Category: Nature

Ahhh, the garden …

Boyd

Yesterday was the day, finally, to get outside, put on the gloves and start cleaning out the flower beds and waking them up from their winter nap. It felt so good to have one’s hands in the dirt again, to breath the fresh air, to feel the warm sun on my face.  We cleaned up a mess of old leaves and old growth and every time we unearthed another little plant with it’s new growth struggling upward, it was a joy. It looks like most of the bleeding hearts survived wonderfully, the oriental lilies seem to be coming back strong, and my precious blue delphinium and orange poppies and pink hollyhock are all showing good signs of having wintered over well. But nothing is growing as well as the two clumps of bachelor buttons we transplanted from H’s family land in Lutsen. They have spawned a million little babies all over the place. And the climbing roses even have new leaves popping out all over!

Admittedly, the beds look a little bare today compared to what they have been looking like, but it’s an improvement. We even went out to our favorite garden store, Otten Bros. in Long Lake, and I bought a heliotrope (I like to get one every year but they are not perennial in Minnesota). And we bought a Victoria Red rhubarb plant. I miss the rhubarb I had at 21st Avenue and am looking forward to once again (in a year or two) making rhubarb cobblers and pies.

Of course, I am keenly aware of just how out of shape I am. There are parts of me aching this morning that I had completely forgotten about. I guess that’s what six months of staying inside will do for you. Who am I kidding? That’s what six months of not doing much of anything will do for you. Oh, well, even the ache feels kinda good today. It means we aren’t confined to the house anymore.  On Saturday we have a long-planned trip to Decorah, Iowa to buy our transplant seedlings of heirloom tomatoes and peppers from Seed Savers, a company we like to patronize.  They do such important work.  I can hardly wait!

The tulips are coming, the tulips are coming!

Boyd

Hard to believe since there is still so much snow on the ground, but the local TV station is reporting the current temp as 44 degrees and climbing. If you can’t wait to see buds blooming, (and there’s a woman in Western Washington – you know who you are – who can’t!) you can click here to follow a map showing the progression of tulip blooms from south to north. Oh, I wonder if our 2nd and 3rd year tulips will bloom again? Will the bulbs we planted much too late last year do anything at all? Either way, I can barely wait to find out.

What kind of flower are you?

Boyd

My friend Fran over at Redondowriter posted a link on her blog that caught my interest. We are all ready for spring, if not downright anxious to see winter leave. Yesterday, H and I took off with his mom and sister after church to pay a visit to the Como Conservatory. It was a glorious day to soak up the humidity and the color, to let green imprint itself on our souls again after four months of snow on the ground. In the spirit of the season, follow the link below to find out what kinf of flower you are.

I am a
Canna


What Flower
Are You?

I am canna lily. I can’t seem to find anything about their meaning. OK, I haven’t looked all that much. But I do love the flower and have often thought about planting them, just haven’t gotten around to it. What kind of flower are you?

You know you’re a real Minnesotan when ….

Boyd

It’s sometimes hard for me to believe my own self, given that I famously complained after leaving San Francisco to move back to South Florida that I would never live in a cold climate again, but I am as much of a Minnesotan as any boy from Florida could ever be and my experience this morning confirms it.

You know you’re a real Minnesota when …. you take the dog out for the last piddle of the morning before heading off to work and while standing out in the yard waiting for her to do her business you find yourself thinking …

Well, it is 9 below out, and I suppose I should be lamenting how cold it is like so many others are, but the sun is out and the wind is calm and it’s really quite a nice winter morning, don-chya-no!

So, thereyago. We will leave for another day my favorite Minnestoa-ism which is “fer cute!” (And if you are from Minnesota, you know exactly what that means and how to use it.

Christmas Present

Boyd

I woke up this morning and stepped outside with Beulah only to find the most marvelous snow falling – big, sticky snowflakes that clung to everything like buttercream frosting. I thought I would share with you some pictures from our lovely morning.

Scene from the front porch
Scene from our front door.

8 point buck in the back yard
An eight point buck in the back yard!

Beulah Mae with her gorgeous self posing in front of the fire.
Beulah Mae with her gorgeous self posing in front of the fire.

Cletus us obsessed with both the Christmas trees.
Cletus us obsessed with both the Christmas trees – this is the simple one with only lights and non-breakable ornaments we have upstairs. If it makes it through the season, it will be a miracle, what with Beulah and Cletus both chewing on it every chance they get.

A bit of parting beauty.
A bit of parting beauty.

