Bells of the North Homestead

You know one of the things I love MOST when going away, even for the smallest vacation, is coming back and finding SURPRISES. That is something really rather endearing about our very modest garden.  We can leave for even a very small time, come back and VOILA. We have new things popping up. This past weekend we escaped to one of our favorite State run campgrounds for a bit of R&R, came back and found this! Ostrich Ferns Barely peeking through the soil. These are Ostrich Ferns which I planted in this area that has barely EVER produced ANYTHING. There are many areas of our yard that have massive handicaps.  This one has massive shade and very poor soil.  We have slowly added things (including manure and compost) here to see what WILL grow in this area. Most plants have died, failed to thrive or just simply didn't grow at all. Well lo and behold we have found Ostrich Ferns will grow here.  Now the really great bit about Ostrich Ferns. ...

SALVE/sav/Noun:   An ointment used to promote healing of the skin or as protection. How many out here use Neosporin for your cuts and burns? How many out here would like to make your own salves with your own homegrown herbs for little to nothing? I do grow a lot of my own herbs. That's how I learned how to grow many of the fruits and vegetables that we grow now after all. Herbs are great for the novice gardener as most of them really do not want or need much attention. Think of weeds. For instance. Dandelion. Broadleaf Plantain. Chickweed. These are all plants that tend to propogate themselves freely in many yards, much to many homeowners dislike and yet every one of these is edible and actually useful to us. Herbs benefit from an almost lack of care usually so my garden usually has an odd assortment of both medicinal and culinary herbs. There are really three basic ingredients to any salve. Oil. 1 CUP. I really like Olive Oil the best as it tends to be the cheapest o...