A general feeling of – “Hell ya, let’s plant!” is in the air…

And then there’s Garden Apothecary – another full-time job on its own. I’m redesigning recipes to include more organic botanicals – like Cardamom, Cassia, Cacao, Lotus and Blue Tansy. I’m starting to sell at the local farmers market, to an array of stores in LA, and figuring out just how many products can fit on a pallet for over-sees shipping – all while creating these small-batch blends by hand. Needless to say it’s been exhausting and wonderful all at the same time. The little down time I have, I’ve tried to spend in the garden. Some evenings it’s just to get out and water. Others I can re-pot propagation plants, fertilize, water and weed – all before the sun completely goes down. And then when I’m really zonked from the work day, I sit on my driveway like a hobo and just stare at the garden. I count pollinators, count weeds, count buds on my rose bushes. It’s a pitiful site really, but I love it.A good way to end a busy work day…

I also love to glam it up in the garden. Sometimes – when I’ve had a real shit-tastic day, I put all the fun jewelery I have on, pour some vino, turn on a podcast, and do some gardening. I feel like it takes the drudgery out of weeding when you can add some sparkles to it. And really – if you’ve never listened to a podcast while gardening – you must try! The gardening Zens you out, while the podcast gets your mind to open up to something new, melting away your work day.

Here’s a list of the podcasts I love to garden to:

RadioLab

Relic Radio

Felder’s Show

Pretty much any one of these from the NPR’s

PICTURES by Rob Co.

It has consisted of getting up early to walk around the cemetery  for about an hour (there’s an old-ass cemetery right by my house that you can walk around… decent little work out if you keep going and keep up a good pace up the hill. The first thing I thought about this morning was exercise, since before falling asleep last night, I ate half a bag of sea-salt caramel popcorn, two chocolate truffles and a slice of olallieberry pie with vanilla ice cream on top. I disgust myself just typing this…).

I got home and immediately started gardening. I love that early morning energy you get on days that you don’t have shit to do. Answer the phone and respond to emails? Nope. Be on time to some appointment? Nope. Get dressed enough to look respectable around town? Nope. I swear it’s the only time you get real energy, when you don’t have to do anything.

After an hour or so of supermarket sweep dead-heading, weeding, watering, and checking my terra cotta pots for snails (that promptly got fed to the chickens), I brushed a few off a small, broken terra cotta pot and planted a 4″ violet in it. The crack in the pot got a bit longer as I was shoving the little guy in there, but I was too lazy to search for a more stable container. I sprinkle some compost on top, watered it in and put it in a spot I’d notice – when it inevitably breaks apart in the future.  Lazy gardening at its finest! Once my big morning gardening project was complete and my first-thing-in-the-morning-energy faded into laziness, I got back into pajamas and surfed the web on the couch.

Wanna see what I found?

I love how simple and functional these are.

Gorgeous house but I don’t think I’d like to live there. How would you landscape or have a garden? It’s too much… too pristine. Any thoughts?

Do you LOVE cactus? No really… do you love them?

Now this is my kind of jewelry!

I love bugs. Period.

Oh. Was that not clear? I LOVE BUGS!

What kind of vine do think would look best on this house? Ivy? A cool rose?

What are you up to today?

little violet ready for planting

The past 6 months I’ve been frantically planting in my front garden, and you can tell. It’s beautiful, but completely schizophrenic. I planted California poppies when they were just coming out in the nursery, more roses when it was bare-root time, a bunch of iris and lily bulbs from the SF garden show and a menagerie of salvias, boronia, cerinthe and euphorbia left over from jobs. I’ve desperately layered organic fertilizers and compost, as to avoid the terrible growing season like we had last year. My efforts paid off, but I don’t have an inch left to plant in for the summer. Everything is full, lush and blooming – or about to bloom, with hundreds of tiny buds on the tips of each healthy plant. The California poppies are all in full flower, with an array of bright yellow cups on top of every single thin stem. The orange shrubs are in flower, too… the sweet fragrance it slight, since the other plants are so crowded around them.  And I have one, lone black iris taking it’s sweet time to open up.But when it does, he’ll match the line of stout black pansies that have lined my pathway.

What are you up to on this lovely Earth Day? What is blooming riot in your garden?

The kitchen was freezing cold as usual, and just as I was debating on hurrying out to do a bit of gardening before the rain came – the rain came. I tossed my felcos and gloves back on the table and lit the stove for some tea, no pajama gardening for me this morning. Whoosh went the flame under my copper tea kettle, quickly boiling my tea water.

I love rainy mornings like this – it gives me a chance to just watch the garden, rather than work in it. Sometimes you don’t even have time to notice what you’ve done, when you are constantly doing.

Bobbi Bankston from { Poppy & Pearl } gave me one of her gorgeously simple mason jar tumblers to try… and this morning was perfect for a huge jar of hot green tea! The tea was from Red Blossom in SF, procured from a trip Matt and I took to China Town the other weekend. We stopped in and had a fascinating lesson on tea leaves, and a tasting (of about 7 types) to go with it. We vibrated out of there with a big bag of different types of green, oolong and flowering tea (I didn’t get any sleep that night!).

