Life In Sugar Hollow

Field Trip :: West Virginia

2012-01-30T09:21:00.000-05:00

We hit the road last week for a change of scenery and some rest. Also, for direct access to a pool. Swimming in a heated pool or soaking in a hot tub - surrounded by windows looking out to the weather and the snow - is my idea of supreme indulgence.

We spent a few days at Blackwater Falls Lodge, visited White Grass, hiked the trails around the lodge, watched some cable TV (!!) and ate pancakes for breakfast every morning. We are realizing that we need to plan some sort of adventure in late January-early February to stave off the winter blah-blah-blahs.

The trip certainly shook the dust out of my brain and I am embracing the work routine and ready to get back to home and garden projects. More on those things soon.

In the meantime, I am freelance garden blogging over at Breathe Magazine these days. Please visit!

The 2012 Calendar

2012-01-13T12:27:00.001-05:00

Hello 2012!

{This was my Christmas gift to friends and family.}

{{Click on image for larger version.}}

Chasing the Light

2012-01-09T09:53:00.002-05:00

One of the many lovely things about living on your own five acres is the privacy. Friends will ask if I feel isolated. Ah, no. If I feel a need for people and activity, I seek it out and I have learned to pre-emptively recognize that hankering. Otherwise, I cherish the space and the quiet.

Case in point: The ability to bundle up around one's 'lounge wear' ("Mommy, you wore your pajamas all day!"), pull on some warm boots and have a full-moon picnic/bonfire.

A new addition to our bonfire set-up were tree stump seats. So cool! {From Corey.} Willa thought of including sparklers and we brought out snacks and marshmallows. We could hear the yips of i-otes {coyotes} and the rambling of the Moormans River in the distance.

It always feels like we have gone on a small vacation when we do this. {I love how our house looks in the dark, too.}

Winter nighttime activities with warmth, light and a little bit of grub. I highly recommend them.

All Was (Somewhat) Calm

2012-01-03T11:33:00.005-05:00

The Irish Druid in me feels the need for greenery and lights when the days get shorter. And an embarrassing amount of fatty-fat and sugar. So, the holidays fit the bill! A Christmas tree, some terrariums, as well as some homemade chocolate covered pretzels, peppermint bark and these crazy-hit-all-the-taste buds turtles that we gave as presents.

When darkness fell, we sought out lights, inside and out, and appreciated the last gasp of evening sun and the wood stove. And then lots and lots of time with friends and family.

The time off from the work routine was somewhat restorative. I have a very, very, very chatty toddler who wakes up and immediately runs from her bed to our bed. Runs! I pine wistfully for the energy I had in my 20s that I frittered away on late nights in Manhattan - fretting about what outfit to wear and where to have dinner and drinks. Four hours of sleep and I was set! Now, I get a good night's sleep and I am no match.

I am revisiting my 30 things list while looking ahead to 2012!

And, today, back at it. And by that I mean - work, exercise, eating something green, reading. I used to love those things - but it seems like a lifetime ago. Before the holiday marathon. Before the fatty-fat.

December Days (And Low on Gardening Activities)

2011-12-08T16:43:00.010-05:00

Winter light always gets to me. Gotta get out with the cameras more and more.

Willa has a new responsibility - filling up the bird feeder. The little ones really do love having a purpose and projects, right? {Sweeping is another fun 'chore' disguised as 'big girl responsibility'.} I like that she owns moments passionately and completely. {We are learning the names of the birds, too.} Speaking of passionately and completely - many of the photos of Willa, as of late, seem to include a little blurred appendage here and there. Hmm.

We will be making wreaths from scratch this weekend. I can't wait. With materials found on our land and wire hangers for the forms. Photos soon.

Recent things:

The new Kate Bush album - 50 Words for Snow. Just in time for winter! Also, PJ Harvey's Let England Shake and The Black Key's El Camino ('Little Black Submarines' 'specially).

I just finished reading The Complete Stories of Truman Capote. So very, very good. I grew up watching the Geraldine Page version of "The Christmas Memory" and was able to find it on You Tube. Such a favorite.

I ran the Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving morning and was really happy with my time for a crazily hilly course. Next, the New Year's Day 5K {which is much flatter}.

My pie crust endeavors are coming along - I actually brought an apple pie to Thanksgiving dinner and got all nutty with a lattice-top. I am still calibrating the correct ratio of running workouts to pie crust - as it seems to be a frustrating wash these days.

Outings to fend off the sleepiness induced by it getting dark at 5 p.m.:

:. Shirlee Grody's art opening of 'Bodies in Space' at Bikram Yoga
:. A dance and step competition at The Paramount
:. The UVa Art Museum (I got sucked in by Barbara Morgan's photos of Martha Graham dancers and Isabel Bishop's sketches of working ladies from the 1940's.)
:. Innisfree's Open House
:. 'Let There Be Light' at PVCC
:. The Blackfriars for The Twelve Dates of Christmas
:. UVa women's basketball
:. 1307 Mountain View!

{**Most of of these are free!}

The Sugar Hollow Plant List

2011-12-02T08:49:00.008-05:00

Echinacea (also known as coneflower) attracts butterflies and in late fall, gold finches.

Taking stock in the garden at season's end! I got 50 more daffodil bulbs planted last weekend and could probably plant 50 bulbs every season for the next 20 years and still not make a dent in the landscape. {I would love our land to be a sea of yellow every late February.}

What is on your wish list? What do you recommend?

HONEYBEE, BIRD AND BUTTERFLY ATTRACTORS

Catnip, white and lavender varieties
Butterfly Bush
Liatris
Glossy Abelia
Sunflowers
Echinacea
Bee Balm
Zinnias
Caryopteris ‘Blue Beard’
Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’
Salvia ‘May Night’
Russian Sage
Black-Eyed Susans
Shasta Daisies
Goldenrod (wild)
Yarrow (wild)
Thistle (wild)
Violets (wild)
Ironweed (wild)

BENEFICIAL INSECT ATTRACTORS

Love-in-a-Mist (self-seeding patch)
Daffodils, common and several other fragrant varieties
Iris, common and a variety that smells like grape Pez

NATIVES

Fringe Tree
Eastern Red Bud
Virginia Sweet Spire
Virginia Bluebells
May Apples
Wild Phlox
Trillium

HERBS

Plantain
Lavender (also good for honeybees)
Lemon Balm (also good for honeybees)
Sage
Rosemary (also good for honeybees)
German Chamomile
Thyme
Oregano (also good for honeybees)
Dill
Garlic
Mint, Common
Mint, Apple

ORNAMENTALS

Lilac, Common
Hydrangea ‘Endless Wonder’
A variety of small, ephemeral bulbs
Hollies, ‘China Boy’ and ‘China Girl’ varieties
Liriope
Dayliles, native, 'Pandora’s Box', 'Wineberry Candy', 'Jolyene' and several other varieities
Grape Hyacinths
Sugar Maple
Willow Oak
Eastern Red Cedars
Japanese Maples (3)
Azalea
Bridal Wreath
Rose, Climbing Antique 'Jeanne LaJoie'
Roses, Knock Outs
Coreopsis, Rose
Plumbago
Hollyhock, Common (deer fodder right now, but I hold out hope)
Veronica Speedwell
Tulips, Rembrandt and basic red variety

PERENNIAL FOOD PRODUCERS

Fig 'Chicago Hardy'
Juneberry (seriously chomped down by deer, but still living)
Black raspberry
Blackberries
Strawberries (in containers, for now)
Wild persimmons
Asparagus 'Mary Washington'
Elderberry
Rhubarb

REMAINING WISH LIST and FINAL THOUGHTS

A weeping mulberry shrub.
'Korean Spice' viburnums for along the front path.
A peony (or two).
More irises.
More Black-Eyed Susans along the ridge above the daylilies.
More compost under the walnut to help plants thrive?
More varieties of daylily for under the walnut.
A better okra crop.
Plant cucumbers for pickling.
Grow squash for the *blossoms,* too.
Find a spot for the elderberry that will let it thrive.
More native phlox.
Plant calendula – for botanical beauty potions.
Don’t plant green beans. (I just don’t love them enough to can and freeze.)

Autumn Reverie

2011-11-18T08:59:00.032-05:00

Two sweet videos/songs I have been loving this week.

I weeded last weekend! And planted the climbing antique rose and a few allium and grape hyacinth bulbs. There is garlic to plant this weekend and a vegetable garden to tidy up.

I also need to figure out a new location for the cold frame. The dogs discovered the original cold frame at the end of the growing season and I need to build something outside of their area. This could be a Christmas break project, as I usually like to sprinkle seeds down for lettuce, arugula and kale in late January.

Do you love permaculture? Check out this place in North Carolina. And he has a whole video about drying clothing on a clothes line and what hardware to use. Yes!

Thanksgiving break is coming up and that also means bulb-planting time. I always get a nice big bag of 50 daffodil bulbs and then some more ephemeral bulbs - like scillas and hyacinthoides.

I did an inventory of our plants and hope to post that soon. It is good to step back and see what we have, what did well, what croaked and {my favorite part} to see what I want to put on the wish list. The gardens are maturing enough that I can actually start dividing things to fill in spots. Which is AWESOME.

Other stuff:

I am running the Boar's Head Turkey Trot next week. I should probably focus less on my running playlist and more on training, but the music distracts from the sound of me sucking wind. So, it is important.

Recently read: Outliers, Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West, Lit: A Memoir, Love is a Mix Tape (re-read). And, waiting for me at the library - Okay for Now (which sounds SO good).

I hope to can some apple pie innards this weekend. And maybe, also, some cider. I found some brand new, wide-mouth jars at a thrift store this week that I hope will work nicely.

Gramma and Grampa are back in town. Yipee!

Daylight Savings Smish Smash

2011-11-10T11:59:00.035-05:00

Not much happening in the garden - because I have been too busy eating Daisy's chocolate cream puffs, setting up house (and repeatedly cleaning the house), reading, hunting down thrifted treasures, watching the leaves turn, keeping up with routine/work and laughing with Willa May (her comedic timing is killer).

I admire this blog and the artist's work so much. (Thank you to Leora, for introducing her to me.)

I read this book, twice. It was the mental adjustment I needed to continue to be okay with my day job (and find ways to be totally thankful for it).

Soup season is on. This post has me thinking of new concoctions (I am curious about the miso with a poached egg) - and a friend's white bean chili has me hooked. (I ditched the chicken to make mine vegetarian.)

Brambly Hedge!

Corey bought me The Complete Series of Freaks and Geeks for my birthday. Words cannot cover how happy this makes me.

Watch this! It will make you smile. (And maybe dance?)

Also loving - Radiohead's covers of Neil Young. (I especially like the 2003 version of "After the Gold Rush" going into "Everything in Its Right Place.")

I actually am getting ready to plant spring blooming bulbs and have cleaned out my Wardian case for new winter ferns, carpets of moss and indoor gardening efforts. So, see? I do plan to take a break from eating chocolate cream puffs.

Off Topic :: How Are You Thrifty?

2011-10-24T12:17:00.010-04:00

Okay - there is something extremely important about saving money and keeping within budget, for me at least. But I need to note, it definitely used to be easier to sock money away. I am not original in saying that with the price of fuel and health care and everything else going up, any saved money - or money spent wisely - feeds directly into those costs that don't seem to have a ceiling these days. It is rewarding, however, to figure out ways to be careful with money in ways that you can control.

Here are a few things I am doing to keep costs down.

1. I bought almost all of our fall and winter clothing at thrift stores. Except some shoes and leggings for Willa and a pair of jeans for me. This included winter coats and sweaters. Our local thrift stores are phenomenal. I'm finding seriously quality brand-name stuff hardly worn. (This might be one of the perks of college town living - oh, the disposable income of a 20 year old!)

2. Thrift store housewares are also hard to beat. Glass Pyrex bowls for a quarter each. Cool blue Ball mason jars for storage for $2 each. Wooden frames with original art for $2. A vintage luggage set that can be relined and then also used as a 'side' table for a total of $3 for two suitcases. Old flour sifters and sweet cereal bowls with flower prints. Enamel bowls and saucepans. An upholstered chair for the kitchen. Each piece has a bit of class and a lot of personality.

3. And, thrifting for Willa. Second hand costumes, wings, boas and costume jewelry that sell for $.25 - $.50 make for hours of dress-up. We have been loving gently-used puzzles and board games. And bags of beads. And hand-sewn smocked dresses for her baby dolls.

4. I have been making as much of our cleaning supplies as possible. From different combinations of baking soda, vinegar, Borax, castile soap and essentials oils. This includes kitchen cleaner, tub and tile scrub, all-purpose cleaners, window cleaner, laundry detergent, etc.

5. I have been making as much as I can in the beauty department, too. Baking soda shampoo, brown sugar-honey-almond oil facial scrub, deodorant and lip balm.

6. Most purchases get a lot of thought. Do I really need it? Will it last? Will I be throwing it out in a month? Just taking this pause and being really aware of purchasing has been huge.

7. From-home lunch to work every day - with the very occasional bought lunch . Coffee shop coffee and teas are also a treat and not a part of my workday routine. We are definitely limiting eating out as a family, too. Or, when we do, splitting entrees or going to inexpensive eating out options.

8. I've been getting to know my beans, lentils and grains. (They will fill you up for pennies.) Put these items together with a slow cooker and you have a huge pot of something to eat from for days. I next hope to verse myself in bread baking.

9. Library books and thrift store books, only. The no brand-new books rule is only broken for the occasional cook book.

10. When shopping out in the big world - sales, coupons, free shipping.

11. Our entire 'entertainment' portion of our budget is Netflix and its streaming option. When you live out in the country, with no cable, this is the most appealing thing to have (for us). I use my own freelance money for time out with girlfriends - movies, concerts, the occasional cocktail or dinner.

