Monday, June 1, 2015

Waking Up Worms

Hey, there's a rabbit on the table.

Can you believe that the year is half over? I am having a hard time accounting for what I have done so far, which is probably a symptom of retirement--the days seem to blend. In years past, my life had a predictable rhythm that ebbed and flowed with the academic year. The days still fly by, but now I have a harder time remembering what I did yesterday, let alone last week.
Sadie Jane Comes to Visit

We have sun this morning. Bright, golden, warm. We are so woefully behind in the garden. The Head Gardener ran the tiler through the beds late yesterday to dispense with the new crop of baby weeds. We decided late in the day to put the scrawny, home grown tomato sets in, but they looked so pathetic, and it was a bit breezy so we opted out, putting them in the barn to harden off.

The Week in Review

Meet Sadie Jane Anderson from Haxtun, CO, a French Bulldog, 12 weeks old. She took her first official road trip and sleep-over with her parents, our friends Dave and Sherry. She loved the Garden Spot.

She met Pop. Sundance isn't that social and was too busy eating to meet the guest.


Mom helped her feed Pop a cookie.


She had her first glamor photo shoot.


She discovered chickens. And she still wasn't tired--mom was.



We grow a healthy crop of chamomile each year and each year I pull it out. This year I got it pulled before it went to seed. The first 3 photos show the east side of the center circle that I tackled alone. I spent a couple of mornings pulling weeds, waking up worms as I worked. I remembered as a kid digging for worms to go fishing, but the worms are protected here, nearly as sacred as pollinators, living in a garden sanctuary where they do their job of aeration and amending the soil. The bottom photo shows the mess on the west side with a substantial crop of more chamomile and a hardy growth of cheat (tickle)grass that blows in. With help of the HG, we got that area cleared last night. With some prep work left , the area be with cover with fabric weed barrier and wood mulch.

New Voices in the Garden and Some Tiny Faces


Forget me Nots that I purchased last year the the Denver Botanical Plant Sale. They barely survived the winter.


Tiny Sea Thrift, one of several varieties in the garden.


Speedwell, a favorite ground cover, blooming early and if I am lucky later on in the summer, too. 


The iris are finally in full bloom, but they are rather disappointing this year. They took a big hit with cold weather, including a hard frost just as the early ones were beginning to bloom. 


A new color to bloom this year. This iris showed up practically on top of Shropshire Lad, the David Austin Rose. I will cut the iris back when it is done blooming.


My only lupin that I planted last year is finally blooming. Love the colors.


The ornamental strawberries will bloom only once in the summer. I love the carpet of little pink flowers in the fairy garden.


I happened to have my camera with me when I walked out to pick up the mail. I had to take these cloud shots: The Bear


And I thought of Denise over at  House at Forest Manor and her pup Duncan. Do you see the Scottie Dog prancing in the clouds? He even has a little tail.

We're All Mad


Every spring, Jen has a tea party for the little girls. This year's theme was Alice in Wonderland. I wish I had an image of her invitation to share. She makes decorations and bakes. The White Rabbit finally showed up. Late as the story goes. (You haven't met Peter, Ellie's pet rabbit. He lives in the house in a cage. He is a very sweet, gentle soul and I am thinking 5 years old. Is that old for a rabbit?)


She spent days rounding up odd ball chairs, mostly from our barn that had been my mom's.




I love her petit fours.  They turned out so perfect.


                                    The Queen of Hearts                           The Mad Hatter


My sweet boys with Lucy, the little ballerina. Her recital was yesterday. They boys will be up next week, so there will be more adventures to share.  (I wonder if Nathan's shirt is a hint about their summer vacation destination. And of course Jacob sports a Colorado State U ram shirt.)




I pulled the first of the rhubarb along with a bit asparagus. 



 I cooked a huge pot of rhubarb to make sauce. Some call it a compote; my mom just called it rhubarb sauce. I like compote. I saved the juice to make jelly. It's in the freezer now waiting for me to get inspired.

Don't the jars look pretty on the new counter top with a blinged-up backsplash? We have one more thing to add--outlet covers--before I give you the grand tour.

This week will be busy, too. I'll be visiting you all week, so thanks so much for stopping by. Happy June. 

18 comments:

  1. Sadie is a cutie, looks like she had a nice tour of the place seeing the horse and chickens. Your flowers and gardens are lovely. And the tea party is adorable, what fun for the girls. Happy June! Enjoy your day and the new week ahead!

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  2. You live in zone 5? I'm so jealous! LOL I love the photos, and am wondering what it is about horses that just pulls at our heartstrings! They're such amazing animals. Love the bunny on the table. I think I need a bunny around here. The darling little ballerina and her sidekicks are so CUTE!!!

