Peonies!!!

What a wonderful time of year in the garden... the miniature lilac is beautiful, the bachelors button and hardy geraniums are cheery

and the peonies...aaaaah, the peonies are simply stunning

in the garden...

sorry I have been silent lately...it is such a busy time of year at our farm

every year I try to grow more food, learn a new homestead skill or two and of course we are always junkin for both our shoppe and our studio!!

OH!  and yes I have some exciting news

I have been creating and writing like crazy and I have several articles coming out in Sew Somerset, Somerset Studio, Greencraft and Holidays & Celebrations, so stay tuned!!!

on a totally different front - we bought a camper that I am psyched to fix up & make adorable

so I have been collecting ideas & inspiration

I am drooling over this

credit  thebeehivecottage.blogspot.com

and this

credit  vintagelady2010

but first I have to get the cabbage planted :)

be back soon, but in the meantime...

here are some fabulously fun planting ideas I am going to try this year

credit Fern Richardson of Life on the Balcony 

 credit twokitties.typepad.com

easy-squeezy whimsical planters

today I wanted to share a super simple planting project that is very inexpensive but super-cute

find a bunch of used shoes - I especially like to use baby shoes

my mom has used old boots on either side of her steps and they look great

you can even plant up high heels

one of my baby shoes freshly planted with baby succulents

fill your shoes with a good quality potting soil

and then have fun filling them with annuals and succulents!

You kind find used shoes at yard sales, Goodwill, Salvation Army, thrift shops, or sometimes even at the dump (if you have a "sharing" shed like we do).  The key is to find shoes that have a nice shape, pleasing color, etc - don't worry if they are worn & grubby

Photo: Courtesy Gary Bachman on msucares.com

you can plant up a single shoe or a pair of shoes - you can even hang your shoe planter!

I saw someone plant up a 2 rows of shoes and boots and then lined them up on a plant stand - it was adorable

Photo: Courtesy Josh Mccullough on PortlandMonthlyMag.com

picklin' time!

the garden has bursted forth w/ harvestable veggies
every evening I poke around my cukes, tomatoes, beans and peppers
I am amazed at how many mature just from the day before - the cukes are especially impressive

photo credit FoodMuseum.com

pickling has officially begun in our farmhouse kitchen - dilly beans, bread & butters, sweet green tomato pickles, etc - the canner has been bubbling and I adore seeing all of the jars lined up neatly in the cupboard filled w/ yummy veggies

just for fun...

The following pickle history comes from Mt. Olive Pickle Company. 

• In 2,030 B.C., cucumbers native to India were brought to the Tigris Valley. There, they were first preserved and eaten as pickles.
  
• Cucumbers are mentioned at least twice in the Bible (Numbers 11:5 and Isaiah 1:8) and history records their usage over 3,000 years ago in Western Asia, ancient Egypt and Greece.
  
• In 850 B.C., Aristotle praised the healing effects of cured cucumbers.
  
• Cleopatra attributed a portion of her beauty to pickles.
  
• The Roman Emperor Tiberius consumed pickles on a daily basis.
  
• Julius Caesar thought pickles had an invigorating effect, so, naturally, he shared them with his legions.
  
• The enjoyment of pickles spread far and wide through Europe. In the thirteenth century, pickles were served as a main dish at the famous Feast of King John.
  
• Pickles were brought to the New World by Christopher Columbus, who is known to have grown them on the island of Haiti.
  
• In the sixteenth century, Dutch fine food fanciers cultivated pickles as one of their prized delicacies.
  
• Cartier found cucumbers growing in Canada in 1535, and they were known to the colonists of Virginia as early as 1609.
  
• Queen Elizabeth liked pickles. And Napoleon valued pickles as a health asset for his armies.
  
• Samuel Pepy's diary mentions a glass of Girkins as something to be highly appreciated.
  
• In 1659, Dutch farmers in New York grew cucumbers in what is now Brooklyn. These cukes were sold to dealers who cured them in barrels and sold them from market stalls on Washington, Canal and Fulton Streets. As it turns out, these pickle purveyors started the nation's commercial pickle industry.
  
