Turmeric Harvest

Back in August when we replanted the turmeric into this larger 18 gallon container we expected to wait until the leaves died back for the winter to harvest. They didn't make it that far. A couple of weeks ago we noticed a couple of the leaves had been nibbled by deer. Nothing major, just a little sampling. This past week we came back and every leaf had been eaten back to the stalk. Every. Single. Leaf. Apparently, the deer had cautiously tasted our unfamiliar turmeric leaves... and liked them.

We figured since the weather was changing and everyone was fighting off colds, the heavy deer browse was a decent enough sign to go ahead and harvest the turmeric. Luckily we weren't in it for the leaves, we wanted the rhizomes, shown on the edge of the sink in the picture above. Each rhizome could be replanted to multiply next year. In fact, everything shown here started out as one rhizome about the size of a golf ball this past Spring. But rather than planting, we used the majority of the rhizomes for tea.

Meredithe separated the rhizomes from the rest of the stems and roots. She then grated them into this big pot, added water and brought it to a boil. The resulting tea is rich with turmeric's best known chemical compound, curcumin. Turmeric derived curcumin is often used in curries and mustards, its rich color has been used in dyes and cosmetics (Be prepared for it to stain your skin during processing). It's warm, bitter taste is delicious, which would be enough to make the process worthwhile, but we wanted it for its medicinal properties.

Curcumin has anti inflammatory properties, making it medicinally useful for all sorts of ailments. We kept the tea in the refrigerator for a week or so, drinking it by the glass cold, or  hot or mixed with apple cider vinegar like a shot of cold fighting medicine. We like to add honey to the tea to sweeten it, or chase the tea/vinegar combo shot with a spoonful of honey. We find it very effective at reducing cold and flu symptoms, without the drug induced haze from the pharmacy.

Eastern Black Walnuts

Butterbean is standing guard over our Eastern Black Walnuts. The nuts take three to four months to stratify underground before bursting to life in the Spring. These particular nuts are from North Georgia, and last season, so hopefully some of them will sprout. There are probably 30 or 40 of them under the grate. They're buried about an inch or two below the surface and spread out evenly. The grate and cinder blocks should keep the squirrels from digging them up.

With any luck we'll start to see shoots poking up through the grate in April or May. They grow fairly quickly, up to 35 inches in the first year, so we'll have to dig them up and either pot them or permanently relocate them soon after they sprout. They are fairly vigorous, but they do send down a deep taproot so the sooner we move them to their new home the better. Selecting a permanent site can also prove tricky since they can be damaging to nearby plants. Walnuts produce the toxic compound juglone in their roots, leaves etc which stunts the growth of nearby plants giving them a competitive advantage.

Depending on the number of shoots we get, we may make a space for them at the front of the property by the driveway. If we can keep them away from the garden and food forest and avoid their leaves in the compost bin they can be a valuable asset. Walnuts are prized for their edible nuts and also for their wood. The trees can produce nuts in as little as 4-6 years, but large crops will take 20 years. For now we'll just have to wait and see what happens in the Spring before forming any long term plans.

Invincible Tire

 

 The wheelbarrow had been sitting idle with a flat tire for several months. I didn't really need it over the summer, most of the tasks required a hose and a few buckets. But as the weather (hopefully) begins to cool off the wheelbarrow will be much more useful.

Another pneumatic tire like the one the wheelbarrow came with was priced at $20. I opted for the $35 invincible tire. Made of solid rubber and set on a sturdier hub it never goes flat. Considering the first tire lost a fight with a thorn on day 3, I figured it was well worth the investment.

The new invincible tire has an extended hub much larger than the factory tire, so I cut the old spacers to fit. I've since seen tires sold with new spacers online, but measuring and cutting one of the old ones roughly in thirds was quick and easy. I just clamped it onto my workbench and cut it with a hacksaw.

The brace on the end is much closer to the larger 14.5" tire than it was on the old 13". It has some space, more than the bottom picture would lead you to believe, but it's tight. I may extend or bend the brace, or I may put a different wooden brace behind the tire instead. In any case, it works as-is for now. It's already back in action hauling pine straw out of the forest and mulching the fruit trees for winter.