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  3. Lovely photo's from the garden spot Ann. What a delight to have all those animals around! Happy to see your weather has changed for the good to and spring flowers appear!

    Happy week! Madelief x

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  4. Hi Ann, It looks like spring has finally arrived for you in Colorado. Yay!!! Little Sadie is just adorable; French bulldogs are so cute. :-D I have a friend who has two of them. I love all your flowers; you have such a wide variety of them. I wish we did. I especially love the Forget-me-nots, the Iris, and the Lupins. It took me a minute, but I finally picked out the Scottie in the cloud picture. :-D Thanks for mentioning us in your post; Duncan will be surprised to know he's famous in blogland. ;) What a lovely party your daughter gave for the girls. I love the table with the pretty white tablecloth and the petit fours -- so pretty! That is the sweetest-looking rabbit; he's so well-behaved!!

    As always, I enjoyed your post, Ann, and I can see that you've been very busy. I hope you have a great week, and I can't wait to see your kitchen reveal!

    Hugs,

    Denise

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  5. Glad you have sun finally and the plants are growing and blooming nicely. I love to sea that girls teaparty, the different chairs around the table, the delicious petits fours and a living rabbit on the table, instead of cooked in a pan. I suppose the girls and you too had a lot of fun. Oh, and the boys were invited too.
    Wish you a nice and sunny week!

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  6. Hi Ann! The fairy garden is so sweet! I LOVE the tea party!
    Your plants are looking lovely so far!
    Weeds. Such a pain.

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  7. Sadie Jane is a beauty! Glad she came to visit. I love all your beautiful gardens and flowers ... And am fairly drooling over the rhubarb, which I haven't even seen in a grocery store for years. Like daffodils, violets, and lilacs, it's too darn hot! (The downside of having no winter is having no spring!). I am glad you have some sunshine . So are our Colorado kids.

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  8. Nice to see a bit of sun in your garden for a change - the lands seem to appreciate it too. The party looked like great fun and a lot of effort had been put into it. Have a good week and don't work too hard.

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  9. That should read the flowers not the lands auto correct is an idiot.

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  10. Oh no! The year won't be half over until the END of June, surely. We're just 5 months in now.
    Fun to see all the happenings around your place. The party table with all the different chairs is great. Yummy rhubarb - I like compote, too.

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  11. Oh I want to come to that tea party...such a lovely garden with all the flowers...and I put in my scrawny tomato seedlings after hardening them off...thankfully we finally got some rain here and they are happier than they were....Sadie Jane is a cutie pie...and she looks a bit devilish too!

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  12. Sadie Jane is a sweetheart and must have loved all the sights and smells at your place.
    From all the lupin seeds I planted last year only one plant has popped up and it has pink flowers too.
    The tea party looks like fun and yum, who wouldn't want a turquoise petit-four?
    I pretty much only stew - or cook down my rhubarb with a bit of sugar. So many people have never had it or don't like the taste but I have 2 patches for my use.
    Thanks for linking to Mosaic Monday Ann.

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  13. Ann, I love the rabbit on the table. Yes, it's rhubarb time. The jars look good. Sylvia D.

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  14. That tea party looks like it was lots of fun!! I love rhubarb, made my first rhubarb crisp of the season yesterday... yummy!!

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  15. Beautiful animal friends and lovely flowers! I like especially the photo of your Forget Me Nots and the beautiful plant next to them. Lupins are always beautiful.
    The little girls' tea party looks lovely, and so do your jars of rhubarb sauce. We had rhubarbs growing years ago. I think we must plant some new ones, since I have seen many lovely rhubarb pie recipes recently.
    Have a great day!

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  16. Waking up worms...I've never thought of it as that, but yes I am grateful that they are in my ground also. When we moved here there were so few, I was startled, and now turn over any piece of sod, sift soil...and worms, glorious worms!

    The kids look like they had the best time! And a white rabbit, that must have made the party even more of a special event. What cutie!

    Jen

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  17. Waking up worms...I've never thought of it as that, but yes I am grateful that they are in my ground also. When we moved here there were so few, I was startled, and now turn over any piece of sod, sift soil...and worms, glorious worms!

    The kids look like they had the best time! And a white rabbit, that must have made the party even more of a special event. What cutie!

    Jen

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  18. I have some crazy chamomile here too, but it's nothing compared to yours! I really should pull it out, but the flowers are so charming. Love that Alice in Wonderful tea, what fun! And your iris looks beautiful to me, don't know why you found them disappointing. That Sadie sure is a cutie. She'll fit right in there at the farm.

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