12. Technology - The inexpensive, basic, way-old cell phone works for me because, well, I really dislike cell phones (my weird thing). I am actually a part of Corey's work phone plan and he'll tell me that I used my phone for three minutes last month (and I'll think that is a lot while he is actually making fun of me). Our computer is old, my iPod is old - but I still feel really fortunate to even have this stuff. Our one indulgence is a nice TV - because we don't go out much and honestly just love being at home. (There, I said it. I love relaxing with the TV.)

13. Freelance work - I call it my ace-in-the-pocket. I can do it for an hour or two after Willa goes to bed. Or during my lunch hour and on weekends. Money earned this way used to be for treats, but as of late, it is mostly for savings (to ultimately cover the sneaky bills that have been surfacing all year for health care and house or car maintenance). Or for the occasional outing mentioned in #11.

14. A friend introduced me to Vitacost.com. I can buy many of our hippie drugstore needs through here at deep discounts.

15. If it can be patched, patch it. If it needs just a coat of paint, paint it. If it can be altered for a second life, do that, too.

16. Exercise - Running, walking and hiking are free. Being a university employee allows me to belong to the gym for an affordable rate. I also 'take' classes in my living room with favorite DVDs.

17. I just started canning. This past weekend was apple butter and applesauce. Over the summer it was pickles. I'm still not totally sure how much money this will save us - but it felt thrifty while I was doing it. Does that count?

I need more ideas! What do you do to keep within budget?

A List :: 30 Things

2011-10-14T15:44:00.020-04:00

{Slowly working on item #25.}

Feeling sloggy at work and at play and at parenting, I thought I would create a wish list/goal list for myself for the year - going through to Fall 2012. Some items are definitely more attainable and concrete than others. Others are certainly pie-in-the-sky. I find autumn to be my time of revamping. Maybe you too?

{Idea inspired by Summer Pierre.}

1. Learn how to use the Polaroid camera my mom just gave me (Shouldn't take much, right? But the daunting decision of what photos to take hits me, when film is so very, very expensive.)
2. Exercise 5 - 6 days a week (It is good for my heart and my head.)
3. Run two 5Ks (Maybe ~~a Turkey Trot~~ and something for New Year's Day?)
4. But at the same time, what with all this exercise, be accepting of my momma body
5. ~~Work on my pie crust (This could possibly negate item #2, but what the hell.)~~
6. Sew a skirt for myself
7. ~~Make more and ever more time to be with girlfriends~~
8. Read 25 books
9. ~~Take a class on website design~~
10. Be thankful for my day job
11. Take Willa on the train to NYC or DC (or both?)
12. Have high tea somewhere fancy with Mom
13. Go see the ladies at the monastery making cheese
14. Continue to simplify - less scattered freelance work, more focus on doing one or two things well
15. Nurture an antique rose
16. Plant zinnias anywhere and everywhere there is a patch of bare soil
17. ~~Make David Lebovitz's Chocolate Coconut Sorbet~~
18. Make pasta (from scratch)
19. Try to not be a complete slave to the chore list
20. Spend (another) day in Richmond (Find that Taco Truck and Hollywood Cemetery.)
21. ~~Learn to be okay with my natural hair color~~
22. Listen to more vinyl (Thanks Craig and Anita for supporting this habit!)
23. Find more and more ways to be creative with Willa (She usually shows me the way.)
24. Remember that seeing live music injects me with happiness
25. Photograph as much of Sugar Hollow as possible (and as much as possible with the appearance of an ethereal woodland fairy)
26. Continue to buy as much as possible by way of thrifting or second hand stores or garage sales
27. Less grudges, more gratitude
28. Remember that compassion feels good - anger, not so much
29. Get Willa to the indoor university pool as a fun middle-of-the-winter treat
30. Find a good photo booth (This also inspired by Summer Pierre.)

Welcoming Autumn (And Fall Garden Chores)

2011-10-03T13:28:00.002-04:00

Dewy and golden on a Virginia morning.

The heat has broken and we have had a ton of rain. Which makes weeding neglected perennial flower and vegetable garden beds easy on the back and arms.

The light has changed and my garden to-do list seems most manageable. Mostly because Corey has been such a huge help. You should see the gorgeous stone path he has created - winding its way up to our front door. I need to photograph it.

We hit our favorite nursery, Milmont Greenhouses in Stuarts Draft, last weekend and took advantage of the end-of-season sales. If you have been a reader here, you know my love of fall plantings. Our Virginia springs can just become too brutal, too quickly and new plants suffer. But in the fall, there is rain and cooler temperatures. I've planted trees and shrubs as late as early November. And remember - bulbs can be planted as late as Thanksgiving. (So you can snag those on sale in mid-November, too!)

New to our garden - two beautiful hollies and some crazy-resilient deep green liriope. Another glossy abelia. Some towering sedum and walnut-loving purple nepeta. And a trumpet vine (which means a bent-wood trellis is in order and now on the wish list).

I am also dividing daylilies this time of year. Free plants by-way of a little sweat equity!

Other stuffs:

The Ithaca Farmers Market cookbook. I bought it while we were up on Cayuga Lake. I made the Cuban black beans and rice and ate it for lunch for, like, four days straight.

Autumn music! St. Vincent - Strange Mercy; Ryan Adams - Ashes and Fire; Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Mirror Traffic; and right now I am listening to my friend Sarah's suggestion - Laura Marling. {!!!}

I have finally been making sure to carve out time with my cameras. I feel like I abandoned my older cameras because life was just too hectic and hauling around all of the bits and pieces managed to overwhelm me. But I now keep them in the car - at the ready - and it feels good to spend time with them again. Watching the documentary on Sally Mann, What Remains, rekindled that spark, as well.

I sewed a cover for an old thrift store chair over the weekend and just stared at my accomplishment in bursts on Sunday. I am SO intimidated by sewing, but these instructions got me through it. (Working with Alexander Henry fabric keeps me going, too.)

I want to make these doily lamps. Turns out, my obsessive collecting of crocheted pieces will have an outlet.

Away :: Back Home

2011-09-18T17:47:00.003-04:00

Our Finger Lake cottage allowed for terrific lake-staring and relaxing.

Returning home to 'Heavenly Blue' morning glories didn't suck, either.

{Click on photos for larger images.}

More soon . . .

Cooler Nights and Crisper Days

2011-08-30T11:06:00.004-04:00

In our gardening world . . .

Our heirloom tomato patch has proven to be a small success. This year, I included Mortgage Lifters, Yellow Brandywines and Cherokee Purples. (And those green tomatoes might be headed for a good frying.)

Our brand new fig tree gave us three figs last week - and it looks like a second crop sprouting is happening right now. Magic.

We inherited a much-desired worm factory! I have a lot to learn about food scrap ratios and feedings, but it will be great to compost different components of our house trash. What's more, Willa has taken a keen interest in it already. She loves crawling insects. I'm warming up to them. I'll really warm up to them when I can feed my plants with their castings and compost tea.

I am already thinking about fall plantings in the vegetable garden - greens, lettuces, peas, broccoli perhaps? And I just bought some winter rye for a cover crop. (More on that later.)

What else?

Bittman's Corn and White Bean Salad as well as peach and tomatillo salsa, slow-roasted tomatoes and bruschetta. (Seeing a trend?) Also, swiss chard enchiladas (with chard from our garden!).

A few weeks ago, I got to see Neko Case at a beautiful old theater here in Charlottesville. Her voice gave me goosebumps. After the show, I wanted more and have discovered her other project, The New Pornographers. Check out Electric Version.

Sunprints!

We booked our Finger Lakes lake-front cottage for a get away. I can't WAIT.

We have been receiving awesome treats from friends lately - including (very!) local honey, blackberry jam, pesto and these canned pears in some sort of sweet sauce that smells like Christmas spices.

Thrifting lately has unearthed some fantastic finds - including a full 1970s fondue set, a Prince Charles and Lady Diana royal wedding commemorative plate and a kitchen chair from the 1950s in chrome and red vinyl. I have also slowly been collecting slightly abused wooden frames and plan to refinish and gild them, eventually to hold artwork, old family photos and vintage maps. *And* I found a vintage luggage set for Willa that I am going to line with bright fabrics.

I've been reading TJ's Backyard a lot, lately. One of my favorite posts - "New UVA Provost Spends Afternoon Googling What A Provost Does."

Garden Pilgrimages :: Agecroft Hall

2011-08-27T17:19:00.005-04:00

Two weeks ago, I was a lone wolf. My baby girl and husband went to visit family in Michigan. One of my days was spent in Richmond. After a religious food experience at Kuba Kuba, I happily trudged off, full of huevos and cafe con leche, to find Agecroft Hall.

Agecroft was built in Lancashire, England in the late 15th Century. In the 1920's, it was dismantled and shipped over to Richmond - where it was reassembled along the banks of the James River.

Normally not one for tours, when I went to pay my visitor fee, the passionate volunteers told me a house tour was starting. I'm glad I went for it. Agecroft has been restored to how it would have looked in Tudor-Stuart England in the 1500s. We heard about the plague and the Protestants vs. the Catholics and manor lords using their servant's hair as napkins and the eating of rotting meat. And, in noting how diminutive everything was, the tour guide explained that people were much smaller back then and added that women averaged 5' 1". At that moment I puffed up my hair a bit more, to distract from my own, um, underwhelming stature.

I recommend getting into the house for the tour. I was only mildly unnerved during my experience by a fellow tourist and his repeated use of 'henceforth' whenever he spoke. Let's chalk it up to him getting caught up in the Tudor-Stuart moment.

And then, outside! There were knot gardens and fragrance gardens (with scented geraniums!). And boxwoods. And willow wattle fencing. And a stand of linden trees. As well as a still house - where herbalism happened. I took my time. I sat. I walked slowly through the paths to take it all in. I enjoyed the quiet.

But at the end of this adventure that I had all to myself, I thought about when I would bring Willa and Corey back for the experience. Because, it turns out, it would have been fun to annoyingly blurt out 'henceforth' the rest of the day and have someone there who got the reference.

The Butterfly Garden

2011-08-14T20:24:00.005-04:00

There's not much I feel good about in the garden by the time mid-August arrives. But in early spring, I put in the vague beginnings of a butterfly garden directly in front of our big living room window, including a last minute blitz of zinnia seed scatterings. The other plants in place include two butterfly bushes, a caryopteris, a Russian sage and a few roses.

When the unrelenting heat left us wilting and needing some midday shade, I set up an indoor viewing spot for our butterfly garden. I tracked down a photo identification chart of Virginia butterflies and we now spend our time looking up who visits and learning the new names. A hummingbird also regularly visits, but strangely enough, Corey is the only one who sees it. I tease him that it must be his soul animal.

It looks like the butterflies love the really, really huge varieties of zinnias. Smaller butterflies, like fritillaries, appreciate the Thumbelina zinnias - but they can handle the smaller landing pads.

Thrift store butterfly wings were a well-timed, completely unplanned score. I'm unsure of the variety of this butterfly, but have learned that it likes chocolate and Dr. Seuss.

The Thick of Summer

2011-08-01T08:32:00.009-04:00

We seem to be alternating between air conditioning, cold swimming holes and eating anything we can coming out of our garden and the gardens of others.

My vegetable garden is starting to look like typical early August. Totally overrun with weeds and neglected by me. This has been our relationship for years now. I need to be okay with it, because I don't seem to make any attempts to change how it plays out. Grumbling about the weeds, without the where-with-all to do anything about them, is just starting to feel silly.

Inside with a book and a tall glass of iced sweet tea is where I want to be, not hacking away at weeds in 98-degree heat with high, hair-raising humidity.

There, I said it.

More on indoor pursuits:

Reading: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks; Bossypants; The Glass Castle; Old School (by Tobias Wolff); The Little House (a childhood favorite that Uncle Chris bought for Willa).

Watching: True Blood Season 3; Kitchen Nightmares (the early, more palatable seasons with more coaching, less screaming); and we are starting Treme tonight. Also, I went to see a Sunday afternoon matinee of Crazy Stupid Love with a friend - *GO*.

Eating: Homemade applesauce with those tart, midsummer green apples from Henley's; also from Henley's - their peach ice cream; pickles (still); 'Sugar Baby' watermelon ice pops (just puree watermelon in the blender and pour into molds); Sungold tomatoes - warm from the garden; corn-corn-corn; iced Republic of Tea Ginger Peach refrigerator tea.

Visiting: Various Sugar Hollow swimming spots and thinking about Grand Caverns sometime this week. Where it stays a cool 54-degrees year-round.

Thank you: To Albemarle Family for a sweet LISH mention in their magazine.

Pickles!

2011-07-23T14:48:00.003-04:00

The sweet kind that you can put on most everything. These are made with cucumbers (which, incidentally, I accidentally keep calling 'pickles') from a neighbor's garden, under her tutelage and with her recipe.

I'll be living in these jars for a spell.

July In The Garden (In Which It Isn't Singed and Dry!)

2011-07-21T10:13:00.002-04:00

The gardens have a new ally this year. Corey has been dutifully watering most nights. So things are thriving. We have a cutting garden! I had planted a new-to-me variety of zinnias, 'Giant Cactus,' (photos second from bottom and second from top) and I love how they look like fireworks, among the more standard zinnia varieties, the roses, the fig leaves, the butterfly bushes and the rose coreopsis.

The rains of this past spring and summer have also given us an over-the-top blackberry season. They are EVERYWHERE. And huge. And sweet. Some nights, my dessert is just blackberries drizzled with cream and a little sugar. Then, I made some blackberry-lime-rum sorbet (pictured above).

The vegetable garden has swiss chard, beets, tomatoes, okra, green beans and collards. 'Sugar Baby' watermelons are ripening in the front beds, under the walnut. There are also two volunteer plants of some sort of squash. We have been eating like kings.

