Gardening with Life

My sister has a huge yard. In prior years she has planted large vegetable gardens. She now has 3 little ones, ages 1-7. Rather than giving up gardening all together, she decided to work within the confines of her house perimeter.  She has lettuce and herbs planted in pots where she can easily access them for watering and harvesting. She tucked in a few tomato plants in between the shrubs. 

 Knowing your boundaries and accepting your season in life is the key to keeping perspective.

Summer Blooms in the Yard

We planted a wildflower mix by the bee hives and they are starting to bloom. They get dappled sunlight and seem to be doing well.

 I love these fuchsia blooms, they are so feathery.

 Day lilies grow wild all around here. Our neighborhood is full of their orange and yellow blooms.

All things made new

No more drab winter color here, only the bright blooms of the azalea, and greening grass, and the ferns unfurled.

Full Bloom

How quickly things change...

Only weeks ago we were covered in snow.  And now...

I've got flowers planted

 Seedlings in the window

 Dinner on the deck as weather allows

 The trees are blooming and slowly getting their leaves

 I have two full beds planted with cool weather crops like lettuce, carrots, parsnips, and chard.

And, we've been working on these new beds.  I had originally posted that we were using pallets, but we quickly realized the amount of work to do this exceeded our planting time and we still need soil delivered. So, the pallets were put aside for future project (that I won't mention in case we change our minds yet again), These get the most sun and will be our tomato, pepper, sun loving beds. The space between them and the hives have been seeded with wildflowers. I can't wait to see how everything progresses.  Oh yes, and we have our bees!

"One attraction to coming to the woods to live was that I should have the leisure and opportunity to see spring come in." Henry Thoreau - Walden

Tea for Two - Turning Four

I have two little nieces that were born 4 days apart. Since both my sisters find it hard to get everyone together two weekends in a row and so close to Thanksgiving, they decided to have them share a birthday party. It was perfect.  My mother is a pro at hosting teas, so naturally they asked if she could host the party.  The mamas enjoyed the day just as much as the little girls.

This is the kids table. Yes, the kids table...and not a thing was broken or spilled! They passed around the cream and sugar. It was so cute to see them try to use the tiny tongs for the sugar cubes (of which they used way too many!). 

A four layer cake for each year of their little lives.  My sister made one for each of them.  We sang Happy Birthday to them separately so each had their moment in the spotlight.

The adults were served this china which is over 100 years old. 

Goody bags with tiaras, pearl necklaces, fingernail polish, and makeup

Each girl received a rose. 

My sister and mother made kid friendly tea sandwiches including PB&J as well as the above ham and cheese.

There were sweets a plenty including chocolate covered strawberries and dark chocolate gelato.

 The party went really well. I was surprised at how entertained the girls were just playing grown up at the table. One of them told their mom that it was the best party she had ever been to.

An Excerpt: Elsie Venner by O.W. Holmes - 1861

On our recent trip to Colorado, I took this lovely, old book that was given to me from a friend.

I thought these lines were just perfect.

The garden was Abel's poem. Its half dozen beds were so many cantos. Nature crowded them for him with imagery such as no Laureate could copy in the cold mosaic of language.

The rhythm of alternating dawn and sunset, the strophe and anti-strophe still perceptible through all the sudden shifts of our dithyrambic seasons and echoed in corresponding floral harmonies, made melody in the soul of Abel, a plain serving-man.

Morning Song - Lancaster Pollard

 The grass is taller, greener, and the birds more loud; The flowers open freshly to a sky of cloud.

 And man awakens gladly In a world that's good, And thrills to some new beauty Not quite understood.

 Though all the world is clouded It's a gray delight-For spring is swelling, swelling,

And it rained last night.

Chicken Feeder: Upcycle

My dad gave me this metal chicken feeder, however it didn't work well for feeding our chickens.We normally give them veggie scraps and scratch grains and let them forage for bugs and worms.

I didn't want to get rid of the feeder though, because I really do like it.  I've seen them used for centerpieces and decided to give it a go.

I really liked how it turned out.  I used a mixture of spring flowers from the yard and a store bought bouquet. I like that it's a low centerpiece so you don't have to bob your head around a vase to talk to your dinner guests.

The Vege-Men's Revenge: written by Bertha Upton / 1897

I don't own this lovely book, but I would love to some day.  You can read the full book with all the illustrations  here. 

 The story is about a little girl named Poppy who is sent by her mother to collect vegetables in her basket. The book is in three parts and in the first part Poppy meets Herr Carrot and Don Tomato who entice her with 'fair words' to come and see how they grow underground.