Taking Time For Apple Blossoms

Such a fleeting thing of beauty the apple blossom is. ~

"The flowers of the apple are perhaps the most beautiful of any tree's, so copious and so delicious to both sight and scent." -- Henry David Thoreau, Wild Apples

My neighbour has a row of apple trees along our fence line and they burst into bloom yesterday. By today, it is raining and windy and I know the fragile blossoms will all be down by nightfall.

Everything must stop while I gather my bouquets and fill the house with them. 

It was Anne of Green Gables that first made me fall in love with these beauties as I read of her amazement at them cascading across The White Way Of Delight. Oh, how I wanted to be beside Matthew Cuthbert in that horse drawn carriage!

photo courtesy of CBC

Humble or elegant, every vase looks wonderful with these simple blooms. Vintage sterling silver vases on a William IV buffet are lovely with apple blossoms. ~

They are right at home under a chippy, leaded glass window. ~

Apple blossom fragrance fills the house. Delicate petals flutter to the table tops as their time to thrive passes. I'm reminded that, "To everything there is a season; and a time for every purpose under heaven.". 

On this day, as Nepal suffers the tragedy of another devastating earthquake, I look at this bouquet of apple blossoms, nestled in beside a some Tibetan bells. ~

My heart goes out to the people of Nepal and the aid workers endangered while they do what they can to ease the suffering.

In their honour, I take the time to cherish this beauty and focus on the promise of all the blossoms, the beginnings of new life and abundance.

Gardening Is An Act Of Faith

My garden doesn't look very nice right now.  It's full of odd structures and markers for plants that I have absolute faith will grow.  Disappointments in the past are forgotten.  Bountiful crops are remembered.  I choose to remember the good seasons.

A tripod of driftwood is wrapped in chicken wire.  I have visions of Italian cucumbers climbing up the structure.  I'll wear a flowing garden dress and floppy sun hat while I pluck perfect cucumbers for the salad. ~

I don't have a flowing sun dress or floppy sun hat but that's beside the point.

Bits of wattle fence deter the chickens from digging up seedlings.  Tent pegs and string mark the rows, waiting for seeds to germinate. ~

I keep digging, planting, watering and weeding.  I know it will be worth every mosquito bite and broken nail when the crops start to come in.

Along with the regular gardening, I'm terracing the hill that comes down from the patio.  It's back breaking work and takes a whole lot of faith to believe it is worth it. ~

All the stones are being moved from another spot.  It's hot, dirty, heavy work and I have no idea how long the project will take.  My little, happy voice inside keeps saying, "I think I can, I think I can...".

Bit at a time is my motto on this baby. ~

Good old Kay marches along beside the wheelbarrow, watching as the the loads of stone get dumped. ~

I admit it.  I like having chicken company while I toil!

Anne Boleyn, being of royal blood, doesn't like being part of the construction.  She whiles away the afternoon in her bower under the blooming Weigela bush. ~

Like Anne, you will all have to have faith that the peons (Kay and I) will get the job done and have prettier pictures to show you before this summer is out.

I will focus on the victories of the past.  The little lilac bush was only two years old and had to endure this past winter of brutal temperatures.  Today, I picked the first bouquet from it. ~

And that, my friends is the reward of faith!

Are There Gardens In Heaven?

"I hope there'll be gardens in Heaven, Susan ... gardens we can work in, I mean, and help things to grow".
                                                         ~ Ann Shirley in Anne of Ingleside

I so agree with Anne!  I really don't know how to play a harp and sitting around on a cloud gazing down on the earthly folly below is just not my style.  Give me some dirt and a handful of seeds and I'll see a miracle every day.

Just a little over a week ago it was snowing here.  A few days later I took a chance and planted some early vegetables in the rusty, old wheelbarrow. ~

By today, those seemingly lifeless seeds have sprouted and I see the promise of radishes and green onions. ~

Day after day I dig, weed, spread compost, prune and rake.  I read weather reports and watch the sky for signs of frost.

I battle a terribly invasive weed that came with a load of topsoil a few years ago.  I've no idea what it is but it looks like Queen Ann's Lace when it blooms.  Every year I push it a bit further back from the vegetable garden and I'm hopeful I can get all the rest of it out this year.  Gardeners are nothing if not optimistic!

Luckily the chicken coop isn't sided yet and I have a giant mural from Lowe's to inspire me while I dig and tug at this stuff.  It's like having a garden coach giving me a pep talk to "Never stop improving"!

