Farm Life in Maine and New Hampshire
A Wonderful "Weed" To Let Grow Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) is a common plant that grows in meadows. It is a member of the legume family. Red clover is well known by it's beautiful purple blossoms. While it can be used internally for coughs, upper respiratory health issues. Red Clover oil is a wonderful herb for healing eczema and psoriasis. Red Clover grows is most … [Read more...]
Lemon balm herb, also called Melissa, has been used by herbalists, and herbal healers for thousands of years. It is equally popular today as it was during medieval times. The name Melissa comes from the Latin name Melissa Officinalis. Lemon balm is a member of the mint family of plants, and is easily grown in any garden. Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus, better known as … [Read more...]
Plant calendula and spread a little happiness in your garden next year. Calendula(Calendula officinalis) is one of the easiest herbs to grow as it can tolerate many soils, and is drought resistant. Calendula grows up to 24 inches and they make great border plants. Just find a spot that could use a bit of color. Sow your seeds in Spring after the threat of frost. Calendula does … [Read more...]
The redo project started in April. It was originally planned as a three month, three stage project. We are now working on six months, and are up to stage seven....and we still aren't quite done. We wanted to go with all historical colors, so we chose to use California Paints. California Paints carries a line of Historic Colors of America that we just fell in love with. They … [Read more...]
While the tallest recorded sunflower stands at 23 feet, we are pretty impressed by our tallest sunflower in the garden. Although our farm is organic, and most of our gardens get natural fertilizer or compost, this stately sunflower received no manure, no special treatment, and grew from a tiny little seed. It stands at a little over twelve feet and should produce a large supply … [Read more...]
Each year at the end of April into the beginning of May we enjoy this small pretty blossom that spreads from our lavender beds and into our thyme. It's a welcomed ground cover at a time when other plants are just starting to think about growing. It takes care of itself seeding into the surrounding garden areas and into the lawn. Can you identify it? Please post your guess here … [Read more...]
Our Favorites: Top Ten Herbs at Cloverleaf Farm A hundred years ago, and even further back, a garden was kept outside the kitchen for medicine. The women of the era knew which plants produced the proper medicinal benefit for just about everything. They were the “doctor†of the house. Plants that could not be grown in the garden would be sought after in woods, and fields. … [Read more...]
A Brief History of Western Herbal Medicine Medicinal Practices In Primitive Societies Herbal medicine is one of the oldest forms of healing. Our most primitive forbears made abundant use of available plants to treat illness and injury. The choice of plants and information was consistently passed down from one generation to the next. Knowledge grew as early populations … [Read more...]
I do classes and workshops on why people should grow organic and why they should grow heirloom veggies. People are always intrigued on what an heirloom vegetable is. At one workshop I did, someone asked me how I got into farming. I quickly responded ,"Genetics!" While working in the gardens one day, I actually had thought of this. "Why would one chose to farm", when in … [Read more...]
I just saw this posted by a friend on Facebook. I was dumb founded. The Obama administration is actually proposing a bill that would make it illegal for children to farm chores on their family farms. The bill, proposed by Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, was proposed on August 31, 2011. If passed, the bill would not only put new regulations on "child labor" around the family … [Read more...]
