As you know I call you the Fellowship of the Farmy because you have become a strong flavourful scent in the air floating up across the grassy fields. I say scent because I smell things differently from other people, I can see what I smell as though it is a bar code, (believe me this is not always a good thing, imagine being in a check out at Target and smelling where someone has been, what they ate.. and how recently they bathed) so to be described as a scent means I can see you in a multidimensional way. Every scent is like a rock formation, there are stratas, layered one on top of the other. If you turn this strata vertically you have a bar code, and I see smells in that code. I guess this is what blogging is. What the inter net is. You are the words in my day. Layers of knowledge and loving and care. It is hard to describe really. A scented hand in mine.
Last night I was sitting at my kitchen table surrounded in the detritus of the day, the asparagus harvest waiting to be graded, the eggs waiting to the washed, bread rising, waiting for someone to walk in the door so I could trap them into churning the cream into butter and thinking about writing to you. What words I would use. You are my words.
I worked in an old folks home once. Well, more than once actually but in this particular place there were 220 beds. It sprawled along under huge trees with 5 wings. And I knew how every single one of the residents had their tea. Tea is very important drink in New Zealand hospitals and homes. Coffee is for early morning – tea is for all the rest. I was a very lowly aide, dressed in pink, I would have been about 18 in the place I am remembering , and at 9.30 every morning I would load a trolley with two enormous tin tea pots, (that I refilled four times from the various outpost kitchens) so heavy at the beginning of each round that I would grunt when I picked them up.(I was actually pregnant with my first son at the time so that may have accounted for the grunt but at the time I blamed my skinny arms).
I would push the trolley through the entire home from the hospital wing to the residential wings and dole out cups of tea and sandwiches (cookies in the afternoon – though in NZ we call them biscuits). I knew how every single person had their tea (strong, weak, black, white, one sugar, two sugars, no you are not allowed three darling it will rot your fake teeth), and not only that but I also knew how much tea they wanted in their cup, half, a third (just drink the top half honey).The top of the pot of last when it is really strong. I only tell you this so that you will know that I read every single one of your comments on the blog, on face book, email and I feel like I am beginning to know you. Even though I do not get back to the computer in time to answer every single one I do read them and I feel that I getting to know how you have your tea. And I do remember. I do remember. And from these memories of you I am choose your tree. It may take a few years, to find the tree that is right for you but I will do it.
We have three more trees for the Fellowship Forest, these will be planted a little close to the house. Weeping Mulberries. Here is a pic of them in the winter. I promise to prune yours properly!
One will be for Equus she has a cat called Arthur. Equus, your Weeping Mulberry will be in the garden on the West side. Equus is from Chicago and has a tree in her garden that is so big and so beautiful and all encompassing that there is no room for another in her garden.
The other mulberry will be planted on the South Side and this is for Mandala and Mr M. I shall prune this one into a particularly wild and free form because this is how I perceive Mandala to be.
The third weeping Mulberry will be planted just before Sophie’s Garden, so this one will be in your daily view. This one is for Sam and his half blind cat Bug! This tree will have a special branch for cats to sit in and hide.
John is home from work today so he will be digging holes and we will be planting your trees. It is damp and cool … perfect planting weather. I will take shots for you.
Sad news on the farmy kitten front. One of Author’s kitten has vanished. In fact unbeknownst to me he was gone when I posted his picture yesterday. This is where we all climb into my time machine. How this blog works takes some head twisting sometimes. Every time I post, the pictures are from previous 24 hours. There are no exceptions to this. So when I posted yesterday morning with pictures taken the day before of the tiny kittens, I was under the impression that all was well in the barn, but now that I think about it there had been a lot of cat- howling in the night (the night before last) and Kupa (the peacock) yelling Shut-up Shut up! Still, it was a surprise when, at the milking yesterday morning, Author appeared with a kitten dangling from her mouth and laid it down beside the pig pen gate before running over to drink some warm milk. She has slept with the pigs in the past, so I am sure she thought it was a safe place to lay her surviving baby. When I had finished the milking, I went up to her nest, where she had been with two kittens the night before … nothing.
