---Shop News--- ☼ Forest & Field Happenings ☼ ~~~Gratitude~~~

My life is FULL of random abandoned.  Finding time to be here, blogging, is become more and more difficult.  Abundance calls and garden produce waits for no woman!  Right now as I type I am multi tasking.  I have dinner in the oven with a timer set.  Every few minutes I will be running downstairs to attend to things, then back up here to type a few words.  No complaints, it is amazing how much I can write in 5 minutes!  So my dear reader, please, bear with me during this busy time.  I will be here as much as I can.

 Some Days are like this

&

 Some Days are like this 

In Between all that the laundry needs doing, the meals prepared, before I know it all that wood will need to be brought in for the winter. This week I had just a wee bit of stress around all that needs doing.  The best cure for me from that kind of stress is a very productive day.  I am happy to say yesterday was such a day!  Everything in that wheelbarrow has been dealt with!

My sewing room and Etsy office are in disarray with many projects in progress.  Photos need taking, listing need doing, printing, tagging, bookkeeping....etc, etc, etc!  But I am very grateful, this month already I am averaging a more than a sale a day!!!  I counted up my sales in all 4 shops and they equal over 500 since I started with Esty in January 2012, not too shabby.

I had planned another "productive" day to get me further from my mental angst.  All started well with the reconstruction of my kitchen after yesterdays produce palooza ( got everything dealt with from the wheelbarrow...I didn't say I got the kitchen cleaned up...I am not super woman!)...when a very tall young man, who it still amazes me that he is actually, my child, came to me and asked if I would make lunch and watch a soccer game with him.  I hesitated, feeling that welling rush of stress, then he looked at me with doe eyes and said pleeeease.  He will be off to college in 2 weeks.  I enjoy soccer only because he has schooled me to enjoy it.  Without him I will never watch soccer again.  So lunch was cheese, crackers, cucumbers, tomatoes, and my famous eggplant relish.  We huddled together around his laptop and watched Arsenal barely beat Crystal Palace 2-1.  Good thing since the boyo is an Arsenal man.  And yes he is a man and I am his mother.  These moments are more rare than the perfect, purple, bug free, cauliflower.

~~~Gratitude~~~ Bounty! & Beetles?

Summer garden bounty has arrived!  Pretty much everyday there is something to put by for winter and, definitely, plenty to eat NOW! (yes! I grew artichokes again this year~fun!) Mostly freezing and dehydrating at this point.  Not quite enough volume for tomato canning just yet.  Slicing and blanching are the words for these days.  Other tasks continue as well...there is still the continued beetle battle....oh sigh.  I must say I am a bit weary of this particular chore.

Here is today's harvest of insects...some potato beetle too.  It is just getting yucky! I need to get out there each day and gather.  Pretty much collect the same number each time.  So morning or night when the air is a bit cooler I do my duty.  (if you try this in the heat of the day the Japanese Beetles will just fly away)

 Philosophy is needed to get going and finish.  So today I tried to think up beetle gratitudes.  Ok~~~here is what I came up with....  I am grateful I found a caterpillar nest in the hazelnuts while it was still just eggs during my beetle hunt, I may have missed it otherwise.  Japanese Beetles are not as gross to squish by hand as caterpillars.  When you squeeze a Japanese Beetle to death it's guts won't squirt you in the eye...this happens sometimes with large soft bodied potato beetles...seriously yucky!

When a JB falls into your shoe it doesn't bite...just a bit creepy crawly...at least you capture it!

 They are sort of beautiful in their own scarab beetles way~~~

The ducks are still devouring them with delight!

And then there is my Mountain Ash Tree or Rowan, by another name.  The beetles have really done a number on it.  This tree and I go back a bit.  It is the tree that I planted when my son was born.  Rowan was my secret girlhood name.  We had a Mt Ash in the yard where I grew up, I thought the tree had magical powers.  Maybe, I thought my son would love this tree like did as a child.  Well, his path is different than mine, as it should be.  This is my tree.  It has been through a lot.  When we first planted it it was attacked by borers.  After surviving that with my help, it became the favorite meal of a local sapsucker for a few years.   It was so weakened one year is didn't put out any leaves so we cut it to the ground.  From the rootstock  a hardier bush emerged. It did pretty well for a few years and even produced some berries once.  Then the Beetles came.  This year has been rougher than past seasons. The beetles munch on it's leaves and I shake it each night to try and help it out.  I thought this year is was a goner until a week ago.  I looked up one day and saw New Growth!  Nature has it's way!  I hope to live long enough to see the beetles find a balance in their new found ecosystem. In the meantime, I will take heart in the fact that nature is tenacious and resilient!  Like this tree I have had some hard times but new growth is always what comes from those experiences!

Wonder and Beauty Abound! 

Last nights Super Moon 

 ~~~

It is my intention, each week, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your gratitude moments. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~~

Everything is Just Duckie!

