Wintery Herb Garden and Studio

Some where in here is one of our many herb gardens.  The center few lumps are Passiflora caerulea 'Waterloo Blue' vines (passionflower), Salvia officinalis 'Berggarten' (garden sage) & Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary), Echinacea purpurea (coneflower) and a few leftover tomato cages.  Today, we are all missing them terribly though it really is beautiful covered in snow. 

Snow makes a nice insulating blanket over the plants to keep the desiccating wind off of them.  They are much safer now than they were before the snow. Though you may be tempted to brush off your perennials, it is actually ice and wind that does the damage so let the snow be still.  There is nothing to be done about ice and wind unless you covered your plants with burlap and mulched tightly on its edges.  Most gardeners that we know don't both with such a thing unless they are heirlooms or particularly fragile.  It is worth the effort if you absolutely must keep that plant safe.  As with all things natural, there is naturally nothing guaranteed. 

This is our handsome Pennsylvania 2-story barn built in 1808 and home of our future studio.  It has gorgeous views of the farms here in Harford County that we hope to share with you once we start the refurbishing.  Great care will be taken to maintain the original integrity of this stoic beauty.  She has seen many soldiers returning from many wars, five fine families move in and move out, babies born, children graduating, and many skilled workers create their art within her walls even if that means shoeing a horse or working on an old Triumph motorcycle.  It goes without saying that all of that history is appreciated by our team.  We will use her energy to create great things. 

The barn has a wonderful musty tobacco smell and beams you cannot wrap your arms around.  The trees must have been enormous.  We will make good use of the 2500 square feet space in the top floor.  Our kitchens are getting positively overwhelmed with apothecary jars (yeah, we said it) of dried herbs, fleakers and beakers of essential oils and all the wonderful things we need to make soap. 

On this snowy day while the herbs are tucked in and the barn is blanketed with snow, we are already remembering summer and thinking of spring.  Still not making soap and its driving us to wax sentimental. 

Oh and here's a "chicken" for you - we recently learned that Mick Jagger does his own accounting.  Did you know that?