And:

Tired of Pandora or Grooveshark? Check out turntable.fm.

I am canning my first batch of pickles tonight.

S and I made peppermint lip balm yesterday, during one of our herbal get-togethers. It is better than anything I have gotten from the store. I put a little bit of Burt's Bee's lipstick in the mixture, to give ours a pink tint. And I upped the jojoba oil for more sheen and less wax.

I am reading Mrs. Whaley Entertains: Advice, Opinions, and 100 Recipes from a Charleston Kitchen - for some deep South entertainment. I adore her stories, her voice and her recipes. I am suddenly craving hominy at all hours.

The Ladies (And Other Stuff)

2011-07-07T10:00:00.006-04:00

Little by little, I have been collecting daylilies. But in a decisively unlikely way (for me). As a keeper of lists, manager of inventories, collector of data - I haven't a clue of the varieties. And so, I just appreciate them. For the simple shows they put on every day. I feel so lucky that I have the space and the sun to continue my collecting. Inventoried or not.

File under random:

I am starting acupuncture today.

I have been making big batches of jasmine refrigerator iced tea. You should, too.

I just joined Barefoot Bucha. Our local Community-Supported-Kombucha share with flavors like Elderflower, Mint and Ginger.

I've been pulled into The Hunger Games series for additional summer reading.

I am babysitting a pig, a brood of chickens, a cat named Licorice, a dog named Desi and a fish named Louis this weekend.

My quest to get away from chemicals, plastics and paper products continues - Re-Nest has a very thorough list on homemade house cleaners. I have to admit, I balked at vinegar for kitchen cleaning, but tried it a while back during a spring cleaning frenzy. I just filled up the sink with hot water and added 1 cup of vinegar and I swear, it removed dirt and grease better than my old standby Method all-purpose cleaner. I use it all over the house now and sometimes add essential oils like lemongrass and lavender (combined), tea tree or peppermint.

And I am trying to expand friendlier practices in the laundry room right now. I hope to sew some dryer sachets with Sugar Hollow-grown lavender and want to make some wool dryer balls from my wool stash. And adding vinegar to particularly challenging wash loads is a great disinfectant, de-stinker and detergent booster.

My next item on the wish-list is a good laundry drying line. I described my ultimate one to Corey - based on what people used in my childhood neighborhood on Long Island. It was a pulley line - so you could stand on your back stoop, hang some laundry and zip it out further over the back lawn and repeat. The summer sound of those squeaking laundry lines is a time capsule of nostalgia for me. He kind of laughed at this particular vision for a clothes line, though. So I will continue to pursue it until I become mildly annoying. Or just do it myself.

Herbalism with a Rock Star Herbalist

2011-06-21T08:37:00.002-04:00

I am so lucky to have some awesome neighbors. One of whom is S, age 7, and she knows her herbs. As in, I have a ton to learn from her.

She came over last weekend for a few hours. We harvested things from my garden - including lavender, chamomile, sage, lemon balm, yarrow, echinacea, sassafras, rose petals, plantain leaves and mint. She brought over her essential oils and ingredients to make soap.

We had three hours of whirling, unbridled time making things. Things like an herbal foot soak, sassafras and chamomile/lavender soaps, aromatherapy sprays, a yarrow tincture, liquid soaps, bath bags and boo-boo balm. All of the recipes and ideas, except the boo-boo balm, came from S.

Spilling over with infectious enthusiasm, some of my favorite quotes from S - "I feel like a queen when I do this!" and "Sometimes, this is *all* I can think about!"

I know. I know!!

***************
I have three recipes to share from our morning together:

Herbal bath bags. (These smell insanely wonderful - they were S's idea.)

Calming Bath Bag (Place all of the ingredients in cheese cloth bags. You are done.)

1/2 cup chamomile flowers
1/3 cup lavender buds
3 drops of lavender oil

Refreshing Bath Bag

1\3 cup mint leaves
1\7 cup lemon rind
1 drop lemongrass oil
2 drops tangerine oil

Boo-Boo Balm (From The Herb Quarterly.)

Pick 10 juicy plantain leaves.

Allow them to dry for a few days.

Place them in a glass jar with one cup of olive oil, with a (breathable) cheese cloth lid, for a week. Stir every day.

Remove leaves and put oil, with 1-2 oz. grated beeswax, into a saucepan. Wait until all is melted and place in clean, glass jars. Use on any skin irritations, cuts, bug bites, diaper rash, etc.

Harvesting Right Now

2011-06-20T11:00:00.019-04:00

Garlic and lavender! And a little bit of dill and Red Russian Kale (I keep harvesting from this one plant and it keeps producing. Amazing.)

The okra, collards, green beans and tomatoes are coming in nicely.

The swiss chard and the beets are un-remarkable, but I am still curious to see how they will turn out.

Little Sugar Baby watermelons are sprouting on their vines and we have two (TWO!) fig-lettes on our fig tree.

I also have two HUGE squash/pumpkin volunteer plants - one in the very neglected part of the vegetable garden and one next to the compost pile.
(Time to start appreciating the unexpected and looking away from the disappointments. We won't talk further on the pumpkin starts that I actually killed.)

We also won't talk about the English shelling peas that I harvested, handed over to Willa and she exuberantly tossed and scattered (never to be seen again) around the meadow, to the wind and . . . to the dogs. While my back was turned. Um, yeah.

Summer Planning

2011-06-16T10:18:00.016-04:00

Image from CaptainCat's etsy store - Birdcage for sale!

It doesn't look like we will be traveling much this summer. So I have turned to planning small day trips and treats from home that might serve the same purpose as a mental break from the routine. Which I am actually really excited about . . .

:. Slurping Serendipity's Frozen Hot Chocolate. (I used to go to Serendipity's when I lived up in NYC.)
:. Eating cucumber sandwiches. (Hello, white bread!)
:. Finding the perfect vintage birdcage.
:. Listening to more Bessie Smith.
:. Running more through The Women's Four Miler Training Program. (I ran the 5K two weeks ago, so hope to step it up to four miles by this September.)
:. Enjoying a summer reading list that includes: The Thirteenth Tale, See You in a Hundred Years, The Help, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and The Girl Who Played With Fire, Bossypants (Tina Fey) and Water for Elephants. All somewhat light and good distractions.
:. Taking day trips - including Richmond for the gardens at The Virginia House and Agecroft Hall.
:. Visiting swimming holes! Cold and shaded. Willa and I love hunting for salamanders and crayfish, too.
:. Going to the movies with friends. Air conditioning + salty popcorn = a mini-vacation. Last night, Sarah and I saw "Midnight in Paris." LOVED!
:. Getting outdoor chores completed in the morning and then napping in the afternoon.
:. Watching Doc Martin on Netflix streaming.
:. Getting back to sewing and upcycling clothing.
:. Letting the garden be for the next two months. Some weeding, some watering.
:. Baking our own bread. (Now reading: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.)
:. Going to see The Decemberists at the Pavilion in August.

What about you?

Garden Pilgrimages :: Old City Cemetery

2011-06-13T10:26:00.003-04:00

I'm not going to lie. A few people blanched when I mentioned I was going to take my three-year old to a cemetery for an afternoon. But you see, it was the Old City Cemetery in Lynchburg.

Sure, there are museum buildings that house coffins and hearses and mourning wear. But, there is a children's garden section among an old pecan tree stand with the best swing I have ever swung on. And an alcove of shrubs that have a doorway pruned out - so you can hide among the foliage in a secret spot (second photo from the top). At this point in our visit, it was blisteringly hot - so we looked for shady paths, shelter under willow trees and ponds. There is so much to take in - cool relics dotting the landscape (like columns and millstones), the birdhouse to end all birdhouses, perennial beds, scatter gardens, wrought iron furniture and fencing. I know we will return.

The cemetery is famous for its collection of antique roses and sells divisions/starts. Unable to help myself, I bought a hardy climber named Jeanne LaJoie. I thought it would be nice to have a bit of Lynchburg in my garden - forever reminding me of a sweet adventure with my Willa.

Garden Pilgrimages :: Anne Spencer's Garden

2011-06-11T08:00:00.021-04:00

Willa's school was closed yesterday - so I plotted out a girl's day in Lynchburg. Absolute first on the list - Anne Spencer's House and Gardens on Pierce Street. It was a hot day, but Anne's gardens were shaded, with cool places to sit and I could have stayed there all afternoon.

There is so much more I want to learn about Anne Spencer. She was a poet and would spend time in her writing cottage, Edankraal (last photo above). Her home and gardens hosted fascinating guests that included George Washington Carver, Martin Luther King, Jr., Langston Hughes, W. E. B. DuBois and Thurgood Marshall. I couldn't help but conjure up images in my mind's eye of the garden - full of guests and activity.

This visit, though, it was very quiet, as we had the garden to ourselves. With boxwoods set off by vertical evergreens, daylilies and yarrow blooming in her perennial garden, serene paths winding their way around and turquoise trellis work that set everything off beautifully.

Once the world was young

For I was twenty and very old

And you and I knew all the answers

What the day was, how the hours would turn

One dial was there to see

Now the world is old and I am still young

For the young know nothing, nothing.

-Anne Spencer

Making Stuff, Eating Stuff

2011-05-31T08:12:00.004-04:00

Garlic scapes from our vegetable patch (top photo) - sauteed in a little butter with Red Russian Kale.

Sun tea, made with Barry's Irish Tea and lemon balm from the garden. Brewed for about four hours in the blazing Virginia sun. A satisfying way to harness solar energy during those heat advisory days!

Almond oil facial moisturizer with chamomile and roses (also from the garden). I covered the just-picked buds with sweet almond oil and a few capsules of vitamin E. Then, I covered the mason jar with muslin and will let it sit for a week or so, stirring every day.

A sweet friend, Sylvia (age 7/almost 8!), has been making us the most delicious botanical lotions. Willa and I have been fighting over the newest one - jasmine and coconut oil.

Not pictured - but my new go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies, from David Lebovitz.

I have been dreaming about lobster rolls lately and want to find this truck next time we are in NYC.

Food Production in the Garden

2011-05-30T19:23:00.004-04:00

I have to say, I am on the fence lately about vegetable gardening. Maybe because it tends to be peppered with a robust bit of frustration. And, it is a lot of sweaty work. I like gardening, but I don't like sweating. And getting all itchy. And being attacked by biting ants. And strategizing on how to foil the deer and the bunnies and the groundhog.

You see, I rarely have harvests that leave me speechless. I grow more along the lines of grazing opportunities. Our small cold frame has actually been the most productive part of our growing food endeavors. Along with the rhubarb. And a lot of rhubarb, as much as I love it, is, well, A LOT of rhubarb.

But, I remain hard-wired to continue and try. And so, a quick inventory of this year's efforts.

Garlic - So close to harvest time. Garlic scapes are happening right now.
Broccoli - I hate it. Willa loves it. So I grow it. But I missed its fleeting harvesting moment this year and it bolted within a day.
Asparagus - Entering its second year. Slow progress there, but progress just the same.
Collards from seed (*new to our garden*)
Okra from seed (*new to our garden*)
Beets from seed (*new to our garden*)
Swiss chard from seed (*new to our garden*) - The beet seedlings look exactly like the swiss chard seedlings. And I didn't mark them. This should be interesting.
Sugar Baby watermelon - A favorite that grows easily under the walnut tree.
Tomatoes - Brandywine, Yellow Brandywine, Cherokee Purple and Sungold and Yellow Pear cherries
Strawberries - Presently residing in two containers on the deck.
Connecticut Field pumpkins - A Willa request.
Green beans
Radishes
Sprinklings of Red Russian kale, shelling English peas and sugar snap peas (The peas were discovered by the deer a few weeks ago and were decimated rather quickly - a few survivors are keeping the faith and sending out new flowers and pods. The garden is now wrapped within rebar posts and deer netting.)

Just as I question the labor, I'll then watch Willa gobble down something - straight from the garden - and it sends me back out there. To do battle with the brier patches, quack grass, evil-looking spiders and the bald sun. I want her to know what these things taste like, fresh from the earth, warm from the sun and grown from a seed that she planted all by herself. Turns out, life experiences involve a little sweat equity. I think I can live with that - and plan to garden from 8 - 9 p.m. during the summer months.

Purples and Blues

2011-05-26T09:05:00.004-04:00

I am finally starting to have the perennial/cottage/flower garden I want. A bit more shade is definitely in need, but we are working on that.

Right now, my favorite spring blues are all around. Speedwell paired with rustic fencing; Love-In-A-Mist with an old plate birdbath; an Endless Wonder hydrangea; 'May Night' salvia; and my blue garden bench among the Japanese maples. The blues are going to be offset with roses, daylilies of all varying shades of pink and yellow, glossy abelia and rose coreopsis. Some daisies still need to be planted, as well as hollyhock and elderberry.

I keep visiting Circa - to find the perfect garden dining set and have been thinking of committing to one in particular. But, we'll see.

Also:

I just bought one of these pocket watch pendants. So nostalgic and useful - all-in-one. I feel a tad like a school marm, but what the hell. It isn't a stretch.

Strawberry-rhubarb crumble and rhubarb buckle. Anytime or all the time. {These recipes are from Allison Fishman's website - we went to school together and she has a new book out - You Can Trust A Skinny Cook!}

Homemade facial scrub. Infinitely better than anything I have bought at the store. I used sweet almond oil, sugar, raw honey and a few drops of chamomile essential oil for my more sensitive skin. This stuff is the bomb - my skin was exfoliated but I didn't need to use moisturizer afterward. So efficient!

Another thing I am coveting these days is the Headache Stick from Blue Ridge Gypsy Studio - made especially for Meadowbrook Pharmacy (in Charlottesville). It is made with essential oils - and it knocks out a headache when you put a bit on your temples or across your sinuses.

