The Humming Bird Herb Garden

The Humming Bird Herb Garden
In the background I hear the tv…. Before I say one more thing and transport you to Wildflower, here with me for a moment… Let me just say… NO JUSTICE NO PEACE! Black Lives Matter. Yes they do. They always have and they always will. It is a disgrace in 2020 that we are having race riots in our streets. It is time to make racism a thing of the past. It truly is vile. Sorry, what do you expect from a New England hippy farmer that grew up in a Buddhist commune, born to a mother who marched for women’s lib and a father who marched for civil rights? NO JUSTICE NO PEACE! My heart is on the streets of Minnesota, tonight. Stay safe guys and fight! Don’t ever give up.
The air has been heavy lately with wet… Kind of crushing the way it lays on your chest. Little breeze, less air more water. Walking outside today it was as if you were breathing water, or rather choking on it. But it is beautiful outside… A lushness has returned to the trees and the green is overwhelming. I have been working hard in my garden. Putting in the herbs we like to keep. We use them for cooking mostly. If you could follow the pole in the picture below to the top you would find a humming bird feeder. In the tree in back in the background, there is a more standard seed filled feeder. The Humming Bird Herb Garden, is a sanctuary for me.

Morwen, the garden mermaid lives in the humming bird herb garden.
It is a magical place just out the back door beautiful in mid may especially. The wisteria is blooming and along the side of the house not far away, the lilacs too are blooming. The fragrances mingle with the smell of fresh herbs as I bury them in the soil. In various places in this garden you will find unexpected characters such as Morwen, unexpected visitors, monarch butterflies are almost always about as are humming birds, and robins, and cardinals, and many other beautiful birds. I love sitting out here watching the wild visitors but also watching the goats or geese on the hill in the background…

Herb Garden
I love to dig in the dirt. The smell of the dark earth…. The grass and flowers…

Herb Garden
Hidden, among these raised beds and beautiful herbs, are secret truths, they seem to sprout from the ground like the living green shoots just beginning to reach towards the sun. Truths, empowered by energies of magical stones… Most everything is done very deliberately to create a place of power and peacefulness. The earth holds court on the back patio of The Humming Bird Herb Garden.

Herb Garden
Each day my tiny baby herbs grow larger… it’s exciting to watch. I can’t wait to eat them. I can’t wait to hang up my laundry in amongst the herbs so that the hung cloth might pick up the fragrance of wisteria, lilac, and fresh herbs… This might be my favorite spot on the whole farm, but only so long as the wisteria is blooming.

Herb Garden
Thank you for joining me in the garden…
I do miss having guests, but it’s still Covid quarantine, and I don’t want this disease nor do I want to spread it. We remain closed. It is sad and a little lonely without guests, but I know eventually we will get there…. In the mean time….. We wait.
Stay healthy!
Amanda of Wildflower Farm
Tags: ag, agriculture, agro, airbnb, B&B, back yard herb garden, basil, bed and breakfast, bed and breakfast house, chamomile, farm, farm blog, farm wife, farm wife blog, farmer, farming, farmstead, fresh herbs, garden, gardening, herb garden, herb gardening, herbs, homestead, homestead blog, homestead farm, homestead wife, homestead wife blog, homesteader, homesteading, housewife, housewife's blog, Humming Bird Herb Garden, Innkeeper's blog, kitchen garden, lavender, lilacs, mint, nature, new england, new england farm, new england homestead, old fashioned housewife, raised bed gardening, simple life, wildflower farm, wisteria

Wildflower Farm, is a small New England homestead, B&B and AirBnB, in the Baystate. We came out here 7 years ago, when we returned from the better part of 10 years as peripatetic aristotelian nomads, for my husband's post docs. Upon our return, we had a plan. We had a lovely home. Everything was so clear. Then, I got sick. Things I used to eat all the time during our travels elsewhere in the world and even here before I left almost 10 years earlier made me ill. It took a couple trips to the ER and a trip to specialist... It became clear, something had changed in the way food is processed in this country since last I lived here. Some off label things was inevitably going to be my demise.
My husband and I looked around to see the clear path we were on, had exploded in front of us. We decided we had to create a new path for ourselves. We put children on hold. We found a small piece of land with a house we loved in a rural suburb in a right to farm area. I began researching how to do it ourselves. Grow it ourselves, make it ourselves, survive on our own as much as possible. We bought the property, and began plotting a new course. One that didn't involve off label chemicals. Closer to nature, with a lot more DIY, gardens, and animals for the products they provide. We created a life we loved though it hasn't always been easy and has of course come with compromise with each other, and even with ourselves.
Our family thought we had lost our minds. What were we doing leaving the city? We had no idea how hard this would be. They thought we would be back in 6 months. That was over 7 years ago, now. We have been making it work. They were not wrong, it isn't easy. But has anything worth doing ever been easy? And for us, avoiding as much store bought food as possible was simply necessary so I could live given how sick I was getting.
Then Covid hit.... We were lucky to have this place. It has allowed us a lot less need for public use territories which has kept us a lot safer and spared us much of the risk others face daily. This place, has given us a privilege through this of great meaning to us. To be of use in a difficult time. We have been able to help friends family and even strangers in need when things couldn't be found on store shelves. Or money was tight due to not working, rent being due and a child at home, or some other draining situation. We are so very grateful to have been able to not be helpless like so much of society through this miserable time. Our families, got used to it some time ago, us being out here. They made peace with it the day there was no bread and they had to ask me for some. Or when fresh vegies were rotten due to supply chain issues but they could find plenty in my garden.
Wildflower Farm, was a place I dreamed of. One of those sweet pastoral dreams a city dweller grows up knowing will never come true, that became unavoidable when I became ill. I never expected to get to do this. I never thought I had what it takes to make this work. I have learned pacing myself is important, compromise is critical, hard work never ends, burn out is real so breaks are just a necessary evil.
We are not fully self sufficient, but we work hard in that direction as we create a new path through life for ourselves, always reaching to do even more ourselves and to get closer to the ideal we envision. We are however far more self sufficient than many in this world. 7 years in, we continue to learn and grow in this homesteading lifestyle. We welcome comments and advice and ideas and questions.
We welcome visitors from all over to our home with strict covid policies in place. We spend our time learning to live all over again in a more environmental and sustainable way though even there we are far from perfect always learning and growing doing better as we know better.
This little homestead farm is a magical place named for the New England wildflowers that grow all around. A place where a physicist, watches the night sky on clear nights with the aide of mirror and glass, and a woman, works endlessly in the gardens, the kitchen, and a variety of projects to create and to keep a very unique life style running and functioning. Wildflower Farm, has become so much more than simply a piece of land we can grow a few vegetables on. The longer I spend here, the more alive the land seems, the more I learn about it's function and the more meaning it has. My place in the universe and the next steps on our new path become ever more clear.
We welcome you on this journey with us.
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