Snow Farms Holistic Wellness

This one of my many pictures that I have taken over the past spring and summer months progressing the successes and failures of my container garden project.

On the left hand side of the picture is my baby cottage herb garden where I currently have a large patch of chocolate mint, 1 lemon balm plant, 1 rosemary bush, 1 vitex tree (newly planted this June), an assortment of luffa squash plants, 2 Russian sage bushes, and 2 comfrey plants . . . along with random sunflowers and weeds!

On the right hand side, is the other section of our front lawn that is slowly going to be turned into a container garden heaven! It currently is home to a bed of strawberries, 6 or 7 tomato plants, 3 pepper plants, some random asparagus plants, and more weeds/grass.

This has been a large undertaking that has led to some amazing first hand learning, successes, and failures.

What does this have to do with my herbal practice you ask? It is my dream to be able to grow the herbs that my clients will need for tinctures, teas, and other products that they might need right on our farm!

Lessons that I have learned include:

• when you have toddlers, chickens, dogs, and a cat . . . don’t underestimate the power of chicken wire!
• sometimes, seeds will be planted and what you think you planted is not what germinates!
  • the plants that are covering the cattle panels I thought were luffas, but are actually Zucchino Rampicante which happens to be a lovely cross between a cucumber and a zucchini only way bigger! I am talking 3 feet long. They have been so much fun to grow and provide excellent shade on the walkway!
• regular watering is key- thankfully we have a pump that I can hook up to our IBC rainwater gathering system which allows me to water every other or every day as the plants need it.
• soil is important- the right amount and the right combinations of dirt, rabbit poop, coco core, mushroom compost, and wood chips are key. The plants need water and minerals/vitamins to grow and flourish.
• grow new to you things- this will definitely keep you on your toes! I tried the square foot gardening method and some of my square did awesome but couldn’t fight the dogs-cat-toddler-chicken war that they were fighting . . . some plants flourished . . . others I never saw.
• surprises can happen every day- today I found out that I am growing a marshmallow plant! Earlier, I had to pull out a giant borage plant that ended up going to the compost pile . . . I had since found out that I can use it in a tea to help with many different health issues like adrenal fatigue.
• herbs will grow here: I planted and had 3 different basils come up and flourish, calendula (3 different plants), lemon balm, rosemary, marshmallow, comfrey, borage, dill, sage, and mint.

All in all, this experience has been one that has been full of learning moments and above all else, fun. I am gearing up to plant more seeds in the containers for the fall and to put together 3 more boxes as well. One box will have pumpkins, another one will have more sunflowers, one will have radishes & beets along with other greens, and one will be filled with garlic!

What is something new that you have tried this year?