Mulching the Fig

The fig, pomegranate and grapefruit trees are all out in the open in full sun on a South facing slope. They get plenty of sun in this location, but they are also out in the cold winter winds. In order to better protect them I used the same mulching process on all three, shown here on the fig. I mulched the fruit trees back in the food forest similarly, but with less mulch. I'm hoping that since they are more sheltered they should be OK with less. If I get worried about it later this year I can always add more pine straw from the surrounding woods.

As you can see from the top picture in the top collage the yard has slowly been creeping in on the fig. I had mulched it similarly last year but the grass has made its way back in to the trunk of the tree. In order to reduce competition for resources I hoed a circle around the fig, giving it about two feet in all directions free from grass and weeds.

After I cleared out the competition I layered garden soil, cardboard and pine straw as mulch. Each tree up in the front received 4 cubic feet of soil as mulch, the trees in the back only received two cubic feet each. I put down about one cubic foot of soil to level out the ground and get some good soil contacting the majority clay soil underneath before I put down the layer of cardboard. The cardboard will eventually break down into soil as well, but should suppress the grass enough to keep it from breaking through this year. Also, most of the grass roots were removed with the hoe.

As shown in the top right picture of the bottom collage, I layered the other three cubic feet of garden soil on top of the cardboard making sure to leave some space right around the trunk of the tree. I put a layer of pine straw on top of the soil to retain moisture and hopefully prevent erosion. Then I placed a couple of pieces of slate under the fig to block any grass or weeds from sneaking up through the area directly under the fig that didn't receive any mulch. They should hold some heat from the sun on those long winter nights as well.

Finally, I put the sheet plastic back up around the base of the fig. It isn't entirely opaque but will block a lot of the sunlight from hitting the trunk directly, preventing possible sunburn. It will also block out the worst of the wind. I put the cute little puppy dog statue back on top and voila! The fig is ready for winter.

Repairing the Gate

As you can see from the above photos the gate had been damaged in a storm. The hinge on one of the gate arms had both twisted and bent the hinge open and had also pulled loose from the post. I took out all of the remaining screws and assessed the hinge. The only damage was to the piece attached to the gate arm. I used a couple of C clamps to hold it still and beat it back into shape with a hammer. It's not perfect, but it's much straighter.

The post itself was slightly damaged as well. The wood had split, loosening but not losing the corner of the post. I reattached the hinge to the post mainly using the old screws. One screw was missing so I used a longer screw and set it at a different angle to better secure it to the sturdy portion of the post. You can see the difference between the screws in the pictures below. The longer screw appears to have a larger head, but it actually has a small head. I used an odd nut washer that I had to make sure the new screw wouldn't pull through the hinge.

The newly reshaped hinge holds the gate arm both closer to vertical and more square to the post than it had been. Now the gate closes and latches... just in time for deer season.

Eastern Leaf-footed Bug

The eastern leaf-footed bug is a common, minor, garden and agricultural pest. A variety of species of leaf-footed bugs can be found in a wide range from the southern United States to as far South as Panama. This family of bugs feeds on plants with their sap sucking mouth parts, often damaging the fruits and nuts of the host plant. Citrus fruits here in Georgia, and even more commonly Florida, are known to attract the eastern leaf-footed bug in particular.

This photograph was taken on one of our catalpa trees. This individual bug was on one of the many bean like seed pods. Each seed pod had its own attacker, seemingly claiming the pod for his own. I doubt the bugs will damage the seeds ability to germinate, and the seeds aren't edible, so they can dine on catalpa pods for now... But they'll also happily feast on peaches and black eyed peas and all sorts of other edible things common here in the South, some of which we may grow in the future. Just one more reason we need some chickens.

Stick Bug

Stick bugs are a member of the order Phasmatodea from the ancient Greek phasma, which means phantom, an obvious allusion to their camouflage. There are many different varieties of phasmids, some look like sticks, others like leaves. They are obviously difficult to spot, this one almost got sawed in half by accident.

They are slow moving and most don't fly, although a few species can, particularly the smaller, lighter males. They also have compound eyes which gives them good night vision. They grow by molting and as they age their eyes become more light sensitive and they become more and more nocturnal. I found this guy in the middle of a cloudy afternoon. I had been clearing a lot of brush in the area so I'm not sure that he was out moving around, it's more likely that I disturbed him during his daytime nap.

