Summer playfulness on the farm
The “dog days” of summer. Have you ever used this appropriate description of August? Sure, it makes sense that “dog days” would be a reference to how a dogs’ playful energy tempers in the humidity of late summer. Even on the coolest of hot summer days, our exuberant golden retriever puppy finds shade under the holly tree, digging a cool dirt trench for her bare belly to rest. But I learned in Margaret Renkl’s lovely book, Graceland at Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache from the American South, that despite this correlation, “dog days,” actually refers to “Sirius, the Dog Star, which in late July, rises in the sky just before the sun does. The ancients believed the Dog Star ushered in a time of drought and madness.”
Well, I suppose on the hottest days of July and August, I tend to go a bit mad. This is the time of year when every farmer questions being a farmer. Thankfully, though, this past week of August has provided quite a reprieve. The air has felt much cooler and the crisp blue sky has been a sight of beauty. My bout with the cruddy COVID has forced my body into the cocoon of my room, but I’ve still found moments to enjoy this unusually pleasant August air.
This is a time when the farm is full of activity. The swallowtails can be found fluttering about, from bloom to bloom, while the songbirds and ruby-throated hummingbirds swoosh and dangle from the bending flower stems. The spiders, these magnificent weavers of nature, continue to leave their silken threads in spots, only the sun can see, while the dragonflies zig and zag, faster than any flying insect. The farm is indeed, alive!
Summer herbs and Teas
The months of July and August have been full of playfulness and creativity. Whether it is experimenting with plants, or concocting a blend of herbs, or learning how to make brooms, or dye with flowers, Little Sparrow is expanding its’ imagination for what it could become. Diversification is a healthy business model they say.
For the last 10 years, I have dabbled a bit in the world of herbs. We have grown dozens of varieties of flowers, but when I’ve tried to land on the flower that I love the most I always fall back on edible and flowering herbs. Each year, I order a couple more varieties. Calendula “Bronze Beauty,” Anise Hyssop “Golden Jubilee,” or Lemon Mint Monarda. Herbs are both beautiful and useful - for cooking, medicines, and teas! While I cannot claim a keen knowledge of herbs, much less the practice of herbalism, I have become quite taken with farming and preserving herbs and hope to continue in my education of these gifts of nature.
Among the many perks of growing herbs, are the many tasks that herbal tea making invites. Both Bonnie Sue and Tony Simpson love drying and processing herbs, so the making of tea has become a community affair with two of my favorite humans. Stay tuned for updates on herbs and teas down the line.
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Bonnie Sue is mixing together rose, chamomile, and lavender for Little Sparrow’s July Tea Blend. The Chamomile and Lavender were grown here at Little Sparrow Farm. The July Tea Blend comes as a loose, or bagged tea.
Bonnie has helped Little Sparrow with the Spring and Summer flower subscription at the Corner House for the last 2 years. This year, Bonnie has also helped with tea drying, as Little Sparrow experiments with growing herbs for tea. Looks like Bonnie might become a farmhand after all!
Summer Workshops
In addition to broadening what Little Sparrow grows, we continue to host our summer workshops. Workshops craft a space for artisans, farmers, and creatives to connect and cultivate beauty through the work of the hands.
In July, Miriam Bradford hosted the most delightful Turkey Tail Broom workshop in the coziness of the living room. Due to encroaching thunderstorms, we gathered inside to learn the intricacies of piecing our brooms together and the finished pieces were a sight to behold! We had the sweetest time with a fabulous teacher. Thank you, Miriam!
Miriam Bradford is 12 years old and has spent the majority of her days working with her hands creatively. Whether she is weaving, sewing, baking, or potting she enjoys making things that are practical, beautiful and edible! She lives on Kerley Road in Durham with her family, a flock of chickens, 2 kittens, a garden and a forest to explore.
Additionally, Sunday, August 28th, Sayde Anderson will lead a Natural Dye Workshop and help us explore the process of natural dyeing on plant fibers. We will work with locally grown dye plants from the Reality farm to create a range of colors on cotton and linen. This is a sustainable practice that is perfect for quilters, knitters, weavers, garment makers and anyone interested in deepening their relationship with the natural world through craft. I am super excited about this one!
Dyeing with Calendula, forsythia, and rosemary, a showcase of the many plants we used for Dyeing in the summer of 2021.
Summer Subscriptions
Today is our last pick up of the summer season. THANK YOU to everyone who participated. It is a joy to grow flowers for the community and to hear how the flowers are used. Already, I am looking forward to a year of growth in 2023 with more bounty, variety, and creativity. Stay tuned for fall and winter updates.