Do It Yourself Girl Illustration Garden and Farm

How was your Christmas holiday? We had a white one here and it's still white out.
It really is beautiful but if you are not bundled up properly it feels like the North Pole. We run around outside looking fluffy but that means warm and the wind bypasses us.

I've started some new artwork and have a few listed in my etsy store  Dictionaryreader. How many out
there are do it yourself-ers? I know there are many. So here is a little grouping of art
I did for all of us.

Happy New Year is soon! No dieting til then. ;-)

Seeds catalogs are my good friends!

English Garden Mauve Flowers

All of the summer dainties are coming on now. When I walk outside I can't help but snip a few to enjoy inside. I picked a few perennials that were mauve. Mauve is the color the English love to use in their gardens and it seemed fitting today since it is the Queen of England's birthday. (The Queen also loves beautiful gardens I've read. Me too.)  I was tempted to add some contrasting leaves with them, but the flowers were so tiny, except the clematis which looks like a trumphet compared to the small delicate blossoms of verbena, veronica, catmint, agastache, and spiderwart. They are more like tiny bells. Burlap might be considered a bit unrefined but not so when you sprinkle a bouquet  on it.

I  had a jolt when I was pulling out some grass against the rock wall.  I undercovered a garden snake! Eecckkk! Luckily I didn't pick it up with the handful of weeds...and that pretty much ended my weeding for the time being. Snakes are good for organic gardens but we should be working on different schedules I think. This is one time I was glad that I wasn't down on my hands and knees...it's much harder to get up fast. Connecting up with Blooming Tuesdays , Oregon Cottage, Flowers from Today and The House Among Roses

What grows in your garden? Mauves, pinks and whites? Maybe whites, yellows and blue?

Goldcrest Foxglove Digitalis Orange Perennial

A beautiful discovery for me is this bright gold-orange-perennial foxglove. How would this look with burgundy roses? Or white roses? The name of this one is Goldcrest. We can thank David Tristram of England for breeding it. It's really stunning.  More about David Tristram here.

I love how the leaves are more refined and a little grey green. They are not hairy at all.

My tomato plants are still inside and I am so glad now that they are. Last night there was snow on the hills here! It feels so cold after all of the hot weather we enjoyed and on the west coast they are having 81 in Oregon.  We bundled up today at 38 and rain! The second reason I am glad the tomatoes were tucked away is because two sweet Canada Geese dropped in for a visit and they made a dash through the grass to get to the tilled soil and walked all around looking for sprouts. I've never been thankful for weeds as I was today as I left some around the base of the roses and it kept my campanula sprouts hidden! Thank you weeds for keeping my green babies safe. Canada geese are really elegant though. They don't waddle like ducks. Their necks are curved when they walk like a swan... well at least when they are power walking.

One thing was crossed off my to do list this weekend. Hostas were divided in one bed and relocated. So you see the rain for the last 3 days is just what they need not to get burned. They have such tropical looking leaves in mass and you don't have to dig them up like semi tropicals. Whew! They deliver green all summer!  I would never sniff my nose and say they are too common.

Do you all like the new blogger posting page?

Field Notes of Flowers

This spring I am going to keep track of what's blooming, where it's blooming, and when exactly.
Our lilac bushes were not loaded with blooms like last year. Culprit is deer! It's definitely not the bushes as they are green and lush. I like to think of each blossom as a tiny goblet raised up to cheer on Spring. Cheers!

All of the mustard along the roads are like one long waving ribbon! I think they are delicate and pretty.

I would love to do needlework but there is not enough free time for that right now. The next best thing is to put my field flowers on burlap. It's pretty. Simple. I can look at them the rest of the year.

Has everyone else noticed that there are hardly any honey bees out there? The hornets and bumble bees are out, but the last few years the honeybees are a rare thing. I believe it is more than some disease. I'm certain it's all of the pesticides and herbicides. It makes me want to become a beekeeper.

Green Smoothie Time

Throw some spinach in your morning smoothies.

You'll be suprised at how many of your daily vitamins

and minerals you will get in a tall glass.

It's always surprising for people who taste

these for the first time. "It tastes good."

