#elderberry

Elderberry oxymel, cold-macerated, for the throat that autumn is already sharpening. Clean pint jar, a third full of dried elderberries. Raw apple cider vinegar to the halfway mark, raw honey to the shoulder. Lid it, shake it, dark cupboard, two to four weeks. Shake it whenever you remember. Strain. A tablespoon in hot water when the scratch starts. Dried, always — raw elderberry is not food, and the drying is what makes her medicine instead of a bad night. Nothing gets boiled here, so nothing volatile gets driven off. What you pour out four weeks from now tastes like vinegar and woods and something faintly like plum. She's droman. She's going purple right now, about two weeks ahead of the birds stripping her. What do you reach for when the throat starts to go? Today's issue → https://twp.ai/4huL93 #Herbalism #Elderberry #FolkMedicine #Foraging #HerbalMedicine #Apothecary #Oxymel #Druid #Pagan #Nature #Photography #Lughnasadh #MutualAid #MutualAidRequest

The elderberries went purple in the fence row this week. Right on time. Two days ahead of Lùnastal. Today is also the day humanity finished the year. July 30 — Earth Overshoot Day. Every renewable thing the planet makes in twelve months, spent, with five months of bills still coming. The earth didn't send a notice. She posted the entry and went right on pulling water up through the roots of everything within a hundred yards of my porch, against gravity, in a column no engineer has ever reproduced. Friday is the first harvest anyway. She's holding up her end of a bargain we quit honoring somewhere around the Nixon administration, and every spring she does it again. Tha an talamh a' cumail cunntais — the earth keeps accounts. What's ripening near you right now that you'd miss if you didn't go look? Today's issue → https://twp.ai/4huL5i #EarthOvershootDay #MoveTheDate #Lughnasadh #Lammas #Foraging #Elderberry #Herbalism #Nature #Photography #Solarpunk #Druid #Pagan #Seasonal #MutualAid #MutualAidRequest

How Do You Design A #WildlifeCorridor For #Maine Garden Design? Excerpt: "Plant Palette: #NativeSpecies and Layering for Maine Choose plants that are native to your Maine ecoregion and that provide multiple functions: forage, cover, nesting structure, and seasonal continuity. - Canopy and large trees (plant for future shade and mast): white pine (Pinus strobus), red #maple (Acer rubrum), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), paper birch (Betula papyrifera), red oak (Quercus rubra), balsam fir. - Small trees and large shrubs (structure and fruit): serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.), crabapple (Malus spp. native selections), chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana). - Shrubs for berries and cover: highbush #blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), #winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata), highbush #cranberry (Viburnum trilobum), black #chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa), #elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), #bayberry (Morella pensylvanica). - Herbaceous layer and pollinator plants: common #milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), joe-pye weed (Eutrochium spp.), #asters (Symphyotrichum spp.), #goldenrod (Solidago spp.), mountain mint (Pycnanthemum spp.), columbine (Aquilegia canadensis). - Groundcover and forest floor: bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), wild ginger (Asarum canadense), sedges (Carex spp.), native ferns where appropriate. - Wetland edge species for riparian corridors: blueflag iris (Iris versicolor), buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), #sedges, and #NativeRushes. Plant choice should reflect site moisture, sunlight, and soil pH. Avoid ornamental cultivars with little #wildlife value and never plant species known to be invasive in Maine such as Japanese #barberry or #bittersweet." Learn more: https://cultivatingflora.com/how-do-you-design-a-wildlife-corridor-for-maine-garden-design/ #SolarPunkSunday #WildlifeCorridor #NativeSpecies #GardeningForPolinators #Rewilding

Last project of the day was to lay cardboard down a 25 ft edge of the yard, 4ft gap from fence. Then used that dumb plastic edging on the back side which faces the neighbor. I cut and dug holes every 3 ft, and planted EIGHT American Elderberry / Sambucus canadensis. Then -because I’m nuts- I mulched as much as I could but the sun set a long time ago and I had to give up. I am BEAT. But I did it! #Elderberry #Zone6B