Painting the Hives

The anticipation of getting our bees is mounting. They are due to arrive this coming weekend, so despite the crazy Northwest weather, I had to get outside in the fresh air and paint the hives. I am glad that it was a fairly clear day out. They look pretty boring without any color.

Here are the Deeps and Supers unpainted

David is still finishing up the lids and bases to the hives, that is why you don't see them in the pictures. But I was able to get the Supers and Deeps painted. So what do you think of the colors I finally chose? I think they will be beautiful in our someday orchard, bordered by luscious lavender bushes. I can almost taste the honey.

Here they are painted.

Getting back into the swing!

Getting back to the swing of things. There is something of great comfort to me about the change in season and rhythm of life. It does my mind and spirit good!

Today was a great day! My friend D. and kids came over and we went on our annual blueberry pickin' trek. We picked in the morning, came home and made lunch for the kids, then got busy!

We canned 16 jars of blueberry preserves with some left over to snack on. We are pretty proud of ourselves and let me tell you the blueberry preserves are something to die for. And to think the berries were free at our local blueberry park, that makes it even sweeter!

I have always enjoyed the organic process of picking fresh food and then preserving it for later for my family to enjoy. It seems like a lot of work but I sure do enjoy the satisfaction that I get from it. D. and I enjoyed the afternoon, chatting and laughing the day away. I can't think of a better way to get back into the swing of things!

Books! Books!-I Love Books!

As spring breaks forth into her glory, I love to get out my nature and gardening books to inspire my imagination. This brings me the hope of sunnier days ahead. My absolute favorite book to sit down with is a book by Edith Holden do you know it? If you are an old soul like myself, one who is a country girl at heart, loves nature and art then you know that I am talking about the book The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady.

This is the entry at the bottom of the April cover page. Mrs. Holden was a wonderful artist and so on each page denoting a new month she has illustrated what she sees in the country side in that season. For April she has painted a bird amongst the primroses and wild violets of the British country side. Just delightful!

"When Daisies red and violets blue,

and Ladies Smocks' all silver white

And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue

Do paint the meadows with delight."

Edith Holden-The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady

She also includes lots of poetry, factual information about the month and seasons she gathered, mottoes of her day and lots of illustrations and watercolor paintings. She was a rather accomplished artist. But really her fame came 70 yrs. later with the publishing of this lovely and humble nature notebook.

Well, I am now spending the still chilly nights reading The Edwardian Lady~The Story of Edith Holden This book is biography. It tells of Edith's life as a child, her family- she had 4 sisters and 2 brothers. She was well educated and went to art school. In my opinion she was the pre-cursor to another of my favorites, Beatrix Potter. They seem to run along the same country path so to speak.

These are two books you should read and have on your library shelf . Both will bring warm sunshine to your soul. I enjoy reading about ordinary lives that appreciated the simple complexities of nature and the world that God created. I love that Edith Holden documented this in her art and journaling. This is a reminder to me to do the same. To place myself in nature at a particular time to remember it. This lovely journal has a well-worn organic feel to it- that old soul feel.

I know I would have liked Edith, I like to think we would have been great friends. Her country diary makes me want to get outside. It makes me want to take a stroll along the banks of a brook, on a forgotten country path and listen to birds sing and do art. And be inspired.

It Has Been Awhile...

Hi all.
I have been hibernating, anyone else feel this way?
As I grow older it seems I have become keenly aware of how seasonal I am.

Isn't that a funny thing to say?
But it is true.

Wanting to retreat, rejuvenate, heal and stay sheltered.

However, I am sensing the thaws of spring and I am waking with the sunrise. My tender shoots are pushing towards the surface to be nurtured by light and heat. Ahhhh spring....kids breaking free and running around on newly mowed grass. Baby chicks and cherry blossoms, and all the miracles of spring! New life and resurrection.

I love the glow of the sunrise through my porch windows, it has been so warm and cheery the past couple of days! I have gotten out the garden gloves, seed catalogs, I have started weeding the garden and I am starting to plan my garden plots too. Here in the Pacific Northwest we have had a slow start to spring. I even began to wonder if we might just skip it altogether this year, but my allergies have told me otherwise!

