Newsletter#1

Newsletter #1

NEWSLETTER #1

Hello Friends!

A quick recap of what I’ve been up to since I was last in touch via my former Almanac Newsletter (last issue was December 2020), from which I took a break so that I could focus time and energy on new projects, which I did. Throughout the past year, I really missed being in touch and sharing wonderful stories with you. Feels great to be back!

During this past year, my love and respect for nature has only grown. The more I learn about nature, the more I want to protect it. More on that via upcoming newsletters.

But first, I need to fill in the gaps for 2021.

In the photo below, I was featured last March in a story for ChristyDawn about making maple syrup from the maples trees in the woods by my home.

photo by @acountryroad.photo

In 2021, I gave 4 workshops at Churchtown Dairy (The first one was about Starting a Vegetable Garden/Growing your own Food; #2 was How to Reduce Food Waste; #3 was a Natural Curiosity Show & Tell and the last one was about Collecting and Saving Seeds). Churchtown Dairy also found me participating in two holiday sale events. They were so much fun! The Dairy is a beautiful building that looks like a byzantine basilica.

Churchtown Dairy in the Hudson Valley, NY

photographer unknown

Workshop #1-Growing your own Food

photo by priscilla woolworth (pw)

Workshop #3- Natural Curiosities Show & Tell, where 50 objects were displayed

photo by pw

Workshop #4- Talking about how to Collect, Dry and Save Seeds

photo by @acountryroad.photo

The Columbia County Recovery Kitchen prepares meals every week for people experiencing food insecurity. As a volunteer driver, I delivered 432 meals last year to those in need in the Hudson Valley. Feels good giving back to the community.

At River’s Edge Farm, my mini organic farm, where I grow most of our food, I also grew lots of okra. Some were eaten but the rest were dried, painted and turned into Christmas ornaments (which were sold at the Christmas Holiday event at Churchtown).  I also grew gourds (to be turned into birdhouses) and luffas (to use as kitchen sponges or in the shower). I not only grow our own food, and medicine, but also my own Christmas ornaments, sponges and fertilizer. I’m still working on growing my own toothpicks!

Okras dried and painted

photo by pw

photo by pw

photo by @anthonyslayter-ralph

In my woods, I foraged and picked pounds and pounds of Golden Oyster mushrooms.

photo by pw

Our magical woodland…

photo by pw

From the river by the house, I dug and harvested 50 pounds of clay, which I will use, share with friends and also sell in my online store. The clay is Albany slip, which is in short supply and makes a beautiful dark brown glaze.

Just harvested river clay, drying on fallen trees

photo by pw

A sample of the Albany slip glaze

photo by pw

I found 350 praying mantis egg cases in the field over the winter, which I removed before the field of goldenrod was cut down in March. The egg cases could have been shredded by the tractor! They were safely stored away in my garden shed, and by mid- May, I scattered them throughout my garden, the field and hedgerow. Praying mantis (mantids) are excellent at controlling pests in the garden, which include the dreaded ticks!

photo by pw

I walked amongst the fireflies in The Cut on warm summer nights, raked leaves in the fall, collected kindling for the upcoming winter and spread straw over the 60 raised beds in the vegetable garden. I enjoyed doing all of it.

The Cut. You can also see the river where I harvest the clay from.

drone shot by @anthonyslayter-ralph

In the ceramic studio, I had so much fun making all sorts of objects. This was totally new for me and is giving me so much pleasure. I always wanted to do ceramics when I lived in Los Angeles (1986-2016) but felt too guilty taking time off to do it. Feels wonderful fulfilling dreams I’ve had for a long time.

photo by pw

I read 12 books with my Churchtown book group, each of one about either the forest, the land, food or about people who are nourishing themselves and the planet:

Real Change by Sharon Salzberg; Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy; Feasting Wild by Gina Rae La Cerva; On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin; Cassandra Speaks by Elizabeth Lesser; Under a White Sky by Elizabeth Kolbert; We are What We Eat by Alice Waters; The Overland by Robert Macfarland; Animal, Vegetable, Junk by Mark Bittman; The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf; Finding the Mother Tree by Susan Simard and The Story of More by Hope Jahren.

The two I highlighted in bold were my favorites.

I received my medicinal plant certification from Cornell University, which was a fantastic course and I learned so much. This spring, I really looking forward to adding more medicinal plants to my garden, as well as giving a workshop about how to start your own medicinal garden. I will be sharing info about it and other workshops in upcoming newsletters.

My old bee skep (which I bought at an antiques fair in Maine 20 years ago) amongst the lemon balm, marshmallow, lavender, mint (that was a big oops. Never plant mint in the garden unless you want it to take over), thyme, fennel, stinging nettles and lemon verbena.

photo by pw

Like many of you I hope, I have so far successfully ducked the virus by staying home more than usual and being entertained at any time of year by some wonderful shows.

Favorite TV series were: Spiral (DVD-season 8), The Kominski Method (Prime), It’s a Sin (HBO), The One (Netflix), Shtisel (season 3-Netflix), Mare of Easttown (HBO), Bosch (final season-Prime), The Unforgotten (seasons 3 & 4-PBS), Hit & Run (season 1-Netflix), Click Bait (Netflix), Cathedral by the Sea (Netflix), Succession (HBO), Caliphate (Netflix) and Dopesick (Hulu).

Favorite films this year were Dune and Facteur Cheval (watched via Youtube) and favorite books on tape I listened to whilst driving to NYC and back: The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly; Finding the Mother Tree by Susan Simard; The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf; Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain; James Cook by Peter Fitzsimons and West Cork by Sam Bungey.

All this was made more fabulous because of the help and support of my partner in crime, Anthony.

See you soon again for Newsletter #2!