☼ Forest & Field Happenings ☼ Groundhog's Day

The gardens are growing as well as the weeds!  I had one little interesting set back...last week I headed up to the garden prepared to thin my beans, only to be surprised that most of their tops had been nipped off... a bummer!  But all was not lost since it was only the seedling leave where nip on some.  So my nature "friend" did my thinning for me.  I am pretty sure it is a groundhog that help itself.  So I put up some counter measures with a bit of snow fence and bird scare tape.  I replanted where the bean plants were completely gone..guess I will get a successive crop.

My defense system is working now for more than a week...the critter got some of my broccoli and cauliflowers too...ah well...

I went about my other gardening tasks which included a bit of rock picking.  When I was done I took the rocks over to the hedge row to dump them.  I threw them in and suddenly I was startled by squeaking and  squealing!  Guess I dumped the rocks unknowingly on someone!  That put runa into full alert!  She make it a practice to pester our friend when ever she is up at this garden with me.  The beans are growing fine again....but I am going to leave my fence up for a bit.

This is right where I dumped my load of rocks...hope squeaker finds a new place to live!

Other Garden News~~~

 Tomatoes are over their transplant shock!

Weeded my summer carrots and beet...can actually see them!

Summer Squash, Artichokes, & Crimson Clover looking pretty :)

....an occasional swing!

Maybe time soon to trim the trails!?

☼ Forest & Field Happenings ☼ FLOWERS!

I do not have formal flower gardens but I do have flowers!  Late June is the peak time for flowers here.  The Lupine it the favorite of my DH so I have planted and divided them everywhere I think they will grow ... and ... not get mowed over by the same DH!

Here is a little tour of the flowers that are blooming ~~~

Siberian Iris are at their peak all around the pond!

I received a gift clump 20 + years ago and have just been dividing & dividing...

The first plant that I planted on this land was my Rhododendron...the Washington State Flower.   It was hit hard this winter but I am happy to say that it is bouncing back with flowers and new growth...phew...I was a bit worried!

This ever expanding Wild Rose briar patch came with the land....looks like I should add gathering rose petals to my to do list!

Hoping for a good blackberry year...looking promising with the cultivated & the wild!

These Peonies I dug up and transplanted from the house we had before...never found a place for them around the house...but they seem happy here on this slope...a nice bouquet for the house!

Can't forget the wild ones...I am on a crusade to spread Milkweed to feed the Monarchs...more on that another time... http://monarchwatch.org/

Thought these spent dandelions looked sort of nice....

One of my favorite woodland flowers ~ Jack-in-the-Pulpit

“If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.” 

the Buddha

Summer Solstice ~~~Gratitude~~~

I have been in this neck of the woods since 1986.  Over the years I have become a part of a wonderful community.  There are the usual get togethers around the expected events in folks lives but, I have had the Extra Ordinary experience of being a part of a group of women that celebrate and share our most intimate dreams and thoughts.  The group has been fluid over the years meeting often or occasionally.  The "members" evolve as well, some new and some I have known since 1986.  Busy lives and possibly growth has had the group evolve to meeting twice a year on the winter and summer solstices.  Our most common custom is to share a meal and spend the night around a campfire.  But this year we had a very special gathering out on a boat in Belfast harbor!

Someone in the group followed her dream big time!  She got a boat!  We were invited!  It was amazing, wonderful, and a wee bit adventurous!  It took two launch rides to get us all out to the outer edge of the moorings.  It was a perfect night!  

I am inclined to spend much time alone.  I actually hadn't been to one of these gatherings in a few years.  But I could not resist the the lure of the sea!  I am so glad I went and not just for the great venue and delicious food.  I am grateful to be a part of these women's lives.  I am grateful to be growing old together with them.  I am grateful for a place that confidences, dreams, sorrows, and joys can be shared.  

I am a lucky gal!  Thanks ~YOU~ know whos!

