Little House Farm
Whitmore Lake, MichiganStewards: Caryn Simon & Matt Demmon
This February will mark the second year passing that my beloved and I have taken on the stewardship of the place we have chosen to nest our spirits inside. Here we will grow into our full potential: become parents and teachers, deft workers and occasional hermits. We are still getting to know this land. We do know where the patch of nettles rests on our southwest boundary. We know the cycle of the spring burst of dandelions: we wait more patiently now for the single yellow burst that tells the tale of a day come a yellow sheet of bliss to lay beside. This land was tractor farmed for a family income only 18 years ago. The family called Gyde that made it their home still lives down the road from us. Margaret brings us friendship bread and told us which room in the house her babies we born.
We posted the ‘Botanical Sanctuary Network’ sign at the road the same day Matthew taught his first mushroom log inoculation class. A student snapped a photo of us grinning beside it. I am a birth Doula and the creatrix of a small mama-baby herbal salve business. Matthew is our local farmer’s market inspector, and is growing his own landscaping business with a focus on natives and edibles. The touch we have put to this land during the summers has been to plant the perennials I use for my business, and the fruits for the future we hope to share. Knowing which medicinals we wanted to dance with, we included the following sacred plants to reside: black cohosh, bloodroot, blue cohosh, goldenseal, wild yam, arnica, butterfly weed, bottle gentian, blue and red lobelia, Oregon grape root, spikenard, and wild indigo. Be it these are infant plantings; we will observe them and do what they ask, (if we are quiet enough).
This coming spring we plan to post an invitation in our local teahouse events calendar. We will open the farm monthly and welcome our extended community here to learn about these plants and the importance of helping them to be honored and protected. Encourage them to fall in love. Share seeds and stories.
Thank you for welcoming us into the Sanctuary Network.
We are honored.
Caryn Simon and Matt Demmon
Little House Farm
Whitmore Lake, Michigan