• A fondness for pickles has always been a national characteristic of the American people. It's a good thing, since our country's namesake, Amerigo Vespucci, was actually a pickle peddler in Seville, Spain. He supplied ships with pickled vegetables to prevent sailors from getting scurvy on long voyages. While Columbus is credited with discovering America, Vespucci was apparently a better PR man. We're named for him. We became the United States of America -- instead of the United States of Vespucci. And that's probably a good thing, too.
  
• George Washington was a pickle enthusiast. So were John Adams and Dolly Madison.
  
• Pickles inspired Thomas Jefferson to write the following:
  "On a hot day in Virginia, I know nothing more comforting than a fine spiced pickle, brought up trout-like from the sparkling depths of the aromatic jar below the stairs of Aunt Sally's cellar."
  We're still trying to track down Aunt Sally's recipe.
  
• In colonial America, the pickle patch was an important adjunct to good living. Pickles were highly regarded by all of America's pioneering generations because, under frontier conditions, pickles were the only zesty, juicy, green, succulent food available for many months of the year.
  
• In colonial times, and, much later, on farms and in villages, homemakers expected to "put down" some pickles in stone crocks, and to "put up" some pickles and pickle relishes in glass jars.
  
• In 1820, Frenchman Nicholas Appert was the first person to commercially pack pickles in jars.

sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy

The sun lay like a friendly arm across her shoulder. 

~Margorie Kinnan Rawlings, South Moon Under

the year of the Cucurbits

i am ultra excited about the new addition to my gardens this year - a good old fashioned melon/squash/gourd/pumpkin patch.  In case you were wondering...Cucurbitaceae is a plant family, also known as gourd family, which includes crops like cucumbers, squashes (including pumpkins), luffas, and melons (including watermelons). 

We will begin digging this weekend - luckily my hubby sweet-talked our farmer neighbors and we have use of a small bobcat and rototiller - wooo hooo!  Definitely will be a huge back-saver as this garden will be large so the plants have plenty of room to spread out.

We will be trying all sorts of varieties including...

TONS of interesting winter squash & specialty pumpkins

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Rouge Vif D'Etampes

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Marina Di Chioggia

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Moonshine

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Jarrahdale

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Musque de Provence

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Long Island Cheese

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Speckled Hound

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Blue Hubbard

photo-Country Living

Lumina

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Waltham Butternut

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Vermicelli Squash

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Buttercup Squash

plus a big crop of summer squash as well

photo-Johnny's Seeds

Cashflow

photo-Park Seed

Horn of Plenty

garden experiments

for some reason I just adore the look & feel of hay and straw

it just instantly gives me a warm, down-home farm feeling

so when I saw this gardening technique I was smitten

it is called of course STRAW BALE GARDENING

It is important to grow in straw, not hay, because you will have far less weeds plus straw sprouts are the easiest things ever to pull out.  It is not a new technique but I had never stumbled across it before

since I grow only organically, I will amend the conditioning process of the bales but other then that it looks like an easy-peasy project!

I am always open to creative garden experiments

read this past post and this one as well

Are You Trying Anything New in the Garden?

 Awake, thou wintry earth -
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!
~Thomas Blackburn

mushrooms!

wanted to share a pic of a new little adventure...
growing our own mushrooms!

for my bday I was given a super simple kit to give it a try
if all goes well, we intend on expanding our mushroom growing to other varieties as well
have you recently tried something new?

on a roll

I have been obsessed with upcycling papertowel and toiletpaper rolls for a couple years now...
it all started with a little post on one of my fave blogs mayamade - check it out here

ever since I have made all sorts of artsy goodies with them but this spring I decided to explore another idea I've seen floating around - as seedling pots!

so simple to do:
you can get 2 pots from a TP roll and approx 4 pots from a paper towel roll...if you start quite a bit of seedlings you will need alot of rolls but enlist your friends & family to save them for you!  It feels good to recycle and everyone gets a kick out of handing us our rolls when we see them.

1.  Cut your rolls with a hefty pair of scissors.  This does not need to be perfect but if you want every roll to be exactly the same size then you could always measure & mark before cutting.