Fairy Worlds

2011-05-23T08:06:00.002-04:00

Willa and I have been fawning over this book from the library - Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies of the Summer. Our land is covered in buttercups right now, so you can imagine who is a favorite around here lately.

This led to our own (a-hem) discovery of a fairy house. We have been leaving offerings of buttercups and azaleas. And Willa woke from a nap - to find four acorn shells filled with teeny-tiny, white bridal wreath blossoms within a tiny wicker basket. Needless to say, I am having a blast with this imaginary world. And all of the rain also makes for an extra mossy, lichen-covered fairy house. Which is totally awesome.

On that note, later this week - aging stuff with moss milkshakes!

Green-Green-Green!

2011-05-19T16:00:00.005-04:00

Buttercups all over.
A refurbished, old-school, green tricycle with handlebar streamers.
The fig is planted.
Willa's Path is mowed.
A willow oak waits to be planted.
And the herb garden is full of life.
{I just need a extra few hours in my days during springtime.}

Also, something green that is fun to drink - an avocado smoothie (it is good, I swear.)

Click on the photos for bigger views.

Local Garden Grants Program!

2011-05-06T15:47:00.004-04:00

An announcement from The Garden Grants Program:

The Garden Grants application process is open. A partnership between Cville Foodscapes and the Quality Community Council, the Garden Grants program awards free gardens to low-income households. Please help us get applications to people who could use this support. Also, we welcome tax-deductible donations, which can be made to the Quality Community Council. Visit their website to donate through PayPal, or send a check to the address below.

Applications are due May 20th. The only eligibility criteria is the household must already qualify for some kind of income-based assistance. The garden awarded includes a prepared and planted bed, a compost bin, a rain barrel, as well as a garden care guide and 2 follow-up visits.

The application can be found on the Cville Foodscapes website.

You can mail or drop of the applications to:

Quality Community Council
327 W. Main Street, Suite 101
Charlottesville, VA 22903

Whirling Dervish-ness

2011-05-05T10:19:00.001-04:00

That's our house (upper left corner). Those, however, are not our cows.

It is crunch time in the garden. I have learned that it is a slim window of opportunity down here in Virginia, in terms of getting plants in. May can become hot and dry overnight and then summer is here and almost instantly you are overwrought and struggling to keep things alive. I've been so busy, I keep forgetting to take pictures. So, I thought I would put up some photos of our house and some cows taken during a dewy, foggy morning walk.

We have been planting and transplanting. The doggy patch is looking much better. It is a completely new space for us and it is a huge improvement over the baked clay/neurotic dog-digging ditches and dust that we put up with for years on end. I highly recommend replacing lawn with garden space. I am going to try my hand at homemade bird baths, a brick garden divider and more moss milkshakes - soon - to help age the garden space a bit. Not so plunkity-plunk and bare mulched spaces everywhere.

The down side of all this activity is that I have been having trouble with heart palpitations. Earlier in the week, I was hooked up to a heart monitor for 24 hours. It was a biggish, unattractive thing that I had to clip to my hip (dorky) and it looked like a very old beeper (doofy). I ducked into Urban Outfitters after my appointment for a quick look-see and immediately skulked out - painfully aware of how 1994 I must have looked to the kids (if they were even alive then?).

But the tests revealed that all is well and the cardiologist encouraged me to keep running. I have been getting back to it through the Couch to 5K training and just signed up for the Keswick 5K for Hospice of the Piedmont in June. I hope to also do the Women's Four Miler. And - I am loving the book Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.

More focused and coherent posts to come, I promise.

This weekend: More transplanting, more seed sowing, some rest, reading and baked treats with our monster rhubarb harvest and local strawberries. Happy Mother's Day one and all!

Kate's Bouquet

2011-04-29T14:38:00.002-04:00

Busy-busy here. More details on my predictable little life soon.

In the meantime, on a grander scale, Kate had my all-time favorite flower featured in her bouquet - Lily of the Valley! Fairy tale, indeed.

Drippy (Yet Productive)

2011-04-22T14:14:00.002-04:00

Yo. Early spring. It is a dizzying time - and I wish it would slow down. I feel like we burst out the door - gleeful, easily distracted and flitty from the amount of things we want to get done outside. And it has been raining (and flooding) - making for an especially bright-green time around here.

The shaded native plant spot on our land is slowly filling up with Virginia bluebells (top photo). If you have never planted a bluebell, do so. There are also may apples, spring beauties and a trillium. I found a tag for a wild geranium, but have absolutely no recollection of planting one. I fear my gardening is going the way of my reading list. (I read that? {Strained, panicked pause.} When?)

The herb garden is back. Chives, oregano, chamomile, lemon balm, lavender, sage, rosemary and mint. I harvested some lemon balm and mint last evening and made a soothing tea that sent me to bed at 9 p.m. (Which I loved.)

Our front yard is a bare, patchy mess. I am hoping to combat this with a few sturdy shrubs and possibly a spiral garden - filled with flowers and herbs. Oh, the visions. And the huge possibility that the three little woofers will foil these plans. Since the bare, patchy mess is their work, and their domain.

The rhubarb, elderberry and black raspberry have all returned after the harrowing 2010 garden season (their first). Hurrah!

P.S. I swear Willa has other dresses, but this one is indeed on heavy rotation.

P.P.S. To the dearest friends who visited us this week - you filled our house with such awesomeness. We miss you in the biggest kind of way.

Trees and Shrubs and Cooperation

2011-04-05T17:00:00.006-04:00

Looking up from under a flowering tree is an important part of life.
(Photo taken last weekend in Staunton's Gypsy Hill Park.)

Last autumn, I planted my first tree. A red bud. The power of planting a tree and keeping it alive kind of intimidated me. So every day for the last month, I have checked in with it. Staring at it. Willing the buds to happen. And they are starting to show. I am thrilled and relieved and now want to plant more.

Corey and I got a little stuck in planning for the larger components in our landscape. But I think we have figured it out and will be heading to the nursery this weekend. I will focus on the understory trees and shrubs and he will pick out the bigger trees. That is how our house works/worked, too. He focuses on the bones and structure and then I swoop in with the details. It seems to sort itself out - although I know it made him crazy when I wouldn't have much of an opinion on house construction. I just didn't get into that part of it all and this confused the hell out of his genetic make-up. I would be happy moving into any already completed structure and adjusting to its ways through playing around with furniture and color and light.

My wish list for this weekend includes - a pink dogwood, a weigela, a scented viburnum, a caryopteris 'Blue Mist' (or two) and a fruit-producing quince. I bought a fig yesterday - a 'Chicago Hardy'. I might get all crazy and purchase a 'Brown Turkey' or a 'Celeste', too.

In other garden news:

We bought a few more strawberry plants yesterday and put them in containers on our porch. Willa was so excited about being a part of the planting, she wanted to check on them first thing this morning. I know the feeling, sweet thing.

Also, we picked up some broccoli starts in the same trip. I hadn't grown it before last year and it was a surprising winner. We had enough to freeze from just a few plants. Huh.

I am thinking that some more asparagus is in order. We only have three plants in the ground right now and it is a spring-time favorite at our house.

I got on the Kubota tractor two weeks ago and used the front loader. I now understand the beauty of big machinery.

A friend and I took the little ones the other day for a hike up at Sugar Hollow. She has eagle eyes for and a knowledge of wildflowers. It was like having a curtain lifted - I saw things I hadn't noticed before like - cutleaf toothwort, bloodroot and hepatica.

That same friend gave me a generous bundle of rhubarb. That means rhubarb syrup. This weekend. Hopefully with something cold and dirty.

Allo (Sorta) Spring!

2011-03-31T16:01:00.000-04:00

Winter-like skies dotted with robins. Take heart! It will be here soon enough.

Radish Butter

2011-03-30T08:01:00.009-04:00

Sometimes, if I can't fall asleep, I set the iPod up and listen to podcasts of The Splendid Table. And just before drifting off one winter night, I listened to The Lee Brothers talk about radish butter.

This sent me back out to the cold frame in early February to sprinkle down some radish seeds. And yesterday, I harvested the first one.

I have always been meh about radishes. But radish butter is another animal. Peppery and savory. On toasty bread. Whoa. I didn't push it further when Corey declined a taste. Without any hesitation, I just turned back around and polished off the serving myself.

Here's the recipe. If you are lucky enough to have access to fresh, local butter, make the investment!

Awesomeness :: Repurposing and Bird Baths

2011-03-28T16:24:00.007-04:00

Thrifted light fixtures and old bits of china. More on how-to here.

{Photos from Re-Nest.}

The Contrasts of Late March

2011-03-27T14:05:00.007-04:00

One last snow fall vs. the contents of our cold frame (spinach, radishes, lettuce and swiss chard).

Seed Starting Ticker

2011-03-26T12:11:00.001-04:00

For this weekend - you can sow your kale and carrot seeds directly into the ground.

Houseplants :: Quiet Air Filters

2011-03-25T09:04:00.001-04:00

Have we talked about this here? How NASA tested out several varieties of houseplants - finding that some were particularly spectacular at cleaning indoor air? The following is the top list for removing formaldehyde, benzene, and carbon monoxide from the air in your house. Plus, you know, greenery in the house is good for the soul, too.

Bamboo Palm – Chamaedorea Seifritzii
Chinese Evergreen - Aglaonema Modestum
English Ivy - Hedera Helix
Gerbera Daisy - Gerbera Jamesonii
Janet Craig - Dracaena “Janet Craig”
Marginata - Dracaena Marginata
Corn Plant - Dracaena Massangeana
Mother-in-Law’s Tongue - Sansevieria Laurentii
Pot Mum – Chrysantheium morifolium
Peace Lily - Spathiphyllum
Dracaena “Warneckii”

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund

2011-03-23T09:48:00.004-04:00

Please consider attending this sweet event. All funds raised will go directly to the Japan earthquake and tsunami relief efforts. Hiromi grew up in one of the hardest hit areas of Japan and she has relatives living over there who are truly struggling - not only with the natural disasters, but with evacuations from the nearby nuclear plant.

For more on Hiromi and the fundraising efforts, go here. For more on the mediation workshop and benefit, go here.

The Earliest Spring Days

2011-03-21T14:46:00.005-04:00

After nine years out here, I feel like I am finally somewhat in tune with the smallest of changes that make the segue into spring. I know when to plant the peas (even though it may take me weeks to actually get to it - grrrrrr). I know what the sound of peepers mean and the scent of wild daffodils. And the content chirping of robins in the evening. On Saturday, Willa and I saw two more signs of early spring. While visiting with Leora and getting out on her lake in a canoe - we watched turtles sun themselves and spotted salamanders scurry along the shallow waters of the shoreline. In the garden, our cold frame has spinach and lettuce ready to be harvested. Yeah, spring!

I also re-discovered the old cabin on our land. This past autumn, the farmer next door had to clear out behind it to fix his fence line. So new parts of our land were exposed. Including clumps of daffodils and crocuses that must have been a part of the cabin's previous owners' landscape. An old garbage spot was also revealed and I spent part of the weekend digging and unearthing bits of crockery, shards of blue Ball mason jars and buttons that could possibly go back 50 years. The old well pump photo above is from this spot.

It felt good to be released back on to the land. On Sunday night, I found twigs in my hair and considered that to be a sign of a weekend well spent.

Also:

The (free!) paper toys at this site are nostalgic - print them out on card stock and they will stand the test of time a bit more. Willa is a little obsessed with the puppet theater from The Sound of Music, so the thimble theater toy that you get when you join the email list should hit the spot for her. I'm a bit of all-thumbs trying to figure out how to put some things together, but using that part of the brain feels good.

New, favorite, local blogs: Charlottesville Then and Now and The Charlotte.

I'm deeply addicted to American Pickers (Hint: We don't have cable, so I stream it on Netflix.)

These fabric snack bags are so easy to make and you will love cutting back (or eliminating all-together) plastic zip locs.

I am really, really hoping to see the Charlottesville Derby Dames on Saturday.

Tilling Service!

2011-03-15T11:59:00.002-04:00

A friend and neighbor is offering this service. He lives in Crozet, but is willing to travel to surrounding areas with his cool old tractor in tow.

**************************************

Want to start a new garden? I can plow up the hard-packed ground to get your new garden off to a great start.

Have an existing garden? I can till under all those weeds from last year or compost/amendments that you have added for this year and get the soil beautiful, fluffy and ready to plant.

Please call 434-823-2372 and we'll talk about all the wonderful food you're going to pull out of your garden this summer.

Thanks, and Happy Gardening!

Seed Starting Ticker

2011-03-14T11:32:00.004-04:00

If you are itching to put something in the ground, you can plant your peas (shelling and snap), spinach and mustard greens, from seed, now.

Somebody Is Three

2011-03-07T13:06:00.001-05:00

Magnolia Bakery Cupcakes. Balloons.
A 1973 Fisher Price Town complete with Little Peoples, the mail truck and the dentist chair. Surrounded by family who love her so while the winds blew and the rain pelted the windows. The first signs of spring coinciding with her day - daffodils, crocuses, the sound of peepers and forced hyacinths scenting the kitchen.

What's that saying? Something about "the minute they are born, they are already walking away from you"? I am sure I am butchering it, but you get the idea. And I get the lump in the throat.

Happy Birthday, my sweet Willa May.

(Slightly) Premature Planning for Historic Garden Week

2011-03-03T07:20:00.004-05:00

I have to admit something here. As much as I love to garden, I love something even more. Much more. Visiting other people's gardens. (Also, the older, the better.) Sometimes I'll get ideas for my own gardens. But usually the gap between what they have created and what I do on my own is so big, that I just let myself get lost in their world and their garden world alone. It is good therapy.

