Recently I received a correspondence addressed to ‘farm haven’. I had to laugh due to the reality of the moment. It sure didn’t feel like any sort of haven. Mud to my knees, dirty nails, sweaty and hair all a mess.
Taking a break to rest up for the next attack of a different weed patch, I was thinking …..In sharing through my writing about my farm girl lifestyle I give the appearance of this wonderful world, all natural and inviting, country living at it’s authentic finest. And for the most part it is. With the consistent rains we’ve had even the weeds don’t seem to be as troublesome. In them too lies blessings of peace-filled-quiet-times..
The repetitious chore, the solace, it becomes a meditation and the discovery of wild garlic. It looks much like chives, the top sports a head of garlic seeds and has a very mild garlic flavor. The wild garlic has had a good year.
On a walk through the garden last summer a dear gardening friend, Billie Hoffman taught me all about it. He showed me how to gather and appreciate the mild taste. He said “Chop it very fine, add it to a 1/3 cup olive oil along with any spices for a savory marinate for meats or vegetables. Let sit over night in the fridge” Thyme and rosemary are my favorite combo with wild garlic for grilled chicken or steak.
Billie passed away last week.
In his garden.
I will truly miss him and his sage advice. And I will celebrate his lively spirit with every garlic I enjoy, Wild or other wise.
Off to pull more weeds.
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Filed under: country living on July 23rd, 2008 | No Comments »
It was wonderful to meet so many new people and see so many friends at the Romeo Garden Walk Market Place this past Saturday. Thank you all for making this a success! We’re already making plans for nex year.
PIxs to come….
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Filed under: special events on July 16th, 2008 | No Comments »
You’re invited to a Private Pre-Sale!
Friday 6-8
(The Market Place will be open Saturday 9 - 6)
Romeo Library Garden Tour Market Place
presented by
The Artful Living Guild
At 323 Benjamin Street,
Romeo, MI 48065
Featuring
Jenny Depa-Karl
Sheepy Hollow Herbs LLC
Garden Accents- Herb Crafts -Fiber Arts
Lynne Kossarek
Never Enough Wool LLC
Hand Dyed Wools- Primitive Rug Hooking- Folk Art
Patty Kelly
New Star Clay Studio
Sculpting & Functional Clay Art - Garden Accents
Teemie Eschenburg
Country Blooms
Herbs, Flowers & Fancies
A portion of the proceeds go to the Romeo Library
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Filed under: 1 on July 10th, 2008 | No Comments »
Although a bit messy I thought you’d like to see where I pot up most of my plants now.
This creative mess came from potting up 50 plus rosemary plants. They’re being trained as topiaries. I had hoped to have them ready for you at this weekend’s sale but they’ll need a litle more time. Save the date for the next farm studio event will be July 31st and August 1st. They should be shaping up nicely by then.
In the background you can see my studio to the right, the blue building, and to the left the sun-pit greenhouse. Country Blooms’ work truck in between.
The bench came from an old counter. There’s a reclaimed cedar picket fence that will be fixed in front to cute it up.
Little by little things are pulling together. This week has been spent on planting ,YES, still planting 50 ft. rows of flowers on the south side of the sun-pit greenhouse. It’s beginning to look like a flower and herbs farm. The vision is coming to life.
There’s still summer squash to plant yet and spinach. Pleanty of summer left to get a fair crop for the freezer.
With rain tonight… sewing up and finishing a basket of altered art for the Artful Living Guild Sale this Friday & Saturday. July 11 pre-sale 6-8 / July 12 9-6 Garden Market is open during the Romeo Garden Tour. Google 48065 / 323 Benjamin Street for a map.
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Filed under: country living, green, special events on July 7th, 2008 | 2 Comments »
In celebration of summer, my spring blooming crab tree decided to give one last branch to bloom!
Happy 4th Of July!!!!
I wish it a safe & fun weekend for all.
God Bless The USA.
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Filed under: country living on July 4th, 2008 | 1 Comment »
My first harvest with the groso lavender, greek oregano for dried tussie mussies, against our field winter wheat, in the background.
