Going To A Native Plant Sale

September 15, 2025 Sarah

With our move at the end of March, I missed out on having anywhere ready to plant in the spring. But with fall looming, I was ready.

While this plant sale wasn’t for West Virginia – it was held in Northern Virginia, let’s be real: Until 1863, it was part of Virginia. So a lot of plants/animals are the same here, on this side of WV. And I am not too picky. I had no idea what I would find, so I was a little shocked to see so many medicinal herbs native to the area when I got to the sale.

This opened up a lot for me, knowing I could add to the herb beds.

It was held outside of Leesburg, in Loudoun County, VA. Loudon County goes all the way to the state boundary with West Virginia. It is an easy drive out of the Shenandoah Valley and over the Blue Ridge Mountains, which is where the Appalachian Trail (AT) runs across. Northern Virginia is beautiful, with a lot of it rural, full of horse farms and wineries.

I had seen the event through Yellow House Natives, a nursery in Berryville, VA. I bought quite a few plants from them – they were packed, so I didn’t get a photograph of their booth. Andrea, who was volunteering, was SO much help answering my many questions.

It was held at a park, and the place was well set up. It was sunny, though, and very warm.

The other side. Talks were going on, booths were set up, and even a food truck was making lattes.

I picked up a couple of plants from Seven Bends Nursery. They are also located in Berryville, VA.

Hill Houe Farm & Nursery got my money as well. They are located farther down in Virginia, so it’s a great option to have close by for shopping when they travel to sell.

So what did I pick up? Here are some of my finds:

Dicentra – which is also native on the West Coast, but I love its delicate flowers in spring – and I am going to let it overwinter, then put it in down at the creek.

Mountain Mint. I will also plant this down at the creek in the spring. It has a very strong smell, almost menthol. If you crush and bub the leaves on your body, it can naturally repel mosquitoes.

Virginia Bergamot (Bee Balm) is native to the mountains here, and makes a great herbal tea, as well as a pollinator friend.

Spicebush, which I paid…gasp…$45 for. It will be winter here, so I will either bury it deep in the ground or get a jumbo grow bag. I have time. If I prune it, it can stay there for years. The leaves and berries are edible.

Boneset. I went back and put a trellis around it. I have wanted a plant of it for a long time, and happily snagged it. Boneset was traditionally used as an infusion when dealing with fevers.

I also picked up more flowers and wild strawberries. Which left me happy and planting it all.

~Sarah

Homesteading · Preserving · Recipes · Urban Homesteading

Canned Apple Butter

September 4, 2025 Sarah

Apple butter takes planning – you will need hours to cook it down, but as long as you keep an eye on it, you can get other things done at the same time. I go for a big pot of it so that I can have seven jars for the winter.

I used “seconds” for the apples, which were somewhat small. They were an older variety that easily mushed up under cooking. The key to choosing the right apples is to avoid hard, crisp ones that don’t cook down well. Ugly apples are a good choice.

Apple Butter

Ingredients:

10 pounds of apples
5 cups water
10 cups sugar
5 tsp pumpkin pie or apple pie spice blend
½ cup + 2 Tbsp bottled lemon juice

Directions:

Wash the apples, air dry. Peel apples, quarter them, and discard the cores. Add to a tall pot, preferably a heavy stainless steel stockpot. Add the water, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer until the apples are tender. Use a potato masher to finish breaking them up.

Add the sugar, spices, and lemon juice, stirring in.

Let cook over medium heat, stirring periodically to avoid sticking on the bottom. Be very wary of hot apple pulp – if it spits at you, it can and will burn you due to the sugar content. I suggest wearing a mitt.

Let cook for 2 to 4 hours, lowering the temperature as needed, to maintain a gentle low boil. When ready, the well-stirred butter will mound on a spoon – it should be very thick. It will have reduced in volume by about half.

Near the end, take 7 pint jars, place them in a water bath canning kettle, fill the jars and the pot with water, to just over the top of the jars. Bring to a boil.

Place the rings and lids in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer.

Lay out a clean kitchen towel, drain the jars back into the pot, and place the jars on the towel.

Sterilize your funnel, ladle, and air bubble tool in the boiling water.

Ladle in the hot apple butter, leaving a ¼” headspace. Run the air bubble tool through the jar. Add more butter if there is space.

Take a damp paper towel and wipe the rims. Place a lid on, then finger-tighten the ring.

