Plow Monday

Plow Monday, the first Monday after Epiphany, is the traditional day in Europe for men to restart their farm work. 

Our garden isn't large, but I think of it as my 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”.

Agenda for today & this week: 

1. Journal query

2. Tool blessing ceremony

3. Collect scions

4. Housework - cleaning the living room

5. Daily garden visits

6. Make plough pudding

1. Journal query:

Normally this is the day I like to fantasize and plan changes in my garden: I map out the rotation of my vegetable beds for the year, look through my Garden Journal notes from last year, and make a list of ideas - new garden projects, and new things to plant. My query every year is:

How can I make my garden a better sanctuary 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?

This year we are planning a whole garden re-design, that is a bit overwhelming in scope: We are taking out an old apple tree, re-fencing the duck yard, buying new raised beds, and putting in a front patio with a privacy border. And all of this is a response to my query. 

2. Tool Blessing Ceremony:

A jumble of garden tools, sprinklers, gloves,
and a birdfeeder...

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

Better.

Today I clean and sharpen my garden tools and oil the wooden handles. While I work, I 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. Collect scions:

As I said, we are taking out our venerable and well-loved apple tree because it has stopped producing, and it as some rot. 

Today I collected scions - 18-inch pencil thin cuttings - which I wrapped in damp paper towels and sealed inside a plastic bag in the refrigerator, so we can graft them in the spring, and hopefully have new apple trees to plant.

3. Housework - clean the living room:
Every year on Distaff Day I kick off a month of deep cleaning. My house has certain mold-related issues that are best done before we get any deeper into winter. Also, winter is a good time for a few big indoor cleaning jobs. I take it one room at a time, and this week I'll clean in the living room.

• Monday: Dust the furniture and in the corners.
• Tuesday: Clean the houseplants and repot if needed.
• Wednesday: Clear some blankets and pillows from the basket.
• Thursday: Wipe and dust the baseboards and clean the woodwork.
• Friday: Scrub the mold off the windowsills with detergent and warm water, then apply Borax solution solution and do not rinse, to help prevent mold from growing again.
• Saturday: Repaint the bare wood on the windows.

4. Daily Garden Visits:

Junco in our apple tree, against the gray sky of January.

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:

Fava beans over-wintering in a garden bed

• Tour the garden and make note of things to do this week and this year. 
• Visit a different garden bed each day and pull just a few weeds or dead plants. 
• Take my camera out into the garden to collect images. 
• Check the bird feeders and refill them. 
• Harvest the lettuce Penny brought me!
• On sunny days, drop everything and go outside to prune: This is a good time to prune the plum tree, the grape, and summer flowering bushes like the lilac and hydrangea.
• Another sunny day job: Rake up the last of the Hawthorn leaves and berries, and move them to mulch the paths.

5. Make Plough Pudding:

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