For all that it is hard work and I'm stiff and sore by the end of the day, it's my time for thinking.  It makes me feel close to Mother Nature as I give her a little hand with some of her work.  The chickens scratch in the dirt beside me or fall asleep in the sun as I work.  The old cat dozes on the bench in the arbour, waking occasionally to check that I'm still there.

A woodpecker drums a steady rhythm in the birch tree. ~

Wild birds swoop in and out of the coop to snack on the chicken feed and pick up straw and feathers to line their nests. They are used to me now and I feel a little like Snow White as they flutter around me without any fear.

As dusk falls and the river frogs begin their nightly chorus, storm clouds move in and hover over the little church. ~

Oh yes, Anne, there must be gardens in Heaven because I'm sure it's the closest I come to it here on earth!

First Bath Of 2014

Not me!  I take baths all year round.  Spring is here and the chickens get to take a dirt bath.

I let them out of the run while I was working on yard clean up and they made a beeline for the rose garden. They set right to, digging holes and using their wings to shoot the dirt up under all their feathers.  It's the chicken equivalent of a bubble bath.  Should I have brought them each a glass of wine and a good book?

Of course the bath has made them sleepy and they settle in for a nap in the sun. ~

Utah has found his napping spot on a pile of leaves right beside the wood pile.  Any mice that have overwintered there better take care because this old guy never misses his prey! ~

I do expect them to help me clean up all the fallen limbs this hard winter has left, so I roust them out and set them to work. ~

I guess I forgot these girls were in retirement.  Only one lays eggs.  At least they take care of any bug or grub problem in the grass.  Yum.

Kay did show an enormous amount of interest in my window cleaning.  I wonder if I could set her to doing housework.  She is named after an auntie that would have put Martha Stewart to shame with her housekeeping.  Hmmm.

It's been absolute heaven to be out in the yard and feel the sun on my face once again!  A bit of rummaging in the leaves and I find the first garden surprise.  Chives! ~

And, a little more rummaging and I find the sweetest and earliest of spring blooms.  This little clump of snowdrops never lets me down. ~

Yesterday, everything that resides here at Kellswater lived up to Margaret Atwood's admonition.

             "In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt."

We did and you'll be happy to know we took our baths! 

The Fifth Season

When you live in the country, you get an extra season between winter and spring.  It's called Mud Season!

Chic fashion for this time of year is a stout pair of these. ~

From the side door of my house to the chicken coop it is so deep in mud right now that I'm afraid I'm in one of those early western TV shows, where it seemed everyone fell into quicksand at some point in time.  I wonder where all that quicksand went.  It seemed such a regular thing in the old westerns and I've never seen any in real life.

Add a few downed tree limbs and this is a pretty attractive view. ~

But, not even the sight of all that mess could stop my excitement when a neighbour called and told me to check out the river.

The ice was breaking up! ~

Whole trees and debris of every kind swirled in the raging water.  Several docks floated down from upriver. I've seen some very odd things go floating by on the ice flows at this time of year;  toilets, lawn chairs and even a dead sheep once.

Just before it hits my flights of metal stairs, the ice turns away and I'm left unscathed for another year.  Yay! 

Nature is awesome! ~

Even mud season won't dampen my spirits today, because I know spring is following close on it's heels!

Everyone Needs A Clump Of Chives!

If you have a black thumb and can't grow a single thing, you can still grow chives.  All they need is a bit of dirt, some sun and water.  They'll grow on patios, balconies and window sills.  They live happily in the flower garden and will even keep aphids and black spot away from your rose bushes.

I've been doing a little research into foods our ancestors ate and why they put the effort and time into growing certain plants and herbs.  The pioneer woman who first lived in this house didn't have time or energy left to grow something just for a pretty garnish on her potatoes.  The nutritional value of chives completely stunned me!  This herb from the allium (onion) family is a powerhouse of vitamins and minerals.

Calcium, zinc, manganese, copper, iron, vitamins C, K, B complex, AZ, and A are all found in amazing quantities in chives.  Everything from bone health to fetal development, neuro damage repair to cardio health are enhanced by getting a good supply of the nutrients in chives.  Check out the information at Power Your Diet and you won't look at chives as something to sprinkle on a baked potato any more!

I started hunting up some ways to use them and, since the plant blooms in June in my neck of the woods, wanted to use the blossoms.  They have the mild onion taste of the leaves, with a pepper kick to them.

