Getting Ready for the Winter Season

 

The light and temperature always seem to change rapidly this far north and this time of the year. The nights and mornings are chilly enough to layer up the clothing and then, for a brief couple of hours, one sheds the layers due to being too warm only to start putting them back on in a few hours or so. 

The angle of the sun is suddenly low in the sky and areas that were bathed in sunlight during the summer hours only briefly see a bit of sun before slipping into shade for the day. Meanwhile work in the gardens changes over from weeding, watering, and harvesting to cleaning up and either planting cover crops or over-wintered crops. In between we nervously watch the remaining crops in their race to ripen before they succumb to weather and predators. 

It is time to ready the little woodstove and gather the books on the topics I want to study. I have also enrolled in an online painting workshop that I am rather excited about. It will give me inspiration to figure out how I am going to accommodate painting in my little off-grid cargo trailer and it will allow me to refocus and hone my painting skills after so long a break. 

Today I gathered my winter clothing from my storage unit to replace the summer clothing I will be packing up to store. I will also be fixing the trailer up yet again. I need to insulate and finish the ceiling. I will be learning how to bend wood to attach to the metal ribs so that there will be a thermal break. I will need to make the trailer water tight to protect everything from mold, which has been an issue. While I know that a cargo trailer wasn't built to be lived in, I believe the makers of this trailer did a sloppy job with their construction. If I was hauling around tools to work on jobs, they would be rusty!

Quite honestly, if I was to do this again, I wouldn't pick a cargo trailer. I had originally thought I would travel and camp in it while painting after my divorce, at least until I got my feet on the ground and I had a chance to heal. That plan was derailed by a cold, wet December, mold, and...the pandemic. 

I will just say that it has been an interesting journey and I grateful to be where I am both physically and emotionally. 

I am eager to get back to my painting and drawing. 

The above photo is a study I painted of a Solar Flare tomato I grew while living on Whidbey Islang from seed I had saved. 

I will leave you with a photo of the jungle in the Little Hoop House which is currently protecting beans, tomatoes, figs, and various herbs. 

Yours in Truth and Beauty, 

-Renee

A Change in Seasons

The season change has been heralded in with the first fall storm. While I wouldn't mind if it waited a couple more weeks before hitting, I am glad it held off as long as it did. It definitely allowed a final one or two blooms to show their splendor. This rose is a David Austin Rose called "The Poet's Wife". The scent is heavenly and she is a beauty, and one of my favorites. 

I have moved the Scarlet Raven to a new place to be my office and studio. Here she is hitched to my Toyota Rav4. I have traction devices on all four tires as I took the trailer through a sloped forest. I also used the four wheel drive. It took a while to get everything prepped and ready to go. We cut the timing rather fine but the trailer is now in place. 

I have a lot of work to do on her. I have also decided to not do a lot of posting of the work on the social medias for privacy sake, both mine and others. 

Finally, the rice continues to ripen in the Day-Length Hoop House. It is a race to see if it will ripen before the first cold temperatures. Growing rice on the edge (and maybe a bit beyond) of its likely habitat is always an adventure. 

One of the rices that germinated is a rather showy purple leafed and stemmed one called H165. It is beautiful and the pictures definitely don't do it justice. 

I am heading into the season of digging deep into my studies as the weather more or less shuts down the farm for the year. Of course, there still is winter grains, fava beans, and garlic to plant. 

It is also time to clean my little woodstove out and prepare more firewood. I am looking forward to the garden slowing down a bit and getting it tucked in for the winter. 

I have grand hopes and plans for the winter! 

Yours in Truth and Beauty, 

-Renee

The Myogas are Flowering!

 

This farm has many plants growing that one doesn't usually find on a farm in the U.S., particularly one on an island in the Pacific Northwest. One of the unusual plants growing here is Zingerber Mioga or Myoga ginger. 

Myogas are deciduous perennials native to Japan, China, and the southern part of Korea. Only the edible flower buds and shoots are used in cooking. 

I haven't tasted them but the flowers smell sweet, spicy, and gingery. The plants are amazing as they die completely back in the winter and then grow rapidly over the spring and summer to about 5 feet or so and then they flower at the base of the plant. 

Early this past spring, we ordered a Thai variety of Myoga and planted it with the others. It also flowered this year and I love the color of this one. 

The rice continues to flower. The one below is a rice called Titanio, originally from Italy. In the background are finger millet plants that are also flowering and setting seed. 

I am continuing to work on my trailer in addition to harvesting, preserving, and working on the farm. The trailer will be moved and I will be gutting it to convert it to an office and studio. I will finally get it properly insulated and fixed so working in the winter will be a bit more pleasant. It will be an interesting project and an opportunity to learn more skills. 