In celebration of this wonderful herb take time out to visit the local Lavender festivals July 17 - 19
The Yule Love It Lavender Festival hosted by fellow farm girl, Iris Lee Underwood, has a lot to offer those seeking a hands on experience this delightful herb. You’ll be greeted by rolling rows of lavender in several varieties, with U-pick, crafters, artists, lectures by guest speakers and much more.
Gabriels Garden Lavender Festival of Gabriels Garden’s shop downtown Romeo, Mi and magazine is a delightful discovery for all things lavender, local artists and crafters, lavender foods along with lectures to name just a few.
Both are a must see, each presenting a unique spin on this lovely herb.
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Filed under: country living, daily picks, special events, sun-pit greenhouse on July 1st, 2008 | 3 Comments »
There’s a pix of the sink here at Sheepy Hollow Herbs.
Jenny did such a wonderful job freshing it’s stand. And you can see a tiny bit of her very cool drying barn. Jenny! Lets see more of your awesome buildings!
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Filed under: green on June 29th, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Recycle, Reuse, Repurpose
Books!
We have this lil’ used book store, Reliteration, above Miss Deb’s café and every time I go in there I find a resource or two.
My love for second hand and old vintage books has become a quest. Yesterday I found ‘Language Of Flowers’ by Kate Greenaway, and the ‘Potted Herb’ by Abbie Zabar. Both are in very good condition.
With each book selected from Relit, often the same name appears in the front. It’s fascinating knowing someone out there sought after similar inspiration ahead of me and now I’m enjoying the rewards of her treasure hunts.
Tonight I’m making deep fried tacos, an old guarded Almont recipe, to bribe the boys into moving this huge file cabinet that was given to me by our neighbor. It’s been decorating the front porch now for…oh about three weeks. Ya! Not cool and driving me crazy! Anyway the flower planters are all too the same color. I tend to love green, it was pointed out to me yesterday. dugh BORING, Mother!!
So going with the classic bright red geraniums, ferns, ivy and ivory petunias it won’t be too bad of a change up. I’ll just rip out the centers and replace the plants.
Found a really neat old galvanized tub as DH was cleaning out the barns. He did catch me sneaking off with it but let it go when I told he it would grace his Eschenburg Farm boulder.
Just a blog FYI note still have a pix glitch, my blog master updated behind the scenes and I have new learning curve. I’ll do crunch time as I have some really cool picks to share.
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Filed under: green on June 27th, 2008 | No Comments »
Been at the potting bench all day. Potting up the Rosemary so they can stretch their roots. Enjoyed every second of it. I didn’t want to stop.
Remember when you were a child and whined when you had to go inside, not wanting the fun to end. That was me today.
The wind was dancing across the wheat field. It’s a wonderful meditative, serene experience to watch it. Songs birds would bring me back to my task at hand, a humming bird ignored me as she darted about the purple Columbines and Delphiniums. They are beautiful this year I wish I had planted an acre of them…perhaps there’s still time.
My new potting bench is placed under two cedar trees with a birch near by. Filtered sunlight allows for a lovely spot to do my work. I ran back and forth to the sun-pit switching up terra cotta pots all day long. A good cardo work out with the sun-pit steps.
A couple benches hold the newly refreshed plants ready for sales under the shade. Delighted to say we’re much closer to hosting guests to the farm now.
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Filed under: country living on June 24th, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Jenny at Sheepy Hollow Herbs stopped by today and lightened my load by about 200 pounds of old vintage sink! I was hoping she’d be able to use it for her wool dying, classes, etc..
Jenny… Thank you! You are always a delight to visit with. Let us know how it works out for you.
Been clearing up around here (the blog, yard and it’s home blessing day), I added a couple new blogs and I have yet a couple more to track down to share with you.
I’m longing for things to be streamlined and easy to care for, lol…. well one can dream!!!
Ok back to work, my cup of earl grey is gone. Have a great day!
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Filed under: green on June 16th, 2008 | 3 Comments »
