Fall Colors & Future Classes

Even as summer keeps kicking us in the tushie with her heat and sunshine, fall is beginning to peep around the corner. Flowers and herbs are rushed in to hang up and dry before the heat and winds wipe them out and the rest are irrigated to keep them producing seeds, blooms, and fruits.
It's also a time for me to wildcraft and forage a lot of herbs, berries, and wildflowers (both native and invasive). And don't worry, I'm not coming for your huckleberries, I like all the rest a lot better :)
It's also a time for me to check on seed collection in the wild woods for my long term goal of transforming the old hay field into a haven of native food plants won't seed itself, so off I go with tiny jars and baggies, looking for tiny brown seed pods, ripe fruit, and marking places for taking cuttings.
All in all it's still a busy time on the farm, but be sure to check out the upcoming classes for more seasonal foraging and stay tuned for a winter full of crafting and making classes using a lot of the material I'm gathering now. For winter is not the only season of planning. In each you are planning for the next as the wheel of time turns and one season shifts into another.

The fall colors have arrived with the Amaranth and first few Dahlias!

It doesn't mean summer is over quite yet... but it does mean that more and more flowers and herbs get hung to dry and stored until I get to play with them in the fall and winter.

People often ask me what I spend my winters doing and while it is definitely more restful than the summer it isn't doing nothin'!

It's planning, prepping, and playing with all the dried goodies!

Each week or so brings something new to bloom or seed.

This is the time of year that my storage gets overloaded as I stuff things in the cooler, hang bunches from ALL the rafters, and rustle up more jars, bins, and baskets for seed storage.

I'll still have some fresh flowers at the market 'cause not all things dry as well as I would like, especially these Corn Cockle blooms of delicate dusk-spotted white petals!

One of the best things about growing lots of flowers and herbs is getting to pet the sleeping bees.
At night the native (non-hive) male bees fall asleep in flowers and stay drowsy in their petal palace until it warms up fully. During the day, the female bees take frequent naps on their busy pollen gathering trips in blossoms whenever they feel the need. The myth about being as busy as a bee is kinda wrong (at least for native bees) so if you feel the need to nap in a patch of flowers and take a break, why not? All the bees are doing it!

Growing flowers for fresh cut, dry, and seed is sometimes a struggle as it's deciding where each bloom goes. Some only are good for fresh, but also make good seeds and are an easy carefree garden bloom, like the Cosmo on the left (a beautiful variety Apricot Lemonade which I am definitely saving seeds from). Some are good for fresh, dried, and seed, like a colorful mix of Yarrow. And some burst open into seed so quickly, like Poppies. But keeping track of which stems are which and not accidentally snipping that one saved for seed is a balancing act of organization, memory, and scheduling. 

Future Learning OpportunitiesAre you ready to step into the wilderness?

HIKE: Morris Creek: FSPW: July 30thHike at the base of the Scotchman Peaks on a cool, shady trail with a refreshing creek meandering next to the trail. Beat the heat and replace the need of an epic summit push and replace that with a fun, cool and relaxing hike along Morris Creek.
We’ll enjoy wildflowers all along our 8 mile up-and-back roundtrip with 1600 feet of elevation gain. Expect a creek crossing so bring extra socks or sandals.
 Sign up here!
 
Late Summer Foraging Class: Dragon's Breath Farm: August 13th
Some plants are already in seed, some are still blooming, and others are gone. Is our harvest thinning or can we still fill our plate? It's also a great time to start helping the seeds of future forage to grow.
Sign up here!

Fall Foraging Class: Dragon's Breath Farm: Sept 10th
It's the push before winter. While we've been planning for it all season by noting plant locations. Now is the time for seed collecting, root digging, and maybe some fruits from the trees.
Sign up here!

Seed Saving Workshop: Dragon's Breath Farm: Sept 17th
Whether you are new to gardening or an old green thumb, seed saving can be a daunting enterprise. In our western world, we are used to different aspects of agriculture put into neat little boxes and it is rare for a farm that grows crops to also grow their own seed (unless that crop is a seed, like grains). But that's exactly what gardeners are looking for and it's also how the non-western agricultural world works. Yet, you don't need to be a subsistence farmer to want to save your own seed. Maybe you want to birth a new type of tomato, acclimate your favorite frost-sensitive annual to your little to harsh climate, save money, or deepen your relationship with the plant world ? 
Sign up here!

What's available this week? 

• Flowers!
  • Fresh Seasonal Bouquets 
• Veggies!
  • Spicy Microgreens
  • Mild Microgreens
• Seeds!
  • so many varieties to get your garden growing
• Herbals
  • Dragon's Scale Salve
  • Bud Blood Salve
• Flowers
  • Dried Bouquets
  • Petal Sachets
• Jewelry
  • Bead Woven Bracelets & Rings
• Recycled Paper

Where to find it all?
Thursdays from 3-630pm at The Farmers Market at Libby 
&
Saturdays from 9-1230pm at the Kalispell Farmers Market