Their reproductive exploits are fascinating as well. They often copulate for days or even weeks at a time. One species of stick bug, Necroscia sparaxes, holds the record for longest mated pairing among all insects... at 79 days. I'm pretty sure my wife would kill me and eat me well before the third month.

While their feeding habits can be damaging to some trees, especially during intense outbreaks, the damage is typically not widespread since they don't get around very well. They usually prefer dining on the leaves of undergrowth in mature forests, so they actually promote the larger trees ability to succeed. Hopefully this guy is munching on our abundant blackberry leaves and not stunting little oak saplings.

The Shed

Just as you pass through the old farm gate in the old fence line and enter the food forest is this inconspicuous little spot on the left hand side of the driveway. Our first idea for shed placement was closer to the front but we wanted something in the shade, central and away from the road. This spot looked level and didn't have too many large trees so I went out there one day and cleared it out to see what we were working with.

Removing the privet tangle opened up the vast majority of the space, but was by far the easiest third of the job. The two trees along the left not immediately on the old fence line would need to come down, mainly for fear of them later coming down on the shed. Also, that beastly looking poison ivy vine on the old gate post would definitely have to go.

I took out the poison ivy first, gradually chopping it up into 3' pieces and moving it entirely with an old pair of bypass loppers. I used them like tongs and tried to keep my distance. I must be one of those people that poison ivy doesn't bother because that stuff was everywhere and I didn't develop a rash.

I went back a second day and took down the two pines growing off the fence line, they were each probably 25 years old or so. I processed the branches and upper portions of the tree into smaller pieces and dragged them to nearby brush piles. The bottom 20' of each trunk I cut into 10' lengths and saved for use in the construction of a log cabin style chicken coop for which I'm gathering supplies.

Meredithe and I came back on a third day and removed large branches along the driveway to clear space for our new shed. It was to be delivered that afternoon and the process by which they unloaded it from the trailer and moved it into place was fascinating. They used a machine called a mule, which kind of looked like a forklift, to drag the shed off of the trailer. They put the other end on two wheels and drove it back and into place. The company we purchased from builds on site, but this shed was previously rented, repossessed and we purchased it at a discounted rate.

We love our new shed! It has all of the extras we wanted, a loft, the sturdier barn door upgrade, a metal roof upgrade and I can't imagine picking any other color. It was even wired for four outlets and a light. I'll have to rewire some of it, but free hardware is free hardware. It'll be nice to have dry work space and storage on the farm. Now where did I put those logs, I'm ready to build a chicken coop...

Yucca in Bloom

This yucca plant was planted just inside the property line by the previous owner. I hadn't seen, or at least noticed, it bloom until this year. It's usually planted purely for ornamental purposes and I can see why. Those flowers are beautiful!

Some species of yucca have edible parts, but since I'm not entirely sure which species I've got I haven't tried to do anything with it from a culinary standpoint. It's appearance leads to confusion with yuca, or cassava, a commonly planted edible perennial, which is often planted and harvested annually from cuttings for its edible root.

Other uses include using the leaves to hang meat for drying or smoking. By piercing the meat with the spiny leaf and tying a knot a small hook is created making the hanging easier. Another use gives it it's nickname as the "sentry plant". Also utilizing the stiff sharp leaves, concerned parents would often plant this sentry underneath their daughters windows to stand guard. Deterring young suitors from climbing in, and their daughters from climbing out of first floor windows. I'm happy to just let it grow and watch it bloom, right where it is; standing sentry along the property line.

Common Whitetail Dragonfly

As the name denotes, the adult males of the Common Whitetail Dragonfly are easily distinguishable from other dragonfly species by their brilliantly white tails. This individual is a juvenile male and as such has not yet developed his tail coloration. The females have a smaller brown abdomen and a different wing pattern.

They all feed mainly on mosquitoes (yay!), along riverbanks and other bodies of water. Gohn Greene Farms is only about a mile from Lake Oconee so there is plenty of water nearby. The dragonfly nymphs feed on mosquito nymphs, adult dragonflies feed on adult mosquitoes. The more dragonflies, the less mosquitoes. The males are especially territorial over the best feeding areas. They each maintain about a 50 to 100 foot stretch of bank along the waters edge and defend it against intrusions of other dragonflies.