Winter Beauty

Boyd

If I could explain to you how wondrous the hoar frost looked this morning, I would try to tell you how it looked like a silent hand had passed over the landscape through the night, flocking each bare tree with delicate flakes of diamond-like crystals, so that when the sun rose their brown bones were transformed into twinkling winter magic, ice reflecting the radiance but not containing it. It is a very small thing, to be awestruck into silence by the simple beauty of the rare hoar frost. But it was enough to encourage my soul’s pilot-light of hope into a stronger flame.

That is what I would tell you if I could.

Blackberry Hills Farm Open Studio

Boyd

A couple of weekends ago, I traveled to Wisconsin to visit the Blackberry Hills Farm open studio event. I had never been but I had come across a flyer for it at the Minnesota State Fair when I visited the booth for the Minnesota Lamb and Wool Producers Association.

Karin and Helen petting the farm's friendlier llamas.
Karin and Helen petting the farm’s friendlier llamas.

 

The cream colored llama was not a happy camper!
The cream colored llama was not a happy camper!

 

A stunning vista from the hill at the top of the farm, where the house and studio are located.
A stunning vista from the hill at the top of the farm, where the house and studio are located. Isn’t it beautiful?

 

The yarns I bought.
These are the hand-dyed yarns I bought from their studio. They are, from left to right, (1) a fingering weight sheep’s wool/mohair blend for a pair of socks; (2) an alpaca I’ll probably use to make a hat; and (3) a llama that I will definitely use to make a hat to match the socks!

 

Summer’s Last Glory

Boyd

Tonight they are predicting our first frost of the season, so this may prove to be the natural end of what will be remembered as one of the most memorable summers of my life. So I thought I would share with you some of the final glories of summer before they fade or freeze.

Our backyard deity

And an astronomer said, “Master, what of Time?”

And he answered:

You would measure time the measureless and the immeasurable.

You would adjust your conduct and even direct the course of your spirit according to hours and seasons.

Of time you would make a stream upon whose bank you would sit and watch its flowing.

Yet the timeless in you is aware of life’s timelessness,

And knows that yesterday is but today’s memory and tomorrow is today’s dream.

And that that which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within the bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into space.

Who among you does not feel that his power to love is boundless?

And yet who does not feel that very love, though boundless, encompassed within the centre of his being, and moving not form love thought to love thought, nor from love deeds to other love deeds?

And is not time even as love is, undivided and paceless?

But if in you thought you must measure time into seasons, let each season encircle all the other seasons,

And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing.

The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran

New England Aster
These are flowers that whisper of fall’s fast approach.


I don’t know what this sweet little buttery yellow flower is, but it’s marvelous in its simple beauty.

Pink zinnia
How you could not adore this pink zinnia, that gets deeper and deeper towards the center?

Orange calla lily
I fell in love with calla lillies when I was in Guatemala – they grew wild on the sides of the mountain roads. I decided I wanted to grow some myself.


They are so simple, but I do love coleus and the color it brings to the yard.


This is a magnificent burgundy coleus – the picture doesn’t do it justice.


This lime green and yellow variety we tried this year is luscious, isn’t it?

Sometime later tonight we will pick all the zinnias and tomatoes – and begin the inevitable turn inward that comes with fall.

How I Spent My Weekend

Boyd

We went up to Lutsen on the North Shore for a long holiday weekend. I did exactly what I said I would do – spent a lot of time just sitting and looking out at the lake and knitting. I got my first sock done to the point where I am ready to start on the heel, so my friend who is teaching me to make socks is coming over on Saturday to show me how the rest of it goes. I added a couple of feet in length to my purple scarf and worked quite a bit into the Einstein Coat I am making for myself.

But we also made some jelly. Despite my protests that I wasn’t going to make as much jelly this year because I didn’t want to work that hard, that’s exactly what we did. Here are the pictures to prove it. You can click on “view as slideshow” to have them play through for you. I must say, the end result was worth all the effort. The jelly turned out so good, I may enter it in next year’s fair. I have to look up the rules.

We also saw a black bear (H’s parents and sisters also saw a momma bear and two little cubs the night before), as well as partridge, a terribly handsome bird, and the usual deer. And I learned how to make prune-tapioca pudding from H’s Aunt Joan. I’ve been wanting to learn how to make that for almost two years now and I finally think I can do it after she graciously showed me how she does it. I love the stuff. I know it sounds maybe weird or unappetizing to some, but it’s delicious. And Joan made blueberry pancakes and invited us for breakfast on Monday morning. The pancakes were delicious and while I was there, I browsed her cookbook collection and found two “must have” cookbooks from The Farm Journal. I found them on-line last night from used booksellers and they are already on their way to me! We’ve got some good country farm cooking coming our way soon! And just in time for the cooler weather, too. Perfect!