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Jillian of the Woods

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Black Mountain, NC
Jillian of the Woods

An urban homestead where we grow, cook, and heal.

11/18/2023

Taking pre-orders for native wildflower seed bombs. $10 for 20 bombs. No plastic packaging.

These bombs will include a mixture of native wildflower seeds suitable for “wilder” areas, as many of the seeds grow into plants that are tall.

Seed mix includes local genotypes of wild bergamot, seed box (Ludwigia alternifolia), Joe pye w**d, maximillian sunflower, various asters, various goldenrod (but no Canada goldenrod), black eyed Susan, purple coneflower (echinacea), cardinal flower, mountain mint, and common milkw**d.

Black mountain or East Asheville pickup. Venmo or cash payment. These will be available by mid-December and are perfect for stocking stuffers and pocket-stuffing before you go on a walk. 😉

These bombs should be launched before spring, as some of the seeds in them need the cold winter temps to stratify and germinate.

I’ll ship them (at cost) but only to western NC addresses.

If you want bombs made of single-species, just let me know and I may be able to do so.

05/11/2023

Pop up tomato sale today (May 11) from 5-7 pm at my home in Black Mountain (near Dynamite). Plants priced from $1-5, many sizes and different varieties.

Message me if you need the address.

04/27/2022

Join me for my Oh-[censored]-There's-No-Room-Left-In-The-Greenhouse Pop-Up Sale!

When: This Thursday, April 28, 2022 from 5-7 pm
Offerings: Lotsa big Tomato Plants, including Old Virginia, Black from Tula, Mountain Princess, Mountaineer Delight, Matt's Wild Cherry, Unger's Hungarian Cherry, Purple Cherokee, Mortgage Lifter.
Also fresh-brewed activated compost tea, native plants including Joe Pye W**d & Cardinal Flower.
Herbs & Strawberries & Elderberries
Homemade potions including goat milk soap, face cream, and anti-itch plantain balm.

10% of sales will be donated to the Seed Library at the Black Mountain Library. This amazing resource helps make gardening accessible to all, and if you haven't checked it out, I encourage you to do so!

Pictured is a bowl of pretty little Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes. These are wee but mighty, and they're so blight resistant!

04/26/2022

Pop up sale this Thursday from 5-7 pm. More details soon!

04/19/2022

I planted some stuff!

01/01/2022

🌱 💐 🌺 🌸 🪴

10/07/2021

Ka-BOOM! Seed bombs!

Hey butterfly, bee, and native plant lovers! Many of you have asked how I make seed bombs, so I'll share a recipe. (This recipe is compliments of Adam Bigelow, fellow Wild Ones Western North Carolina member and owner of Bigelow's Botanical Excursions).

3 parts compost
2 parts dry clay*
A sprinkling of native wildflower seed (1/5 of a part)**

* For the clay, kitty liter, the unscented all-clay kind, works, but I've also harvested sub-soil clay from my yard (below the topsoil, where seeds are present) and smashed it up fine and sifted it so it was powdery. You can also buy dry pottery clay at Michael's or other craft stores that works great. If a cat litter is "clumping," it's not pure clay and not suitable for seed bombs.

** Please, please, please look up what plants are native in your area, and ONLY use native seeds.

Mix all of the ingredients really well while dry, and then add water until the mix can be formed into a ball. Place formed seed bombs on a screen or drying rack somewhere they can dry out for a few days, preferably in the sun.

Seed bombs can be planted by placing them in abandoned planters, or tossing or throwing them into meadows. The protective clay/compost covering helps keep the seeds from being eaten by birds and aids in germination and survival of small seedlings.

I like to make these bombs fairly small and then my son and I fill our pockets before going on walks. Seed bombs also make great holiday gifts. Explain to folks that these should be tossed out in wintertime so that the seeds will have a chance to stratify.

I would note: This is definitely a form of trespass for any land or owned by you, but sometimes a little bit of "good trouble" is, in my view, warranted. I do NOT suggest seed bombing a pasture or any cultivated yard or area. But w**d-filled planters in front of an abandoned storefront are fair game! Or an unmown, untended strip of land by an abandoned house. Or ditches, which are owned by the public. Or maybe there's an abandoned house near you with severely neglected flower beds that could use some native plant love?

