And Now This

 

So, this is happening.

My sweet potato garden. 

These are "slips" cut from whole sweet potatoes I put in soil, half burying them. One variety surprised me by sprouting within a week or so. Last year it seemed that this one was very pokey about sprouting. It's called "Jersey" and has white flesh and tan skin.

Sweet potatoes sprouting. These are Jerseys.

The second variety is "Murasaki," or Japanese sweet potato. It was presprouted at the same time as the Jerseys, but has only recently started sprouting. It has white flesh and red skin. We find the white sweet potatoes to be sweeter than the orange ones, although probably containing less beta carotene and some of the orange related nutrients.

All purple sweet potatoes have a good deal of "anthocyanins," potent antioxidants that help prevent a variety of health issues. Last year I presprouted the all purples at the same time as the others, and had tons of sprouts before the others started sprouting much. By the time I put them in the ground, they had started putting on tiny sweet potatoes. So I started presprouting them about the time I put the others in soil. They are starchier than the other varieties of sweet potatoes.

I'm not sprouting orange ones. One of the local nurseries will have slips to sell be mid-May, so I can get them all in the ground by the end of May.

I started presprouting the Jerseys and Murasakis around the first of February, and put them in the soil around the first of March. I used a bird feed bag for presprouting. It had a thin sheet of plastic sandwiched between two paper layers. It must have maintained humidity too well, as some of the Murasakis, which were at the bottom end of the bag, were moldy when I pulled them out. One was so moldy I tossed it. However, the others have started sprouting in spite of the mold. Next year I'll use a bag without the plastic.

In spite of starting to sprout the potatoes later than last year I will still be inundated with slips by planting time. Lucky neighbors who receive the excess.

Last year I did a post about starting and planting sweet potatoes. Rather than go into all the information here, you can read all about it in my Sweet, Sweet Potatoes post.

The slips I'm growing now are from sweet potatoes we grew last year. The originals came from organic sweet potatoes from the grocery store.

Growing your own slips and sweet potatoes really is a fairly easy process. Timing is important, though.

Last year I planted a little more than 200 slips. This year I will plant even more. My husband practically lives off of sweet potatoes and has had to start buying sweet potatoes after consuming all that I grew, except for a few white flesh ones he's save back. Since I'm on a low carb diet right now, sweet potatoes are mostly off the menu for me. Sot the sweet potato garden is pretty much all for him.

Sweet potato love.

Balancing Act

 

My ButzeFrau created on Imbolg.

Equinox fires bringing Light,

     What is out of balance, make it right.

We are now nearly a full week past the Spring Equinox, which occurred at nearly 11 pm (Kansas Time) on Tuesday, March 19. This morning the Moon hit its fullest light (with an eclipse, apparently) at about 2 am CDT.

Both of those can be considered times to seek Balance. The Equinox occurs when the Sun sits  at a point halfway between the Solstices. The Full Moon (and New Moon) represent a balance point between Light and Dark, Dark and Light.

At Imbolc (which I described in my Feb. 1 post, Spring Whispers) I dedicated myself to seeking a greater connection with my land, an ongoing task. In this Equinox season of balance, I pledge to seek better balance in my life.

Balance. Yin and Yang; Dark and Light: Passivity and Assertiveness; Rest and Work; and ???

Where do I need better balance? What does Balance mean?

I want to find better balance between my focus on chores/work and play and spiritual practice, and all of the other things I want to do. Where do I fit in my writing? My brain training? My family? My friends? For nearly six months I've been working on a balancing act with my diet, a proper fat-carb-protein ratio for a ketogenic diet.

None of us are in a position where we must balance just two things, but many. It's a juggling act. That's why it's so difficult.

The thing with balance is not that everything is equal all the time, but everything has its time and place. Some days are all about chores, and work (play?) in the garden. Some days all I do is weed and water. Today my focus was on doing laundry. On laundry day I can't expect to get much of anything else done. 

So, is that out of balance?

Of course not.

Tomorrow I won't do any laundry. Tomorrow it will be chilly and damp, while today was warm and beautiful. In spite of it being Laundry Day, I planted lettuce and radishes in the garden and had a sauna with friends. Tomorrow I might sleep in, and will focus on things indoors, maybe work on one of my long-term writing projects. On Wednesday, I will probably spread beneficial nematodes over the garden to reduce certain soil dwelling pests. Thursday we hope to go plant shopping.