What better way to start off March (while staving off yet another cold) than with thoughts of breezy April days and garden discoveries?

This year's Historic Garden Week schedule is kind of fantastic. Several prayers have been answered. The biggest of which is the Newtown section of Staunton. Very old homes and very old gardens in one of my favorite places in Virginia. From the program: "Rich in architectural style and diversity, the area features the town’s earliest 18th century homes, grand antebellum Greek Revival houses and schools, and high-style Victorian dwellings from Staunton’s late-19th century heyday." Yup.

I still haven't seen Morven here in Charlottesville. So, that is up on the wish list.

And, the Monument Avenue section in Richmond (on our day off - a Wednesday!!) holds much promise. Plus, then you can hit up one of Richmond's many yummy vegetarian restaurants.

My little garden buddy is three-years-old now. Last year, I did the tours by myself - but bundled her up for the previous two years in a Moby Wrap or a backpack. I think this is the year to reintroduce her to garden visits. And I'll get to rediscover things that she initially spies at her eye level.

Garden Week - who's in?

Carolina Chocolate Drops

2011-02-28T11:57:00.008-05:00

I saw them with two friends Friday night and their music remained in my brain all weekend long. A beautiful show rich with history and tradition and a slew of instruments. Go. See them live if you have the chance. Live music always seems to cheer me up and it was especially needed this past February. This video shows Dom playing the bones and dancing. A little shaky with the camera work, but mesmerizing just the same.

Home Life

2011-02-23T13:30:00.024-05:00

Good grief, I am feeling antsy. Ready to be set free and outside. I find myself trolling travel websites (totally unrealistic). So, instead, I buy shoes and eat way too much mochi. Typical February behavior on my part. That's how I do.

Anyway.

Over the past year, I have been working hard at 'setting up house' - which doesn't come easy to me and I wish I had designer skills in that area. But, instead, I test something out, move it, put it back, etc. etc. I was terrified of hanging anything on the walls, afraid that it would all look wrong and leave me with a zillion holes to caulk. Corey bought me my own hammer the other day, so I will take that as a small bit of encouragement. And I guess redoing and undoing is how one learns.

I took these photos last fall and for some reason, seeing these parts of our house through a photograph helps me decide if I like something or not. I do know that my penchant for vintage linens is almost sated. Almost.

Luckily, ramshackle design approaches tend to work themselves out in the garden.

The Fig Tree. You. Me. 2011.

2011-02-15T21:12:00.000-05:00

And it's gonna be awesome.

A talk with a fellow gardener at a 3-year old's birthday party on Sunday injected my fig lust with further loopiness when he told me that he bought a small 'Brown Turkey' fig at Whole Foods a few years ago and now it is half-way up the height of his house.

Seriously? Seriously?!

{!!!!!}

Imagine the number of readily available figs with a tree that size. Holy smokes. Nothing cuts through a February day like the memory of a fig - warm from the late August sun. I could see myself just sitting under those big figgy leaves and snacking in the evening light.

{Apparently I wrote about this last year, too. But over at Virginia Living. Enough with all of this gabbing about fig trees. Now that I have rediscovered the mattock, I am in like Flynn.}

Mini Indoor Garden Moments

2011-02-10T08:30:00.009-05:00

Terrarium pendants!

Airplant fun!

Wall gardens!

(Not from me, but from clever ladies around the globe!)

Cottage Dreaming : Continued

2011-01-24T15:30:00.005-05:00

Photo from Wikimedia.

Papa (Corey's father) reads this blog and told me to check out the Charlevoix Mushroom houses.

I would say he gets it, yes?

While waiting for spring:

I made this quinoa pudding - with coconut milk. You should, too. Fresh mango would be nice with it.

Must have a lap loom. (Thanks for the link, Leora!)

Downton Abbey. So satisfyingly English, but with a nice dose of intrigue and scandal (just like that other little show I scarfed up years ago).

I am sad to finish Keith Richard's Life, but am looking forward to something a little more, well, wholesome through The House at Riverton. (I don't think I will get the image of what it means to go 'cold turkey' from smack out of my mind's eye.)

I am trying my hardest to stay away from the stores and just use (or re-use) everything we have around the house. That now includes creating activities for Willa. This site kept us busy over the weekend (look along the right side for a quick guide to tutorials). The homemade play dough with natural dyes was a huge hit (and I learned that a garlic press makes a terrific play dough fun factory). I spent time on Sunday making the paper beads out of old magazines and it was very, very addictive.

Something green is coming up in the cold frame {!}.

Daydreaming : Children's Garden Cottage

2011-01-13T13:45:00.002-05:00

Willa is going to have something I always wanted as a child - a play cottage. Squeal! I hope she invites me over for tea!

The builders will be Corey and his father. And I will help in the design. These photos are from Gold Coast estates that I like to visit when we visit Gramma and Grampa up in New York. Where estate owners had unlimited access to funds and skilled labor. They were children's cottages for the super rich.

The builders, I fear, will be maddened by the wishes of the designer. Yet, when I lobbed out the idea of a thatched roof, Corey didn't balk. Not a terribly strategic move on his part, as this encouraged me further into more irrational ideas and shooting for the moon. I want it to look like a gnome could walk out of the cottage at any moment.

Of course, landscaping on a wee scale also does the trick. I already can't wait to grow things around this structure. Window boxes will be a must, as will a trellis and morning glories. You know, more enticements for the fairies and the gnomes - and our own little woodland imp.

Greenhouse Visits for Winter Blahs (And Other Stuff)

2011-01-11T07:59:00.002-05:00

While having coffee with a friend last week, she reminded me that winter just started a few weeks ago. Wow. Really? But it has been so dark and cold for months already, I insisted. Gulp.

Time to shake it all off with a visit to where things are living and smelling awesome, I thought.

So, Willa and I went over to Milmont Greenhouses for some houseplants on Saturday. Inexpensive and healthy plants a-plenty. The stone fountains are always a hit, too. I told the munchkin she could pick out two plants for her room. Naturally, she picked out plants that had pink or purple as part of their foliage. Let's hear it for the X chromosomes!

And, at long last, I found a Hoya plant for myself (also sometimes called a 'rope plant'). Now, the search continues for, the understandably enticing-ly named (low-kill-rate) Cast Iron Plant. Anyone?

Indoor pursuits:

Willa and I watched some old Shirley Temple musicals the other night and she was in awe of seeing a little girl singing and dancing. And have you see this site yet? Free classic movies for after Willa goes night-night. I'm hoping to watch "Night of the Living Dead," "It Happened One Night," "Sid and Nancy," "The Jackie Robinson Story," and anything with Cary Grant.

Since I am on a list kick, I am working my way through NPR's 50 Favorite Albums of 2010 through Grooveshark, as well as a composite list supplied by friends. So far, loving: Grizzly Bear, The Mynabirds, The Smith Westerns and The Cotton Jones Basket Ride.

Totally excited that the Keith Richards book is on the hold shelf at the library - waiting for me to pick it up.

Uh-huh. Yeah. Winter meal inspirations from ohdeedoh. Including a link to slow cooker ideas.

Simplifying the Simple Life blog - for gentle, funny reminders on how to keep things easy. (Try the pizza dough recipe.)

Green Among the Gray and Hooray for 2011!

2010-12-30T15:45:00.003-05:00

Oh, my.

It has been tough being away from here. I feel like an explanation is warranted, but this just isn't the space for it. Suffice it to say that 2010 was a tough one - some days we figured out how to cope and other times we were just fumbling and muddling through and it wasn't pretty. I know this year was a difficult one for so many. I'm ready for a fresh start, a new year, a do-over.

The arrival of Christmas vacation was so totally welcome and this week off is something I always savor, deeply. I get back on top of chores, I bake (cookies, breads, marshmallows (!), tarts) and cook, and Willa and I get in a terrific, slower-paced routine that honestly, without the rushing around of work and school, is more my speed. We painted and played with clay and made necklaces and listened to records and danced. We mailed away our hats to Caps for Good. When the wind (finally) stopped ripping through the hollow, we went for walks. And I read and read and read. My favorites from this break's list (so far) - Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking and Patti Smith's Just Kids.

Garden-wise - Before Thanksgiving - I got 50 daffodil bulbs, a fringe tree and a red bud in the ground. I couldn't believe I snuck those in under the wire. Planting trees always feels like a huge accomplishment to me.

Over the weekend, I planted up the cold frame with lettuce, chard, carrots, spinach and radishes. Indoors, we have been making moss terrariums and placing little ceramic creatures among the carpets of green. Magic. I also made a moss milkshake and painted the strange goo over the sides of terracotta pots and some stonework- hoping for some cool, relic-type points of interest for our spring gardens.

A warm day today sent me out to the vegetable garden to do a little clean-up. Which had me thinking about the upcoming year and the possibilities. Maybe more berries? More fruit trees? A fig tree, finally?!

I think I'll be content with more laughing, more levity, more lemon curd tarts, less fretting and what-ever the garden (and the universe) end up sending my way. Happy New Year, everyone-s!

Sets of Prints - In The Shop!

2010-12-14T14:14:00.004-05:00

I have been giving friends sets of prints as gifts lately - and thought it might be nice to offer them in the shop. If you don't see a combination readily listed - just email me and I'll create a special listing just for you. Same price as the other duos (which saves you some $$$!).

Wee Molly's Etsy Shop

2010-11-19T09:18:00.001-05:00

Look at these stunning bits of loveliness. They are botanical watercolors from Erin of Wee Molly's. As someone who can only capture things with a camera, I am forever flummoxed by artists who can create with their hands and a brush. Erin is a busy mama with three little girls. Go on over and visit her shop!

Habersmashery

2010-11-18T07:56:00.006-05:00

Walks, southwest Virgina, evening light and early morning light and lots of time in the kitchen at my new baking table. November in Virginia allows autumn to linger so much longer and I appreciate that so deeply!

We finally got out and planted a pound of garlic (Thanks, Steph!) on Saturday. In the meantime, I want to do what Leni is doing with garlic these days.

I still hope to plant spring-blooming bulbs and one small tree (perhaps a red bud?) before Thanksgiving. And sprinkle some seeds down for greens in the cold frame. Wish me luck. I did get to clean out the vegetable garden and, really, after you add compost to any garden bed, the weeding just gets easier and easier. I plan to add more compost and shredded leaves this winter to one troubled bed and then we should be good to go down there (Ha!).

I also added a fourth lavender plant last month to my growing collection ("Goodwin Creek Grey") - I'm hoping to use the lavender for sachets, eye pillows and natural laundry/dryer bags in the coming years. I want to breeze through my house and have it smell like the south of France.

I have been obsessed with The Tightwad Gazette and took it out of the library last week ('cause that is thrifty in-and-of-itself!) - inspired by the comments section in this post. So many ideas - a few that I am going to try over the next month include a soup night, a pasta night and a bean night each week; making my own laundry detergent; bringing in lunch almost every day; sewing fabric food bags to replace ziplocs and knitting up dishtowels with my cotton yarn stash.

Thanksgiving is at my house again this year, but for a bigger crew. Last year, we smoked the bird. This year? The Judy Bird. Along with stuffing, Ina Garten's Sagaponack corn pudding, French string beans with caramelized shallots and some sort of sweet potato dish. And maybe these little puff pastry ideas for starters?

Loving this website and the photos of urban ruins.

One of my photos made it into our Crozet Gazette's calender. I'm Miss October (tenth photo in the slideshow - my cosmos and mountain photo is also included).

I'm Still Here!

2010-11-09T09:07:00.005-05:00

I am taking on new job responsibilities at the university - and that is keeping me super busy.

We also traveled southwest and went here.

I turned 40 this past weekend - surrounded by sweet friends and fabulous food - while we gathered around a bonfire listening to vinyl from the past four decades.

Catch up - soon - I promise. Plus, there is garlic to plant, a cold frame to get up and running and the persimmons are ready for picking!

Wistful Over Autumn

2010-10-12T10:30:00.013-04:00

Did our parents know that in between their own worries and their hard work - they were creating sweet memories for us? I think about this as a parent. While I doggie-paddle and tap dance to keep the house running and keep a paycheck coming and keep Willa in clean clothes and eating healthy food - is she picking up on any of that distracted busy-ness during her everyday, magic times?

I hope that she is focusing more on the acorns, pine cones and quince we pick up during hikes, the taste of wild persimmons, the golden evening sun, her new pimped-out tricycle, dancing to the vinyl we put on the record player, giving her three goofy dogs a bath and reading The Big Orange Splot.

A long weekend with my parents in New York earlier this month hit all of my early autumn memories. We spent time during the rainy days going through old photo albums. The smell of oak tree leaves, half-melted Snickers from trick-or-treating bags and clean hair warm from the autumn sun all came back. I get terribly homesick for New York these days.

And so, as grown-ups, we must create our own moments and memories. New ones that can tie into our childhoods a bit, too. For me, it's the smell of baking apples and pumpkin innards. Watching the evening slip into night and wood stove fires. Pulling out the last harvests from the garden. And maybe throwing in a pint-sized Stormtrooper and a Princess Leia up-do for good measure.

Gardening Got You Down? Eat A Whoopie Pie.

2010-09-24T15:52:00.001-04:00

I recently realized that this blog has departed (somewhat) from gardening. Especially in the visuals and I know that those of you who live in Virginia will understand why. Photographing the garden hasn't been fun. I actually find myself cringing and looking away from the garden because some decisions had to be made that went against every grain of my gardener soul.

Dwindling well water supplies and no real rain since July means letting things die. My stomach twists even as I write this. My plans for adding to the garden in September had to be abandoned because it would be like planting in dust and ash. Forever curious to me are the lives of the weeds that thrive in these situations. (Which reminds me, I must find some uses for pokeweed.) Even Willa's balcony vegetable garden has suffered and the tender, spindly beet greens were consumed fully by A Very Hungry Caterpillar within the span of two days.