I gathered some blossoms and shook them off to make sure there weren't any creepies hiding in there. You could wash them but I don't bother when it comes from my own pesticide free garden. ~

This is a fun project to do with the kids.  Fill a jar with chive blossoms. ~

Pour in natural vinegar to cover.  Always go with natural for cooking.  It costs about a dollar more for 4 litres but the other stuff is mostly chemicals.  ~

The kids will love seeing the vinegar turn a pretty shade of purple within a couple of days. ~

What you have is a wonderful, flavoured vinegar that tastes peppery and smells like onion.  Mix one part flavoured vinegar to two parts olive oil for a terrific salad dressing.  I add chopped basil and a bit of sea salt to my dressing.

While they are in bloom, I'm separating the blossoms and sprinkling them on any food that I'd usually put pepper on. I'm also freezing some, first on cookie sheets, then in bags for winter use. ~

Did I mention that studies show chives can reduce the chance of prostate cancer by 50%?  Or, that you can lower blood pressure, boost your immune system, reduce cholesterol production, increase liver function, prevent anemia, break down clots in blood vessels, prevent lung and oral cavity cancers and bolster oxygen levels with the nutrients in chives?

Those pioneers were some smart cookies! ~

I'm sharing this with:  A Favorite Thing, From The Farm, Nifty Thrifty Tuesday, From The Farm Blog Hop

Old Fashioned Summer Porch

It's time to dress up the front porch for summer.  Here in southern Ontario, we are still dealing with wildly fluctuating temperatures and frost through the night but I simply can't wait any longer!

My sister was doing some refurnishing and asked if I wanted her vintage wicker furniture.  Do I? Oh, yeah.  You have to understand, Lynn and I have passed household items back and forth so many times that we honestly can't remember who they originally belonged to!

Let's start building a setting around the old door from my parent's general store, that I salvaged from the dumpster.  Eat you heart out all you rusted hardware and chippy paint lovers! ~

Love this 7 Up couple telling me to pull! ~

The other side of the door says to ... wait for it ... push! ~

Up go the sheer curtains. They cut the glare from the afternoon sun on the west side of the porch. ~

From the shade of the porch I can see everything outside and no one can see me.  Total privacy!  ~

There's a wicker plant stand that comes with this set and a full size couch if I can figure out some way to squeeze it in there.  My poor fern, that barely survived the winter in the house, is getting a second chance at life and my shamrock looks forward to it's move out to the porch every summer. A bit of colour with some silk flowers and driftwood fill out the planter. ~

The vintage basket came from my Auntie Kay and always held dollies that my girls played with when they visited her.  The crock and folding camp chair are auction finds.  A $3.99 thrift store mirror hangs happily above the plant stand.  I gave this mirror a paint treatment to give it an aged look last year.  To see how it's done click here.

The farm egg sign I painted last year has moved back outside and sits on an old, wooden cheese box my neighbour gave me when he moved away.  ~

The best part of setting the porch up for summer was having help from a cherished friend.  We've been through a lot together over the last decade and nothing is dearer than a friend who has seen you at your best and  worst and stays true blue! ~

So here we will sit, sip lemonade or wine and watch the world go by! ~

Come on summer, I'm ready for you!

I'm sharing this with:  Budget Decorating Party, Tweak It Tuesday, A Favorite Thing, Flaunt It Friday 

Has Spring Finally Arrived?

It must be here, at long, long last.  I have these sweet posies popping up. ~

How can something so tiny be so tough?  Neither hail, nor sleet nor snow stops the crocus from arriving exactly when it is supposed to appear.

Even raking up winter's mess didn't seem so bad with a little warmth and sunshine. I was pretty sure I had all those leaves cleared in the fall, so someone is sending me theirs!  I know I have the hottest wheelbarrow in the village because, when I say that to my male neighbours, they smile and nod. I'm sure they don't comment back because they're eaten up with jealousy.  But, I have decided that wheelbarrow and pick up truck beds should come with one big scratch on them, so you don't feel bad about chucking stuff in there! ~

I've only been able to get the frozen Christmas decor out of the urn in the last week.  After nearly fainting in shock at seeing birch limbs selling for $9 each at the nursery, I decided to leave mine in and plant around them. ~

 A bag of soil and some pretty pansy faces and I have a woodland garden! ~

 As soon as the weather gets a little more cooperative, I'll add some ivy and taller plants to fill it out.

Here's where I need your help.  I've been letting the urn get a rust patina, but it doesn't stand out very well.  Do I give it a coat of distressed white or leave it as it is?  I'm completely undecided and it's so much easier to leave the decision up to you! ~

Not that I'll be painting outside in the next few days.  The view of golden sunset on the forest across the river ~

 quickly turned to this. ~

Will that white stuff never stop falling from the sky?

Yes, it will!  The chives say it will. ~

and the crocus agrees! ~

We officially declare it spring!