Place in the pot, bring it back up to a boil, and can for 15 minutes. Turn off the burner, take off the pot’s lid, and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Remove the jars and let them cool on a clean kitchen towel. Once cooled. Remove the rings (wash and dry) and check that the lids are sealed and don’t flex when touched.

Mark the date canned on the lid, use within a year for best results.

Makes 7 pint jars.

~Sarah

Gardening · Homesteading · Urban Homesteading

Wrapping Up August In The Garden

September 3, 2025 Sarah

It’s hard to believe it is already September 3rd. The boys have been back in school for weeks. The last half of August cooled down a bit, with temperatures in the mid to high 70s during the day and nighttime temperatures in the high 40s to mid 50s. I got so much work done in the garden, because I wasn’t fading in the heat. And it was oddly low humidity. We warm back up for a couple of days, into the upper 80s, but by the weekend, it will drop back into the 70s. Seeing the end of my first hot summer has me enthused.

It’s been an education, with my first year of growing in grow zone 7a, south of the Mason-Dixon Line. I had failures, but also many successes. Starting with nothing but containers and grow bags was challenging. Completing the fence and building my raised bed garden was a huge accomplishment. I really pushed my boys to help me before school started. I know the winters here can be so cold, so I knew I didn’t want to be building it in December. We spent a few days out here last December, and I nearly gave myself a case of hypothermia just being outside too long and not having real winter clothing on.

One thing I had never grown before was sweet potatoes. Earlier in the summer, I saw slips for sale at the local Mennonite-run plant nursery and picked up a bundle. I grew them in a large pot, since I didn’t have the garden ready.

By the end of August, they were sending out long vines and were putting on flowers. I will definitely grow them again.

I had one raspberry plant I bought in early spring, which had been sitting in a container that was far too small. I put it in one of the first finished raised beds, so it could grow more roots in the final months of summer. It will have new friends join it next spring. It rewarded me with putting on many new flowers. I might get a fall crop (it;s a dual crop plant) after all!

I found out I have two rose bushes that produce roses twice a year, by the house.

The butter yellow is beautiful. They are a tea rose type.

I stopped by the Mennonit nursery a couple of weeks back and picked up some Swiss Chard starts to fill out a large container. I didn’t have the time to get seeds ready for it this summer.

I also planted two types of bush and dwarf pea seeds, bok choy, and three types of lettuce seeds in August, for fall crops.

All my basil plants have grown like I have never seen before, especially since planting them in the ground this year. The heat has been great for this.

The creek down below still has a bit of water in the sections that stay shaded. The deer come down to drink in the early morning. We only got rain twice in August, after a very wet (and hot) May/June/July.

Eastern Black Swallowtail happily munching on my Lovage plant. I am OK with donating a plant to them; they are beautiful butterflies. Lovage is their favorite treat. I will plant a ton next year!

I worked on finishing the fence last week, taking advantage of the cool mornings. First up was adding 3-foot-high bamboo poles, zip-tied to the T posts. Later, I will thread hemp twine around the poles to extend the fence’s height.

Another project was the gate. I am well known for the trashy gates I put together. I tried to make this one look nicer than in the past. I used 5-foot bamboo poles to strengthen the hardware cloth fencing. Then I used poly guy lines that were trash, which I wound around the poles. Now the gate is as high as the fence. I used a zip tie to create a loop and a carabiner for closure. The metal novelty flag stake is zip-tied to the fence and flips over to help keep the gate shut. Use what you have on hand and save money, no?

Onwards to September and to hopefully a fruitful fall garden.

~Sarah

Gardening · Homesteading · Urban Homesteading

The New Garden: Getting It Ready

August 4, 2025August 8, 2025 Sarah

The work continues – through the heat and humidity of a West Virginia summer. My window of having help shortens by the day, when the boys return to school. Start early, then come out after dinner, once the sun starts to settle low. It’s not much cooler, but at least the sun isn’t directly over us.

I decided to risk it with potential deer harassing my garden, and started moving items in the evening, to get as much as I could off the patio. The truth is, the patio doesn’t get enough sun during the day. Mostly what I moved were herbs and grow bags of potatoes, not things deer are usually too interested in.

It was 80° as we started early in the morning, but we got the T-posts up and running. I bought 25 6-foot poles (Tractor Supply seems to be the most affordable option here in the Eastern Panhandle, at about $6 each).

More went in.

Filling in more.

We brought out more of the grow bags, and some were already done for the season, so I put the soil from them into the raised beds to reuse it.

