When I started gardening 45 years ago, I read a lot of garden books. In the The Country Garden by Josephine Nuese, Josephine exhorts her readers to NEVER ask anyone at a plant nursery ANY questions during the month of May. Her advice is to get in and get out and leave the nursery staff be. Why? Because they are crazed beings and should not have to answer a question about flea beetles when they are in a (well deserved) panic about the impossiblility of doing all their May gardening tasks.

I get this completely! I’m hardly able to form sentences during the month of May. There is so much to do and with every step I am thinking (completely boring) things like, “If I take this load of weeds down to the compost pile, I can bring back some finished compost to the hoop house, but I should put flats of sweet potato slips on the top of the weeds to drop them off at the vegetable garden on the way by so as to save myself a trip and don’t forget to bring the staple gun back up from the vegetable garden with the compost because some animal (GROUNDHOGS) are assaulting the hoop house netting there, and I need to reinforce with five thousand more staples.”

With this kind of stream of consciousness stuff going, if someone asks me a question, I initially don’t hear them. Then when they say the same thing eight or nine more times, I shake my head and try to focus. “What IS for supper? Is it supper time? Do I have to stop before I water in those sweet potato slips (and maybe the rest of the vegetable garden)? Is supper really necessary?”

If pressed for a verbal response, I mumble something and keep trotting (I stop only to pull up bindweed). The idea of having to answer questions all day long at a plant nursery while doing everything that needs to be done in May? This is the stuff of nightmares.

Much to my surprise, I actually thought about something other than logistics while digging rows for the Red Shiso today. The digging went on long enough for my mind to simmer down from its usual logisitc frenzy. Instead, I found myself considering five decades of gardening screw ups, and all they have taught me. Had anyone come out and asked me a question this morning, they would have found me alone with my shovel, laughing my head off (which perhaps might have been scarier than my May mumblings).

So here are a few of the screw ups I thought of this morning (Yes, I get a lot of excellent guidance from the Angels and Elementals which theoretically should eliminate screw ups, but maybe for their own amusement, they leave me free to pursue many of my OWN bad ideas).

MY MOST RECENT BIG SCREW UP- This spring I started seeds with this method I saw on YouTube in which people made snail like rolls of seed starter mix layered with cardboard. I went a little crazy with snail roll ups and started EVERYTHING with them. EVERYTHING.

WHAT WAS I THINKING? Blame it on the groundhogs who sapped my confidence these last few years. I turned my back on the way I have SUCCESSFULLY started seeds for the last four plus decades and went for the snails. THEY WERE A HORROR! They dried out extremely fast , nothing germinated well ( sometimes not at all), nothing that did germinate grew until I moved the seedlings out of the snails> The snails fell apart on unrolling. In the YouTube videos, people unrolled their snails like a red carpet and lush seedlings sported long healthy roots ready for life in the garden. Hmmmm.

Here are two conclusions I draw from this. #1. Don’t let groundhogs of ANY SORT wear you down. #2. Don’t believe everything you see on You Tube.

Here are some more rules and the reason for the rules.

#3. When someone comes with their tractor to turn the compost heap, make sure they know you want them to remove the blue plastic tarp from the top of the pile before turning.

Because I did not make this clear, my friend on his tractor mixed the compost with shreds of the blue plastic tarp so that now I must go through every load of compost and pull our thousanbds of strands of blue plastic.

#3a. Remove ALL tape from cardboard boxes used to mulch gardens ( not just 80% of the tape because you are feeling bored with the job). Remember that tape will NEVER break down and will eventually find its way to the compost heap where you will have to remove it from the compost along with the blue strands. (This rule doesn’t get its own number, because it is is adjacent to the blue plastic tarp rule.)

#4. When your neighbor builds an enormous fence around her vegetable garden DON’T LAUGH and think it’s ridiculous You will be building an equally ginormous fence yourself a few years later.

#5. When explaining the fence project to the fence builder, do not assume that because he has his own vegetable garden that he cares about soil. Explain MANY TIMES that when he fills in around the fence with the soil he has dug up, he should put subsoil in the ditches first then put the TOPSOIL on TOP.

#6. Be glad you know how to build up soil. Consider it a wonderful challenge that the perimeter of your new fenced in garden is the worst soil you have ever worked with, and it will now take you years to make it hold any life. You like a project right?

#7. Put all tools back where they belong after you use them. Yes, I know there are people clamoring for supper and the thought of making one more trip to the tool shed chills your blood. Do it anyways.

#8. Don’t get sentimental about Chuckie Hogbottom. Yes, you enjoyed his repartee over the years. Yes, you enjoyed the way he and his whole coterie of Groundhogs made you laugh after you cried. BUT remember the tears, and remember that you are going to enjoy harvesting vegetables from your very own garden for the first time in many, many years.