Balance. Sometimes it's all Light. Sometimes it's all Dark. Sometimes it's all work. Sometimes it's all play. Sometimes I focus on one thing, sometimes on others. Juggling and balancing. Balancing and juggling. 

In the end, it all works out more or less ok. Sometimes not as ok. The key is to not worry that you're working hard all day today and getting in no play, but to be sure that the work gets done and that at some point you have a proper portion of play. I'm working on that one.

On Saturday I set up the Butzefrau in the photo above. She's sort of a magical scarecrow, an old tradition from Germany (where most of my blood ancestors originated). The ritual is to create the Butzefrau, alternately the Butzemann, on Imbolg (that name is Irish, I'm sure it's different in German) at the beginning of February from natural items found on your land. Then you dress her/him. On the Spring Equinox, the scarecrow is given a heart and paraded around your land/garden, showing her/him what they were created to protect. They are set up in a prominent place to keep watch.

This Butzefrau is tied to a piece of rebar behind a large stone we call our altar stone. She is protected by a group of Eastern redcedar trees. I wanted her prominent, but a little protected from the elements. So I spent some time trimming back branches to make sort of a shrine for her. I did not get to do a proper observance of the Equinox on either Tuesday or Wednesday, but Saturday was good enough. I wanted to be sure to do something to observe the Equinox. I spent a good bit of time on this project on Saturday. It was part of my seeking balance. Part of that seeking is making time to observe these natural holidays and put more focus on my spiritual practice.

Balance, sometimes you work, sometimes you play, sometimes you pray.

Frost on the Nettles

 

The other day I went out to the garden first thing in the morning to offer thanks to the nettle patch where I had harvested a small basket of the tender young nettle tops. I steamed them for dinner that evening and relished in the potent nutrition and medicine they offer. Although the thermometer on my porch had not yet fallen to freezing, the leaves were coated with frost.

All week I've been foraging other spring greens for my daily salads, reducing the amount of lettuce and other purchased greens needed. I love this time of year, when the spring pulls green from the earth and I can connect with the garden and land around it by searching out food.

My ancestors, no doubt, foraged a good deal, looking forward to fresh greens after a winter of preserved and stored foods -- salt-preserved meats, fermented vegetables, and possible root vegetables that had not gone bad. Foraging not only connects me to the garden, then, but also to my ancestors  

At present I'm foraging henbit (there is lots and lots of it out there), wild garlic, dandelion greens, a bit of wild lettuce, tiny violet leaves, and some of the herbs, such as catnip, spearmint, fennel, young horseradish leaves, and monarda. The chickweed, my favorite weed, is not yet robust enough to make up much of my salad. I look forward to that day, though. The flavors of these plants range from strong to mild. Henbit has a slightly minty flavor, more earthy than peppermint and other "true" mints to which it is related. It's pleasant enough, but I've never found it tasty enough to pick much of it. However, it is growing on me.

As the spring moves into summer, the composition of my forage will change. Violet flowers and a few other blooms will add spark to the salad. Oxalis and lambs quarters will come in abundance, perhaps I'll even search out garlic mustard. I will continue to harvest nettles to steam for dinner, as well as freeze for later.

When the garden greens start growing, I may slow down my foraging -- but maybe not. Foraged greens tend to be more nutritious than those I plant in the garden or buy in the store. They tend to be a bit more bitter (good for the digestion) and stronger-flavored than the cultivated varieties, indicating their potency as food.

I feel stronger and healthier with my salad bowl full of foraged foods. I feel stronger in my connection to the earth; stronger in my connection to ancestors.

Lots of "weeds" are edible. If you decide to try foraging for yourself, make sure you have a positive identification, and don't harvest from some place where herbicides, insecticides, or chemical fertilizers have been applied. Foraging along busy roads also is not a good idea because of the noxious fumes vehicles emit.

It is an opportunity to look at the job of weeding the garden as "harvesting" good nutritious food. It changes the atmosphere of that chore.

Happy foraging.