Of course it does!

I looked up the nutrition facts.

Unbelievable. You can't beat

fresh raw fruits and vegetables.

Fresh spinach, one cup=

Protein, Calcium, Iron, Vitamin C,

Vitamin A (56 % of daily req.)

Vitamin E and K, B6, Folate, Calcium, Iron

Thiamin, Magnesium, Potassium, Copper

Fresh pineapple, one cup of cubes=

Vitamin A, C, B6, Copper, Thiamin,

Manganese, Calcium, and Iron

Who would have thought there was

iron in fresh pineapple?

Then there's bananas, mangoes and cranberries.

All loaded with goodies.

Did you know that cranberries,

mangoes and bananas

all have iron in them too?

You can find out all of

the goodness and the "badness"

of the foods you are eating

here

Cinnamon Sticks Table Decorations - Holiday

Vintage silver sparkles for the upcoming holidays. I played around today experimenting with different cinnamon stick arrangements (sweet spicy scent) and other outdoor organic finds I gathered. I am a gatherer! My cream and sugar doing double duty. The tarnished look makes them even more primitive especially against burlap, don't you think?





Cinnamon sticks are versatile! I bought a big box last year of them and their scent is not as potent, it's subtle and yummy now. Some fir tree tips (wonderful scent) were inserted into one cinnamon log/stick and they make quite a cute vase. I like this gingham ribbon better than baker's twine. (Probably because I'm out of it!) The ribbon is soft and silkier and easier on little fingers. I'm thinking of the little sweethearts that will be around our thanksgiving table.

My idea of country farmhouse decorating is to use what you have to make some eye candy. If it's useful too that is even better. Now if it's eye candy, useful and also smells heavenly...I sit up and take note. My cookie cutters came out of their box.

The copper colored bird pulls out the warm browns of the cinnamon. It also means our creativity is taking flight ;-)

A bird filled with holiday greenery. There is a nest in it's heart.

So much fun. Arranging and rearranging and even more ideas blinked in my head.

Lavender stars in this napkin topper. Mini tree bouquets. I did add a pinch of lime green cedar. Greenery and plants make us happy especially as it dips into the 20's tonight.

The cinnamon woods! This year I am hoping the table decorations are just as good as the food. Now to work on the menu again........

I am connecting up with these friends.

The Shabby Creek Cottage

Friday's Unfolded

Inspire Me Friday

Country Cottage

Farm Friend Friday

My Romantic Home

Inspiration Friday

Features and Simply Creations

Wood Kniting Needles and Organic Yarn

Green organic threads! I am in awe of how delicate nature can be. So perfectly coiled on it's own. I took these small vine threads that were attached to little pieces of branches and put it against my painting canvas so you can compare for size! It is a miniature version of what my knitting looks like after I've pulled out rows of stitches--. I just cannot say "I am a knitter," and stand very tall and straight when I say it. More appropriately I could say, "I am a thread winder and unwinder." For some super knitting check out ravelry. A fun group of knitters who can yes, knit! I will continue to "garden knit" for now.

Roses for Lunch? - Beautiful edibles

Most of us know that rose hips are added to teas, but how many know that rose petals are edible as well? That is if you've grown them yourself and they are organic. This notion intrigued me. I brought in a gorgeous, climbing dynamite red rose for a taste. The colors were so striking against the white plate. I got my camera to join me on this unusual dining excursion.

I pulled off the petals in bunches and dropped them onto my plate, in a let's get this over attitude. What lay before me seemed too lovely to partake of. Food for the heart, yes, but food for the stomach? They represent so much more. It's true. I've eaten bright orange and yellow nastursiums in salads and not felt a bit bad about it. Roses just seem holier.

Instead of eating them I left a message that everyone understands. I love roses! These petals are now in a teacup on my counter. Maybe tomorrow I'll get up the nerve and make rose petal ice cream!

Woodland Bears Love Berries

The berries are coming on now and the bears (in the woods far away) are loving them too. I know in Montana when our family picks berries they make lots of noise so they don't walk around a bush into a black bear. Aacck! Huckleberries are a favorite there. I love them all and they are rich in antioxidants. Bears know a thing or two about eating organic foods.