Okay that is all my whirling brain can remember. I am off to check on the plant babies that will get planted in the Venus Garden after the Red Shiso gets sown tomorrow!

Green Hope Farm is a collaborative creation. This collaboration is part of each and every day and makes ALL the difference to our mission sharing Flower Essences.

Take this morning for example. A dear GHF friend wrote to tell us that on receiving her last order, she felt the energy of Moldavian Dragonhead was distinctly unhappy. She had attentively worked to uplift the Flower Essence and wrote to tell us that she had lifted it up a bit but not all the way.

This was such an unusual thing to hear. Of course I was concerned. My experience with this Flower has always been one of dramatically lightening the heart and bringing joy. Her I AM affirmation is, “I AM a songline of happiness.” She describes herself as “Tender support for a discouraged heart. For moments when these unravelling times feel like too much and you need respite and relief.”

Since this helpful feedback from a GHF friend was so at odds with Moldavian Dragonhead‘s usual energy, I wondered what was up.

I tuned in for a chat with Moldavian Dragonhead right away, but I had no idea what this precious Flower friend would share. Moldavian Dragonhead was quick to own that she is suffering and beleaguered. She used the word overwhelmed several times. She explained that as part of her planetary work, she is holding the collective grief of Ukraine. She said other Flowers were part of this work, but even with this shared burden, she is overwhelmed.

When she spoke of her work with Ukraine, I had only a fuzzy sense of Moldavia’s proximity to Ukraine. When I looked at a map I got full body shivers. Moldavia borders Ukraine in the south and east. Moldavian Dragonhead explained that she is native to both Moldavia and Ukraine with deep roots in both countries.

When I asked her how we could support her, she said that anyone working with her right now could help her in her work. She suggested taking the bottle to happy places or simply sending the bottle love. She said any loving thoughts directed to her in ANY WAY will help her. She is determined to keep on with her mission and appreciates our love and support.

I have put a note on the description of Moldavian Dragonhead that if you want to help this Flower and help her continue her work with Ukraine, please put a note in your order and we will send you a free bottle of this Essence. We hope this will help this dear Flower with her planetary mission to help Ukraine. If you want to grow this Flower, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds has seeds for Moldavian Dragonhead. It is in the mint family so it grows fast. It is not too late to start her right now or in the next few weeks.

In closing I thank you all for all the ways you illuminate the Essences for the benefit of one and all! Much Love and Blessings!

Reginald Montgomery “Chuckie” Hogbottom here, Order of the Woodchuck, Recipient of the medal of honor “Marmota Monax” September 2019, Groundhog Knight of the Realm, May 2022, and Recipient of the Order of the Garter July 2023.

While we may be tempted by these cold, gray days of early May to linger in our burrows, sipping the last of the dandelion wine and dreaming of glories past, it’s time to rouse ourselves to action. The truth is, the humans have at long last challenged our supremacy at Green Hope Farm.

Now is the time to redouble our efforts to cause problems, large and small, as well as eat everything in sight. And I mean everything! Yes, I know recent years when we had the gourmet pantry of the main vegetable garden at our COMPLETE DISPOSAL and the 24/7 deli of the hoop house WE COULD BE PICKY. Now, however, we have suffered some setbacks and must settle for edibles we sneered at last year.

Why my (temporary) despondency?

1. The garden compound now has a perimeter fence bolted to ledge several feet underground. The fence soars eight feet above the ground which also is a problem.
2. The humans fixed the gate latch into this garden compound so the door that blew open on gusty days no longer does so.
3. The little humans swarming the place seem able to focus on latching the gate. Even the big humans have remembered to shut the gate.
4. The hoop house also has been reinforced with fencing materials to keep us out. The humans are so confident in their protective measures that melons will be one of the crops grown in the hoop house this season. This is a low blow considering our love of melons.
5. The scruffy 8 pound terrier mutt who is a long time resident of the property has decided chasing us, even those of us twice her size, is fun. Why did she suddenly get passionate about this activity? We have no idea, but let me warn you. She is fast. I have had to take cover in a wild rose thicket to escape her. Twice.
6. Yes, I know we have burrow holes everywhere. However, diving into one of our holes to escape this terror, I mean terrier, can lead to a tedious day. Said dog is happy to sit at the entrance to a hole for ten to twelve hours without moving.
7. The first day without snow cover the main human made up her rotten garlic spray and started spraying all the perennials outside the fence. Get over it my coterie! You are going to have to eat plants coated in this noxious stuff.

While we naively celebrated the Equinox in our usual style of a night singing and dancing, our next meet up, set for this Thursday night, May 7 at 10pm at my burrow will be a more somber affair. Come with your ideas about how we can outsmart the humans. Remember, they are just humans whereas we are groundhogs, superior in every way.