When a male common whitetail sees another male common whitetail he will raise his abdomen as a warning to the other dragonfly. The larger, whiter abdomens belong to the dominant males. They will often fly into each other to defend their territories for feeding and breeding.

Breeding, even if you have the biggest whitest abdomen, only takes about 3 seconds. Following which the female swoops down to the water surface and quickly deposits hundreds, possibly even a thousand eggs. Hopefully all of those eggs will hatch and begin feeding on mosquitoes ASAP!

Turmeric

Check out our first turmeric plant! The leaves are super cool the way they come straight up the center in a tight curl and slowly twist and fall open. Each leaf is bigger than the last, building beautiful foliage. The large leaves are beautiful and the plants can be cultivated easily in containers for aesthetic purposes.

Although beautiful, we are mostly interested in utilizing the roots. Similar to ginger, turmeric is propagated easily by dividing the rhizomes once a year. Later this year, when the leaves turn from green to yellow we'll know it's time to dig up our turmeric. We can harvest some of the root, but we'll be taking several cuttings, each with one bud and replanting them in late Winter or early Spring to multiply the plant.

The turmeric that we don't put back in the ground will be used in the kitchen for various uses. Turmeric is a key ingredient in yellow curry, it also gives many yellow mustards their distinctive color. It has a zippy heat too, another property it shares with ginger.

Turmeric is known for its anti inflammatory properties as well, and contains various antioxidants. Golden milk is a beverage made from coconut milk and turmeric known for these medicinal properties. Similar to chai tea, it's a spiced beverage, delicious and good for what ails ya!

Scale Bugs on our Grapefruit Tree

 The top picture features our young grapefruit tree before the scale bug infestation. As a result of the infestation we had to remove one badly infested branch, reducing the plant by about one quarter. I think we severely limited the breadth of the scale bug infestation, and hopefully the remainder of the plant will thrive.

The next two pictures show the scale bugs, first on a portion of stem, and second on the underside of the leaves. The scale bug females are attaching to the plant and feeding on the sap. We were able to catch this infestation rather quickly and removed the branch with the majority of the infestation and will continue to monitor it for remaining scale bugs. We can remove a few scale bugs simply by scraping with a fingernail, but removing one badly infested branch removed 95% of the scale bugs.

The smaller black oblong scale bugs are the youngest females, the yellow ones have begun producing a protective waxy coating. You can also see ants in the third picture which have developed a symbiotic relationship with these scale bugs and are harvesting their excrement for its high sugar content.

 

The reproductive process of these insects varies widely among their various species and is fascinating in its diversity. In some species the males only live a fraction as long as the females, rapidly growing wings, mating and dying all within a matter of a day or two while the females attach to the plant for a significantly longer life. The females sometimes lose their legs once attaching to the plant from lack of use.

Some species of scale bugs have high proportions of their populations which remain hermaphroditic into their adult stages of life. In other species symbiotic ants will actually carry the young scale bugs to new plants to establish new colonies to farm for their sweet excrement.

Humans have used scale bug populations to control unwanted species of plants, harvested their wax for shellac and other species excrete a red substance suitable for use as a dye.

Since we want the grapefruit more than the scale bugs we removed them in this case, but they naturally occur in a wide variety of ecosystems and are all over the Gohn farm, i'm sure. Maybe we'll find a use for them in another situation. Nature, you never cease to amaze me.

Trumpet Vine

Trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) is an extremely hardy deciduous vine, which once established can become aggressive, some might say thuggish. Often planted for its beautiful flowers, trumpet vine can have its upsides. Birds, bees and butterflies all love it, especially hummingbirds. Gardeners seeking to lure hummingbirds will do quite well with trumpet vine. If  you have trouble with soil erosion on a hillside and can't get anything to take hold and grow, trumpet vine is a great option. It spreads easily by multiple methods including by seed propagation, and will send new shoots up from roots far from the main vine, sometimes as far as 100 feet away!

