend a lot of time on each because what looks like one flower to us is really a collection of many tiny little flowers. Lovely, isn’t it?
If you are looking for a plant that sustains the bees through the fall, consider the New England Aster. This and Goldenrod, plus perhaps some hardy geraniums, will keep them fed.
One of the trees which I believe was planted on purpose in prairie #1 is a Red Oak. Red Oaks are native to Wisconsin. They are distinguished from white oaks by the sharp points on their leaves (as opposed to the more rounded lobes of the white oaks, which seem to be preferred for planting around here). In the fall, the leaves will turn a beautiful, deep cranberry red in fall.
Wisconsin is not one of the prairie states, but large swathes of the state were covered in prairie before European settlement. Alongside the prairies were oak savannahs, which are a blend of pairie and woodland. They are estimated to have covered about 20% of our state. To be considered a savannah, a prairie must have less than 30% tree cover. As you can perhaps see from the photo above, the Western prairie patch at GDS may be on its way to exceeding that percentage, due to the volunteer trees that have taken root next to the red oak tree. Typically, the dominant trees in oak savannahs are, unsurprisingly, oaks but other trees pop up. This is a great resource to read up on the typical trees of the oak savannah.
In our prairie at GDS, rather than the black cherries, hickories and pines that tend to pop up in savannahs, we see aspen, field elm, and box elders. Perhaps this is due to the disturbed nature of the prairie and the mix of trees in the nearby hedgerow? The fact that these prairies have not been burned is also likely a factor. Wildfires played a hugely important role in both the prairies and the savannahs. Oaks dominated the savannahs because they were more likely than other trees to survive a wildfire. A lack of fires on restored prairies like the ones at GDS means other trees, which are not resistant to fire, can take hold and eventually turn the prairie into a woodland. This is where the western patch of prairie at GDS is headed.
Let’s get back to the red oak, though, and why it is important. Oak trees support a huge number of species. I’ve seen resources that list the number of species dependent on them from 2,300-4,000. Whoever is right, I think we can agree that it is a huge number! This includes everything from black bears down to micro-organisms. And don’t forget us humans! While few of us eat acorns anymore (although perhaps that number is growing with current interest in foraging), we do seek oak trees out for their strong, beautiful wood.
In addition to using the wood, oak leaves, bark and galls can be used to make dyes of varying shades of brown, grey, ochre and mauve.
The bark can also be used to make tea to treat arthritis, diarrhea, and colds. The inner bark can also be applied to the skin to reduce inflammation. In both cases, the tannins seem to be the active ingredient.
Black eyed Susan growing in the Western Prairie at GDS
It’s time to talk about a native plant in the prairie. Black-eyed Susan’s cheerful face is a familiar sight in Midwestern prairies and gardens. In the prairie it grows as single stems amongst the grass; move it to your garden, and it forms lovely clumps. It is easy to grow and will migrate across your garden beds, moving in wherever it is comfortable. While it is usually considered a biennial or short-lived perennial, it is very hardy and reseeds easily. I have several patches in my yard that all came from a single plant I purchased 17 years ago. The original clump is still in place. Because it is such a cheery and adaptive plant, it has spread from its traditional home in the central and eastern parst of the US to all 48 contiguous states.
Black eyed susan is apparently a great plant for bees and butterflies, but I have to admit I rarely see either landing on them in my yard. Perhaps they just prefer the purple coneflower that I grow in masses nearby and would use the black-eyed susans if they needed to? Or maybe I’m just not looking at the right times? I do see finches grabbing seeds from the dried seed heads in the early fall.
They make a lovely long lasting cut flower and the seedheads, which look like small black pompoms, can be used as an accent in dried flower arrangements. Perhaps I’ll save a few this year and add them to my Christmas planters? You can also apparently make a yellow dye from the plant, although photos I’ve seen of actual dyes made from the flowers ranged from grey to green, so I’m not entirely certain what parts of the plant you would need to use for a yellow dye.
Like echinacea, Black-eyed Susans are used in herbal medicines to treat colds and the flu. It is considered an immunity booster and anti-bacterial. The seeds are apparently poisonous, so only the leaves, petals and rools are used.
In the garden, the Black-Eyed Susan looks charming with phlox, hyssop and sweetspire.
TL;DR: Produce bags were a huge success. I highly recommend trying them as an alternative to spraying fruit.
September is when the fruit floods in. First come the Bartlett pears, then the Seckel pears and Honeycrisps, followed by the Chojuro Asian pears, and finally the Esopus Spitzenburg apples.
From left to right: Seckel pears, Chojuro asian pear, Bartlett pears
Bartlett pears are best picked when they are still underripe. Left to ripen on the tree, they get a mealy texture and brown around the core. Ripened on the counter, they are perfect.
Chojuros should be left on the tree until they are ripe and have taken on a beautiful rich, carmely color. The left side of the asian pear in the picture above is just starting to get this color. Leave them too long, though, and their skin will darken and the flesh will brown and take on a fermented taste.
