Sandy Strauss
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July is always busy with gardening details–weeding, watering, harvesting, preserving… This July has been busy with my day job at the Council. Fortunately things have slowed down a bit following last week’s Building One America Summit–over 600 people in Lancaster!–and completion of the two-day retreat of our Commission on Public Witness at the (perfectly named) Farm of Peace. We also had a sort-of working weekend–last weekend–with Julia and Damien (our niece and her husband) and Joe (our nephew). Julia and I made raspberry jam, fresh salsa, and guacamole, then extracted another almost 50 lbs. of honey. Dave and Damien and Joe did woodworking projects in the shop–Damien finishing a bedside table, and Joe producing a pipe. Amongst all that we had dinner out at Lancaster Brewing Company, and went to Hauser Estate to do wine tasting on Sunday afternoon.
I almost always look forward to our Commission retreat with both excitement and trepidation. I also know that it is not really a retreat for me, as I must be “on” and taking notes the entire time. What was different this time was the location. The Farm of Peace is operated by a group of Sufi Muslims, lovely, lovely, welcoming people, overflowing with hospitality. The retreat center is a straw bale building set high on a hillside, with a breathtaking view from the meeting room. The bedrooms are spacious and comfortable, and the food is phenomenal, much of it produced right there on the farm. They operate a CSA, and they raise sheep and chickens as well. After dinner on Tuesday, we were treated to a tour of the farm by Maryam Hand, the caretaker and Sufi teacher. We had the opportunity to visit in the garden with Ahmed, her husband, to learn about what they were growing.
I learned that several of the weeds growing behind the shop are edible! Several are quite prolific–lamb’s quarter, plantain and purslane. I wasn’t sure if what we had was actually purslane, but it appears that it is. They gave me some sorrel to plant here to add to the edible mix. I plan to be more intentional about my weeding in order to preserve the “good” weeds!
It was good to have company on the ride back and forth as well. Sue, one of the members of our Commission, is even more into gardening and sustainability than I am. We talked about how to do more in this area. My ultimate dream would be to operate community gardens and/or CSAs in the city, teach preserving skills, and help folks in the community to understand the health aspects of such things.
For today, however, I’ll be dealing with some of the bounty from our own garden. We picked, quite literally, a reusable grocery bag full of veggies. I need to stuff peppers, can, and freeze things. I will also be baking some bread for the week. I want to check for strawberries, and would love to try the recipe for watermelon strawberry sorbet that was in the paper this morning. Maybe I’ll try some cold cucumber soup…
It’s time to get to work. Never a dull moment on an urban homestead!
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