Art in the Garden

The garden, historically is the place where 

all the senses are exported.  Not just the

 eye, but the ear - with water, with birds.  

And there is texture, too, in plants you

 long to touch

William Howard Adams

Several years back I painted this canvas to put in the Garden.  I sprayed it with a UV resistant spray to protect it from the elements and I must say it has done very well. It has endured buckets of rain, sunny hot days.   It adds color to the garden on dark days or in between flowering plants.  This year I added the piece of metal the my son was practicing on welding. It is a pretty cool looking piece of Art I think.

 

Tiny Gardens . . ..

Growth takes time. Be patient. and while your waiting pull a weed.

Emilie Barnes

This cement trough my mom gave me a while back- we plant it up each year- somethings surving our rough winters and some do not.  Each year it has new Character, a new path and perhaps a new story.   This year it has several Turtles visiting it. See if you can find them both!

Change . . . is in the air . . . .

Oh how I can feel all the big and more importantly little changes that are lurking out there.  Fall is I am afraid creeping up on us.  Everything always changes with August 1  . . . . These long light shadows are at 6 pm . . . The Cricket song that has taken over for early morning birdsong, the birds that have already left on their long trip  to the south.  Joe Pye Weed and Jewel weed are in their Glory.  The wild parsnip and Queen Annes Lace is fading on the roadsides.  The gardens are filled with Black-eyed Susans and Tomatoes are starting to grace the dinner table. Everything outside  is starting to soak up the sun, to feed upon the earth to prepare the beds and nests for the long winters rest.  Spring and Summer oh they are a fleeting.  Nature brings such joy and color and sound,  it pushes us to explore with all our senses and teaches us about the cycle of life.  The Golden Rod and Nettle lift their flowers to bloom and tower over us.  it is as if all the outside world is getting ready for a great trip.  So don't miss these changes, enjoy and take pleasure in each and everyone of them.  Get outside and soak up the sun, the wind, the sounds that fill the air and all the big and small beauty there is to behold. 

Mud Creek Farm CSA

Pick your Own Flowers!

In front of me

Behind me . . .

Ground Cherries- in the Tomatotillo family - sweet/sour - new for us

Fresh basil - making lots of Pesto!

So we joined a CSA- Community Supported Agriculture.  Every week we go to the farm to pick up our share. There are pre-picked things that we go through a line and collect and then there is pick your own out in the fields- so like flowers, Basil, Beans Ground cherries are Pick your own.   As with any growing things we are at the mercy of Nature for how much we get. Will it be hot, Cold, rainy, sunny.  We have had a lot of Swiss Chard, Kale, Kohlrabi.  I would love Beans and squash every week right now- but not really happening. I love the concept, not sure if this is the right place for us or not- need to do more research.  Meanwhile trying to stay on top of eating Fresh from the Farm to our table.

This last week that I went out after work, it had been a heavy rain- torrential downpours of like 2-3 inches in less than an hour.  The  Fields lived up to the name of the farm Mud Creek. While out picking flowers my feet got stuck on more than one occasion and when you are slipping on the mud- it can catch a bad back just off guard and ouch!  The bAsil has been brilliant this year and my freezer if filling with Basil for those winter moments when you just need a little more summer.

Space in the garden . . .

To garden, you open your personal space

to admit a few, a great many, or thousands 

of plants which exude charm, pleasure,

 beauty, oxygen, conversation, friendship,

confidence, and other rewards should you

 succeed in meeting their basic needs.  This 

is why people garden.  It can be easy but

 challenging and the rewards are priceless.

~Tom Clothier

Postcrossings

              Postcrossings - I found this website via a reader and promptly signed up- that was over a year ago and since then I have happily exchanged postcards with lovely writers all over the world.  Just this morning I sent out cards to Luxembourg, Russia, Austria and Finland.  I received one from Germany today.  growing up I always had a Postcard collection getting family and friends to send or bring them to me when they traveled.  Postcrossings randomly selects someone for you to send a card to  and then when it is received your name is released to someone to send a card to you. 
     I still try to send postcards to friends and family when we travel- just a small little piece of life that can brighten a day for someone.
        People in other countries are most interested in our postage stamps.  It is fun to make up combinations of  them to reach the international postage rate.   This endeavor has made for interesting dinner conversation about people and places around the world.  We have recieved cards from countries that we needed to do a little research on as far as location. 
               I encourage any one who enjoys writing and travel, learning about new places and meeting nice people to give Postcrossings a try. 

Bronze Fennel . . .

Nature will bear the closest inspection. 

 She invites us to lay our eye level with her

 smallest leaf, and take an insect view

 of its plain.

~ Henry David Thoreau

This bronze Fennel Blossom is very fine and intricate, best viewed close up . 