Bobbi was kind enough to answer some questions for me the other week… here’s our mini interview:

1. When is your favorite time to use your tumblers?

I’d have to say camping in the mountains with friends at a little place called Kennedy Meadows. My friends and I have been spending summer vacations there since we were young and now we go with our husbands and kids… it’s so special! Every year my boys and I hike up to “the meadow” for a picnic… Aspens and snow capped mountains make for a picture perfect setting. 

            Sangria- my all time favorite drink. The thing I love about Sangria is that you can’t mess it up! 

3. What is your favorite plant to grow and why?

 

My tomato plants because they always look like they are on steroids! I love it! My three boys love picking them and it’s always rewarding to share the extras with neighbors and friends. 

 

Need a tumbler of your own?

Bobbi is generously offering a { giveaway } to you fine readers… the first { 2 people } to add your favorite drink & the recipe to the comment section – wins!

Have a lovely rainy day! xo xo Jenn

 

PICS by Rob Co.

Here in Half Moon Bay, the clouds are subsiding to sun and it’s noticeably warmer than it has been in days. On this Spring morning my pansies are in full bloom, as are my primroses and anemone. My roses are just bursting with tender foliage and my California poppies are all at full attention  – with hundreds of blooms pointed up, ready to open when the weather allows.

I love this time of year – and today is a perfect day to to do some Spring-time intentions (or Spring-time cleaning!). This can be for yourself and your garden.

What is left over from the Winter and weighing you down?

What are some intentions or plans you’d like to have for yourself and for your garden this season?

What can you do to make yourself and your garden a bit tidier this month?

My favorite place to { intend } is in my bath tub (what a surprise, right?). I love grabbing any flower petals that I can find outside (or fragrant leaves) and filling the tub with hot water. It’s a lovely place to r e l a x, clear your mind and then imagine what you would like to intent this Spring.

(Pics by the fabulous Rob Co.)

Once I got home, I bought about 72 hundred books on Belize and jungle remedies. My favorite has been Rainforest Remedies, by Rosita Arvigo, D.N. and Michael Balick, Ph. D. This book is an awesome tool to find jungle teas, compress recipes and traditional info on plant healing. My favorite has been the ginger tea recipe, which I use in the evening before bed or if I feel a cold coming on:

Traditional Uses: A household remedy that offers great relief for stomach ache, gas pains, indigestion and colds.

Recipe: Grate 1 teaspoon of fresh ginger root in 1 cup of water. Boil for 5 minutes and drink freely.

This is Begonia popenoei (below), a lovely little begonia that often grows wild in Belize and Guatemala. I found it growing along the Caves Branch river, among wild ginger, Ylang Ylang, clover and banana. It’s a medium to large Begonia, with signature tuberous stems and a fine layer of hairs on the under side of the broad leaf. I learned you can pluck a stem, suck the bottom and taste a light, sweet nectar – similar to honeysuckle. From then on I made sure to scan the ground on our jungle hikes for this sugary pick-me-up. When you’re hot, exhausted and need more than just water and Planter’s Peanuts to satisfy you – Begonia popenoei does the trick.

(To read the whole book, click here)

But don’t worry… I’ve written all about my trip in a new eBook coming out very soon. The book is about cave exploration, botany in Central America, cacao, jungle remedies, and the ridiculous fun that comes with traveling (and drinking lots of rum punch!).

Here’s a taste:

Botanically Belize

“Huh? You’re huh? Please!? Where the hell is Please?”.

I reminded my father that I was going to Belize, not “Please” – mostly since “Please” was a word, not a country. I also made sure to note that even though I have not seen the movie “Hostel”, I’ll be sure to check for all my limbs and organs and won’t befriend anyone, ever – just to be safe. I also filled him in on the small fact that Belize was located in Central America. Not South America. Not Mexico. And it wasn’t “the Congo”. And the Napa Valley is for retired old farts, not for a 29 year old who needs a little adventure.

However, my father’s last concern actually made me stop and think.

“Jenn, you can’t bullshit a bullshitter. I know you’ve been digging in the dirt since you were a little girl, but it’s been with marigolds and roses, not in no jungle. You won’t last one day! This whole “Dirty Girl” thing is cute – but your daddy knows the truth! You’re just not that dirty”.

I hung up the phone. “Damn it. He’s right!”.

——–

Stay tuned for the link to the whole book!

butterfly from the butterfly farm in San Ignacio, Belize

Hours later (with the help of Dustin, who can build anything out of anything!), they turned into a new coop for my babies.

Presenting: Chateau Bawk Bawk

front view of the new coop

hooks hold the romantic lights, burlap with plastic keep the rain out

a sand-blasted manzanita branch

wood from my fence, a client's fence, and driftwood from a trip to Port Townsend

happy bawk bawks, checking out my stock of plants