I also use seed bombs for reseeding wildflower meadows that I'm w**ding, such as Monarch Waystations of Black Mountain. When you pull out w**ds, you disturb the soil and most likely more non-native w**ds will grow there. But toss a seed bomb in there and then you can have native plants grow!

And to counter the argument that "seed bombs don't work," (trust me, if you google it, you will find several posts making this claim), I can say with confidence that the native wildflower seed bombs I dispersed in 2020 worked. Our walks, which were previously lined with grass and non-native plants, now sport the stunning blooms of Joe Pye W**d, Black Eyed Susans, Goldenrod, and other native (to my area) flowers that were not there before!

If you need to source native wildflower seed and you live here in WNC, I recommend Sow True Seed's Flower Seed Mix - SE Native. (I'll put the link in the comments.)

Prairie Moon is also a great source of native seeds, and you can filter the search results by your area so you only see those that are native where you live.

Happy seed bombing, folks! May it result in an explosion of native wildflowers, bees, and butterflies next fall!

09/28/2021

This is a male monarch named Banana and released on this gorgeous day. Safe travels Banana! Mexico is just a hop, skip, and… oh lord it’s 2,000 miles away!!!!! 😵‍💫 GOOD LUCK BANANA!!!

Did you know that monarch butterflies can ONLY eat milkw**d as caterpillars? If you’re not growing any yet, I highly recommend planting some common milkw**d or another milkw**d that is native to where you live. Milkw**d is gorgeous, smells divine, and if you’re lucky, you can entice some of these beauties to call your yard home.

09/28/2021

Hello friends! I'm thinning out strawberry plants, and, as I've done in the past, I'm cleaning up the babies and preparing them to head to their new forever-homes. I'm offering bundles of 12 plants for $5 (or 6 for $3 if you prefer). I've long forgotten the species of these plants, but they're ever-bearing and highly productive. This spring I often harvested a quart of berries a day from a 4'x7' patch. I'll include a planting guide with them, and I'm always available to answer strawberry questions.

