Planting More Than Trees
Earth Day is tomorrow, and it’s definitely our favorite holiday of the year. But to us it’s about so much more than planting trees. Or rather, it’s about planting more than trees. It’s about planting ourselves to a place and making the choice to care for that place daily. And as we care deeply for our place in the world, we will see that care spread and grow and take the shape of something strong and mature, like ripples spreading across the surface of water during a soft, quiet rain, gaining breadth as they skip over the surface toward the banks which stand waiting, full of thirsty roots. Earth Day is a reminder of reciprocity and generosity. The earth gives us so much more than we can ever repay her, but with intention and integrity we steward the land we have. We watch the earthworms with joy. We count the ladybugs and spread the compost and witness seeds turning into plants turning into food and medicine. Every moment of every season bears the forward march of life, even when we can’t see it. Our earth is powerful and beautiful. Our earth takes care of our most important needs. Each day is a day for us to give back to her in our small ways. And Earth Day is a good reminder of that, lest we forget to be grateful for trees and grass and weeds and water.
Reciprocity means that we do not take from the land, but we are given plants and rain and fresh air as a gift for our kinship with her, our protection of her, our partnership with her. We believe what we give to the land she gives back to us. Never is this outpouring of generosity more evident than in spring, the season of rapid growth, change, and renewal. The sky and the soil work in perfect partnership to bring us back into bloom. Wind tosses the juniper boughs endlessly while the myriad of wildflowers staging a discreet takeover on the hillsides drink their fill of falling rain. We savor this beauty as we take it all in, not wanting to miss a thing. What is our part in all of this bursting forth of wild charm? To be present for it. To not miss it. To not take it for granted. To be grateful for the return of the bees and blossoms, spring sap and bird song, and every germinated seed. To tend the garden with no inputs besides water, compost, and hand weeding. To partner with the earth, nourish her, respect her, and acknowledge that she can grow a bounty of food and medicine and color without the “big ag” fertilizers and amendments “they” say we need. Our part is to keep this piece of ground as clean as we can, and the greens and purples, pinks and whites will come back year after year.
Another realization I’ve had is that an ordered garden, planted in rows, weeded, watered, and harvested, is our attempt at ordering nature to our own preference, and asserting dominion over her. A garden in tidy rows certainly makes growing and harvesting easier on a large scale. I don’t see a way around this in our gardening practice right now, but we have 17 acres here and by all means, I don’t need all of it for my garden. I want the woods and the stream, the hillside and the ridge, to remain as wild as they would like to be. Those places are for the deer, the birds, the rabbits, the foxes. Any tree or grass or flower that can grow there will be left to do so. I will even appreciate the poison ivy and the ticks, because that’s their world. It took me a long time to be deeply grateful for even the pesky parts of my surrounding ecosystem, not think of them as insects and weeds to merely avoid. Did you ever play that game in grade school, where you were given a list of animals and insects and asked which one you would make disappear from Earth if you could? The list looked something like, “Frog, Mosquito, Alligator, Butterfly.” We all picked the mosquito. And my teacher explained to us that Mother Earth in her infinite wisdom nurtures and gives shelter to all those species because they are all necessary. Without even one of them, entire ecosystems could collapse. Without mosquitos, frogs have lost their primary food source. And without frogs, the singing from our waterways would be silenced. Of course there are larger ramifications that go on and on, like those ripples. We need not discuss them here, this is just a letter of gratitude for the abundant life around us.
In our business we have a mission to do good for the earth. We donate 5% of every sale, and 10% of profits from products with wildcrafted ingredients, to earth-forward organizations. We use glass bottles instead of plastic. We run our farm as a no-till, no spray, strictly organic operation. We are in the business of growing clean plants and sharing them.
Celebrate Earth Day in a way that brings you joy, connects you with the living world around you, and gives back a little of what our Earth Mother has given you.
-Jenn
One of our favorite ways to celebrate Earth Day is by making seed bombs and spreading wildflower seeds. We love tossing these little wildflower bombs out car windows into road-side ditches, all over our fields, and passing them out to anyone else who wants to spread a little flower joy. Eden Brothers seed company makes it easy to find a wildflower mix that will grow in your climate. They have dozens of wildflower mixes to choose from! We love this heirloom wildflower mix from Eden Brothers, but you should explore all their wildflower mix options. If you’re really dedicated to keeping the flowers local, use seeds collected from the flowering plants around your area.
Seed Bombs are very easy to make! Here is the recipe we use to make hundreds of happy flower bombs each year.
Wildflower Seed Bombs
What you’ll need:
• Seeds
• Peat-Free Compost
• Powdered Clay (found at a craft store)
• Water
• Mixing Bowl
In a bowl, mix together 1 cup of seeds with 5 cups of compost and 2-3 cups of clay powder. Slowly mix in water with your hands until everything sticks together. If you have a partner helping you make the seed bombs, have one person slowly drizzle water over the bowl while the other person mixes with their hands.
Roll the mixture into firm balls about the size of a donut hole. You can use a cookie dough scoop to help make the balls, but they don’t have to be too uniform. A little inconsistency is fine, it’s natural!
Set the balls out to dry in a sunny spot away from pets.
Plant your seed bombs by throwing them at bare parts of the garden and wait to see what pops up! Planting these seeds bombs will draw beneficial pollinators and provide food and shelter for many insect species who wouldn’t survive in built-up urban areas without these flowering resources.