But our Sugar Baby watermelons are miraculously ripening and I have a child who can't get enough watermelon in her life. I even put it in the blender when it is getting a bit mealy and she sucks down the juice (as do I). Everyone around here is thirsty.

We made it to a parade and balloon-filled fire department celebration with friends last weekend (second and third photos). I was lucky enough to get to most of my wish list - and yet, as expected - it spilled in increments into this week. The sweater is still in-progress, but there was progress none-the-less. And the whoopie pies - oh, the whoopie pies. If you try the recipe, make sure to double the frosting. It really is the whoopie to the pie. And good for what ails you.

This weekend will be quiet. We have mulch and compost to add to the garden. A sweet friend loaned me both her pink standing Kitchen Aid mixer and a copy of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. You will probably find me alternating time between those two treats all weekend long.

Weekend Wish List

2010-09-17T13:47:00.001-04:00

Friday night vinyl!

Goodwin Creek Farm Ciabatta with brie and homemade quince jam.

Less laundry, more weeding. Remembering how great the sun feels.

More gratitude, less fretting.

Finishing that thick, brown sweater I started knitting years ago - for upcoming fall evenings. I swear - this will be the weekend it happens! The wool is from the local Mangham Manor.

A small-town parade - with firetrucks!

True Blood. Visits to Merlotte's just make me happy.

Whoopie pies - with salted caramel buttercream frosting.

Bike rides (to offset the whoopie pies).

Sowing lettuce seeds for fall salads.

Swim lessons with Willa.

One hour with my cameras.

Toss or Be Tossed

2010-09-16T12:14:00.041-04:00

Just a few photos from life as of late. Although, I have to admit, these are highly selective - other life stuff tossed us around earlier in the week. There's the way I handle stress and the way I would like to handle stress. Grrrrr. Any increments in between make me hopeful for future challenges. Chocolate seems to help sustain those small moments of clarity, too. But all is well and I (literally) now know that I have my health.

Too tired to really cook dinner last night, I knew I could at least chop some vegetables and roast them (top photo). The butternut squash went with pasta, the beets will become a salad and the okra. Gah! Well, the okra never made it to a plate - I snacked on it all while cleaning the kitchen. Yes - it was that good. I just tossed everything with olive oil, salt and pepper. 400 degrees for 35 minutes.

The Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello (middle photos). Tomato tastings and TJ's vegetable garden. My trusty, adorable and curious side-kick, Willa, and I went last Saturday. I am writing more about it over at Virginia Living Magazine.

Our tomato patch seems to like September as much as I do. The bottom photo is of Cherokee Purples. The Sungolds are going gangbusters with a second harvest, too.

P.S. A comfort meal for the tired soul - Alisa's Basil BLT. With a basil-mayonnaise. My husband hates bread (one of life's great mysteries) and mayonnaise (more understandable) and loved this sammich.

A Little Labor : A Little Rest : A Drummer Fantasy

2010-09-07T16:34:00.006-04:00

Some weekends it is a struggle for me to get rest, sit down or take a break - because I finally have the free time away from work to do all of the things I really want to be doing. In between the chores, I'll hang a photo, stitch a line of embroidery, sprinkle down some seeds, pull some weeds. Yes, progress really is that incremental and glacial. Not sure whether to be appreciative or frustrated on that one, so I'll just let it sit.

But this past long weekend, for some reason, I got in a terrific pattern of rest smattered with moments of productivity. Perfection, in my rambling brain, for sure:

We went to the Staunton Farmers Market on Saturday morning (top photo) . We bought some sausages from Heartland Harvest and I made one of our all-time favorite meals - the sausage-potato packet. Have I written about that here? So simple and perfect for the hungry masses that snarf it up in minutes and then mutter an appreciative thank you.

Willa and I have been doing a lot of baking. She is fully committed to her role as mixer. And when it is something extra-doughy like scones, she takes her role of rolling it, patting it and marking it with a B (her sweet words, not mine) very seriously. Thumbprint cookies with jam (we used fig jam, my strawberry freezer jam and a friend's raspberry preserves) are a present favorite.

So are the Corniest Corn Muffins. Grab the last of the sweet corn harvest and bake these.

A friend had me over to make tomato preserves. They reminded me of preserves that Corey had brought back from Haiti years ago. Sweet and savory. And good on pretty much anything.

I'm getting ready to buy a few more things for the garden - for fall perennial and shrub and tree plantings. More echinacea, some rosa rugosas, a pink dogwood, a weigela . . . and that fig tree I keep whinging on about.

I have Hoosier cabinet lust since two friends introduced me to them. Unfortunately, I don't have the funding for one, so I lust aimlessly (for now).

I'm drawn to the blog, The Age of Uncertainty, for so many reasons - including the journals of Derek and the glimpses of ephemera that spill out of books that cross the author's path. The writing alone leaves me wishing for sharper wit and observations in my own writing.

The Black Keys are coming to town on Thursday. I predict I will leave the show with a new facet added to my male drummer fantasy (about my being one, not chasing after one).

Good Etsy Juju (And Photo Giveaway!)

2010-08-24T09:24:00.016-04:00

The Etsy gods smiled down upon me yesterday. One of my prints, "All The Love," was featured on the Etsy blog, The Storque. The news had me squealing (internally) at my university post with all of the activity it generated in my shop. It made it really hard to concentrate, but in a good way.

So, as part of the celebration, I am doing a giveaway of one of my popular prints ('Blown A Wish,' pictured above), there is a clearance sale (with Viewfinder prints as little as $8.50) and *free shipping* with any purchase for Life in Sugar Hollow followers (put lishfollower in the message to seller).

To be eligible for the giveaway, please leave a comment by Friday, August 27th at midnight (and make sure to include your email!).

The winner is Erin!

The (Second) Time of the Year for Beginnings (And Other Stuff)

2010-08-20T15:19:00.007-04:00

Leni - teacher-cook-gardener-historian-awesomeness.

New beginnings for an old stand-by.

Late summer walk/evening light self portrait.

Garden harvests.

Late-August into September is the second time of renewal in both my personal world and my gardening world. My inner-dweeb picks up on the new school-year jolt of life and it tends to be the real beginning of the year for me. So there are fresh plans and kinda-sorta resolutions.

I would like to clean and de-clutter the house to make way for all of the crisp activities autumn brings.

I would like to hit up the local nurseries (and their sales) and plant perennials, shrubs and trees through early November.

I am planning a fall balcony vegetable garden outside of Willa's room. My first thoughts on this project are here at Virginia Living.

I am thinking about knitting and sewing again.

I am trying to increase my exercise during the week to four days and have been loving Zumba at the Old Crozet School Arts (and plan to take ballet there in the fall). I also took a yoga class yesterday at the university that, sadly, left me with a kink in my neck. Which also left me confused.

The change in weather usually releases us back outside for more evening walks (photo from one above). We were chased inside earlier in the month by the chigger-tick-tiger mosquito trinity that left us all looking rather pocky and pathetic. But I need (fresh) air and sun. (I am secretly looking forward to that first frost, too.)

Under "Other":

The bold colors from our gardens are something else (photo above of Sungold tomatoes and zinnias). It really is amazing that they are still productive, after the summer we had.

Dutch baby pancakes. They cook up easily and they taste like those eggy Swedish pancakes - especially if you don't skimp on the lemon and powdered sugar. Big thanks to the friend who recently made these for me and Willa.

Cold-brewed iced coffee from Smitten Kitchen.

The $1 vintage tricycle find. Would you believe that I sit at my work post and daydream about the satisfaction I will get from sanding rust off of chrome later that night? Photos of the fixed-up tricycle coming soon. (Also, it didn't hurt that I married a bicycle mechanic.) Next: Restoring a Chevy Nova.

I learned how to make Mexican tamales with Leni last weekend (photo above of Leni with her zinnias). She encouraged getting together with friends to make vast quantities that can be frozen. A Tamale Party! With sipping tequila, I envision. I already hit up a local Mexican grocery for the corn husks and masa. And a curious purchase of dried hibiscus flowers that I needed to have, but haven't the slightest idea how to use.

Garden Space, Rediscovered

2010-08-16T15:02:00.009-04:00

I have a confession to make. I almost shut down this part of our gardens. It seemed too far away from the house. Too hot. Too much bald sun. Too much to keep up with. Click on photos for larger peeks into this spot (disregarding, of course, the patchy lawn death that crept up on us during July).

Then, we did the Shared Backyard project. Phase One of the Garden Resuscitation.

Then, Willa discovered it. She loves running around it buck naked, plucking Sungold tomatoes and wild blackberries, watering, squealing, looking for bunnies (her friends, my foes).

Otis likes to have a role in the garden, too (note the black dot in the middle photo). He likes having a purpose and is somewhat of a working dog. He takes his role chasing the latest interloper - a groundhog - very seriously. Like Basset Hound/Border Collie seriously.

It gives us herbs all season (oregano, lemon balm, lavender, thyme, rosemary, sage, echinacea, chives, basil); rhubarb, broccoli, lettuce, greens and snap peas in the spring; and potatoes and tomatoes these days. A few things failed - like collards (too enticing for the wildlife) and the garlic (not sure what happened there . . . ). I would like to grow more so I can freeze, can and stock for the winter. But that will take time. And practice. And the minute detail of a fence.

Now, we are talking about building a small porch-type, lean-to down there for picnics and storage. For more lingering tucked among the growth and the overgrowth - in the middle of the smells and the sounds.

Life needs to happen around a garden. Good thing others have shown me that important detail. Thanks, y'all.

Scattershot II

2010-08-02T11:12:00.005-04:00

Red, white and blue potatoes are being harvested right now from our gardens! I am writing a round up of my favorite summer recipes over at Virginia Living Magazine - and it includes a grilled potatoes recipe that is a staple go-to. I made potatoes with paprika and rosemary (from our herb garden) for dinner last night. We'll be eating a lot of potatoes - so please send favorite recipes.

Loving evening walks after a good rain storm in which Otis and Willa wear each other out in the best of ways. Post-drizzle, galosh-wearing walks (top photo) were also very welcome this weekend. We had rain and cloud cover and appreciated every minute of it. Everything smelled like life instead of the crispy, singed-to-death landscape of the past month-and-a-half.

Meet Yer Eats Farm Tour! Cool!

I'm just a wee bit excited about Rob Sheffield's new book. If you didn't read Love is a Mixed Tape, drop everything you are doing to fetch yourself a copy. And if the title Talking to Girls About Duran Duran and the Quest for a Cool Haircut doesn't speak to you in some way, it must mean that you weren't knee-deep in high school angst in the 1980s?

I made the Peperonata in saor last week. Wow. Yum. Especially good with grilled salmon on top of it. Next from the Adventures with Ruth recipes to try? The strawberry jam tarts. I don't have elderberry flowers, but I have the freezer jam from this past spring. And I'm sure I can track down some creme fraiche. (Because I have a nose for that sort of thing.) This weekend I also quick-preserved some lemons to use in a future attempt at the tagine recipe from her Moroccan episode.

Also - while writing about cooking. We don't have cable out our way, so my discovery of shows (through Netflix) can actually be something that started airing in, let's say, 2005. Like Anthony Bourdain. I have now traveled with him to Iceland, China, New Jersey, Vietnam, Las Vegas and Paris. I could do without the scenes in which he eats cow stomach or fermented shark, but can't seem to get enough of watching him smoke and drink and stuff his skinny self alongside self-deprecating humor and a super-sharp, super-fast take on things. I hear he has a new book. Perhaps I'll experience his latest endeavor in real-er time.

Southern Gothic :: Summer in the South

2010-07-29T10:37:00.058-04:00

: Peach freezer jam :

: Tart baking :

: Cut flowers :

: Cicadas and lightning bugs :

: Vintage metal porch furniture :
: Evening hikes under the tulip poplar canopy up in the Hollow :
: Apple mint and summer thistle honey iced tea :

: Ceiling fans : Books by Peter Taylor :
: A dinner party in the river : Evening visits with neighbors :

: Swimming holes :
: Blackberry picking :

: Deep-blue (very active) bird baths :

: Sweet tea and pulled pork BBQ :

: Watching movies like Fried Green Tomatoes (photo above) and The Secret Life of Bees :

(the first for the cooking and the outfits; the second for the back porch and the kitchen scenes)

Metal glider print
Apron
Lightning bug light
All the Love print

Scattershot

2010-07-26T08:30:00.007-04:00

Sultry and hazy in the dell.

Small moments from our July . . .

Lodi apples. New to me this year. Tart applesauce in mid-summer from these small, pale green overlooked gems is fun. It is also a nice surprise and a reminder about upcoming autumn tastes.

As our Sugar Baby watermelons get ready for picking, I wonder about cocktails I can make with watermelon. Don't people inject melons with liquor and drink from that? Wait, is that something I saw in a moment of weakness on Jersey Shore? Whoops. There must be something more classy out there. A martini, perhaps? Or maybe I can do the injected watermelon thing in the privacy of my own home and nobody needs to know that I got the idea from Snooki.

An update on our Shared Backyards experience is over at Virginia Living Magazine's blog.

Learn how to can your summer haul with Leni. She is also offering classes on bread making and tamales. (Maybe I'll see you at the tamale class?)

My friend Sarah, who is also a rock star vegan, got me into Bento box lunches!

I'm a green mama, according to C-ville Weekly. Sweet.

I want to make this tomato cage lantern for my bedroom balcony.