I'm offering a print of the illustration of a lightning bug fairy (yes, seen in the woods) giving some of her lightning fire to the wee bear's sticks so they can warm their midnight snack of berry soup.
Hope you've had your share of colorful yummy berries today!

Farming A Life and Organic Produce

Author Kristin with husband, Mark Kimball

Read this book and you will think differently about hard work, dirt, and farming. You'll be willing to spend your savings on horses, cattle, pigs, and milk cows. You will have found the zest of life right under your fingertips, dirt. You work for it and it pays great rewards back to you! Hard work is a tonic! Who needs much sleep? Especially when you are reading about someone else's bone tired labors and the joys that go with it.

This book redefines what success and beauty mean. Kristin Kimball makes fun of herself and her ideas of a good life before she turned farmer. We really like her husband and smile knowingly when she describes their working relationship that gets stressed to the max sometimes when two work together every day of the week. It is always funny when it is someone else! She shares her mishaps like a best girlfriend. You feel like you know these two well and are cheering like mad for them! A very enjoyable read. I handed the book over to my dad who is enjoying it as I type this. The book is titled THE DIRTY LIFE, on Farming, Food and Love by Kristin Kimball.

Long live organic farmers.

Go to NPR (National Public Radio) for a great interview and pictures.

New review here in the Irish Times about "devouring" page after page of this book. Personally I think this book will made into a movie!

Shabby Pink Cottage July Flowers

It can still look like England outside even in this heat wave of 100+ degrees. These soft pink/plum flowers are blooming now. Love the colors of this one over many other ones!

Doesn't this mallow, or hibiscus, remind you of raspberry ice cream?





It's paired up with Monet Moments, a bright pink lobelia. This one is to be much hardier for us than most. I love it up against the weathered gray fence.

ACEO FRIDA KAHLO Original Dolls Paintings

My spool dolls watch over me encouragingly every day

so inspiration struck to paint them and here comes

this little set of aceo paintings.

They are on 2.5 by 3.5 stretched canvas

and 3/8- inch deep with the sides painted black

She will be for sale

here this afternoon

where my real Frida sculpture doll is also for sale.

Exotic Echinacea Flower Trail

This is the time of summer when we come to expect bold, splashy colors. Gone are the days of spring pastels. (Even though we still love and have white gardens.)

Top photo is Flame Thrower echinacea or coneflower. I took the pictures of the standard pink coneflower in the background so you can see the difference in colors.

These all look spectacular against burgundy foliage. Like these flowers in front of tall, large- burgundy-leaved cannas would be smashing.

The other two photographs are of the lovely neon-ish Tomato Soup coneflower. The color combinations you would know are my favorite. Orange, pink and burgundy. And just the right amount of each.

Prices are kind of high for each plant, (like $14.) but be patient as they will come down next year when newer ones are offered.

Kids Potager Vegetable Garden

The perfect childrens garden. Lots of leafy veggie foliage make this one so appealing. The circular design makes it easy for little gardeners to reach anywhere easily. When the kids aren't gardening the statuary rabbit will watch over each tasty morsel for you. Cabbage and lettuce have never looked so good. This little precious garden belongs to a friend of mine.

Cottage Garden

To go outside is a beautiful thing. All of the roses are waving their heavy perfume. We are drunken on it. Alas the combination of honeysuckle and roses makes one forget alot of things...

What exactly you went outside to get and also that you were to be taking pictures for show off your cottage monday post. Instead you (me really) wander about aimlessly with a camera and stagger about. Natural aroma therapy.



This soap here is so heavenly. It's apricot and freesia. Now that is a combination made in heaven.


The dusky pink rose of mine is a floribunda named Simply marvelous (an understatement) and the magenta garden phlox is Nicky. The variegated lavender is Silver Edged Lavender which is so airy in color and just as fragrant leaves and flowers as the gray leaved lavenders. It still has the lavender colored flowers. I white-washed the clay pot and it instantly had an aged look...like it's one of the old-timers in the garden.



