Sundry adventures in village homesteading

Our corner of Maryland seems to be experiencing a little bit of rain – for the past 16 days. We’ve even
hearing this is a record of some kind for our area. Even though it’s not my kind of achievement, it’s given us a little bit of time to work on St. Denis Sundries.

We did manage to have a few sunny hours on Mother’s Day to plant seedlings in the garden. If all goes well, we have plenty of cucumbers for pickles, cherry tomatoes for ketchup and barbecue sauce (and popping into salads and snack dishes) and a variety of hot peppers for this year’s hot sauces and hot powders.

Maybe even a few sunflowers, too? Because we need as much as we get at this point! Did I mention it’s been rainy and cloudy for 16 days?

I love the feel and scent of the earth in our gardens when it’s just been turned over. We were fortunate to have a couple of our younger cousins help this year in preparing the garden beds. We just expanded the beds, doubling the amount of garden space we have. Their help made a huge difference this year. We’ve had a wet and dreary spring, which delayed us from pulling out the remnants of last year’s crops and turning over the soil. In two days, though, they had the beds pulled and turned and we were ready to pick up our plants from a local farm to start this year’s garden.

We had been looking forward to a bumper crop of strawberries this year – and this is the year to make strawberry jam! But we’ve had a disappointment! While it has rained almost every day since we came home from our vacation, there were two or three hot and dry days while we were away. A good friend who was carrying for our little homestead made sure the indoor plants were well-watered, along with our cat, but missed the barrel of strawberries at the side of the shed, near the herb garden. We eagerly checked on the strawberry barrel, hopeful for the first of this year’s sweet fruit, and found the sun had done its damage! The young fruits were shriveled and the plants were dry and damaged.

In the few weeks since then, I’ve made a point to stop at the strawberries twice a day, check the soil for moistness and speak softly to the plants. They’ve poked back up and there are new, green leaves growing, so I’m hopeful that there will be bright, sweet berries to cover with homemade yogurt or include in tangy lemonade. If not, I might just pop what strawberries there are straight in my mouth and savor them while sitting on the grass.

My husband and I are products of the suburbs; he, from Central Maryland and me from Western New York. We met on a cold and rainy night at a warm and sunny spot (a local group of parrothead friends). From then on, I’ve made my nest with him – but I didn’t want to return to the suburbs! I had spent my post-college years living in the countryside and preferred to stay there. As luck would have it, we found an old village filled with country charm and ancient trees tucked away near Baltimore City and we knew we were home.

Why have I called our venture St. Denis Sundries? Actually, he came up with the name and I thought it was perfect. The dictionary defines “sundries” as “various small things that are not mentioned specifically.”

A little bit of this, some of that, and we have an old-fashioned country store. Denim bags over here, newly knitted socks in the corner, fresh jams, jellies and pickles on the pantry shelves and the scents of new soap and candles throughout. Maybe some candy, too, in the glass jars by the counter.

I am a cook, crafter, writer and novice village homesteader. I guess these are our sundry adventures in village homesteading and self-sufficiency.