raindrops

its raining FINALLY!!!!!

its been so dry that we are very happy to hear that it will be raining for the next 4 days

...time to get some inside projects done!

my apologies for my lack of blogging this summer...with the antiques shop, new designs in the works, multiple articles (yeah!) and my gardens, I have not been at the computer very much.  but that will change soon.  I have much to share with you - coming soon...

A peek at the inside of our revamped motorcoach

Our cross-country trip adventures

New designs & endeavors

The October Food Project

stay tuned...

aaaaahhhh, spring!

The spring came suddenly, bursting upon the world as a child bursts into a room, with a laugh and a shout and hands full of flowers.

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

hibernation

it has been awhile...sorry about that.
every year around thanksgiving time I begin to "shut-down"
It is not depression or lack of sun, it is I think exhaustion
a need for deep decompression

original art by Taryn Reece - available for purchase at PRIM NEST

I actually look forward to this time of year as I can snuggle into my warm home with warm food, good books, good movies, good sleep and lots of studio time

original art by Taryn Reece - available for purchase at PRIM NEST

although my mind and body may shutdown during the holidays, come mid-January I seem to "wake up"
and my mind is on fire with ideas and projects and to do's
everything from new workshop ideas, submitting articles to Somerset to painting my dining room and picking which fruit trees to plant in spring...my mind is now going a mile a minute and the lists keep growing!  are you a listmaker?  I love my lists!  poor hubby's eyes get wide with all my energetic ideas :)

so anyway, I AM AWAKE
and I look forward to another year sharing ideas, thoughts, art and dreams with you

p.s. I was so psyched at christmas to receive 2 more very handy tools for my kitchen in support of my effort to homestead...a pressure-cooker and a really good food processor!  woo hoo!!

happy halloween

very strange...very strange indeed...this Halloween is an almost exact repeat of last year...

our first snowfall...but Jack doesn't seem to mind...

FROM OUR NECK O' WOODS TO YOURS

WE WISH YOU A HAPPY HALLOWEEN

delicious autumn

Delicious autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it,
and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth
seeking the successive autumns. 
~George Eliot

perfection

"The summer night is like a perfection of thought."
- Wallace Stevens

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

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