She is insisted on keeping her kitten on the ground level with the pigs so I gave her a box, outside of their pen, in a dark corner and she was settled there all day yesterday.
In a minute I will get all my farm clothes on and go out to the barn and see how everyone fared but for the moment all we have is the last 24 hours, the scent of new grass, and crushed freshly pruned lavender and animals on pasture and cats in the barn and trees waiting in the garden for their planting. Life is never still. Sad comes with the joy of this life. You all know that now. My darling Fellowship.
Have a lovely day.
your scenty friend celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
102 responses to “Weeping Mulberries for the Forest of the Fellowship”
So sorry about the sweet kitten. Author knew what to do, though, didn’t she? (Funny; I’d assumed Author was a boy kitty until just lately.) That yellow magnolia is magnificent! I’ve never seen a yellow. And thanks for the wonderful story about the elderly folks and their tea. I can imagine how you must have brightened their days! Yours is the place I come first every morning, Celi. I’m so happy I found you here. I think I’m living out my desires for a more pastoral life through you and the farmy!
gerry that is such a kind thing to say, i so seldom have time to visit others and i am more than grateful for you dropping in to see me.. everyone dreams of big spaces and the calmness of animals on a good day, i think it is an old old memory that we all carry, have a lovely day.. c
Happy Saturday planting…If i were a tree, i’d have to be a bright magenta Flowering Crab apple tree…Bright Magenta because pink is a tad to pale for me and my brunette outlook…and a crabapple tree because I feed the birds as a human so I’d certainly have to as a tree!…Sorry about the kitten….Nature teaches us all the time!
So sad about the kitten…I wonder what? Is Daisy pregnant? Will you have to “let her go dry” before the new baby comes?
Daisy will be bred in May/June for a spring birth next year. So we will dry her up at the end of the summer probably, I don’t think I can bear another winter milking! c
Oh how you weave your words into soft comfortable blankets that I simply want to wrap myself up in and just be! Thank you for this.
Morning Shoes, what a simply glorious thing to say, have a wonderful day.. c
Tea…oh, how I enjoy my cup of tea! I take mine strong…very strong,…first thing in the morning strong. (No coffee please, just tea). Oh, yes…and with a splash of milk. Sugar…no thank you, just milk, please. Thank you, my Dear. Perfect!
Now would you like to sit a spell and take a spot of tea with me? How do you like your tea? John?
I have iced tea, if you prefer, Terry drinks iced tea. Possibly John does also. Unsweetened ice tea but I can get some sugar if you would like some?
Now, lets just settle in and have a nice restful little break!
Lovely,
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
What a wonderful read and how descriptive your words are about your sense of smell. I thought mine was developed but nothing like that! I’m so sad about that poor baby kitten. I’m glad, though, that whatever happened, Author could save the other one. Love your fellowship of trees. Our home is in the middle of a forest of trees…100 foot tall pines with understory of poplar, redbud, maple, cherry and dogwood. There used to be a farm behind our property and the pines were part of that forest. From our deck it feels like we have great privacy, even in the middle of a city neighborhood. Trees are so majestic and have such a strong life force, bordering on a personality. I always feel like I can hear them screaming whenever one falls or is cut in our neighborhood. Fortunately, that doesn’t happen too often. Have a lovely day.
What a beautiful way to start my day. I don’t doubt that the residents loved your attention to their wishes.
I’m so sorry for the loss of the kitten.
Hi, I am a quite new reader in the farmy fellowship. I really enjoy your writing style and your stories of farming today. My mom was raised on a farm and I was just writing about the differences in farm cooking when she was growing up and the ideals we have today.
Do you really see smells – I mean synesthesia or are you writing metaphorically?