As you can imagine it's strength and agility can also be a negative. With the ability to produce multiple aerial roots, like Wisteria, it can climb just about anything. This climbing ability, its strength and aggressiveness can combine to pull the siding off of houses, split apart concrete slabs, tear down arbors and other powerful and undesired effects.

Before planting trumpet vine be aware that it needs A LOT of space or A LOT of competition, or preferably both to keep it controlled. Realistically, controlled is more of a wished for future that never comes. Here at Gohn Greene Farms we inherited our trumpet vines and while the blooms are pretty it's on the list, along with privet, of plants which can be pruned or removed indiscriminately without fear of ever entirely wiping it out. This particular vine has taken to the lattice which was intended by the property's previous owner to be a rose garden. I plan on cutting out as much as I can before it goes to seed, and will probably be doing so every year for the foreseeable future. 

Wild Choke Cherries

Prunus virginiana or Choke Cherry is commonly found in most of North America and the Oconee National Forest, to which Gohn Greene Farms abuts, is no exception. The Choke Cherry is a common understory tree, and is planted elsewhere often, having several commercial applications.

The Choke Cherry is not usually eaten raw, as it's high seed to pulp ratio makes it a pain to eat. But it's great for making preserves, jams and jellies, juices and of course, wine. The fruits are sweet and delicious, the bright "yang" of the tree, but there is a dark "yin" side to the Choke Cherry as well.

While the cherries themselves are edible, delicious and even good for you, much of the rest of the plant is toxic. Anthocyanins, compounds found in these plants which give the cherries their dark color signalling ripeness and sweetness are thought to harvest free radicals in the body preventing cell damage(cancer). On the other hand, these same compounds are used differently by the rest of the plant in its leaves, stems and seeds to produce cyanide and other toxins. You can't have shade without sunshine, there's always a yin to the yang.

It is unlikely that accidentally swallowing a pit will lead to ill effects, but it's not recommended. Likewise, don't chew on the stems or eat the leaves. Wilting leaves tend to be especially dangerous, releasing more toxins as they die. For this reason, Choke Cherry trees are often removed from livestock pens to avoid accidental poisoning. I'd like to have goats in and around these trees, and if the leaves can be kept above browse level I should be ok, but any downed limbs would need to be removed to avoid any potential problems.

As they're already all over Gohn Greene Farms I might as well give Choke Cherry preserves a try. Pitting the seeds will be a chore, but cancer prevention and peanut butter sandwiches sound like a great reward!

Banded Tussock Moth

I found the caterpillar of a banded tussock moth lounging on one of our apple trees this week. She shouldn't damage the tree in any dangerous way, so we'll let her hang out. Normally she would prefer to munch on the leaves of several other species of tree more commonly found on the farm, mostly the elms and oaks and to a lesser extent poplar. Most of the rapid Spring growth is over by the time this gal starts feeding on the leaves, so she shouldn't seriously injure the trees or reduce their growth.

The banded tussock moth is a member of the Erebidae family of moths, along with many other species of moth, having much in common with tiger moths. The caterpillars of these moths are especially noteworthy for their cool haircuts! Sometimes called woolly bears, these hairy little gals sure are good looking, but often not so fun to touch. While they look all soft and cuddly and have a cute nickname, touching them can often result in rashes and other minor skin irritations.

Some species are thought to develop alkaloid poisons from the plants they eat. Other species possibly irritate the skin by mechanical action. Meaning those cute little hairs break off in your skin kind of like a cactus. In either case I'm going to leave her right where she is, lounging on an apple leaf, batting her eyelashes.

Confederate Star Jasmine

While it has been grown in the Southeastern United States for centuries, hence the name, it is not native to the region. This beautiful and fragrant vine is native to Asia. It's also not a true jasmine, nor is it to be confused with jessamine, another climbing, flowering vine... clear as mud?

Confederate Star Jasmine does produce fragrant star shaped flowers. The one shown in this picture is especially exciting because it's the first time this particular vine has bloomed. We took several cuttings from Meredithe's cousin Tisha's house last Spring and this was the only one to survive. This Spring it added two more lateral vines and has now produced it's first flower.