A beautiful evening spent with beautiful friends on the beautiful waters of Belfast, Maine.  

~~~

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'~~~

Solstice ~ Summer Dress

It summer, no ifs ands or buts about it!  Summer is great but, believe it or not, it is my least favorite season.  Sometimes all the work of my chosen lifestyle gets to me.  It is also the time I call the itchy, scratchy, sweaty time.  Summer's saving graces include swimming & the hope of tomatoes.  Swimming has started (6 laps today...bit cold...!), tomatoes are still a dream.  Today, the first day of summer I have been in sort of a funk.  I usually set Tuesdays & Thursdays aside to do Etsy work but I couldn't quite muster the energy for that or garden work.  I puttered around being ineffective this morning so I decided to give my Self the afternoon off!  I decided to sew for my Self (+ it is noisy outside ~ it is haying time in the neighborhood)

I am a dress wearer.  No philosophical reasons, I just find them more comfortable than pants...plus they are fun to sew!  I literally wear my work dresses until they fall apart.  Last summer my favorite thrift shop summer work dress finally bit the dust.  So I took it apart and made a pattern with some improvements.  

This is the dress I made last summer. But with only one favorite and many of my other dresses falling apart it was time to sew another.  I had actually cut it out the second last summer and never got around to sewing it!  I cut out a couple of project last summer but I choose the work dress because it is what I need most.

I actually thought at first I could get all 3 projects done today...not a chance.  It has been awhile since I made a dress...last summer!  I made a few boo-boos at first until I got into the flow.  One thing that is fun for me about dress sewing is that I can go fast on my sewing machine!!  Puppet making is mostly at clutch speed for accuracy.  I even checked my email while I was doing the final reinforcing finish to the side seams.  (I felt like a show off to my Self!)

Here is the finished dress.  Some to the features I like about this design is the slightly forward seam pockets.  (must have pockets for Runa treats!) The high neckline helps with sun protection a bit.  I added a pocket to the bodice for my Ipod.  I like to listen to books or music during my walks or tedious tasks like carrot thinning.  This dress will never see an iron again.  It will probably never be worn off this property either.  Now the other one can go in the laundry!  

These projects will have to wait for another day...hopefully not until next summer!

Mirror Selfie with the new dress...dangerously sewing with barefeet...uncombed hair due to earlier funky feeling...all better now!  Time for a cup of tea!

~~~Gratitude~~~ Birds of a Feather Flock Together

It has been great weather for ducks and mosquitoes this past week ~ wet and rainy.  But my spirits have not been dampened.  I am grateful for the water in the gardens and the easier weeding that I will get too tomorrow.  My life has been for the birds lately...but not the downer this idiom suggests, it has been quite lovely.  First I found a bigger tub for my duckies among the things in the shed. But this will have to do until they are ready to fly the coop and be free ranging quackers.

 

Have been forgetting to tell you that a fine little Phoebe has been feathering her nest on one of the duck house windows.  2 days ago the chicks hatched.  I have been giving them space but I could not resist zooming in for a photo of these little beauties. Just completely cunning!

 

Then the other day Runa and I were startle by the circle of life as turkey chicks exploded all around us.  I could only get a photo (I had my lens cap on..drat!) of the mother running away clucking "follow me...follow me!!" 

Finally, I have had a number of sightings in the neighborhood of the 5 Raven family since they fledged from our forest.  Of course, I never seem to have the camera.  I did happen to have my camera and startled them near the road.  Most of the photos were too bleary to share but I got this one good one of two in flight.

So what have I been doing all week during this not so gardening worthy weather?  Making bird puppets!  My imagination took flight and I have new design...Raven Puppet.  Parrots & Owls are in the shop, Kingfishers in progress, Red-Winged Blackbird soon to follow.  Raven just needs some thread snips and a photo session.

 https://www.etsy.com/shop/InJoyEcoCutie?ref=hdr_shop_menu

Grateful for Beautiful Birds!

and even a poem today ~ thanks to rain the has kept me more indoors

Bird

Pablo Neruda

It was passed from one bird to another,
the whole gift of the day.
The day went from flute to flute,
went dressed in vegetation,
in flights which opened a tunnel
through the wind would pass
to where birds were breaking open
the dense blue air -
and there, night came in.

When I returned from so many journeys,
I stayed suspended and green
between sun and geography -
I saw how wings worked,
how perfumes are transmitted
by feathery telegraph,
and from above I saw the path,
the springs and the roof tiles,
the fishermen at their trades,
the trousers of the foam;
I saw it all from my green sky.
I had no more alphabet
than the swallows in their courses,
the tiny, shining water
of the small bird on fire
which dances out of the pollen.

~~~

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'~~~