june

I'm actively adding something positive to June, by participating in #growjune on twitter. It's a monthly art challenge; people try to post a new piece each day, with either a certain theme (like #growjune) or in a particular medium (like #paintSeptember). Running a hashtag search instantly displays everything that has been posted each day. The results are varied and interesting!

It's just a fun way for people at any level to share work and encourage each other. If you feel like jumping in, let me know!

I may not manage to post something every day in #growjune - but I will try. It's very satisfying to look back and see seven or twelve or twenty-five pieces in a month.

Would you like to see my first effort for #growjune 2017? It's this ink and watercolor sketch of a section of Solomon's Plume. And that's my actual thumb at the bottom, not a super-realistic painting of my thumb ;)

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memorial day

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saying it with flowers

Thank you for your comments on the previous post - I'm happy to report that it was perfectly lovely - I've never been to a nicer wedding! I had an excellent time, as did the friends I travelled with, and, as far as I could tell, everyone else at the event.

The week since has gotten away from me a bit, but all is well, the animals are fine, and enough about me, wouldn't you like to see some flowers?

rhododendron and birch, at the wedding reception

Since last Saturday, we've had a series of mizzling drizzling raw rainy days. And nights. The paddocks are soggy and the black flies and mosquitoes are having a field day biting all of us warm-blooded creatures. (Actually they do that rain or shine, drat the wretched things.)

In the midst of all this rain, the sun has occasionally appeared
to dazzle us with it's sudden exuberance!

Look! The Amsonia is budding:

An iris that struggled last year is blooming for the first time:

And do you have wild geranium where you live?

This is Geranium maculatum - a hardy little native...

whose cheery flowers are popping up everywhere:

Finally (for today's post), the always-elegant columbine.
They grew thigh-high seemingly overnight,
and I'm so grateful the rain hasn't destroyed all the delicate blossoms:

Just a little postcard from the land of wet flowers :)

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going to the chapel

And also the Country Club.
Big doings this weekend, as my Occasional Helper is getting married and - to my surprise and pleasure - he and his fiancee invited me to the wedding.

Friends in town are picking me up, so I don't have to drive across the Commonwealth - which, to me, makes a huge difference in how many hours I can reasonably hope to be physically comfortable. In fact, it makes the difference in whether or not I could attend this wedding at all. I am so grateful to be a passenger!

I'll be wearing a calf-length short-sleeved cotton dress, and - unless it is too hot - a favorite vest:

My best silver necklace has been retrieved from it's box in the corner cabinet, and polished.

A new wide-brimmed straw hat was purchased for the event.

And I intend to wear my Actual Shoes.

I may be the most casually-dressed person at this shindig, but I'm making an effort. People who know me will probably think "Ooh, Quinn very dressed up all fancy!" when they see me. And anyway, I'm pretty sure I've not been invited to glam things up.

My Occasional Helper is a really special person, and I'm touched to be invited to share this special day. Even if it takes a few days to re-energize afterward, it will be worth it.

Here is the gift, handmade in Massachusetts.

For a plate, I think it is extremely evocative.

I wonder if they will use it as a plate or hang it on the wall?

Maybe both?

Morning chores were done so early this morning, the goats probably think they dreamt their breakfast buckets. Extra hay and water are available all over the paddocks in case I am tired when I get home tonight, or, as I told the goats, because everyone gets Special Extra Food today because we are ALL celebrating on behalf of our friend. The one who cheerfully carries 50-pound sacks of oats from the car to the barns.

I hope you all have a special Saturday.

If you don't have something special planned, please feel free to celebrate with the Cloud Harvest Cashmere gang...

Special Extra Food required!

:)

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not quite planting time

It's been too cold to plant. I mean, it's been really cold.

Giant kettle of soup cold.

Stodgy-meal cold.

I've even turned the heat on for the past few nights so Piper won't think Winter is back. Heat on in May! Good gracious.

Despite the weather, watching the spring wildflowers appearing and the trees blooming and beginning to leaf out is endlessly exciting.

Unfortunately, the cold nights and overcast days have meant a struggle for some, like these Solomon's Seal plants you saw earlier:

These greening and fast-moving days make me feel I'm late getting the vegetable garden started, but in fact it is still too cold for the things I intend to plant. That said, between the rainy spells there's plenty of prep work to be done in the gardens before anything is planted. A couple of weeks ago I marked out the six upper rows in the terrace vegetable garden, and my helper rough-dug the rows and reinstalled a section of garden fence we had taken down in the autumn.

This is what the rows look like after the soil is just turned over...I think you can see a few rocks there?

So I have to go over each row, foot by foot, sifting the soil through my fingers and tossing the rocks into a bucket. I got one row done last week, on a day when the rain held off til evening. This row is ready to plant as soon as the weather warms up:

Only five more rows to go!

Then there's a new little experimental raised bed in the works, for a hill of either squash or cukes - something that will grow on a trellis. It doesn't look like much yet:

This little bed is on a stony bit of slope and I am trying to support the downhill edge of the bed with rocks sifted from the planting rows. A first layer of organic material has been piled up around a 5-gallon bucket, and there will be some soil added to the top. The bucket has holes drilled in it near the bottom, and my plan is to use it as a waterer, to help roots find deeper moisture in the summer.

I don't plan to buy much seed this year - maybe just summer squash and pole beans. I've saved seed from some of last year's success stories: the candy roaster squash, suyo long cucumbers, and popcorn. I also have Egyptian "walking onions" and field peas ordered last Autumn. All of the above came from Sow True Seed - the Appalachian seed company I learned about from Tipper at the Blind Pig and the Acorn blog. You may recall that Tipper kindly allowed this Yankee to participate several times in her annual seed-testing project, which has been great fun.

This year, Tipper has become a Sow True Seed affiliate: here is Tipper's brand-new affiliate link to the Sow True Seed online catalog, in case you'd care to visit. I really appreciate what these folks are doing to preserve and distribute heirloom varieties.

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How about you? How are your gardens - or garden plans - or next year's garden plans, for those readers living in the southern hemisphere - coming along?

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