It had lived in a container for a year while we babied it, but we put it in the ground a few weeks ago. We chose a spot at the base of four big pines that will eventually be right in front of the house. The vines should climb the trees up to about 30 feet. If we chose to we could prune off any climbing vines and use it as a groundcover or short shrub, but the trees are large enough to support it for years.

This specimen is special because of it's origins and the species as a whole is special to us, as we planted it on either side of the arbor for the wedding. Hopefully in just a few short years it will climb over the entire arbor and several large pines around the house. I can't wait for the sweet smell of jasmine on those hot Spring and Summer evenings!

It's A Bird! It's A Bee! It's A... Moth?!

No, seriously, it's a moth. The Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis) is a moth. That looks like a hummingbird. That looks like a bee. You would think he'd be having some kind of identity crisis nervous breakdown, but no, he's just flitting about without a care in the world. Drinking nectar with his long curly tongue.

The Snowberry Clearwing's favorite food is obviously snowberry, but on our farm he was most likely dining on related honeysuckles, thistle, cherry and plum nectar. In the video he's drinking from the flowers of our butterfly bush.

They're fairly widespread in North America, although predominantly in the West and only commonly found in a few counties in Georgia. They start their life cycle as tiny, round, green eggs before they transform into green caterpillars with one big black horn apiece, right on their butts. When the caterpillars are fully grown they spin a cocoon in the leaf litter and transform again. Whatever stage of life they're in, be it green egg, green caterpillar, cocoon or bumble bee hummingbird moth thing, they're always welcome on the Gohn farm!

Fork-tailed Bush Katydid

This is a fork tailed bush katydid nymph. He's not fully grown, each katydid goes through a series of five molts, while developing into an adult. Each new nymph stage is known as an instar. I think this guy is probably in his third instar, of six. At full grown he'll look a lot like a grasshopper, with longer skinnier legs.

They normally prefer citrus flowers and fruits and have the ability to destroy citrus crops. I do have a grapefruit tree, but this hungry little guy is sitting on an apple leaf. He'll eat holes in the leaves, which could be damaging on such a young tree. Being young, this tree may not fruit this year, but if it did this little monster would be all over it. They attack the fruits while they can still get through the immature fruit skin. The fruit usually survives, but is left scarred.

I actually wouldn't mind him pruning the fruit off this tree this year so it concentrates on growing limbs, not fruit. In general, however, he's not welcome on the Gohn farm. There are organic approved pesticides available for controlling them, but I don't plan on spraying. Hopefully he'll make a nice meal for a bird, bat or toad and not feast on apple leaves all summer long.

Wild Plums

We've identified another species! This is one of many american plum trees growing wild on the farm. We could readily identify these trees both in summer and winter by their unique bark, but we didn't know what they were before now. Since Meredithe's Aunt Nancy, or "Auntcy", came to the farm last year we knew where these trees fell on the prune to the ground indiscriminately - allow to thrive spectrum. They were the latter, but we only knew them as "ones Tim liked", unlike privet, which is closer to the former.

There is one lone specimen down by the apple trees, but there are two large thickets of them up front and a small cluster of them by the front fence. We liked their beautiful bark and pretty white flowers in the spring, but knew little about them. While Tim was on the farm for the wedding he pointed them out as wild plum and I began to watch for the fruit.

Sure enough, wild plums! Meredithe tasted one and the juice was already slightly sweet, but the fruit isn't fully ripe until later this year. Hopefully the birds will save us some!

Agave

 

Above is our new agave plant at planting. We put it in the ground a few weeks ago, close to the arbor along the Western edge of the garden. It's at the top of a hill so you wouldn't think that too much water would be a concern, but there is a nearby depression that holds water longer than the rest of the hill. It worries me a little, but i'm hopeful that we won't have to move the plant. Below is a picture of the same agave a week later. You can see it concentrating its energy in the upper leaves and sacrificing the lower leaves. It probably lost roots during the transplant and is compensating by sacrificing leaves. Just the shock of transplant can sometimes be enough to kill otherwise healthy plants, but the healthy looking upper leaves are a good sign. Also pictured below are a couple "pups" we pulled off of the larger agave at planting. They are looking great!

