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!

The Wedding

Wow! Thanks so much to all of you who came out to Gohn Greene Farms for our wedding! I'm so happy that many of you could come see the ceremony, many could see the farm for the first time and celebrate with us. It was a long hard year of preparation and we're so pleased with how all of it turned out. From the farm perspective, it was challenging to get everything together. Most of our work from this past year was clearing space for the garden and giving the farm a fresh start for our new lives together. We wanted to invest our time and money this year into the wedding, but in a more permanent, sustainable way. Investing our energy directly into the land where we'll be sharing our lives together.

We prepared for the wedding by clearing the space for the people and planting two flower beds. We originally had gardenias and azaleas planted along these beds. Of the dozen or so bushes I think 3 are still alive, and nobody could have possibly seen them they were so damaged by last July's heat. The bulbs we planted for the ceremony, almost all 225 of them, bloomed. Just about a month early. The food forest was begun, planting generous gifts of apple trees and nectarines. We planted pineapple guava and paw paws. Nature planted carrots and fennel... and poison ivy.

It was an awesome year, culminated by an awesome ceremony. Not everything went as planned, and I don't expect it ever will. Life is full of surprises, but as long as we keep our positive attitudes and our wits about us everything will be just fine. Not everyone could make it to the farm for the ceremony, but it was beautiful. Not everything went as planned, but an amazing year is in the books. Thanks for following along, thanks for your love and support and thanks for being a part of Gohn Greene Farms.