No-contact porch pickup in Black Mountain.

~~~

I have a few other offerings as well. I have Joe Pye W**d (Eutrochium purpureum) starts (from local seed, so it's straight species and highly beneficial to pollinators) for $2 each.

I also have a limited supply of cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) for $3 a plant. [EDIT: All sold!] This was also started from local seed which I overwintered, and it finally germinated in June. These plants are small, but meant for fall planting and will bloom next year. They want to be somewhere that stays quite wet, and their blooms are fiery red and nothing short of magnificent.

I'll also be mixing up a batch of compost tea this weekend, and I offer quarts of undiluted tea for $5. This tea is very useful for spraying on areas that are clay subsoil and that you'd like to turn into productive soil. Spraying it helps establish a healthy mix of soil microbes, and it can be helpful to remediate land after it was sprayed with herbicides or other chemicals.

Last but not least, I have a couple dozen eggs to share. [EDIT - Eggs all sold!] The eggs are from organically-fed, spoiled-rotten girls living their best lives in the . $3/half dozen or $5/dozen.

09/18/2021

It’s worth a try!

09/16/2021

While mowing the lawn, I went to replace the battery and found this little one perched right on the battery cover. I said, “Hey friend! How are you?!” She cocked her head and looked at me intently, and then I noticed that one of her wings was damaged. I can’t tell if she hatched this way (some viruses deform wings), or if she got caught in a bug zapper, but what is clear is that she cannot fly but is as sweet as pie. She readily climbed onto my hand, and she seems very grateful for the aster and goldenrod I picked for her.

I have her in the kitchen on a bouquet of flowers, and I’ll keep her for as long as she wants to stay with us. I’ll use her as a gentle teaching tool, helping de-condition people who have been taught that all wasps are bad and deserving of our fear and wrath.

Their bad reputation is undeserved. Wasps are vital to a functioning ecosystem. The provide pollination services, and they also hunt tirelessly, catching other bugs to feed to their young. And, as you can see here, they’re also not the vicious stinging creatures many say they are. I handle wasps regularly and have only been stung when I unknowingly stuck my hand in a nest (and then I apologized, because that was dumb).

For those who say: “But I’m allergic!” I will say: “I am too!” I keep medication on hand to prevent anaphylactic shock, and I have learned that the best way to prevent a sting is to know these creatures well and remain calm and unthreatening around them.

Does anyone know what type of wasp this is? Paper wasp? Potter wasp? Until I know, or until my son gives it another name, she will simply be known as “friend.”

09/07/2021

Half a minute of zen.

Monarch caterpillar nom nom nomming on Common Milkw**d. Black Mountain, NC.

08/25/2021

Here’s this morning’s pollinator tour! The smaller bees and butterflies were too skittish to let me get super close, but the big bees were so busy doing bee things that they didn’t mind being photographed at all.

Location: my yard, Black Mountain NC. Taken with an iPhone 7 and a clip-on macro lens. If I've ID'ed something incorrectly, or you have more specific info on IDs, please comment to let me know. I'm still learning.

08/13/2021

Bees - particularly honey bees - have enjoyed a fantastic PR campaign, and in my gardening groups, I often see posts about how we need to "save the bees," or how "I'd never hurt a bee, but how do I kill these pesky wasps?"

What many people don't realize is that the most popular species of bee, honeybees, aren't even native to the US! Of the 20,000 species of bees worldwide, 4,000 of them are native to the US, and the majority of them nest in the ground and are often mistaken for wasps, which have NOT enjoyed any kind of positive PR campaign. Even a humorous "guide to yellow stripey things" categorizes wasps as as****es, and it throws the poor yellowjacket wasps under the proverbial bus. Though unpopular, the North American yellowjacket (Vespula alascensis), eastern yellowjacket (Vespula maculifrons), western yellowjacket (Vespula pensylvanica), and prairie yellowjacket (Vespula atropilosa) are all native to North America, and they are important insects that we would do well to protect. [ETA: The wasp pictured here is, I believe, Vespula germanica, which isn't native to the US, but it has naturalized here.]

Many people unfortunately learned as children to avoid wasps, when we watched as the adults around us screamed or swatted at them, sprayed cans of smelly poisons on their homes.

As someone who maintains a healthy, organic home and garden, I have had some opportunity to revisit this subject, and I took the time to consider whether these wee creatures really deserve their exceptionally bad reputation. My finding? They're not the as****es most people think they are.

Some little-known wasp facts:

1. They're vital to a healthy, functioning ecosystem because they patrol their territory to kill other insects, which they then feed to their young.