When I am a little bored at work, I like to plug in dates on Expedia.com for a trip to Ireland. Just to see how much that would cost. Because I have all that money lying around and I love flying so much. But, I mean, Ireland. Right? I have this vision that the moment I land there, I am welcomed with open arms because I look like them. I am one of them. It can't be denied. My hair and fair skin no longer stand out. I easily assimilate into the folds of Ireland - the gardens, the countryside, the tea houses. It should be so.

Coming up in the garden: The garden goes off the ground for fall vegetable crops in the way of balcony and window box gardening. I hope.

A Bit of Awesomeness : Repurposed Flatware

2010-07-23T09:53:00.013-04:00

Must have!

From the top . . .

daisy chestnut
monkeysalwayslook (second and third photo)
RRDesign13
countryfolkheart

Run For Cover :: The Garden in July

2010-07-19T08:55:00.003-04:00

Shooey! Things are struggling around these parts left and right as a result of little rain and relentless scorching days. Parts of our gardens look brittle and brown and crunchy. Also, I seem to have a Death Valley spot under the walnut that won't allow anything to live and it gobbles up otherwise originally happy looking plants and reduces them to wilting, withering, leaf-dropping specimens.

But there are little bits of silver linings!

Zinnias - "Green Envy" is my favorite.

My "stone wall". Actually, it is just a few stones lining a pathway and I plunked flowers down around them. Stone walls are so high dollar, so I pared down the idea significantly. But the flower-stone pairing still does something for me.

My first coneflowers and my first bee balm. Tough botanicals with terrific texture.

My first begonias. Pale green leaves with pale pink flowers that love the shade. What took me so long?

Baby watermelons. So beautiful. That is a little Willa hand, so (to scale) that is a little watermelon. Just in case there is any confusion.

When everything else has had enough, look to the cosmos. No these cosmos (photo above). (Although I do find myself crying to the heavens about garden failures occasionally.)

Sage. Of course, - it hasn't really, really rained, so the sage flourishes. You know, because sage flourishes in places like Texas. And New Mexico.

Sunflowers!! Make that volunteer sunflowers.

A small lavender harvest.

Petunias spilling over a galvanized tin container (panting beagle has been carefully staged to illustrate heat and humidity levels).

I'm also revisiting container gardening in small ways. Where I can control some of the variables. I have big pots of tomatoes, peppers, apple mint and basil on our deck now. The only spot where deer don't roam. Though they seem to be a hair away from gingerly walking up our steps and asking for a handout. And my cold, iced-over gardening heart softens at the thought of their starving bambis. And for a brief, irrational moment, I think, "Have at it, limpid-eyed, woodland creatures. I guess I can always plant more."

(Michigan) Adventures

2010-07-12T09:29:00.021-04:00

Two weeks ago, we made the journey north-north-evermore-north to Michigan's Torch Lake, where Corey grew up spending summers. The 14 hours of driving swiftly left the sweltering Virginia heat behind us and left me (giddily) searching my suitcase for a cardigan.

At one point - as I was floating on a raft with a slight afternoon buzz from a Bell's Oberon - I dreamily thought about ways to extend the stay. I mean, didn't the Vanderbilts go somewhere cooler for months at a time and did I not deserve the same experience? Oh, yeah. That small detail about funding.

So, we hoi polloi kayaked and played in the chilly water and watched fireworks over the lake while sitting in front of a campfire eating s'mores. I took Willa and my niece, Annika, for a short hike among the beeches and the ferns and the moss. I stocked up on blueberries and sweet cherries. It was all magical and relaxing.

While I was up there, I read Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl. I officially hate finishing anything she has written - as it feels as if she has left my life and the quiet makes me sad. So, while nursing a post-vacation summer cold - I discovered that she has a TV show that airs on PBS. But you can also watch it through Gourmet.com. Gold! I watched the episode set in Venice (she visits various cooking schools around the globe) several times. The Peperonata in saor has me ready for pepper season in the simplest of ways.

(Garden) Adventures

2010-06-29T08:37:00.001-04:00

Our Sugar Hollow gardens and daylilies

Sugar Hollow Community Garden

Gramma's Garden, New York

Planting Fields Arboretum, New York

Adventures

2010-06-28T10:53:00.000-04:00

James River Batteau Festival, Scottsville, Virginia

Jones Beach, New York

Mint Springs, Virginia

Moormans River, Virginia

Cold Spring Harbor, New York

Greek Festival, New York

Long Beach, New York

Sugar Hollow, Virginia

The Let's Eat Post

2010-06-24T08:38:00.001-04:00

We have ten (!) jars of strawberry freezer jam tucked away in our freezer. I can't wait to try my hand at blackberry and peach preserves, too. Or maybe a hot pepper jam. If you've been intimidated by making jams or jellies, start with freezer jam. No scary boiling or canning involved. Look for freezer jam pectin or try Pomona's Pectin.

The recent trip to New York included lobster rolls, clams and oysters on the half shell, Italian food, Greek festivals and German bakeries such as Front Street. I bought a new Tiffany blue kettle and one pound of Irish tea when I was up there - tea I can't find down here, including Punjana (from Cork!). (I also promptly renewed my gym membership upon my return. I think my derriere was the sole ballast on the prop plane back into Charlottesville.)

I bought my first cocktail shaker for dirty and fruity martinis. Maybe I'll concoct something with the syrup I made last week with local black raspberries. Whatever I make - it will seem supremely refined and grown up coming from that chilled stainless steel shaker. To me, at least.

Peaches-peaches-peaches. I feel as if, living near all of the orchards (including Henley's low-spray orchard), everything smells like peaches these days. Drizzle some home-made blackberry syrup over them. Or grill them. Or cut them up and freeze them for later use in smoothies. But I always have a brown paper bag filled with a half-dozen - softening and ripening.

I had time to stop by the Yoder's Shady Lane Greenhouses farm stand last Thursday - the one near the Hunt Country Store on Garth Road. They had organic potatoes and squash. I also bought a few melon, hot pepper and tomato plant starts. And a whoopie pie. Wait, two whoopie pies. One for me and one for Corey. Wait one-and-a-half for me and one-half for Corey. Actually, I hid them both. For me and me alone. I nyum-nyum-nyumed them before bed and I left pathetic whoopie pie crumbs in the bed sheets.

Make this burger. And as mentioned, don't forget the onions.

I know I talk often of the insanely awesome local food movement here in Charlottesville. But I have a confession to make - I rarely make it to a farmers' market. I try to buy at local shops or directly from orchards and the occasional farm stand. But my very active and curious toddler is drawn to all of the grab-able goodies - making strolling a farmers market tricky and kinda stressful. So, there's Relay Foods. Check out their on-line farmers' market. I have my eye on Babes in the Woods sausages, organic swiss chard, no-spray kale, Carpe Donuts, anything from Revolutionary Soup, fresh fettuccine-cut pasta and vodka sauce from Mona Lisa pasta and I plan on trying new-ish shops such as Holy Grael sorbet (mango or green tea chai coconut sorbet!), Ties and Pies bakery (scones!) and Agnes' Bagels with Salmon and Caper cream cheese. They've also added Whole Foods. I love what they are doing so much and I love that they are a young company.

Miscellany in the June Garden

2010-06-21T08:39:00.009-04:00

Love-in-a-Mist patch from our gardens (above). Start one - you won't regret it.

We've been eating broccoli, Red Russian Kale, mustard greens, Sungold tomatoes, garlic scapes and a small harvest of juneberries from our garden. I returned home from our trip to find that a woodland creature had snibbled away all of my much anticipated 'Endless Wonder' blue hydrangea blossoms and some of the elderberry plants. Round one of the deer foil project has been put into effect. I need to become comfortable with the fact that I will probably be on the losing end of this war.

Watermelon, honeydew melons, zucchini and muskmelons were planted over the weekend. Annnnndddd a bunny has already decimated the muskmelons. *Big sigh of frustration*. All the tomatoes and basil are in - Brandywine, Pink Brandywine, Old German, more Sungolds and another cherry variety. I also just bought a 'Blue Beard' caryopteris, a pale pink rose and more blue speedwell for under our walnut. And I am going to do a very small rock and container garden with petunias and verbena and other sturdy annuals that hopefully won't become bunny fodder.

These long nights send me out to plant, weed and water with a glass of chilled lemoncello to keep me cool. Last night I was out there until 9:20 - with a nice, loopy buzz. I'm not going to lie - I am looking forward to a little more sitting with that lemoncello during the cicada-zzzzzzy, humid nights of July and August and appreciating my garden from the porch.

On a side note: We drove through the Old City Cemetery in Lynchburg after a several hours at Amazement Square a few weekends back. The trip also included Corey buying a new work trailer for his truck - which looked mildly creepy and predatory lumbering through a cemetery. But I must get back there to stroll its gardens quietly - and they were selling antique rose cuttings! The ones, I imagine, that have that nostalgic scent I am always looking for . . . the scent of summer.

Back Soon

2010-06-10T11:18:00.005-04:00

Photo by Gramma.

We've been away from Sugar Hollow having fabulous adventures!

I have a few new posts here, including my first stab at freezer jam with strawberries.

Design Elements :: Stone and Brick

2010-05-25T11:53:00.005-04:00

As things slowly start to heat up here in the South, I am reminded of shade and the respite one can find from the heat in finding cool rocks and flat stones to walk upon. Maybe with some trickling water, bubbling over more and ever more stones. I have been swooning over photos of spiral rock gardens, too (more on that soon).

I have also found myself taking lots of photos this year of bricks and herbs. I mean, they were meant to be together, yes? My day job involves organizing numbers and data - so something about the grid work and star designs get right to me.

I am going to summon the image of the Egyptians building the pyramids and start collecting rocks from around our land. Building small structures and accent points one at a time. I may consider this my resistance training component of my exercise routine, as well. The rustic-ness of the stones will work with our present landscape - bricks may be a-ways away.

Also ::

Speaking of summer fun and water and rocks - I must get back to Goshen Pass this year with Willa and Corey.

I am a late-comer to The Black Keys party, but am glad I arrived. Attack and Release is where I am starting and I already bought a ticket to their September Charlottesville show.

This is the veranda I want for our house. Corey and I have been talking about a screened-in porch and this is what I envision, complete with a pale blue ceiling. I'm pretty sure this is no-where close to what Corey envisions.

I made rhubarb turnovers this weekend with the rhubarb left over from making syrup. I got the idea here and they are, I mean were, super yummy. Even Willa was all, like, "Gimme!"

Hug It Out :: The Black Walnut Guild

2010-05-21T08:12:00.003-04:00

When life hands you a black walnut, you have to make certain concessions in the garden. Black walnut roots produce juglone - and it is toxic to many plants. Not fun, when the main tree in your landscape is a walnut. But one can make-do. And so I must.

In the realm of permaculture, there are possibilities for cooperation and love under the canopy of the black walnut. It is called a guild and they are plants that work with the juglone and don't wither in its company.

My go-to book for permaculture ideas is Gaia's Garden by Tobey Hemenway. He suggests plants like mulberries, elderberries, currants and black raspberries (photo above from Wikimedia) in a walnut guild and that is the direction I am going this summer.

So - as of today, I have three elderberry plants and one black raspberry in the ground and I am hunting down currants and mulberries. I also just read somewhere that hollyhocks put up with the demands of the walnut- so those will go in this weekend as well - for height and color. Take that, juglone!

Life Outside of the Garden

2010-05-14T15:54:00.003-04:00

Every-once-in-a-while I take a break from gardening. I do!

Lately, while the rain has been pattering away outside - making light of my garden chores, I have retreated to my sewing room/studio. My favorite thing right now is gathering up vintage pieces that I have collected and altering them in some way. I am also doing alterations to items from my closet that weren't being worn - and I adjusted them to increase their time in the rotation. Like taking long sleeved tunics and making them into gathered, cap sleeve tunics.

So these designs from YMC of England caught my eye - as I would love to add the details onto simple A-line skirt patterns for my next nighttime 1980's movie/sewing project. Buttons, pockets and pockets with trim. Not too much to tackle, right?

Not allowed to completely forget about the garden, last night I ended up having vivid dreams of our vegetable gardens being ransacked by pests that ate everything. Everything! Some people have nightmares about all of their teeth falling out or arriving to class naked. Me? I dream about garden disappointments and disasters. It could be worse.

Impressions

2010-05-11T10:46:00.005-04:00

In one of my high school art classes, I struggled miserably with the impressionism portion of the curriculum. I watched as friends put feminine twists on their dreamy works, while I slogged through with too heavy a hand and too realistic an eye. A clodhopper among the ethereal.

There are many things dotting our land lately that are reminiscent of what drew impressionist painters to their easels. Sweet william and buttercups contrasted by greens and blues with larger landscapes looming in the background. They lure me just the same as the work of Childe Hassam or Claude Monet.

It is nice to capture these with a medium I understand a bit more these days - photography. And with different lenses and exposures, I can take another crack at that impressionism thing. Clumsy brushstrokes are swapped out for countless takes with a digital camera. And I'm there.

Other things on the brain:

Broken Bells. Over and over and over. Thankfully I wear headphones at work - or I think my co-workers would throttle me for the constant play and replay of this album.

Sewing and Netflix streaming old 80s movies like Footloose and The Breakfast Club. My sewing is zippier and happier with these familiar favorites in the background.

Speaking of impressionism and sewing - this fabric is calling to me for place mats.

Our Sugar Hollow Community Garden is bursting with collards and mustard greens and potato sprouts! And ready to do battle with the creatures who are nibbling certain crops down to nubbins. More on that soon . . .

Visiting tiny happy.

Good For What Ails You

2010-05-04T07:24:00.009-04:00

We puttered around the garden whenever possible this weekend. It was/has been a tad stressful around our house these days - insane work weeks for Corey, Willa's child care situation being abruptly closed and the emotional moments of a two-year old.