I will finish up this post with a picture of Sage, one of the rabbits of the farm, and is now retired from the Rabbitry and lives in one of the hutches I built near the herb garden. 

Sage as the sun rises

Yours in Truth and Beauty, 

-Renee

The Rice is in the Boot!

 

I might have mentioned in my previous post that this farm where I have landed is somewhat unique. First, this farm is also a seed bank, and grains such as wheat, barley, and rye are grown on a small scale. 

We also grow rice on a small scale.

Now, I have to explain a bit here. This farm is located on an island in the Pacific Northwest of the United States off the Washington State coast. We are at a latitude of 48.59 degrees North. Not only is the climate somewhat chilly, we have long days and short nights in the summer. Rice is sensitive to the length of day, or perhaps more accurate, the length of night. Add the intolerance to cold at certain stages of the rice plant’s development, to the sensitivity to the length of the night, and you can see why it is a bit more challenging to grow rice here. 

But, it is possible. 

It is pretty amazing to me to see it growing here in such an unlikely place. As to why grow it here when there are other places in the world that have a climate and latitude that are far more suited to growing rice, well, that will have to be for another post.

It is complicated. 

I will add that the rice is growing in a hoop house and the day-length is controlled with blackout coverings. 

It has been a bit of a strange weather year. The temperatures have fluctuated quite a bit and fall is definitely creeping in. The rice, along with a few other crops, might not make it to full maturity. This farm is off-grid and we don’t use artificial heat in the hoop houses although, we do use solar power to vent them when needed. 

In between working in the gardens and getting my trailer ready to move to a different spot, I am gathering and drying herbs and making tinctures. 

Here are the latest, Shepherds Purse, Grape leaf, and Lemon Balm. The hops I gathered are nearly dry enough to make tincture and some will be kept for dried stock. I also have Mallow drying, both root and leaf, and Stinging Nettle seed. I hope to be growing and harvesting a lot more herbs next year. In the meantime, there is still hawthorn berries to harvest and willow bark I dried to tincture. 

Well, it is late and I must get some rest so I will wrap up this blog post. I am eagerly awaiting the ripening of some of the beans grown from older seed I did a rescue process on. 

The blog posts will be shifting from farm gardens to trailer remodel as the seasons change. I will also be picking up my sketch pad and pencils soon. It will feel good to get back to art.

 I am ready. 

Yours in Truth and Beauty, 

-Renee

September, Already?

 

I took a look at the last time I posted to my blog. I am a bit embarrassed that the previous post was last winter! 

It was a funny year, weather-wise. Winter hung on until May and then suddenly it was summer. Here on the farm we have been in a constant rush to get the garden in and keep up with everything. 

Summer came on with a vengeance and everything shot up, flowered, and fruited, including the grass and weeds. 

We have been dealing with cute, fuzzy, wild rabbits cutting their way through the fences to decimate our wheat overnight. The voles have multiplied and cut down the beans at the stem and left them dangling on supports. They have tunneled into the potato beds and wreaked havoc amongst the tubers. 

It has been a constant battle this year. In spite of that, we have managed to harvest a few things. 

We enjoyed eating ripe figs fresh off the trees growing in the hoop house and wild berries have been a welcomed addition to our diets. Volunteer cherry tomatoes and ground cherries have been a constant snack. Kale and mustard greens grow freely on the farm and we eat them until we can’t eat anymore. There were a few potatoes the voles missed and hopefully the protection I put around the beans we are growing to renew the seed stock for the seed bank will hold. 

It is now down to a race of what will ripen before fall truly arrives and shuts down the summer growing season.

Last fall, I planted my first bed of wheat in my herb garden. I grew Maris Widgeon wheat and it did very well as shown in the photo above. I had a good harvest and as soon as I have time to thresh, winnow, and weigh it, I will do a little report on it. Last year I had helped to plant wheat and barley but this was the first bed I grew on my own. 

I continue my studies in growing and using medicinal herbs and the medicinal herb garden has made progress. Today I harvested hops to make into tinctures and teas. My fingers are stained with the yellow pollen and have taken on the distinctive smell of hops.

Finally, as fall has announced that it is on the way, it is time to move the Scarlet Raven to a new spot. I will be doing a complete overhaul to remedy the lack of weather proofing and finally build out the interior properly. 

I will be filming that process and more, to be announced in a near future post. 

I have a lot to share from this incredible learning journey I have been on and I am finally ready start sharing. 

Hang on! It will be a joyful deep dive into growing food, building skills, resilient off-grid living, creativity, and art.

Yours in Truth and Beauty, 

Renee