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AN UNCOMMONLY GOOD GIVEAWAY
Who couldn’t use a little help with their holiday shopping at this time of year? I don’t do a lot of giveaways on the blog, but I was excited to do one for a very cool company: Uncommon Goods. This is the place to go when you need something interesting and different for a gift. I picked a few of ...
A TREE CASUALTY
Last week I lamented the loss of more trees in our yard. The difference of the missing ash trees is dramatic. But they are gone and that’s all there is to it. I’m trying to look at this as an opportunity to plant something big and beautiful like a copper beech, a Kentucky coffeetree or any other from the amazing ...
CHRISTMAS ALL AROUND THE HOUSE: A TOUR
OK folks, there’s no denying it now. The holidays are a’comin’ and they are a’comin’ quick. Don’t look now but there are only three weekends until Christmas. How is that even possible? Well never fear because there are plenty of people who are way more organized than I am and they are full of inspirational ideas for your holiday decorating. ...
BIDDING FAREWELL TO MORE TREES
You won’t believe what is happening at our house today. In fact, it was so disturbing to me that I left as quickly as I could this morning without so much as grabbing a photo of it first. More trees are coming down. Does anyone else get that sick feeling in their stomach when they have to take down a ...
HOLIDAY CHEER FOR OUTSIDE
My favorite holiday decorations are the ones I do outside. It’s partly because they brighten up what is otherwise a pretty dreary landscape, but also because the decorations outside, particularly the containers, provide the most decorating bang for the buck.I love how with a few collected (and some purchased) materials you can create something that is really beautiful. These containers ...
THE HAPPIEST OF THANKSGIVINGS TO YOU
It’s Thanksgiving in the U.S. tomorrow so a lot of people are running around like chickens turkeys with their heads cut off trying to get the last minute details out of the way. We’ll be going to my parents house for the largest family gathering we’ve had in years. All three of my dad’s sisters and their spouses will be ...
GATHERING THE SUPPLIES
We got our first real snowfall (a few inches) last night which makes it a little harder to ignore the freight train that is Christmas. Let me start by saying I really hate that Thanksgiving seems to have been forgotten other than to mark the Thursday before the weekend that everyone is putting up their Christmas decorations. I love decorating ...
A NEW PLAN FOR WARDING OFF DEER
I’ve whined about the deer problem in my garden many times before and there is no perfect solution. Every year I learn more in the war in combatting them and what I learned last year was that they can do major damage in winter. Up until last year, we’ve had many years of mild winters. But last year we had ...
FRIDAY FINDS
I am such a sucker for a workout fad. I didn’t even finish this article before I ordered the foam roller. What can I say, she had me at “taller and thinner.” I’ve been doing it for almost a week and it’s definitely helping with my neck pain (I get that tense neck thing so many women tend to get). ...
DECORATION FOR THE DRIVEWAY
A few weeks ago I told you that I was contemplating adding some fence panels along a portion of our driveway. I’m still very much in favor of that happening, especially since the house next door recently sold. We don’t know what the situation with the new neighbors will be, but odds are they will be around much more than ...
GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT GARDEN CLEAN-UP
I forget how difficult it is to keep on top of photos when Daylight Savings Time ends. Seems like I’m only home when it’s dark these days. The deep freeze is scheduled to arrive this week and stick around for at least a week. Temperatures next week will struggle to break 20. In other words, it was time to get ...
WHY SOME PROJECTS TAKE FOREVER
Did you all enjoy the weekend? As much as I am not a fan of the whole outdated concept of Daylight Savings Time, the Sunday in fall after we turn back the clocks has to be the single most productive day of the year. You work and work and work and you look at the clock and it’s only 11 ...
FRIDAY FINDS
A couple weeks ago I wrote about preserving the parsley harvest, but what do you think about nasturtium pesto? If you’ve been reading this blog for more than a year, you know that at some point when temperatures start dropping, my thoughts start veering toward inside projects, so don’t be surprised that lots of inside DIY/decorating type posts are on ...
PLANTING A LAYERED BULB CONTAINER FOR SPRING
Although the forecast for Halloween is for a full-on gale we continue to enjoy a pretty great autumn here so I still haven’t done much in the way of garden cleanup. One fall gardening chore I have accomplished, however, is planting bulbs. It’s been several years since I’ve planted any bulbs, but last spring I was kicking myself for not ...
HOW ‘BOUT THEM APPLES?
This year’s harvest might have been unremarkable in many ways, but there was one very exciting crop: the first apples from my superdwarf Gala apple tree. I won the tree at a winter gardening seminar a few years ago. It was donated by a local gardener who loves grafting fruit trees and is particularly interesting in superdwarf trees. Basically ...
FRIDAY FINDS
I really want to check out this book (hint, hint, somebody send me a review copy). And this one too. Do you follow the One Room Challenge? Calling it Home organizes the One Room Challenge and selects bloggers to participate. The challenge is to completely redo a room in six weeks and post about it once a week. To me ...
Letters from the Garden
Letters from the Garden
