The Lark: hear your sacred song

For some reason for a year before I became pregnant with my first son I was entranced with several different  plants, animals and other magical messengers.  I was very open to noticing the signs around me at the time.  And I had the time to not only notice but delve deeper into the messages they were imparting.
One of my messengers was the Lark.  The name stood out to me and the bird began to sneak into my world.  I have no idea if I've ever seen this bird in person, and I've never had a dream of one either.  The lark just sticks with me as a word that makes me smile and an inner connection to something quiet but compelling.

Just to clarify the Western Meadowlark and the Lark are two separate genus of the bird family.  I have looked into both.  There are several varieties of Lark in Australia and Europe.  Only one variety the Horned Lark has spread to North America.  As a totem the Lark is said to herald the importance of sound, music and voice.  The bird is associated with the Heather plant and will awaken you inner sacred song.  Chaucer called the lark the busy messenger of day and most often the lark is associated with the early bird saying.

The Meadowlark has both an eastern and western version and is a "New World" species.  As a totem this bird is said to mean a cheerful journey inward revealing intuition and innate abilities.  Meadowlarks are valuable to have in your fields as a natural insect remover and is the State bird of six U.S. states including: Oregon, Montana and Nebraska.  The Eastern and Western Meadowlarks are most distinguishable from their songs.

Whether in the magical or mundane world this bird is another wonder of the Goddess' creatures to behold.

like the colour when the spring is born...

just a little green.

It finally feels like spring here.  I'm digging the vibrant green all around me.

Rhubarb forever

There has been some wonderful rhubarb writings in blogland these last few weeks.  I am a lover of rhubarb truth be told.  It still grows behind the barn on the farm I grew up on.  Rhubarb butterscotch pie is my absolute favorite kind of pie (no strawberries needed!) and I was treated to it twice when home this June.  My mom made one and my grandmother made one.  I also tasted my mom's rhubarb relish this year and it is really good with meat.  Rhubarb is that versatile.  In the interest of making my front garden edible as well as lovely to look at I have planted an heirloom variety rhubarb there with the name Victoria (three guesses as to who it is named after).  This vegetable needs to be left alone the first year it is planted so no harvesting this year but I can wait for something this good. 

 This plant is nice to look at too which is a bonus to it being so tasty.  I wanted to share the wonderful writings I've come across about it this year:

growing rhubarb tips

how to grow it and a recipe for rhubarb crumble

rhubarb muffin recipe

Spread the rhubarb love around.  Eating in season is so rewarding to the taste buds!

Tales from my Garden 2011

I am pleased to bring back my gardening adventures with a whole new space to fill up.  My gardening square footage has increased and hopefully my outcomes will prove more successful this season.  After blessing seeds for Imbolc I am trying to promptly get them into pots and the ground.  But first things first, I cleared out the front plot and am trying to plan the layout.

The back area against the house will have river stones since we were discouraged from planting anything closer than 18 inches from the foundation (due to Carpenter ants).

I pulled apart a humongous Hosta and planted parts of it at the rear.  They are hearty and love shade or part sun.  Only the first 4 to 5 feet of the garden gets direct sun. 

 

My plans for herbs are growing Lavender, Basil and Calendula from seed.  If I purchase some seedlings as well parsley is the only definite so far.  I've been consulting A Place in the Rain: Designing the West Coast Garden and of course Internet sources.  I think I may also reference Sugar Snaps and Strawberries: Simple Solutions for Creating Your Own Small-Space Edible Garden once I return from a vacation to Quebec in two weeks.

And as for my other edible plans my heat drenched south facing balcony is going to house some Heirloom tomatoes and is currently germinating some green peas.  I'm also going to attempt some squash and green peppers.  Ambitious you say?  Well, yes it is.  But it's all about trial and error and finding out what works in our new home.  I'll certainly be busy this summer but for me it's a fun busy when it comes to playing in the dirt!

A little at a time

Slowly I'm preparing the transition from this home to our new one.  In a month and a half we will move away from the only home that Ky has ever had.  Part of this change will be to process stages that he has passed through here, although the process will probably be more for me than him.  I don't move very easily.  I have felt ready for this change for months now so I am more optimistic than usual about packing, cleaning and culling but I feel the need to mark occasions that we've had here and leave physical evidence of our family's growth over the last 2 years.

When Ky was six months old I created a naming ritual for him.  In that ritual I made a rosemary wreath tied with a silver bell to hang in his room.  Many moons before his birth I read in a ritual book that I didn't own and I've long forgotten the title to about a rosemary wreath being dedicated to a child at six months of age and hung over or near their bed.  This wreath was supposed to deter naughty fairies from influencing the baby in a negative way.  In my research for creating a fairy garden I found that rosemary repels fairies. 

Since Ky is now two and a half I think he is strong enough in spirit to move beyond the initial sentiment in the wreath.  It represents his babyhood and with each day he becomes more and more a little boy and the baby in him fades into memory.  With that I decided to bury the wreath in the garden here rather than take it with us to our new home.  New energies await us there and it seemed fitting to keep his babyhood here where he was born and where he grew from a newborn to a toddler.

The wreath now rests in the soil near the primroses, hosta and lily of the valley.   Soon it will break down and feed the soil there.  The process of letting go has begun here in the earth....a little at a time.

On a side note Happy Canada Day to all Canadians and Happy Fourth of July to those of you from the U.S.  I hope you all have great long weekends of celebrations. 

Tales from my Garden: Primroses & Fairies

When we first moved here 2 and a half years ago I decided to dedicate the small plot in the front of the house to fairies and try and plant plants that they would like. This lead to some research on not only plants that they like but ones that are happy with little sun and less than perfect soil conditions. I am no master gardener. I have at times been arrogant to think that I have a green thumb of sorts but clearly the last year has taken my beginners luck and cut me down to size.


Since I insist on learning in the trial and error way it seems that my biggest success so far has been the primroses or in Latin if you prefer primula. The first ones I planted in the spring of 2008 are so very lovely and are proliferating which means that in a few weeks after they are done blooming I'll spread them out a bit. Last year I added pink to the happy yellow ones and they were the first thing to bloom in my garden this year....way back in February. Last year the blue bloomed as well but I have yet to see that one this year. Over the summer they tend to die back due to the sun and difficulty I have keeping them as moist as they like (a drainage issue I think which I'm trying to fix) but each winter/spring they greet me with their happy green leaves and I am delighted that they like the space I've given them here.

Folklore abounds about fairies and primroses, plant a ring of primula around a rock and you make a fairy ring. Peer over the petals and you'll see the fey. Shakespeare wrote of them often as well. They are such joy inducing blooms, small and colourful it just makes sense to me that the fairies would love them.

Last year I decided to add plants that attract butterflies and bees to my list and so I am awaiting the greening of the survivors from winter to see how many are returning this year but so far I'm happy to see that most are pulling through. The northwest corner of my little plot seems the hardest on plants, I have yet to find something that is happy there and comes back again but I'm persistent in this quest so I will keep on trying. Maybe I should seek some guidance from the fairies as to what they want in that area. It feels nice to have plants to talk about again. Happy Gardening!