But the garden remained steadfast and it immediately calms Willa down during small meltdowns. She watered. I weeded. We plucked some chives for a potato-cheddar-chive soup and thyme and rosemary for a roasted chicken.

We have asparagus crowns to plant and our tomato plants are ready for pick up at Innisfree! Kale and mustard greens are almost at their peak in our cold frame and I have been feasting on arugula on sandwiches and in big salads. Arugula seems especially content in the cold frame - and remained pest-free, too. Usually, I struggle with bugs and end up harvesting lacy looking arugula. But not this year within the safe haven of the cold frame.

Being that kale season is upon us - these kale chips look like a sneaky, salty way to get greens into the young 'uns (and myself!).

Also, I almost forgot about how much I love rhubarb syrup as as way to take advantage of our rhubarb crop. I have seltzer water on hand to mix with it, though I wish I could mix it with a little something colder and dirtier. Cocktails just seem to just render me useless during my peak production time (the dinner-bath-bedtime trio). Hmm. Maybe I'm a better bartender than imbiber. I guess I should just stick with the garden therapy and leave the drinking to the pros.

I Love My Early Spring Garden

2010-04-26T09:15:00.007-04:00

I spend a lot of time out here starting in February and usually giving up in June - when it gets blisteringly hot and I leave the garden to fate. But these early months are the stuff - supremely satisfying in the smaller moments and small steps. Tucking away some lettuce starts, building a rustic trellis for the snap peas, harvesting herbs. Sixty degrees with a breeze and the sun on my back urges me along in my chores. Though truth be told, I don't need much urging these days.

What is growing right now :: Garlic, rhubarb, broccoli, thyme, snap peas, lettuces, borage, chives, oregano, sage, lemon balm, dill, rosemary and parsley.

What is not growing right now :: The evil, relentless, undermining weeds of the South!

Weekend Dreaming :: Six Moments

2010-04-23T14:15:00.039-04:00

Cut tulips :: Jadeite :: Vintage globes

Coral honeysuckle at the Native Plant Sale

Pinxterbloom Azaleas

Rhubarb Crisp with Chantilly Cream

Asparagus crown plantings

More yoga :: More walking!

Happy Friday.

Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah! Garden Week!

2010-04-20T11:10:00.020-04:00

Photos 1 and 2 :: The Pavilion Gardens at the University of Virginia

Photos 3 and 4 :: Staunton Garden Week properties around Ft. Defiance and Mt. Sidney

Photo 5 :: Plainfields in Albemarle County

Photos 6, 7 and 8 :: Green Home in Albemarle County

Photo 9 :: Nichola Farm in Albemarle County

Photo 10 :: Grandview Nursery in Albemarle County

Dandelion Offerings and Other Spring Fun

2010-04-13T09:30:00.006-04:00

Good grief, we are being sent the loveliest of spring weather and afternoons and evenings. I mean, really. Fields dotted with dandelions and wild violets. Lilacs and red buds and dogwoods. Crimson and salmon colored tulips. And our one Virginia Bluebell plant has hit its stride this year - along with the other natives - Spring Beauties and May Apples. Those Bluebells look mighty fine next to my blue bench.

Red, white and blue organic potatoes from Wood Prairie Farm have been planted. I am harvesting arugula every day from our cold frame (yahoeey!). Our oregano is begging to be used for some fish oreganata dish. Rhubarb is close to ready. The community garden is dotted with green here and there - collards, broccoli, cabbages, kale.

My parents were here for a visit and it was so needed and so cherished. We went for walks up at the University, Mint Springs and the Downtown Mall. And we ate at Taste of China. Twice within three days. Have you heard about Peter Chang? (Anyone from Charlottesville will laugh at this question - so it is for my far flung readers, too.)

And ::

This weekend is Historic Garden Week Virginia time! My lofty goals include Staunton gardens on Saturday and taking a day off from work to see the Albemarle-Ivy gardens on Monday.

I'm planning my black walnut guild with lots of edibles that work with the tricky toxicity of a black walnut - mulberries, currants, elderberries and tomatoes. More on that soon.

I bought a plastic Diana lomography lens for my Canon and can't get quiet enough of it. Blurs and saturated colors and lens flares. Perfect for capturing spring!

Some rest and more time with my pile of books - A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor; The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West and The Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway. Reading in the late evening is best enjoyed with the window open to the mountains and the peepers while ignoring the laundry, dishes and dust bunnies.

Pink and Blue E'erywhere

2010-04-06T11:58:00.004-04:00

Spring In Motion

2010-04-05T11:17:00.003-04:00

I had a moment last Wednesday - after I finished landscape plans for another client, met briefly with the community garden folks, tended to my own early spring garden chores, did some garden writing and put a few new prints up in my Etsy shop. I sat back and saw what a whirling dervish I had become. So happy to see spring - yet not savoring or slowing down. Finding the blur of activity clouding the beauty of the unfurling.

I need more 'No's' in my life, a few more 'Can it wait a few days?' and more rambling walks with Willa and a stinky dog (or two or three). More sitting and watching. And noting. And stillness. It is spring's demure moments, behind the explosion of color and green, that I don't want to miss. And I have one very astute Willa May reminding me of this on a daily basis.

I'm making a promise to myself to reign it in a bit. I started getting kooky again with my list making and was becoming a slave to the cross-things-off moments. Time to flip it back to being okay with the little things I have actually accomplished in a day.

More time picking daffodils. Less time fretting. Happy Spring.

How do you slow things down in your life?

Ruth Stout Was A Bad Ass (And You Can Be One Too!)

2010-04-02T12:27:00.004-04:00

I took Ruth Stout's No-Work Garden Book out of the library last month (and then again, this month, renewing it as often as is allowed) and it has me ready to get back out to our vegetable garden. Including a future asparagus bed and possibly, just maybe, revisiting a strawberry patch. Without the elaborate trench digging for the asparagus or the hair-pulling frustration of strawberry patch weeding.

Ruth Stout gardened well into her 80s and was one of the first gardeners to write about organic alternatives. Her no-work method basically involves six to eight inches of mulch - straw, hay, shredded leaves, kitchen scrap, pine needles. The thick mulch cuts back on weeding and watering. That just leaves mulching, planting and growing. The latter two being every gardener's favorite things ever! Whenever she saw a weed, she tossed more mulch on top of it instead of removing the interloper. Hah!

One of my favorite quotes of Ruth's - after writing on old gardening methods: "I think I'll go lie down now. I'm exhausted just from writing about all the unnecessary work that some people do."

These recently discovered videos are astoungdingly wonderful. I love Ruth's no-nonsense New Englander attitude and now hear her voice as I read her book. She was a rabble-rouser from her youth and used to garden on her Connecticut plot buck-naked!

(There are two more parts on You Tube.)

New Prints in The Shop!

2010-04-01T16:43:00.002-04:00

C'mon over and visit!

Hither and Yon

2010-03-26T11:18:00.007-04:00

Oh, spring in Charlottesville. Every time you show up, I am immediately transported back 20 years to when I first experienced you as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia. From there-on-in I was unable to settle for a springtime experience that was any less than spectacular (that also started in mid-March!).

On the home front - bulbs are blossoming, garlic is sprouting, rhubarb is peeking up out of the ground and the herb bed is coming to life (oregano, lemon balm, sage). Lettuce and arugula are pushing up through the soil in pale greens in the cold frame. Snap peas are reaching for the sky.

Our sweet community garden is full (all spots taken!) - and it is a thrill to hear people working out there, having fun and getting ready to grow their own food.

While a nasty cold waylaid me from the garden, I took solace in reading - Two Gardeners: A Friendship in Letters and Ruth Stout's No-Work Garden Book and another Ruth - a foodie Ruth - Ruth Reichl. Nothing like a few wise women to keep you company when you are feeling sorry for yourself.

We drove up to Monterey (also known as Virginia's Little Switzerland) for their Maple Festival this past Sunday. The drive alone was so needed - winding through towns like Churchville, Headwaters and McDowell and through George Washington National Forest. I realized later that it was the first time since September that I had left our area (?!). Returning with maple donuts and local maple syrup in a leaf-shaped bottle extended the visit into our evening at home.

I'm counting down the days to Historic Garden Week in Virginia. There is also an event at Monticello - Meet the Gardeners (as in Peter Hatch and Peggy Cornett! Eeeeep!) that looks like fun.

Unrelated to gardening, but smile-inducing : My new vintage-looking orange peep toe shoes, fresh-made pasta from Mona Lisa Pasta and visits to Charlottesville from two Bens (the first visited this past Tuesday, the second will be here in April).

Let's hear it for spring!

Spring In Triplicate

2010-03-19T08:57:00.001-04:00

Sugar Hollow Spring Peepers

2010-03-16T20:24:00.016-04:00

Crank this one up to eleven for the maximum peeper experience.

A Little Something Fun is Brewing

2010-03-15T11:45:00.005-04:00

The Sugar Hollow Community Garden!

Vegetable garden coaching and full-sun plots available on our land. The plots are available in exchange for weeding the pathways and keeping the area under control. (No small task!) Garden coaching fees are accepted as donations and not expected. From an announcement that I sent out earlier:

Hi everyone,

I have several raised beds that could accommodate gardeners this season and am going to hold an informational meeting this Wednesday at 3 p.m. at my home. Based on the interest - we can decide on the size of each gardener's bed - but I am thinking at least 10' X 4' plots for beginners.

The beds are located in full sun with a water spigot next to them. They do need to be worked/weeded and compost needs to be added. But we can talk more on Wednesday about those details.

I am encouraging gardeners of *all* levels to take advantage of this - I am a horticulturist and organic garden coach - so will be available for questions and encouragement during the growing season on specific Saturdays. Beginners are very welcome.

Please email me (sugarholler@hotmail.com) if you are interested and I will send directions. We live about 11 miles west of town - almost a straight shoot if you take Barracks/Garth onto Sugar Hollow Road.

P.S. This venture is also very family friendly, including Wednesday's meeting. Also, there is a non-raised bed area that could be tilled and farmed, but that would be more labor intensive.

The Cold Frame :: Up and Running!

2010-03-14T09:20:00.001-04:00

So we did indeed meet in the middle, and as always, Corey's ideas were super helpful and important for durability and efficiency.

Our rendition of a cold frame went up last Saturday. An old, reclaimed glass door, Fox Farm soil, some cinder blocks along the sides to keep out digging doggies and that was it. All things that were sitting around on our land (which I love). Propped up against the south-facing side of our house - to capture some of that oh-so-useful thermal mass. That's my father-in-law helping fill the cold frame with soil.

On Sunday, I sprinkled down some lettuce and arugula seeds into the warmed-by-the-sun soil. Have I mentioned that we are trying some new (to me), organic seeds? High Mowing Organic Seeds and Seeds of Change. They will join the mix of dependable Johnny's Selected Seeds and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange seeds. The lettuce seeds have already sprouted as of yesterday.

Transplanting of kale and mustard greens to follow!

We Did This Today :: Sugar Snap Peas

2010-03-06T17:58:00.004-05:00

I love how the seed packet explains that you should sow your pea seeds 'as soon as the soil can be worked.' Check! After our long winter, we happily tromped through some snow to get to the raised beds and the loose, dark soil. Willa was a complete natural - tossing them in and poking each seed down with her little pointer finger. What makes me especially happy about how this gardening cycle works is that Willa gobbles up sugar snap peas like there is no tomorrow. She'll plant them, she'll pluck them, she'll eat them. Nice.

Beaming

2010-03-05T14:49:00.000-05:00

Both my husband and my brother were featured in the local paper, C-ville Weekly for their beautiful carpentry and finish work. Corey's company, Sugar Hollow Builders, worked on the restoration of a beloved Ridge Street Historic District home and Chris built the end-all be-all wine cellar.

Photos from C-ville Weekly.

Making Plans :: The Honeybee Sanctuary

2010-03-02T10:35:00.011-05:00

Globe Thistle 'Blue Glow'

Last year, we watched with interest as busy honeybees covered our sunflowers. I later learned that there are plants that get honeybee engines going more than others. So, I am planning on buying several perennials to add to our front garden that will make perfect landing spots for the bees - for a honeybee sanctuary.

Pincushion Flower (Scabiosa columbaria or caucasica)*
Globe Thistle 'Blue Glow' (Echinops bannaticus)* These may bit a bit tricky, as they require good drainage. But they have lulled me with their beauty and I may willingly be their slave for just that reason.
Blazing Star-Gayfeather (Liatris spp)
Catmint (Nepeta Mussinii)

They will join other bee seducers on our land such as basil, bachelor buttons, cosmos, sunflowers, coreopsis, lavender, oregano, Russian sage, rosemary and thyme.

A comprehensive list of plants for honeybees (and more on the importance of honeybee sanctuaries) can be found at The Melissa Garden website. Photo from Wikimedia.

*******
Spring is still making its way to Sugar Hollow in quiet ways and purple crocuses and bluebirds. I am forever thankful for the brighter evenings - though another storm is threatening snow today. Grrrrr. I think everybody is giving in to what they need to make it to the homestretch and indulging here and there in the ways of food and movies and books.

On Sunday, I was lucky enough to go here for afternoon high tea with friends and the timing couldn't have been better. I mean, who wouldn't find joy in a cucumber sandwich or a madeleine or a scone slathered in Devonshire cream and lemon curd?! I'm hoping at this point, however, that a spring of gardening will take care of a winter of indulging.

Sunday Photos :: Seedlings

2010-02-28T09:41:00.004-05:00

Window Shopping

2010-02-25T15:04:00.002-05:00

Shabby White Butter Dish; Aqua Ruffled Rose Earrings; Vintage Hairpin Set; Vintage-Style Butterflies; I'll Be Gone Birdcage Print; Key To The Old Homeplace Necklace No. 5

(I snagged the butterflies for Willa's room!)