2. Many adult wasp species feed on nectar, which means they visit flowers to eat, and anything that visits flowers pollinates them, increasing yields of things we love, like fruit.

You can usually avoid being stung by wasps if you remain calm and move slowly around them, or stay still and speak with a calm voice. Wasps feel threatened by fast movements (their eyes cause movements to look like a fast-turning kaleidoscope) and, in my experience, they sense our energy kind of like dogs do, and they know who means them harm, and who finds them interesting and will not harm them.

Unpopular opinion: If a wasp stung you, you probably deserved it.

I know, I know, I can hear all your protests! "But I was just mowing!" (You mowed over their HOME! Wouldn't you attack someone who MOWED OVER YOUR HOME?!?). "I was just shooing it away!" (If you were tiny and a giant creature started swinging at you, how would YOU respond?!)

The next time you see a wasp, instead of reacting with fear, please remember these tips. Move slowly, or better yet, stay perfectly still. If a wasp lands on you and this makes you feel uncomfortable, blow on it gently to get it to fly off of you. Do not swat it, as even a gentle squeeze will make them sting. Talk nicely to it. Imagine your roles are reversed, and you're the wasp today, facing a giant stranger. Treat the wasp like you would want to be treated. (Indeed - treat all of nature this way!)

Here's a video of me holding a yellow jacket that I found in my house. When I tried to get the wasp to move onto the flowers, it refused, and it wanted to stay on my hand. So I let it stay. I took it back inside, and it stayed on my hand for at least 20 minutes while I worked. Then I took the wasp back outside and it finally flew away. I guess it just wanted to hang out for a while?

I can hear another protest: "But I'm allergic!" To which I say: ME TOO!!!! I've gone into shock from insect bites, and now I know to keep my medication handy in case I get multiple stings. Unless your allergy is the type where you instantly seize up and die (which is exceptionally rare), you can relax and just enjoy the bugs. The less you freak out about their presence, the less likely you are to be stung. Having a calm, warm attitude around wasps will keep you much safer than if you reach for a can of poison to spray on them, because - here's another weird wasp thing - they seem to remember people!

Indeed, on Waspbook, there's a funny meme showing the 'definitive guide to humans,' and the image of a human holding a spray can is labeled "as***le"; all the wasps know to sting that one.

I'm on that meme too, dressed as a bee, and it says: Crazy bug lady, very nice, but watch out so she doesn't drag you inside and make you her pet. (Unless you want to be her pet, in which case, go check her out, she'll probably feed you and let you borrow her car.)

DISCLAIMER: I don't advocate grabbing wasps with your bare hands. Sometimes a wasp will feel scared and sting. But it's totally fine to put a cup over a wasp, slide a piece of firm paper under the cup, and then take it outside to release it.

If you're having a picnic and the wasps just won't leave you alone, you may be too close to their home or they may be hungry or thirsty. You can put a piece of cut fruit and a bit of meat on a plate for the wasps and place it a ways away from you, and see if the wasps settle down when they have their own meal to enjoy.

May all your future encounters with yellow stripey things be filled with calm and wonder!

Final note: This is a wasp-friendly space; please do not share your stories of being stung by wasps here.

08/07/2021

It is with sadness that I announce the colonization of Strawberry, our tomato hornworm. It appears that Strawberry was visited by a braconid wasp before we found her and took her inside. These wasps look for tomato hornworms and lay their eggs under the skin of the hornworm. The larvae grow and pop out of the sides of the hornworm, feeding on the caterpillar’s body. They will eventually grow into adult wasps, which will then seek out other caterpillars to use as hosts for their babies.

While I’m kind of sad about this because I really wanted to get to see Strawberry turn into a beautiful moth, the wasps’ presence in my yard is a sign of a thriving, functioning ecosystem. And you might wonder: why do you want wasps in your yard?!? The answer is this: they feast on other bugs! If I were short on tomatoes, the braconid wasp would have been saving my crop, performing an important service in the garden.

Consider what would have happened if I’d have done as basically every gardening guide tells you to do: “kill that tomato hornworm! Throw it in soapy water! Kill it with fire!” Etc, etc. If I had followed this “traditional,” human-centered advice, the hornworm would have died, but so would have the wasps, who protect the garden.

So, though the outcome is sad, kind of, this is a beautiful illustration of the cycle of life.

If we live with nature, not against it, life works better. Stop interfering, and just enjoy the beauty of all our native creatures. We’ll lay Strawberry to rest in the woods, and we’ll keep an eye out for the wasps she will become. Then we’ll greet her anew in her new form, and welcome her (them!) back into our lives.

