Butterflies and Cattails

So, back from three days in the mountains of Bavaria, in the town of Fichtelberg. Internet connection was soooo slow, so posting something wasn't possible. It rained a lot and was gray the other days, so we didn't get to do the hiking I would have liked. However, we did go to the Kristall Therme, which was fabulous. The only weird thing was that upstairs they had the crystal meditation grotto (with lights behind the crystals to make different colors for color therapy) and the smoker's lounge right next to each other. But there were 11 different saunas and different pools to swim and sit in. Remember, this is where the term "cure" came from. Health insurances here pay for people with particular illnesses- e.g. heart or lung diseases- to go for a cure for a week. Special foods, excercises, and prescriptive soaks and saunas. Amazing, eh? The other thing that comes from here, apart from hot spring culture and spas is castles. This is where the stories were lived- castles, knights in shining armor, damsels in distress, dragons, fights, escapes, true love. When a person travels around Deutschland, one sees castles. We saw one in Bamberg on the way home on the top of the tallest of 7 hills. And the Brother's Grimm are from Hanau, which is 8 kilometers from where we live.


We also went to the butterfly house where there are hundreds of butterflies flying around and you can walk right into their space! I had one land on my orange scarf and try to drink from it with its' proboscus. Amazing! Oh and our friends found this great little teeny tiny cheese shop with goat cheeses and cow cheeses in a little refrigerator, some bars of chocolate, coffee, and cucumbers and tomatoes from their garden. Oh, and eggs from their chickens. The shop was in a little closet at the back of the house and there was a beautiful garden with all sorts of vegetables- corn, tomatoes, kohlrabi, cabbage, carrots, herbs, cukes, all jumbled together beautifully. The chickens were at the back of the yard in their own section with a big wooden coop- so sweet. Our friends are foodies too, so it is fun to be with them and eat.


This is the one that landed on my scarf.

The Secret Garden is still basically untouched because it has been raining so much and I have been away. However, plans have been made, of course. I had thought to double dig around the plants that are there to get the weed roots out and bring some air into the soil. Normally, I am a permaculture being, but often when i first get into a garden I like to double dig or single dig to give everything a good start. However, there is so much clay in the soil that I was not able to get the Shovel more than a few inches deep and when I removed it there was a slice in the soil like the edge of a potters slab. So, I am going to sheet mulch. But how do I acquire the needed materials. I will go to the previously mentioned dairy farmer and ask for manure, even if he laughs at me. Then I will use the paper recycling and cardboard for the carbon. Other than that, whatever I find is fair game. Whatever compost and fresh greens I can scare up, straw, if I can find it. any feathers, poop (except for cat and dog and human), leaves, weeds, anything. I hope to do this in the next weeks. However, I have also acquired two packets of seeds from the most wonderful garden store in the whole of Frankfurt, whose name I have forgotten completely. However, it is a small family garden shop that has within it these exquisite garden tools by Sneeboer, hand forged stainless steel tools that are not actually that expensive. I get giddy looking at them. They are cheaper here, so save your money for a plane ticket and come buy them on this side of the pond! I think I would like to have a perennial spade (long handle), a transplanting trowel, a potting trowel, a 4 tined fork, and a planting shovel- just in case anyone is interested. oh, and while we're on the subject of hand forged tools I absolutely have to have, have you seen the  Watanabe knives? Back to the garden, I think I will take my digging stick, "the copper dragon", and my daikon and salsify seeds to the Secret Garden on wednesday and plant them. Maybe I'll do the sheet mulching after, since it will take me awhile to locate all of the materials. On the other hand, if I get my hands on a Sneeboer Fork i may have to double dig after all.

My cattails are drying in the bathroom for me to use for weaving my first basket. I collected them on Saturday at my meadow, and read that they have to dry before they are soaked to prevent shrinking once you actually weave them. While looking on the internet for basket instruction, I found Joan Carrigan. Wow.

Baskets are containers in which the threads of human history and the natural world intertwine  and hold endless possibilities  of creative expression."

- Joan Carrigan

Next I will soak them and then begin, by the seat of my pants, of course, to weave a basket. I promise to show pictures of whatever comes out of it. I am sure it will have a very strange shape.