Summer Reading

Sometimes I Draw People

Like this:
And this:
(And sometimes I fail to crop them because I forget how).

Volunteer Nasturtium

This one self-seeded from ones I planted last year. Love the lily pad- shaped leaves. Nasties are edible.
They look pretty on salads.

Korean Angelica Bustin' Out

Not So Shiny

If you are having trouble keeping your sink clean, click here. (Actually, I'm trying to get around to filling this roadside find with flowering annuals).

New Plates!

Just Barney and Orchid

This one's been blooming for four months straight.

Last Week's Weather Event

Hail and 60mph gusts. I was SURE the hollyhocks and bee balm were gonna be flattened but they were hardly touched. A few flowers got knocked down here and there which gave me an excuse to cut them and bring them inside. Scary storm though. I hid here in the office hoping that if the big tree came down it'd miss me. Mister was driving home in it and got to see a lightning strike. We were both a tad shaken when it was over. Funny thing is that I didn't give my car- parked right under the big tree- a second thought. It's all about the flowers, kids.

Fresh Love

My Italian Lady, I don't know her name, she's been a vendor at the local farmers' market for years. She has a heavy accent and sells awesome stuff. This time, I got garlic greens, a plate of kick-ass homemade cookies and This Bouquet. She ties them with ribbons and says they are "like frrresh luff!" The peonies didn't last long, but they perfumed the whole living room.

Also, I took Monster with me to the market and he was a total rock star! People fawned all over his gorgeousness and one vendor gave him half a gourmet turkey sandwich on the grounds that she had to "cut some up for samples anyway". Or perhaps he is just that awesome.

Hmmm....

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius,power and magic in it.

~ Goethe ~

The dream is still a little vague, though. I reckon I gotta work on that. It's a mishmosh of Italy and warm weather (heavily influenced by my currently freezing hands), fields of flowers, music, being surrounded by art and good dogs and brave people, working with my hands, being content. I don't have a photo that matches all of that, but here's some snazzy roses, anyway. I dig it.

Can't We Just Skip Ahead to Summer?!

Sigh. I was flipping through pix trying to decide what to blog about today and got as far as June of 2007.

Fresh strawberries, Johnny-Jump-Ups, trees in full leaf, our friends' pool...

It's way warmer than average today, but dang I miss summer!

RushRushRush!

Our party is tonight... the wreaths aren't made, the driveway isn't plowed, the food shopping isn't done, the drink station isn't set up, and on and on. But ya know what? My mister is getting home early, Dad is coming to help and it's all gonna come together. Besides, the Christmas cactus looks lovely!

We're having Winter House to celebrate the season. It just so happens that it coincides with the Winter Solstice- 1:08 am EST, so I reckon we'll be having a bonfire in addition to slot car racing in the kitchen and a wreath-making station in the bathroom!

Remember When I Said I Was Going to Play in the Dirt?

Morning, kids! Look what we have here- Paperwhite kits for sale!

What's available: Little kits (one bulb per pot) $10

Larger kits (3 bulbs per pot) $20

What you get: Clear, very simple instructions and a cluster of lovely, fragrant little flowers about 5 weeks after you start watering them.

Bonus: They come securely packaged in a 6" square box with ribbon and a name tag. One less gift to buy and wrap!

To order: Just shoot us an e-mail (brokenbarn@gmail.com) and tell me how many/ what size. We accept Paypal, USPS money orders, cold hard cash and/ or heavy labor in trade.

They're a great gift for gardeners, but I think anyone can appreciate flowers blooming in the house in the dead of winter! If you click on the "paperwhites" tag at the end of this post, you'll see a picture of mine in bloom.

In Which I Am Just Like Giada

Perhaps some of you are familiar with Giada from the Food Network- the super hot Italian lady. Well, I am just like her as evidenced by the following: We both have brown hair. We both like pasta. We both have boobs. (Hers are much grander, but let's not split hairs here). More importantly, we both cook. I don't have a fancy television show all my own (yet), but I do have an amazing recipe for you, kids. It is:

Beanie Weenie For Grownups

1 box Zatarain's New Orleans Style Dirty Rice mix
4 hot dogs

Cook the rice just like how it says on the box. Cut the hot dogs into bite-sized morsels. Add them to the rice as it's cooking so the hot dogs will be hot. Then you eat it. The end.

It's REALLY good. And that, my friends, is the main and possibly only difference between Giada and me- I don't complicate the dinner world.

Flowers in the Snow

It's gettting darker and colder and snowier.
In anticipation of the Dark Days, I potted up these paperwhite narcissus a few weeks back.
Takes 'em about 5 weeks to hit bloom size. The flowers last about 2 weeks- more if you keep them in a cool room out of direct sunlight. I have mine in the window but there's so little sun this time of year that it hasn't shortened the bloom time.

They make a lovely gift this time of year...

Click on the pix for a zoom :)

I Got My Boots- Woohoo!

Good morning, kids! Yesterday was a banner day at the Barn for several reasons. First of all, my new boots came via FedEx first thing in the morning. I wasn't even dressed yet, but I was so excited that I put them on with my pajamas! So much awesome (see pic).

After that, I shipped a lovely apple pie direct to NYC. Can ya stand it? People in the Big Apple have every food imaginable right at their fingertips, and yet they want OUR pie! This is the first time we've attempted shipping. Our gracious customer agreed to take pix when it arrives so we can make sure it survived intact. I have a good feeling about this and foresee more shipping in the future.

What's everyone up to today? I'm gonna spend the day catching up on things, wrapping goodies, visiting and scoring a bathroom scale- so does anyone out there have one you aren't using? If so, I want it for calculating postage! Think of it as a treasure hunt. Whoever gives me one gets a prize! (And no, the prize will not be a massive $30 pie- sorry. The prize is little, but big fun!)

That's all for now, kids. Take joy, as Tasha Tudor would say. If you don't know who she is, she's so worth a Google!

PS: By the by, that beautiful plant on the table is my Walking Iris. She's supposed to bloom in January or February. Gotta have the flowers! And those are catalpa seed pods in the vase. I'm gonna grow me a tree come springtime :)

Flowers For All of You! (Well, cyber flowers, anyway)

These are for all of you that clicked on us or sent us on to friends yesterday- thank you! We got over 60 hits and two pie orders- you guys rock!

That arrangement was made entirely from flowers that grow here on the farm- nice, huh? In addition to those, we planted over 150 bulbs this fall and loads of other perennials, so spring is gonna be really exciting! We also got our first seed catalogs this past week. I have my eye on the $150 lady slippers.

I know- it's Christmas time, and I'm getting way ahead of myself, but kids, I love flowers. Besides, we do have 2 Christmas cacti in bloom, plus I plan to get poinsettias and mistletoe soon.

Okay, my coffee's kickin' in. Time to start my day.

Thanks for clicking!

PS: Props to my mister for his mad photo skillz!