Wild Daisies

When mowing the front pasture around the garden for the wedding, parts of the farm were left to grow. It is these wilder areas along the edges that you can really see the succession of wildflowers throughout the year. Right now the daisies are in full bloom along the field edges. Ox-eye daisies are the most commonly found species, considered a noxious weed in several states.

Cattle lands often become home to sprawling fields of daisies if not controlled. When cattle are kept in a large area for a long period of time they will select tastier plants and leave the daisies alone, unintentionally giving them preferential treatment to grow. Pigs tend not to like them either but goats, horses and sheep will eat them fairly readily. With increased stocking densities and rate of rotation the cows and pigs will eat them, and they aren't poisonous, just not preferred.

While considered weeds to some I think they're beautiful and they can be useful as well. The unopened buds can be pickled and used much like capers. The flowers once bloomed can be dried and steeped in tea, as daisies are closely related to chamomile. I don't know if I'll ever pickle the buds, but i'm definitely down for some tea!

Our Catalpa Trees

We have two Catalpa Trees planted on Gohn Greene Farms, both of which were planted by the previous owner. They're beautiful shade trees and they don't lose a lot of limbs so they're not too difficult to maintain or clean up after, although I hear the flowers can be slippery if planted near sidewalks. The large heart shaped leaves and iris like flowers are stunning in the Springtime!  

They'll produce large bean like pods and release their seeds in the fall, but the pods often hang on the tree well into the winter. This unusual habit has earned them some interesting nicknames like Indian Bean Tree and Cigar Tree. It is also sometimes spelled Catawba but technically Catawba refers to a Native American tribe, while Catalpa is the correct spelling for the tree.

It's leaves, seeds, bark and pods have been used for centuries to create concoctions for medicinal purposes. The root is said to be too strong for medicinal use and is considered mildly toxic. I don't plan on using it in this manner and I suspect it wasn't planted for such either.

Another common use for the tree is attracting it's main pest, the Catalpa Sphinx moth. The Catalpa tree is the sole source of food for this moth. Fisherman often call the caterpillars "Catalpa Worms". These Catalpa worms make excellent fish bait, particularly for catfish. Their thick skin and large 3-4" length makes it easy to keep them on the hook long enough to hook a big ole catfish. I haven't seen any of the Catalpa worms yet, but I'm eager to try out my home grown fish bait at the lake!

Fowler's Toad

Our pawpaw saplings seem to attract a wide variety of species from all over the farm. This past week this little Fowler's Toad was hanging out with me while I watered. I couldn't identify if it was a male or a female, but it's definitely an adult. The light colored stripe on its back doesn't appear until adulthood.

We're only a mile from Lake Oconee, so we are on prime breeding ground. They'll be mating and laying clutches of eggs by the thousands, possibly every few days, for the next month or two. A welcome addition to the farm, they'll eat all sorts of insects, and tend to leave the worms alone.

They do have a poisonous secretion emanating from the warts on their back, but it's not highly toxic. They're just trying to make the snakes and birds think twice about how hungry they are before they chow down. Their camouflage, however, is their main defense. It's effective on the woodland floor that they're found in from GA all they way up the East coast to Canada. Good luck little guy, and happy mating season!

The NEW Wedding Garden

Our first project following the wedding involved breaking down the 50 bales of pine straw that we used for seating. We purchased 62 bales of pine straw a few days before the wedding and put down six bales on each of the two original 60 foot garden beds. We laid the 50 remaining bales out in rows for seating. They were a little low, but the ceremony was short and it added a lot to the setting for the wedding.

I came back out to the farm a few days after the wedding and broke the bales down into a sweet surprise for Meredithe. I started with the two rows on the ends to frame the garden and had originally planned on creating several boring rows running roughly North and South between them. I took a short water break after those two rows, however, and saw a beautiful, bright red dragonfly. I hadn't seen that species on the farm before and its beauty inspired me to be a little more creative. Instead of boring rows I laid out the remaining bales in a big "MG", Meredithe's new initials.

The letters are roughly 20 feet tall and 15 feet wide, but I didn't measure, I just spaced them evenly in the remaining space by eye. In hindsight I wish I had saved up a bunch of cardboard and laid it out underneath, but I layered the pine straw a few inches deep so hopefully it will suppress the "weeds" underneath it. I can't wait until it's all planted and growing!