As you might know by now, I like to periodically highlight plants we have at the farm and sanctuary. Today's pick is the False Indigo bush. False Indigo Bush in blossom - photo by Brennah Cavanaugh Photography LLC This is one which we planted back around 2014 in various areas because it does well in wetter habitats. It is a native plant to the area that is also a nitrogen fixer, meaning that it adds natural ...
Spontaneous dandelion offering left by Charlotte for the Spirits of the Land For those who have not been to a recent work day, I would like to share what they are like and how they have been evolving, using our most recent one as an example. To begin, we take a moment to thank the Spirits of the Land for their abundance. We then spend awhile taking a walk around to see what is happening on ...
Honeyberry Flowers with Bumblebee by Brennah Cavanaugh Photography LLC taken on 5/2/22I'm sure I could feature a different plant each day of the year and still not cover all of the various ones at the farm and sanctuary. And the same goes for the pollinators and various wildlife. So I'll share a little about Honeyberries (Lonicera caerulea) today, and hopefully you will enjoy it. :)The honeyberries, which are a type of honeysuckle with edible berries, are flowering ...
We spent a little time yesterday charring the end of the maypole so that it won't rot in the ground as quickly after we put it up. It was a relaxing and enjoyable process. We're looking forward to May 22nd! Wishing you all the best on this cross-quarter day. 🔥 Jean
Unopened catkins, a dried leaf, and buds on a speckled alder branch - January 2019Dried flower "cones" and dried leaves on an alder branch - January 2019Back in 2015, several years before the nonprofit was started, the Cavanaughs were planting quite a few different kinds of trees. We moved to the property in 2013 after having lived in South Florida for 14 years. Many of those years we were learning permaculture design techniques and growing tropical edible ...
Part of the mission of Crossing Hedgerows Farm and Sanctuary is to create abundance for our community through earth care - learning together the skills of regenerative agriculture and permaculture. Permaculture is a design system which incorporates people care, earth care, and return of surplus (giving back). We have, little by little, been planting and trying out various growing techniques to gain the skills needed to design the larger space of the Sanctuary as we are able. ...
Along with the Sanctuary land, which includes beautiful woodland and wetland areas with trails, we also operate a permaculture farm and enjoy sharing the farm experience with our members as an added bonus. Today I wanted to give you an update on how the farm is doing with several photos of the annual crops we're growing right now. garlic in the front garden A few of our chickens Basil ...
One of the priorities we have in designing the "non-wild" spaces of the farm and sanctuary is to choose multi-functional plants. In this video, you can see the bumblebees gathering nectar from the blossoms of the comfrey. I've also seen many other pollinators, and even hummingbirds, sipping from the comfrey flowers. Comfrey is likewise a medicinal herb used in salves for healing wounds, and occasionally a tea (for very specific conditions - not to be used long-term ...
In our May gathering, one of the areas we walked through on our tour was the hoophouse. Cabbage and Leeks When we look at growing crops through the lens of healthy ecosystems, it requires that we think of all the elements involved and what they want and need to be healthy. Chard, Leeks, Onions, and Milkweed Some of the things I touched on during the tour, is how we ...
I'd like to highlight in my coming posts some of the many forest crops we have at the Sanctuary. Many we have planted around the Cavanaugh homestead. Others have been planted by birds, wind, and the ways of Mother Nature and we have allowed them to flourish. And some were on the land already when we arrived. The Shagbark Hickory is one in the last category. Hickory trees do not produce nuts every year, so one has to ...
Crossing Hedgerows Farm is the Cavanaugh family farm which is adjacent to the Sanctuary land. It is currently also being shared with the community as part of the nonprofit mission. So sometimes you will see us refer to "Crossing Hedgerows Farm and Sanctuary". One of the aspects of the farm is the hoop house. It is a 30'x72' structure that we use for year-round growing and we keep some of our chickens in it during the winter ...
We’ve been working on an earthworks project at the sanctuary to manage the annual flooding. We want to manage the water in such a way as to be able to store it for the dry season rather than simply draining it all away. Instead it will go through a system of little rain gardens and overflow into a one acre pond when it floods. If the pond gets too full there will be a spillway to allow ...