Seckel pears and apples all stay on the tree until they are ripe. Spitzenburgs benefit from a few weeks of storage before eating – in my mind they are the absolute best eating apple around if you wait to eat them until 2-3 weeks after picking.
As I mentioned in Permaculture in Practice: Use Small, Slow Solutions, this is the first year I am using produce bags. There are many options, but I went with a synthetic mesh bag I found on ebay. I try to avoid synthetics when possible, but in this case – where the goal is to keep out insects without harmful chemicals – it seemed like the most effective option and a fair trade off. With any luck, I will get multiple years of use out of them, too.
The bags worked well on the peaches, but how did they do on the pears and apples?
First the Bartletts. Here is this weekend’s harvest:
150+ pears from one 12 year old semi-dwarf tree – not bad!
I sort my pears into 4 categories. We can call them “Grade A”, “Grade B”, “Grade C” and compost.
Grade A pears are practically perfect in every way. Even the pickiest pear eater who likes perfect store bough fruit will likely be OK with it.
That’s one beautiful pear! Grade A.
Grade B are almost perfect. They might have a dimple or two that are close to each other and need to be eaten around, but they are still lovely and perfectly edible and most people wouldn’t turn them down.
Those are cute dimples you’ve got there! Grade B
Grade C are the pears with a face only a pear sauce maker can love. They have dimples that are spread out across the surface of the fruit. They might have scars or a spot where the skin has broken. They will need extensive paring to use. Most people won’t be interested in eating them out of hand.
Grade C has a nice personality
Now for the numbers. I picked 102 usable pears without bags (a dozen or so ended up on the compost pile). 30% were grade A, 30% grade B, 60% grade C. Not bad for fully organic pears, but over half would need extensive paring to use and will end up being pear sauce or dried pear chips.
From left to right: 30 Grade A, 30 Grade B, 42 Grade C(not shown – a dozen or so that went straight to the compost pile)
Now for the bagged pears. There were 28 total. 50% were grade A, 46% were grade B, and only 4% were grade C. Wow! What a difference! Definitely worth the 10-15 minutes it took to tie all of the bags on earlier this summer.
From left to right: 14 Grade A, 13 Grade B, 1 Grade C, and the compost pile starved
How about the others? The bags did not make a huge difference with the Seckel pears. They are just starting to come off the tree, but every one I see up there looks good for eating, with or without the bags. I don’t think I will bother to use them on that tree next year. It’s possible I just got lucky this year, but the Seckel pears usually look great and it seems better to save the bags for trees where they actually make a difference.
With the apples, the bags literally made the difference between having apples we will eat and apples we will not. I am still picking them now, but I did not have a single edible apple without a bag, and the apples in the bag were almost all good enough to eat.
Honeycrips – without and with a bag
Spitzenburg – without and with a bag (to be fair, I will use the lower apple for sauce or dried chips, but will need to cut away a lot of the apple)
The bags are not foolproof. There was a limited amount of insect damage to some of the bagged apples. It may be I put the bags on too late, or that the insects found their way inside, like this little wasp.
I also lost a little fruit to chipmunks, who chewed holes in a couple bags to get at the ripening fruit inside. I suspect that it was only so few bags ruined because there were many more unbagged (and easier to get) fruits to choose from.
I don’t mind losing some fruit to the insects and wildlife. It’s important for us to take only what we need – even from our own trees in our own yards – and leave food for the wildlife. And I’m especially heartened to see things like this little ladybug walking safely on the harmless bag, when it would be just as likely to be harmed by sprays on the fruit as the harmful insects.
Scientific Name: Erigeron annuus, Erigeron philadelphicus and Erigeron strigosus
While there are almost 200 species of fleabane in North America, three types are most common here in Wisconsin: Common (Erigeron annuus), Philadelphia (Erigeron philadelphicus and this kind, Eastern Daisy (Erigeron strigosus). While it is difficult to tell varieties apart, I believe that the varieties in the prairie are Eastern Daisy and Philadelphia.
Fleabane is a pioneer species, which means that it thrives in an environment that has been highly disturbed. Pioneer species can sometimes mimic the behavior of, and be mistaken for, invasive species because they can be so successful in an area that in out of balance. That’s a fancy way of saying they sometimes act and look like a weed when they are actually doing very important work getting an area ready for pickier natives. Other examples of pioneer species that you might be familiar with are aspens and fireweed.
Pollinators love fleabane, so in addition to getting the soil ready for other natives, they provide a good source of nectar.
Traditionally, Fleabane was used as an eyewash, an astringent, a mild stimulant and a treatment for sore throats, inflamation and menstural issues.
You can eat the leaves and flowers, but they are said to be bitter and can be hairy depending on the variety you choose. I’ll give it a try one of these days and report back.
The Prairie Permie 