Plow Monday

Plow Monday, the first Monday after Epiphany, is the traditional day in Europe for farmers to restart their farm work. Our garden isn't large, but, with the ducks, it's like a miniature farm. Normally, it's too wet at this time in the Pacific Northwest to do any digging, but many other tasks are possible, and it's good motivation for me to have this set date each year to start my “farm work”.

I got a lot of good permaculture information from Amy of the Ten-Acre Farm.  Amy says,

"January is one of my favorite times of year because I love the opportunity to start anew, make new agreements with myself about how I will spend time in the garden, and determine what kinds of experiments I will run to continue learning and improving."

Agenda for today & this week: 

1. Journal query

2. Tool blessing ceremony

3. January harvest

4. Garden planing

5. Daily garden visits

6. Make Plough Pudding or Homity Pie

1. Journal query:

Plow Monday is the day I like to fantasize and plan changes in my garden: I ruminate about what worked last year, and what didn’t. Then I take out a fresh garden notebook and write up my goals for the new year - new garden projects, and new things to plant. My query every year is:

How can I make my garden a better sanctuary for wildlife and for my family, more comfortable for friends, a greater learning-experience for my grandson, more mysterious and secluded, more of a visual treat, AND easier to keep up with?

My focus this year is to continue to plant native plants that feed native pollinators and birds; I want to start a birdseed garden someplace! And set up better bee houses. Also, I want to add layers of education (witness) with art and craftivism in public and private parts of the yard. And maybe this is the year I will invest in a large umbrella?

2. Tool Blessing Ceremony:

Before farm work starts on Plow Monday, a ceremonial plow is blessed at church, then paraded through the streets to collect money for the parish.

One of the projects we completed last fall is a new tool wall and potting cabinet! Today I will clean and sharpen my garden tools and oil the wooden handles; and disinfect all pruners with alcohol wipes. While I work, I'll focus on the purpose and history of these tools: All the planting of food that they have helped with, and the pruning of trees, and the trimming of grass. 

I clean the dirt out of my storage basket, and put everything away again in better order.

I make the act of cleaning into a blessing: “Bless these tools to do their work”.

3. January Harvest:

Amy of Ten Acre Farm says, always harvest first, because the goal of all of this gardening is to harvest fresh, healthy food for your table. So, to make sure that happens, prioritize harvesting over other tasks.

This winter, all I have in the garden is beets, and I plan to harvest some today, and make red flannel hash for dinner.

4. Garden Planning:

January is the perfect time to get my plans for the year in order. This is actually a pretty time-consuming project, so I will schedule a few times this week to work on it: 

1. Choose what to plant: First I'll make a list of what we like to eat, all the standards, plus a few experimental crops. (My birdseed garden!)
2. Map out the garden: Revise the rotation of my vegetable beds for the year, and figure out where to plant each thing. 
3. Research and list the best kind of seed to get for my growing season. Check out the Second Breakfast Garden list of favorite seed companies.
4. Order seeds: Look through my seeds to see what new seed I need and make a comprehensive list, then place an order!
5. Update my planting schedule: Next, I need to determine the date to start each thing, and put it onto my planting spreadsheet, and my calendar. Hardiness zones are shifting, and first and last frost dates are less predictable than they used to be, but we are typically in USDA zone 8b, and Sunset zone 6, and our last frost date is now May 15.
6. Update my monthly checklists: I'm going to use the Second Breakfast Garden monthly guides this year to update my checklists, because they are in zone 8b.
7. Start a new garden record book: I used to keep better records, but somewhere along the line I stopped. This is the year I'm going to keep track of garden successes and failures—dates when I notice certain pests, and when I add soil amendments, for example.

5. Daily Garden Visits:

I've been out in my garden less since winter started. But even in January, the garden offers me connections with the earth and sky, the seasons, and the Spirit of Creation. My heart fills when I visit my garden even for a few minutes each day, to see the buds poking up and watch the changes in the trees.

Here are the tasks that will inspire me to step out into my garden this week:

• Harvest first.
• Visit a different garden bed each day with clippers, and cut dead plants and weeds (leave roots to feed the soil). 
• Take my camera out into the garden to collect images. 
• Check the bird feeders and refill them.
• This is a good time to prune the grape, and summer flowering bushes like the lilac and hydrangea.
• Rake up the last of the Hawthorn leaves and berries, and move them to mulch the paths.
• Keep applying leaf mold to beds (but leave the pumpkin bed bare so as not to provide protection to overwintering squash bugs).

6. Make Plough Pudding or Homity Pie:

This is a steamed meat pudding traditionally made in Britain on Plow Monday - very rich and yummy. See the recipe here.

Here is a vegetarian Homity Pie, pioneered by Land Girls during World War Two rationing - not a steamed pudding, but also not pure meat.

Ingredients

• shortcrust pastry for 2 small pies
• 1/2 lb. starchy potatoes
• 1/2 oz. butter
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 Tbsp. parsley
• 3 oz. grated cheddar cheese
• 1/2 lb. onions or leeks, or a mix of both
• 1-1/2 Tbsp oil
• 4 oz. peas or chopped green beans
• 1/2 Tbsp milk
• Salt & pepper to taste

Yield: 2 small pies

1. Line 2 small pie tins or dishes with the pastry.

2. Peel then chop the potatoes into quarters and boil until just tender – not falling apart.

3. Melt the butter. Grate the cheese. Peel and crush the garlic. Mince the parsley. Chop the onions and/or leeks fairly fine, then fry them in the oil until soft.

4. Mix the cooled and drained potatoes, peas or beans, and onions/leeks. Add the butter, parsley, 1/2 c. grated cheese, garlic, milk, then season to taste.

5. Fill the pastry tins with the mix, then sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake in the oven at 425ºF for 20 minutes until the top is golden and set.