As mentioned in an earlier blog, we currently have eight different planetary bodies moving through the Zodiac sign of Aries. This brings a tremendous amount of activation energy and intensity to our planet right now. These transits affect all of us living on the planet.

One population taking it on the chin yet again is the animals. We are hearing from many of you who have experienced your beloved companion animals, especially dogs in your household, being edgy and even unexpectedly combative.

Please remember that in a household we all operate as one electrical system. When a dog acts out, he or she may be expressing its own inner turmoil or he or she may be reflecting stress held by someone else in the household or by the entire household. Helping to calm the waters in your own life and in the collective you live in will help each individual in the household.

Additionally dogs are incredibly tuned in to the overall electrical system of earth which is very heated up right now. Animals in general feel and know things about the earth grid and its electrical tensions. Just think of how animals know to move inland and uphill before a tsunami.

If you have Flower Essences available, share them with everyone in your household. If you have a spritz bottle or a plant mister, spritz everybody and the space you share with Flower Essences. The Flower Essences can be mixed with water in a spritz bottle when used within a couple of days. The Red Shiso stabilizer works better when you want a spritz bottle to last for a couple of weeks. I suggest you use whatever Flower Essences you have even if they do not feel relevant. Flower Essences hold so many strengths that oftentimes they have hidden depths and can step into the fray very successfully when called upon to help.

Anxiety, Outburst, Arbor Garden, Emergency Care, Harmony with all Kingdoms and Animal Emergency Care are among those Essences known to calm the waters. Golden Armor helps all of us from absorbing all the dissonant energy that is being released as a consequence of this Aries moment. This is an Essences which helps dogs buffer out excess energetic information. They are not hardwired to handle all the energies being generated by our technology and they need this help at the best of times.

This time is a chance to reboot and begin again in a new more harmonious direction. By slowing down, taking care of ourselves and our beloveds and getting Nature’s help to navigate this time of change, we can rise up and live from our hearts.

When the dream of Green Hope Farm began, patriarchy had ensnared just about everything. Yet a group of women I knew thrived outside the net. And when Green Hope Farm got going, my awareness of women living outside this net grew and grew.

In the beginning I found community with a group of mothers with toddlers the same age as mine. Life was slower. There was no internet. We had the time and space to build trusting friendships in person. Yes, it was still dangerous to be a woman, but gathered together we took care of each other and healed from wounds of young adulthood that included rape and assault.

Gathered with our toddlers at playgrounds, we talked and laughed and cried and even sang. In winter, we had a sewing circle. The toddlers would play and we talked and laughed and cried and even sang. When new crises stuck, the group became a sounding board for a renewed spiritual spiritual search. We didn’t always agree, but we trusted that we had each other’s backs. The shadow of the culture was kept at bay (no social media), and we were free to search within ourselves and trust our own intuition. Our very friendships encouraged us to do so.

With such a template of trusting community, I began Green Hope Farm. In one of the best things to ever happen to me, the bank would not let me make credit card transactions. So I set up an honor system that meant my circle of trust grew to encompass a very large group of almost all women. Let’s face it, women are the ones doing the lion’s share of healing the world.

I know people probably think I am being glib when I talk about the greater Green Hope Farm community and how central it has been to all that has happened here, but I speak truth. For the first twenty five years, we sent out all orders with an invoice tucked in and almost everyone paid. Certainly the percentage of people not paying was less than what we now pay the credit card industry. This trusting exchange built a network of caring community that continues to this day.

One of the things about sending an invoice was that it meant we often got a lot of letters back with payment. We heard stories about the Flower Essences and got to see photos of your world and your beloveds. Many told me my trust system was foolish and naive. Yet it made all the difference in my life as I built life long friendships with so many of you. Now it’s been thirty five years, and together we have seen each other through a lot of life. It takes a long time to grow an old friendship. I am grateful that our trust system gave me the opportunity to do this with you.

Making cash transactions obsolete and in every way driving all commerce to an impersonal online network that does not connect the seller with the consumer helps the credit card industry. It’s a patriarchal win for those that feel a roaring economy is the goal even if it destroys the planet in the process.

We still offer our original system of you connecting with us and us sending off the order with an invoice in with the Essences. While many prefer the convenience of paying at the time of the order, we will always offer this option. We still get mail each week from lifelong beloveds and new friends too ordering the old way. We still celebrate with you as things blossom in your life and mourn with you when there are losses and sorrows. We still know Green Hope Farm to be a community made meaningful not by the bottom line but by our heartfelt connections.

As we move onward into a culture encouraging us to turn our lives over to our devices and AI, we still have choices. We can rise up and live the way our very bones want us to live. Patriarchy may tell us that the traditional values of women including community, connection, caring, trust, talking, laughing crying and even singing doesn’t matter. But patriarchy is wrong.