 It is amazing to watch it grow and blossom day by day.  Lacy and delicate are the leaves and popular with the butterflies. 

Friends in the Garden . . . .

Most people don't see the sun,soil,bugs,

seeds, plants, moon, water, clouds, and 

wind the way gardeners do.

~ Jamie Jobb

Although most bugs in the garden are not invited or wanted . . . but they have found home, comfort, food, shelter in my garden. 

Glory of Gardening . . .

The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, 

head in the sun, heart with nature.  To 

nurture a garden is to feed not just on the 

body, but the soul.  

~ Alfred Austin

The Field . . . .

Those who contemplate the beauty

of the earth find reserves of strength

that will endure as long as life lasts.

There is something infinitely healing in the

repeated refrains of nature  - the assurance

that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.

~ Rachel Carson

Grace in the Garden . . . .

I look at how incredibly different these 3 flowers are in size, color, style.  Rose of Sharon the top, Cone flower in the middle and Bronze Fennel all delicate at the bottom.  We as humans share those differences with the plant world.  Some of us are bright and forward some are quiet and delicate, some fit  in the background, some are showy and center stage.   I am a background girl myself.  Where do you fit in the garden of life?

" Everything that slows us down and forces

 patience, everything that sets us back

 into the slow circles of nature is a help.  

Gardening is an instrument of grace" 

  ~ May Sarton

Cinnamon Pizza

I guess you could say this is a Chestnut Hill Original.  After a variety of trails it all comes down to this very simple thing.   Pizza dough- store-bought or homemade.  The King Arthur Cinnamon Filling from King Arthur online.   Lastly Cinnamon Sugar.    My kids love this and requested it special this week.. It is vacation week this week and due to circumstances beyond our control we could not travel any where so spent the week at home.  For me it was a lot of cooking, cleaning and laundry as always. I keep thinking I will get those moments to paint, sew, quilt of read but then another crisis  needing to be put out arises. I have however made some of the kids favorite things.

             Cinnamon pizza being one of them.   I spread the dough out in a prepared pan- ( olive oil and some corn meal to prevent sticking)  Then I usually mix 1/2 cup of the cinnamon filling dry with 2 Tablespoons of water and spread it all over the dough.  Them simply top it with cinnamon sugar - like you would put on toast.  Bake at 450 degrees for 15 min, cut, serve and watch it disappear.
         

        So no this is not garden related but we did eat it outside.  Yes I have missed posting but we did cut through the internet cable to the house on a Pond project so we were off the grid so to speak for several days.  Get out and enjoy the remaining Summer days - they are fleeting.

Growing Food . . . .

When we grow our food, we participate

 more fully in nature's cycles and form a 

closer bond with Mother Earth.  Knowing 

how to grow your own food allows for a 

sense of freedom and pride that you can 

feed and provide for yourself, one of the

 most basic necessities.

~Author Unkown

What do you grow for yourself?  We joined a CSA and go to the farm weekly to pick up our share, do pick your own  . . . We also have both tomatoes and green beans planted here at Chestnut Hill. It definitely keeps you closer to your food source and to the growing cycle of life.  The lack of rain or abundance of rain influences what we get on our share.  Cheers!  Head on out to your local farmers market.  

This is a Blog that I enjoy  Six Burner Sue  She is Author to several fantastic cookbooks for vegetables and lives and raises those Veggies on Marthas Vineyard in the great Atlantic!

Peace in the Garden

  I have decided to  try and post pictures from the current garden or meadow with Quotes in August.

       There is peace within a garden

             a peace so deep and calm,

That when the heart is troubled,

it's like a soothing balm.

There's life within a garden,

a life that still goes on,

Filling empty places when older

plants have gone.

There's glory in the garden at every

time of year.

Spring,summer, autumn, winter,

to fill the heart with cheer.

So ever tend your garden, its beauty

to increase.

For in it you'll find solace.  And in it

You'll find peace.

~~Lady Rosamund Langham

Absence makes the Heart grow fonder . . .

Well I know they say absence makes the heart grow fonder and in a 1:1 relationship- this probably is true, but in a blogging world It alienates I am told.  I blog for my enjoyment , for a way to preserve memories or my thoughts and pondering's  so I will have times when there are more posts and then where there are not.  Believe it or not after 11 months I still do not feel settled into my new job.  Healthcare is not what it used to be, you work harder, longer for less pay, spend more time on paperwork than with the people, you are at the mercy of a computer and just when you get time to catch up - you will lose wifi or such and be able to access nothing at all.   The actual space i work in is beautiful, there are big windows that look outside to large trees and grassy places,  Of course my back is to them much of the day but it still beats a windowless room.

       This is Oren having a little Cat nap in the Catnip - he knows just how to relax!  Cheers everyone- will try to make August a banner month in the blogging world.