Spring is a time for new beginnings, and so it is appropriate that early this past spring we found our new home. Finding a home for our multigenerational family and business was no easy task. It took almost two years. Our list of needs and wants was great and nothing seemed to fit the bill until we walked into the house on Brook Road. It simply felt right, as if we always belonged there ~ home. Although it was very painful saying farewell to the land we nurtured for almost 7 year; it was clear that we were making the right move.
There are many wonderful features to our new home but the one that is hard to miss, are the gardens. The previous owners had cultivated the landscape for over 23 years with lots of love and intention ~ not to mention, hard work. As an herbalist and forager, the land will present many amazing learning opportunities for me. There are so many cultivated plants that I have never come across before. Some plant varieties are familiar, as I know their wild relative but others are quite foreign to me. It will be wonderful experimenting and learning from all my new green allies.
The land does have some of my favorites, while others are not to be found, so I did my best to transplant my dear plants into the nursery Mike built for them. Folks, let me be honest, this was very difficult for the forager in me. I felt like a fish out of water, I am not sure I did it right, but I do visit them a lot, ask them to grow and water them with lots of love and intentions. I hope they feel comfortable and will flourish on their new land.
Interestingly, Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) did not come back in abundance on the land at my old house this year. Therefore, I only took one small plant. Sadly, it wilted within the 2 mile drive to the new house. I was very nervous and planted it on the edge of our little stream bed in the back, as it likes wet feet. To my surprise, it is doing the best out of all the transplants and has already started to produce buds.
I am eager to teach and share our new land with you. My first class “The Golden Answer,” will held be on September 2nd. It will be fun exploring the Golden Goddess on our new land. I am particularly, curious to see how many different varieties of Solidago we will find. There are over 130 different species in North America. Our old land had huge stands of Goldenrod, which predominately 5 species. A time of new beginnings begins…
I am looking forward to sharing and exploring our new land with you.