I love your tree project. I’ve never seen a weeping mulberry and I wonder if they would grow here. I need to replace several dead trees and perhaps that’s an option. We have a regular magnolia which I love, a yellow one would look nice!
I’m so sorry about the wee kitty. I have two cats. Zoe, the demon spawn, and Kitty, who got his name because Dad could not remember his name and has just called him Kitty Kitty the last two years.
I know your climate wouldn’t support it, but I have a dwarf orange tree right outside my kitchen door. The scent of its blooming flowers goes directly to some hidden nerve center in my brain. The only other thing that stimulates that specific place is the blue of a peacock’s neck feathers. I wish you could have an orange tree.
You bring so much brightness to my days with your descriptions of life both current and past. I so miss living in the country with the slow swing of seasons, the verdant smells spring and summer, the crisp scent of fall and the sharp scent of winter. When you live in town you can miss so many of the little changes.
I am grateful for your eloquent writing which soothes my soul. Your first paragraph brought tears to my eyes. I have never heard such a lovely description of scent before. I am quite sensitive to scent myself. My father passed 10 years ago and I still have a bottle of his aftershave so when I miss him, I can smell it and it almost feels like a hug. I live in suburban Northern California and can imagine myself living a life like yours. I don’t know if I could manage everything as well as you do though, but I love being part of the Fellowship of the Farmy.
The only signs of spring we have here in SW Minnesota is green grass. No flowers yet. But all the anticipation makes for even more enjoyment, yes? I understand worrying about “missing” kitties. I hope yours are ok somewhere. Our year-old “kitten” got “fixed” this week. He’s a wee bit sad about it, but not too much so. I take my tea with cream and no sugar, thanks. And I love the word “detritus” – I recently used it in my writing as well. 🙂
OH, and we have several mulberry trees that we mostly just leave for the Cedar Wax Wings (my favorites) and the robins and orioles (my other favorties!). I can’t wait for them to return!
Love, love, love this post of yours. I actually have no words that can adequately describe the sensations that ran through my head when reading it. My daughter was cooking pancakes for brunch at the time, so I wonder if I shall smell pancakes whenever I’m “at your farm?”
you probably will.. how wonderful!! and thank you for the superb comment!! c
I drink my tea medium (golden colour, not too strong) with milk added after and 2 sugars. And it must be HOT. Hate cold tea! My Dad made the best tea ever, my Mum’s was the worst LOL. When I first came to the US I was desperate for a decent cup of tea, had to drink coffee as the tea here was undrinkable! Now I order PG Tips on line.
My favorite tree is the Silver Birch – had one in my garden back home in England and it was a beauty. Don’t see many here.
Been away from the internet for a couple of days as my PC was being ‘looked’ at by a friend as it was playing up. So have just spent a wonderful 30 minutes drinking my tea and catching up with you. So sad about the kitten though 😦
I absolutely must have my tea hot, too, in fact often I drink the first cup down at a scorching temperature, then the second cup I take to my chair.. morning Lyn! c
I never recognized a mulberry tree, but when we lived in Ukraine and Belarus; I met a Gulag survivor whom was imprisoned for years under Stalin’s regime. I have a chapter in my book about his experience, Without A Net: A Sojourn in Russia/Vasili Vasilivitch, and we became quite close to Vasili and Marina, his wife; fascinating story – she survived the Leningrad blockade. At one time in his life, someone was ill, in Siberia, and the doctor said, “She needs mulberries,” -that’s my narrative-now a personal comment, besides you write to well – after seeing the winter mulberry trees, all stark and naked, I felt so drawn to them, and I fell in love with them. I don’t think many people grow mulberries; fascinating post today dear Celi. hugs and love to you.
That is interesting though, i wonder what it ws in the mulberries she needed, they are dreadfully sour but such a startling red that i am sure they are loaded with vitamin c…My big mulberries are finally coming into leaf, we have all missed them.. c