My sweeties arrived on another grey day in Maine.  They certainly have brightened thing up for me.  More rain on the way for today....I did manage to get 5 loads of laundry dry yesterday...just barely.  Very happy to have this wick cute distraction!

My son got a job at the local grocery store for the summer.  He is working in produce and starts work at 7:00am.  After dropping him off I headed to the post office to pick up my ducklings!

They came in this box via airmail...the only flying these flightless duck will experience.  Home in about 7 minutes...

Here they are soooo cute.  13 ducks ~ they sent a spare.  So the first step is to take them out one by one and dip their bill into the water to be sure they get a drink.  Then they are free to roam about the brooder.

Ok~~ I am a new "mom" so lots of photos.  If these are not enough you can now follow me on Instagram! http://instagram.com/injoyemporium   They are a major distraction!  But I finally left to get some other things done.  But an hour later I came back with some greens.  Chopped dandelion and tender grass.

Duck viewing seats...what can I say?

I also noticed that one duck was acting lethargic.  I picked her up and she had a bit of blood coming out of her vent.  So I separated her from the others but, gave her a little window so she wouldn't feel so distressed by the separation.

Sorry to say she was dead this morning.  Such is the way of things and I am sure plenty die at the hatchery but it does make me a little sad.  I will bury her, funny how that will make me feel better than offering her to the ravens...I didn't mind giving the ravens the vole Runa killed.  We are funny creatures we humans.

I did manage to get some other work done between mooning over the ducks...

Broccoli & Cauliflower Planted ~ Black flies Biting ~ Grass needs Mowing

The Skies cleared a bit in the evening so Runa & I had a little walk.....

~I did sleep well last night~

☼ Forest & Field Happenings ☼

The earth is waking up~~~Finally!

Ravens are very active and seem to be accepting me more each day. I found some gifted venison in the freezer...I was too polite to say no but didn't really want to eat it.  Chopped it up and am leaving for the Ravens!

I was talking to this Raven...seems to be listening!

Finally captured a view in the nest!

Trilliums about to bloom!

First Dandelions ~ Saw my first bumblebee today!

Grass seems to have greened up over night!

Finished my Raspberry Rehab Project ~ 20 bags of cedar mulch workout!

Teeny Tiny Asparagus Emerges!

 Can you see my path into the woods~ Pause & See

AND Finally...a young man returns for the summer...one year down 3 to go!

a very !!!! week!

---Shop News---

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MzM1ODA4MTN8MjcyNDc4Mjg3OA/maine-gardens?ref=pr_treasury

 Well, my life has been mostly in my gardens these days.  So when I managed to get on my computer yesterday I made a treasury celebrating the garden!  All  items come from members of the Maine Team on Etsy ~ handmade in my wonderful home state of MAINE!

I do have my new stand-up computer station ready to rock-n-roll and it is doing my wrists wonders!  But I forgot to anticipate how tired I get after gardening all day...it is hard to list items while I am asleep on my feet.  So not working as late as I once was...which is a good thing...more needed sleep.  The stand up computer desk has not only been good for my body but my mind as well.  I am spending less time goofing around on the computer (I do have an iPad...so some goofing going on with it...but less overall)  I always want to get more done in a day than I do but, I am at peace with how thing end up flowing.

I am very happy in the gardens this year which maybe the results of last summers sabbatical.  I am enjoying the quiet and solitude I experience here.  I feel very in balance this year with the growing and goings.  Even the Japanese Beetles are not getting me down.  Enjoying the little pleasures of small garden wonders.  It is good to be alive with the growth of summer not to mention yummy too!

cute little cuke

"pond view garden" tomatoes trying to ripen

what I call the "big" garden

"south garden" full of garlic and potatoes! (duckingham palace & asparagus)

Before you know the winter winds will be blowing and there will be time for renewed focus on creating arts and crafts.  In the meantime I am going to relish this summer time to it's fullest.  

I do get some sit down time when beans need to be snapped!  

Life is Good ~~~ Wishing the same for you! <3