2.  Once they are cut down to size, make 4 evenly spaced slits on one end.  The slits need to be approx the same length around 1-1.5" but again no need to be perfect.

3.  Fold each slitted piece down and ensure it will be a good solid bottom.

4.  Once happy with the fold, make a box bottom and then take a small piece of masking tape to secure.  I have seen these done without tape with just a overlapping box bottom but it was too fussy for me.

5.  Make a BUNCH - perfect for unwinding at night in front of the tv.

6.  Once all your seedling pots are gathered, place in a seedling tray and pot them up w/ your fave seedling mix.   Water from below by pouring room-temp water into your seedling tray.  The pots wick up the water perfectly.  Germinate & grow your seeds according to their needs.

7.  Watch grow, tend to them & enjoy!

carrots!

In late Winter, when cabin-fever has reached its peak, I pour over seed catalogs, gardening magazines and I make seed tape.  Seed tape is ultra-easy and really great for your teeny-tiny seeds - such as carrots.

EASY SEED TAPE:
You will need a roll of toilet paper, flour, water, a popsicle stick or small brush, wax paper, a Sharpie & small ruler, tweezers and your seeds.  Spread wax paper on a large flat surface.  Roll out toilet paper into strips (later you can tear/cut your strips to shorter lengths if preferred).  Read your seed packet to see what your seed spacing when planted should be...measure & mark with dots on your toilet paper.  Mix flour and water in a small bowl to a medium-thick oatmeal consistency.  This is your "glue".  Dab or brush a tiny amount onto your dot-marks.  With your fingers or tweezers, carefully place your seeds on your glue dots.  I usually put a few seeds on each as I want to ensure germination and I can always thin later in the garden once they have sprouted.  Let dry thoroughly and store in a dry, dark place (I usually place in a shoebox in a closet).

So back to carrots - this year I planted hundreds because we love them fresh, frozen, in soups & stews and they are ultra-easy to grow.

I chose to split my harvest into two rounds a few weeks apart and two days ago (just in the nick of time before the snowfall), I pulled the last of my carrots.  Harvesting root vegetables is very satisfying for me - something about carefully loosening the soil and pulling treasures from the earth is a simple delight.  There are always little surprises as well - some carrots hit a rock while growing and adapt by growing around the object into funny odd shapes.  They certainly are not the perfect gems you see at market but are still edible and make me smile.

As I mentioned, we use carrots in all sorts of ways - some are washed, cut, peeled and eaten fresh as a snack or in salads.  Carrots like all root vegetables store well but I find its super easy and fast to prep & freeze them for later use.

FREEZING CARROTS

Brush the majority of soil from your carrots and then wash really well

Chop your carrots - chop the greens end off and make sure

to throw out any "bad looking areas"

my pup LOVES carrots

she gets very excited when the chopping begins

Blanch your carrots

This is a very important step when freezing vegetables

Take a large pot, bring water to boiling,

dump in carrots and blanch for 2 minutes

Note:  Blanching time varies by vegetable and their chopped size

Remove your carrots from the boiling water immediately
and place in icewater bath
this cools them down quickly so that they do not continue to cook
let the carrots cool down completely

place cool carrots into a freezer bag or container
make sure to remove all excess air before sealing
place in your freezer & enjoy

around the farmhouse

thought I'd share a quick visual tour around the farmhouse right now...


peonies...aaaaaaaahhhhh...so beautiful and so fragrant


a $2 auction find adds a unique touch to a garden spot - hubby finds her a bit creepy but I think it adds some whimsy


fluffy clouds and fields of yellow dandies


one of my favorite perennial hardy geraniums is coming into bloom


front porch refresh


newly planted vertical garden - an old partitioned box planted with succulents and portulaca - will share more pictures later in the season when its matured and filled in a bit


found some massive snapdragons at a local nursery - the biggest I have ever seen


my favorite delights are the simplest...the newest junk additions - an old, chippy metal table and wonderful, aged tins planted with small specimens


a new climbing rose we are trying this year...so far so good...I am in love with this color!