Our sweet little gardener kitten had on strapless rose petal slippers. She had a great time jostling the petals around.

I am linking to "Show off your cottage Monday".

Is anyone else have trouble loading pictures on blogger?

White Wednesday - My First

White flowers have a cooling effect on us in the hot weather. It's 90 out so I'm looking directly at these now. The white snapdragons will bloom all summer into the fall. Yay! I love beautiful, sturdy flowers that don't fail. Plus they are an upright torch-goblet shape which looks good with blouse-y flowers that flop all around it...or just place them next to a boxwood hedge...boxwood is such a classic!

Eating after dark by candlelight these will be like twinkling wands under the moonlight.

I don't know why they don't sell more white snapdragons at nurseries. They mostly sell the mixed-color market packs. Up close it has a hint of blush on it. It's own, not mine!



I picked a few greys from near the porch and they look luminous against my white linen. So dreamy and the lemon thyme makes me want ice tea. I love this grey-green and white combination of colors. Looks so clean, crisp and fresh.





Look how dainty these seed heads on the dandelion are up close. They are ready to take flight like a flock of migrating birds. Good thing the sheep eat them and think they are cotton candy!

I am linking to Faded Charm, who sponsors white wednesday, for my very first time. A fun group of folks who love sharing pictures of white colored treasures inside and outside their home. Join in the fun!

Modern Frida Kahlo Green Earth Day Garden Art

Frida's Green Garden Painting

Green means clean

and safe for the

blooming majestic flowers,

inquisitive white rabbits

singing bluebirds

very clean black cat

Be safe and green

For sale on ebay

Heirloom Tomatoes- Name Game

Would you like a pink ping pong tomato plant? One of the things I love about heirloom tomatoes is their names. Another great one, "Banana Legs". I want these why?...because of their names alone!

Beef has alot to do with naming tomatoes even though tomatoes still are vegetables when I last checked:

Beefmaster

Supersteak

Park's Beefy Boy

Park's Whopper

Then there is the plum connection:

Black Plum

Beaverlodge Plum

Lemon Plum

The empty sections-- already sold out heirloom tomatoes:

Great White

Hillybilly

It's amusing shopping for tomatoes. Most people were very serious bent over looking at the plants and names and I was laughing outloud. Who could think it would be so fun buying tomatoes?

Dandelion Loving Spring Lambs

Spring brought us lambs. These two are the ones we are bottlefeeding and they are our little shadows along with our westie doggy boy, Sir Salty. Should we name them tweedledeedee and tweededeedum? So many opinions here and so little agreement on names but we all agree they are so sweet.

I made a little dandelion head lei the other day and just about everyone modeled it. Puppy rolled on it once or twice. Each lamb had a turn nibbling on it like it was a hawaiian candylei. Sheep love dandelion flowers.... and so do litttle boys to give to their mothers. Grown men groan when they see dandelions but little boys run as fast as they can to pick each one. Mothers get the small vases ready.

Seed Sowing -- Giant Blue Bird Delphiniums

To think that life waits patiently in these seeds and we are the caretakers of them gives us all hope. Hope for a huge stand of healthy and stately delphiniums...reaching for the sky and their rich blue blending as one with it.


The seed sowing bug is at our house. Some I must wait a bit to sow directly outside. Some go in hidden compartments of the refrigerator and hide with the cream cheese boxes. They aren't really hiding they just need to chill a bit. The delphiniums I start now so they bloom this summer.

They are sown on top of moist sterile soil then covered with a layer of plastic wrap directly on the soil. I put them in a place which stays about 40-50 degrees and wait for 28 days. Do not cover as they need light to germinate but not direct sunlight.

I have this dream of having the perfect English Garden with all the pretties bobbing above the roses and boxwood and topiaries. I grow delphiniums but not as gorgeous and also self-seeding like the English do. If I keep composting and give them half shade and the richest soil possible maybe this year they will be as good as the English? If not the sweet peas and poppies nearby and the roses in front of them, and boxwood holding all together will still say sweet English garden! I've already impressed the rabbits for years. Our sheep are impressed and think it's their gourmet garden bar when they get out. Now to impress the English.