❤️

08/06/2021

Eggs available!

I have limited quantities of green, blue, and peach eggs available. Some eggs are pullet-sized and some are full-size; all come from completely spoiled girls living their best lives here in Black Mountain, NC.

Our ladies feast on heaps of w**ds and grass from our organic yard, fresh strawberries (those the bugs 🐛 sampled first), sprouted organic grains, and an all-organic layer mix. The girls lay their eggs in nesting boxes filled with straw and fresh herbs, and when they’re not busy making breakfast, they enjoy long walks on the beach*, sunsets, and fireflies**.

*The beach thing may or may not be true, but they really do have herbs in their nests.
**It’s possible they just want to eat the bugs.

$5 per dozen, porch pickup in Black Mountain.

08/05/2021

Let me introduce you to Strawberry, our pet tomato hornworm! We found Strawberry in the garden with her eye on some baby Romas, but we thought she was so pretty, we set her up in our fancy bug suite so the birds don’t eat her. She’ll get fresh tomato foliage daily, and we can’t wait to see what changes she has in store for us!

It’s worth noting that I used to religiously kill these things - before I knew what beautiful creatures they transform into. Yes, they eat a lot of tomato leaves, but tomatoes are easy to grow! Just plant some Matt’s Wild cherry tomatoes for one year, and you will forever have volunteer tomatoes pop up in your yard! 😆 Then it is easy to relocate these babies and watch them morph into enchanting beauties.

If you need Matt’s Wild cherry tomato seed, Venmo me a dollar and message me your address, and I’ll mail you some!

Venmo

07/18/2021

Who needs some activated compost tea to keep your plants happy?! With all this beautiful rain, I was able to start a batch last night and am excited to give my tomatoes and cucumbers a sip of this magic tea!

$5 per quart, porch pickup in Black Mountain.

If you want to bring your own container, I am happy to fill it for you! I like reusing bottles to reduce plastic waste.

07/13/2021

Here's what I picked for breakfast! My son looked at it and said "Mama it looks too good to eat!" right before he deposited most of that bowl of berries into his mouth.

How does your garden grow?! Show me your harvests, please!

07/13/2021

This is General LeeAnn telling us she laid an egg, and there's another hen sitting on it, about to lay one herself!

Did you know that chickens "announce" their eggs with this distinctive call? From an evolutionary perspective, it seems like a terrible idea to announce to the world that you've just laid an egg, but I suppose when chickens are in cahoots with humans, it makes good sense; I peek in and see who's making breakfast, and they get treats and lots of praise.

05/26/2021

Pop up sale!
Rose bouquets $5
Cucumbers (market more, straight 8, bush pickling) $$1.50 each or 4/$5
Zucchini $1.50 each or 4/$5 SOLD
Matt’s Wild cherry tomatoes $1.50 each or 4/$5
Sweet potato slips 3/$1
Potted raspberry plants $3 each
Fresh brewed compost tea $5/quart

Message me for availability - porch pick up in Black Mountain

05/21/2021

Dealbreaker!

05/12/2021

This afternoon we sat down and ate so many strawberries that we couldn't eat any more strawberries, and then I went out and picked these beauties! (This is a 2 quart bowl!) These are all from a 4'x7' bed of plants that I covered during our frosts this spring, so they got a head start.

Most important berry tips:
1. Mulch the plants well. Grass clippings (from untreated grass) work great.
2. If it's not raining every other day, give the plants a drink. Then when the berries are ripening, hold off on the water for more intense berry flavor.
3. Feed the plants. Strawberries like pretty rich soil, so I use activated worm compost tea on mine. Fish emulsion would be a good choice too.

Do you have any berry growing questions? Any problems you've encountered?

05/08/2021

UPDATE: flowers all claimed! ❤️

These flowers are offered to all those who have a heavy heart this weekend. They’re for those who’ve lost a child, or lost their mother, or who have a strained relationship with their child or mother. These are for the people who wanted to be mothers and didn’t get to.

You’re seen, you’re remembered, and you’re loved.

There are 13 bouquets on my porch. If you or someone you know needs a lift this weekend, please come get one. Donations welcomed but not required. You deserve bread - and love - and flowers too.

I’ll update the post when the flowers are all claimed.

05/05/2021

Clouds rolled in just as soon as I got my ramps in the solar oven to dehydrate them. 🥴 But now the sun is back out and I put it to work for me! These lovely leaves will be gently dried and then ground up to make ramp salt and other seasoning mixes.

Ramps are a new(ish) delicacy to me. Are there any foods you LOVE to have ramp flavor with? What's your favorite way to cook them?

05/04/2021

Why do my tomatoes look like they’re taking performance enhancing drugs? Because they are! I discovered that the secret to really happy tomatoes is worm compost tea.

The recipe I use is as follows:
4 gallons rain water (hooray for all this beautiful rain!)
3 cups homegrown worm castings (this is a fancy name for worm p**p)
1/3 cup molasses
3 tablespoons kelp meal

Aerate (I use an aquarium air pump with a stone) for 24-36 hours and 💥 BAM! 💥 Magical worm p**p juice!

I dilute this “tea” 1:1 with water and feed my plants every week or two, and for baby seedlings I put it in a spray bottle and use the diluted tea as a foliar feed.

If you want the magic without all the fuss, message me and I will be happy to share my latest batch. $5 a quart (packaged in reused containers so there are a variety of sizes to choose from), porch pickup in Black Mountain.

05/03/2021

There are few things as satisfying as growing your own delicious food.

05/03/2021

First tomato blossom! And it’s still not warm enough to put them in the ground!

05/03/2021

To the garden angel who dropped off all these pots - THANK YOU!! Let me know who you are so I can thank you properly!

Do you have any of these pots sitting around that you'd like to see reused? If so, message me and I'll send my address where you can drop them off!

05/02/2021

Sweetshrub - Bubby bush - Sweet Betsy - Carolina Allspice - Calycanthus floridus

This little blossom may not look like much right now, perhaps a little rumpled from its trip to my home in a plastic bag, but I cannot express how excited I am by it! This is the blossom from a native shrub that I'd seen in the woods before, but didn't really learn about until this year.

A few weeks ago, my son was looking at the book "Trees of the Smokies," and we came across this entry for Sweetshrub: "According to local sources, the women of Cades Cove used to place the strongly aromatic flowers of this plant in their bosom as a perfume or deodorant. Such use gave rise to the nickname 'bubby' (archaic form of boobie) bush. The scent of sweetshrub flowers is often likened to strawberries."

I read this to my son (who was breastfed until he was old enough to talk quite plainly about b***s and how much he likes them), and he was instantly obsessed with this plant. All I heard about for the next day was his desire for a Boobie Bush. And so it began: the search for Boobie Bush. One nursery was sold out; another only had a cultivar, not the straight species. But a local woman, Dianna, posted a photo of hers in a local plant group seeking an identification, and when I identified it and asked if hers had any baby sprouts growing near it, she generously offered to share this special plant with us!

So: hooray! I look forward to next spring, when our yard will be bejeweled with these lovely bosom accoutrements!

Thank you Dianna!

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Pop up tomato sale today (May 11) from 5-7 pm at my home in Black Mountain (near Dynamite). Plants priced from $1-5, many sizes and different varieties. Message me if you need the address.

Pop up sale this Thursday from 5-7 pm. More details soon!

I planted some stuff!

While mowing the lawn, I went to replace the battery and found this little one perched right on the battery cover. I said, “Hey friend! How are you?!” She cocked her head and looked at me intently, and then I noticed that one of her wings was damaged. I can’t tell if she hatched this way (some viruses deform wings), or if she got caught in a bug zapper, but what is clear is that she cannot fly but is as sweet as pie. She readily climbed onto my hand, and she seems very grateful for the aster and goldenrod I picked for her. I have her in the kitchen on a bouquet of flowers, and I’ll keep her for as long as she wants to stay with us. I’ll use her as a gentle teaching tool, helping de-condition people who have been taught that all wasps are bad and deserving of our fear and wrath. Their bad reputation is undeserved. Wasps are vital to a functioning ecosystem. The provide pollination services, and they also hunt tirelessly, catching other bugs to feed to their young. And, as you can see here, they’re also not the vicious stinging creatures many say they are. I handle wasps regularly and have only been stung when I unknowingly stuck my hand in a nest (and then I apologized, because that was dumb). For those who say: “But I’m allergic!” I will say: “I am too!” I keep medication on hand to prevent anaphylactic shock, and I have learned that the best way to prevent a sting is to know these creatures well and remain calm and unthreatening around them. Does anyone know what type of wasp this is? Paper wasp? Potter wasp? Until I know, or until my son gives it another name, she will simply be known as “friend.”

Half a minute of zen. Monarch caterpillar nom nom nomming on Common Milkweed. Black Mountain, NC.

holding a yellow jacket wasp

Hen announcing her egg!

This is General LeeAnn telling us she laid an egg, and there's another hen sitting on it, about to lay one herself! Did you know that chickens "announce" their eggs with this distinctive call? From an evolutionary perspective, it seems like a terrible idea to announce to the world that you've just laid an egg, but I suppose when chickens are in cahoots with humans, it makes good sense; I peek in and see who's making breakfast, and they get treats and lots of praise. #ecobrickchickencoop