weekend adventures

Just one of many weekend adventures from this weekend... Trash and Treasures yard sale in Crossplains, Tennessee.  A "must go" for us.  I even cancelled my hair appointment to go.... sort of regretting that now given the status of my roots and grays this morning.  At the sale I bought a new semi-large bucket, two enamelware tubs and various other small things.  The tubs and buckets already have dahlia and zinnia seeds planted in them.  By the way, I will be separating my hens and chickens (plants) this weekend because of their over abundance if anyone would like to have some.  They are very tough plants that will and have made it through some tough winters no problem.  I just let the clouds water them too.  

Mary Evelyn and Mrs Cheap!

friday finds

Ahhh, my beloved enamelware addiction.  There should seriously be a support group for it.  This collection of lovely vintage enamel pieces began with Number 1... the milk can.  I love it.  I hope one day to find a French water pitcher like Number 2 at a yard sale in Crossplains or White House.  And it being French... one might wonder how it got there.  Number 3 grabbed me with it's rust-ic style and I really like the handle.  The old soap holder of Number 4 entices me and I can envision it attached to the wall of my front porch right above the water faucet.  But then I would be left wanting one for the back porch too... and that would be Ok.  

You can find uses for old enamelware HERE.

And P.S. the Crossplains yard sale is this weekend!!!  You know where I'll be!

weekend shots

Sad news... Friday afternoon, while I was putting the beans on for supper and taking a few pictures, my camera flashed the dreaded error message again and quit on me.  This was the third time.  I tried to repair it myself the first two times and it did work but not for long.  So Saturday morning I put my big girl panties on, packaged my camera and sent it off to Nikon to be repaired by someone (hopefully) that knows what they are doing.  I had entertained the thought of just buying a new one but it didn't really make sense to have a broken one and newer model of the same camera.  I'm not one of those techy people that sits around surfing for the next best thing.  I've not even looked at cameras since I bought my Nikon several years ago.  Truth be known I don't know how to use it the way you are really supposed to.  I just point and shoot.  I decided that if I were going to get mine repaired that maybe it was time for a back up camera that wasn't so expensive.  So, without shopping around, I went to Sams Club and told the lady what I was wanting and easily settled on a Canon point and shoot camera.  I truly hope that I like it.  I wanted one with good zoom and this one does take shots further away than my Nikon without having to change the lenses.  But you do have to really be steady or it will blur or turn out grainy.  I am enjoying it so far and hope to learn more as I go along.  Here are a few of my shots from the first couple of days.

I spotted this groundhog up the hill while sitting in front of the shop.  Pretty good piece away.

I don't understand the point of the fish-eye setting.

Front porch from the shop.

Definitely a wider view.  This is the whole other end of the living room.

The Eastern Phoebe that has a nest under the porch.  This was taken from the porch down across the driveway.  Pretty grainy but you can still tell what she is for sure.

A little Sunday morning lovin.

Fuzzy headed Robin in our tree on the playground at the day care.

four fanciful things

from farmhousewares.com

I can completely see this sign on my wall in the kitchen.  

If I can't get over it I may just have to make one similar.

I don't usually go for newer enamelware items.  I like them rusty and with holes in the bottom and a hole for hanging.  But the Robin's egg blue has got my mouth watering!

I enjoy this pillow!  I'd like to put one in every room (and on the porch) of our home.

I adore this double tiered basket!  I would love it in my kitchen to hold lemons, apples or avocados!

a time to dig

After a couple of seasons of trying to grow garlic from spring until summer with failed attempts I came across a message that I know was meant just for me.  After I read it it made total sense.  "Plant garlic bulbs on the shortest day of the year and harvest on the longest day of the year."  Shortest day being December 20th and the longest day being June 20th.  Maybe this isn't the case in all parts of the world.  Our local Wal-Mart sells garlic bulbs in the spring, which is why I thought they should be planted in the spring.  But fall planting or planting later in the year makes more sense.  Just like tulips, crocus or buttercups are planted in the fall to spend the winter sleeping underground only to emerge when the weather warms up in spring.  How lovely!  The first year that I tried flip-flopping my garlic planting schedule it turned out to be a great success!

This past year, we had horrible luck with our main garden all summer and decided to move it over for better drainage purposes.  This meant for me that the garlic couldn't be planted in it's normal spot.  So, I hem hawed around until it was almost too late to plant.  I had ordered and received my garlic a couple of months before December 20th and had hung on to it just wondering where to plant it.  I wound up planting the garlic bulbs in the garden spot at the day care.  It was a very rainy time, I planted them in the mud pretty much and expected them to all rot to pieces.  I frowned every time I glanced towards the small garden behind the fence and just sort of shrugged at my lack of our big garden to house them.  All that dread turned into glee when the foliage popped up this spring.  I had two neat little rows of garlic. . . thank goodness.

So today, being June 19th. . . the longest day of the year eve, I went ahead and dug my garlic out of the ground.  I was so proud that I didn't nick even one of the heads.  I am pretty sure I have decided to plant next year's crop in the garden at the day care.  If your garlic growing time is similar to mine then it's time to dig them up!  Knock a little of the dirt off the roots, let them rest in a shaded area (mine is under our front porch on the dirt) for a few days or until the leaves are browned and can be braided if that's the kind of garlic you have.  Hope you are as happy with your crop as I am with mine!

I will save a couple of the biggest head of garlic to take apart and replant in six months.  Other than that I take the easy road and order my garlic through Burpee.com.  They always have a good selection IF you get to them quickly in the fall.  They tend to start running out of the good stuff pretty early.  We live in Tennessee and prefer the soft neck varieties because they supposedly do well in our zone.  Plus I like to braid them and hang them up in the pantry and you can't braid the hard neck kind.

Here's a good video on braiding garlic.

botanicals at the dc

I seriously don't know what I would do if I were cut off from growing plants.  In recent years I have been blessed with the knack of starting plants and flowers from seed.  Our veggie garden at home has fifty-something tomato plants that I started from seed plus sixteen bell pepper plants.  Other than that, this season I began lavender, dill, rosemary, basil, stevia and am now working on my oregano, catnip and parsley.  There's just something near to my heart about knowing a plant from beginning to end as the seasons go by.  Here's some of the plants at the day care that we are growing outside of the garden.

weekend shots

I adore this curtain I bought at a yard sale.  I have two and plan on using them as maybe table cloths.

I am completely thrilled with my Dichondra Emerald Falls.  It is trailing out of and through the coconut.

I could finally walk in the garden when it began to dry from the rains.  

These are in our rows of green beans.

Milkweed.

This mushroom looks like the entrance to a dinner club for fairies the way it makes a 

perfect awning at the base of this tree.

I had never seen this plant before.