Elderberry syrup is back in stock!
Ohio Elderberry Syrup is back in stock! The 2023 elderberry harvest is largely behind us and we finally have elderberry syrup available again.
It was a strange season - harvest started three weeks later than last year and we had a little lull in the middle of the big harvest days. We're chalking that up to the spring dry spell and weeks of haze stemming from the Canadian wildfires. Now we're in that hectic time where we are finishing up harvest, prepping the field for next year, making syrup …
Elderflower summer
After a dry spring, and the crazy haze resulting from Canadian wildfires, summer has brought rain, sun and elderflowers. More of our plantings reach maturity this summer, and the flower displays have been beautiful.
We’ve been harvesting some of the flowers for our elderflower syrup, but we’ve left plenty to make berries and of course, be enjoyed by the insects.
I love walking among the flowers and breathing in their warm fragrance. But already the petals of pollinated flowers are dropping away an…
Spring Companions: Mayapple and Elderberry
It’s the first week of May and the elderberry plants are knee-high. Considering they were pruned to the ground in February, 18-24” of growth in 3 relatively chilly months is pretty impressive.
Not many other plants in the landscape grow at this rate during the sometimes inhospitable months of spring, but one that comes close is the mayapple (and also, I’ve noticed, garlic mustard).
I don’t think I had ever seen mayapples before moving to southern Ohio. True to their name, they are presently bloomi…
The Flower of our Labors
This year we’ve been going through the liquor at an astonishing rate.
Really, it’s mostly been me. Beth being a lightweight, and having declared her first taste of gin “nasty,” has not contributed evenly. But to each their strengths. 😂
Honestly, though, I’ve not been drinking much of the alcohol we’ve run through. I mix a drink, take a sip, dump the rest. Then I alter the proportions, mix another drink, sip, dump. It’s not gone down the drain because I’m nervous about what all that alcohol, a …
Ironweed
In late August the elderberry bushes are nearly finished fruiting, and as the dark purple berries fade a new palette emerges across the fields: purple ironweed and goldenrod, now fully in bloom. Ironweed intrigues me perhaps because, unlike goldenrod, it is a flower I didn’t grow up with, but one I first met as an adult in southern Ohio. It’s also a plant that starts as a humble florette of spear-shaped leaves at your feet in May. Then you turn around in August to find the flower head nodding d…
Is this Elderberry?
Elderflower Eruption
Violets in Spring
A thousand wild violets dot the lawn, welcoming the early bees. I set the mower deck high and shave the grass above their heads. Mowing so high means I’ll have to cut it again soon, but it’s worth it to let the flowers continue their bloom.
