Farm life

I wandered onto a farm blog this weekend and found it enchanting. Farmgirl Fare. Its not art related, but food related in origins. It gives a wonderful image of life on a working farm. I've found very few farm blogs but that's not surprising as full time farming demands long hours and leaves little time for sitting and writing.

My own farm is a small version hobby farm that ebbs and flows with animals, produce and ability from season to season. It was originally purchased to expand my growing (pardon the pun) medicinal herb collection. I trained as a Chartered Herbalist in late 1999 and obtained my diploma in January 2001 after a lot of studying. It was a challenge in later life to take on a course, especially while working. Each night was spent immersed in human anatomy, chanting the workings of the hepatic portal system or memorizing Latin names of herbs, their uses, and herbal formulas. The work paid off and I got 91 on the final exam. Not bad for an old person, as my daughter teased me.

I have about 60 varieties of medicinal and culinary herbs growing at the moment and finally have a small dryer that will help the process once harvesting is complete. This is elecampane which I grow from seed. It is a perennial and grows well in Newfoundland's climate. I use the root of this plant as the basis of a cough medicine. Another ingredient is mullein. This plant is biennial and can grow to 6 feet tall or more. The flowers and leaves are useful in coughs and make a great pain reliever in ear ache.

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