To start the soil in the beds, I added wood chips and peat moss on the bottom. And then dumped in the soil from the now-empty bags. Might as well reuse.

I was also transferring the potatoes I had started in July, as they hadn’t grown. However, once I moved the soil, I found that all my July potatoes were completely rotten – like hot, mashed potatoes. Interesting lesson I didn’t know I would learn. In the PNW, this was never an issue. I must have cooked them in the grow bags for the past few weeks.

I decided to try out felt liners for the bed to prevent soil from escaping from the floorless beds and to keep the area neater. They came in 2 packs, and are 4 by 4 feet, with four sections in each. I paid $19.99 for each two-pack. Which fills one raised bed. We are using eight-by-four-foot beds, which I spent $70 on (they came 2 to a package)..

I got an herb bed in, of all the herbs I had started this spring. That left me very happy.

I did the lower half of the fencing – while hardware cloth isn’t actually fencing, I had brought four rolls with us. Paid for fencing is better than buying new fencing – and since I won’t have chickens, my need for it has decreased.

We built more raised beds. I thought about putting a pop-up greenhouse into the bed….

I had brought up all the small pots that I had kept on the patio. These were strawberry and herb plants.

It really is.

I was getting all fancy and had filled in the base of the greenhouse with pea gravel, made of granite and similar, in a light color.

The strawberry bed is half alpine, half regular. Both sides will fill in eventually.

I only moved one tomato plant, a cherry plant, into the new garden. It was easy to move.

And sometimes one learns lessons, whether they want to or not.

I was so proud of my work. Then we received a warning about a potential severe thunderstorm approaching. I went outside to check on everything.

When suddenly the wind showed up, howling out of the Appalachian Mountains across the Shenandoah Valley. I am finding the wind here? It can be far worse than the wind back on Whidbey Island, even off the Salish Sea. The wind was hammering anything tall. I was about to have a kite on my hands. And I was outside, with a potential thunderstorm approaching. Not my most brilliant moment. We got the greenhouse out and ran for the patio. With two holding it down, we got the cover off and then ran inside.

It might have been some of the strongest winds I have ever experienced. I ended up inhaling far too much dust and was coughing for a good hour afterward.

I whined the next day, and then got back to work. I figured out I couldn’t have a pop-up greenhouse out in the garden – it is too exposed. Neither can I have tall structures. The greenhouse will stay where it has thrived, which is under the patio, between two support beams. And use it as a shed till spring, for all my garden gear.

So I moved five of the large pots into the area I had built as a focal area.

I added more herbs to the herb bed.

The sun came back out, and we added more raised beds.

The look of the garden was starting to come together.

It’s still my happy place. Lessons exist for a reason.

I started the upper fence, adding favorite garden signs I had brought with me.

Some I just don’t point to the road is all.

Kirk picked me up the cutest statue kit, and I added it to the focal area.

The herbs are doing so much better in the main garden. The Comfrey is growing well.

I have one raspberry plant growing. Soon it will be planted in a raised bed, but now that it is getting enough sun, it is producing berries. Next year I want one side red, the other half will be golden.

Sweet Potato vines. growing up the fence. I bought slips on a lark earlier in the sun. Now in the sun, they are growing fast.

Ten raised beds have been built so far. We finished the upper fence today. We have another four beds to build. Then more planning.

I upgraded the grapes into larger pots and put them in the front corners, so they can start growing up the fence.

My goal is to add more grapes next year and eventually have the fence covered in vines. I will get bigger pots. That are designed for large trees.

But now…go build more beds and find a source for a lot of soil.

~Sarah

Gardening · Herbalism · Homesteading · Urban Homesteading

Visiting The Ranson Community Gardens

July 15, 2025July 15, 2025 neverfreefarm

The other day, I was in Ranson, West Virginia, and remembered the Ranson Community Gardens, and we poked around to find them. It is behind the local community center, on the edge of town.

This past week they had hosted an open house for the new Herb Garden they had put in, but I’ll be honest…going to an early evening event in 90* temps and a crowd is a turn off. So seeing it in the morning was a bonus.

Ranson Community Gardens. There are parking spots in front, with picnic tables to the left and in the shade.

I loved these raised beds, made of fabric and metal. This one was growing beautifully.

It’s lovely when people work hard at their spot.

While not a fancy community garden, there is a heart in it.

The garden also has a large sized greenhouse, where the herb garden was planted.

Visiting community gardens and P Patches is a good thing. It can inspire you, give you ideas, and help understand a community.

~ Sarah