As we get ready to invite lovely folks to the homestead, we wander and tweak the wild spaces. We’re not wanting to tame all these spaces but maybe tidy them up a bit. We had a wonderfully generous philosopher come to the house a couple of years ago who was smitten with the cultivated versus the wild spaces: intriguing shadows, bursts of nature’s expressions, soft soothing spots…and that’s why we invite you. To show us what we miss sometimes in our desires to ‘get things ready’, and ‘get things done’. We get distracted by the work and forget the edgy beauty – the edges, where songbirds like to peek out and nibble at berries, and where wildflowers reach for the sunshine.
I have patches I love – the blackberry patch which winds around what we call ‘the seep’, a birch-wooded area where a natural spring eeks out and is sort of a magickal little forest, open enough to see tall blueberries, and forest mushrooms. I love the new Jewelweed patch that fills the undercanopy of the willow tree in the drive. I love the ferny path where we seeded ramps last year (for a harvest next year!). Tiny vignettes of change and beauty. I know where there is a small patch of phlox that likes to appear behind the garage, where the juniper lies low and bushy, where the watercress makes it’s Spring debut.
We’ll be ready for Fall mushroom walks soon (waiting on this rain!), and the changing of the leaves (our Silver Maple always turns first), the saving of seeds and planting of garlic. I used to always think that early Summer was my favorite but as many in New England are wooed – Autumn truly shows a side that invites. Invitation extended.
Rock Bottom Homestead 