I have felt the urge to update and spring clean too. So in that tradition, my website will get a bit of rejuvenation soon. I hope you will stop by(come visit at the end of April), if you do leave me a note or comment and tell me what you think of the new look. I am still trying to get things into the attic category or should I say out of the attic for the "attic sale" but that seems to be slow going!

It seems I keep getting pulled into the fresh air of my backyard where the chickens peck and chat with one another and the music of my children giggling reminds me that this is actually where I should be living life. So Blog-land, I am slowing down to a lazy spring breeze...I want to be able to hear the Lord's whisper and feel the gentle rhythm of the season, don't you?

Simple Beauty ~ 2009

I have been staying indoors and slowing down lately, due to an abundance of snow in our area. I was looking at this bright red Amaryllis flower that was given to me by one of my dearest friends, and it got me thinking about growth. Such beauty growing while the world is frigid and dark. How does it know that it is safe to grow and break out of the norm? What causes the roots to reach deep and the stem to soar? How do the petals get so red and know when to open it's opulence? Mysterious...what a wonder!

It got me to thinking about my own growth? An Amaryllis is unique because man takes steps to "force" it to grow...intentionally. Rather than waiting for nature to take its course in due season. Do I "force" myself to grow intentionally? Do I stretch my roots deeper to steady myself? Do I reach and challenge myself to do something different, break through life's hard, dark, wet soil?

Sometimes I think I achieve this and other times I feel lost and throttled by the winds of life. I don't want the later to be the norm for my life, maybe the exception. So, how can I nurture a life of beauty and opulence that I see in the Amaryllis?

God is the ultimate gardener and He will be the one to "force" this life into growth. I am grateful I can be tethered to His stake and lean on Him. For me, this new year will bring nurturing, breaking new ground, pushing past obstacles, and reaching high, all with a spirit of intention! I will yield to the hands of the gardener as well and,

I might even... wear more red!

A is for Apples~Girl Time Tidbit #5

It has been a bumper crop for apples this year...for everyone around me! This year we were busy making apple everything, quite exciting! I know I have written it before but I just love the feeling of seeing something from planting, to harvesting, to producing it into something for my family, there is an organic element to it that is spiritual and very fullfilling to me!

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:

Ecclesiastes 3:1

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.
Ecclesiastes 3:10-12

The kids and I have made chunky cinnamon applesauce, carmel apple butter, and lots of dried apples for snacking on. This year we bought 2 dehydrators at Goodwill for $10.00 and have enjoyed this new part of our harvesting routine. In past years I have just canned everything. But this had been a wonderful change. Never forget you are the apple of His eye!

Blueberry Pickin'

This weekend we spent the afternoon at a wonderful park in our city...a public blueberry park can you believe it? Well it is true! I find this particularly exciting because I love blueberries and so does my family. It is a tradition for us every August on a clear evening to go pick blueberries by the handfuls off the bush. Its incredible, and then we have enough blueberries for the year. We wash them well, drain them, and then spread them out on cookie sheets and freeze them. Once frozen they are much easier to pack into zip locks. Then we just use what is needed for blueberry pancakes or scones. Delicious!

As you can tell I love blueberries, I even painted my bottom cupboards in my kitchen the color of blueberries!

This park is many acres within the city that at one time was a blueberry farm. There are tons of bushes and 15 varieties of blueberries...I didn't even know that there were that many varieties. Some of the plants produce berries with the most beautiful, big, bursting with purplish- blueberry goodness! You can't find these in the stores and the best thing about this park, is that its a public park! You can come and pick till your hearts desire, because it is FREE!

They have a volunteer group that keeps the bushes pruned and the pathways clear and clean, I even hear that they serve coffee and donuts to those that help out, that's a nice deal! This year they have made some great improvements to the park. They put in picnic benches and paved some pathways there is even a portable outhouse there now.

Herbs!

Summer is in full swing here in the Pacific Northwest- finally! Now, all of the sudden, my garden has taken off and I am harvesting my herbs, YES! already-isn't that crazy?! I was afraid they would all flower before I got the chance. So, my daughter and I bundled up Parsley, Sage, Oregano and Thyme... sounds like a song I know- Simon and Garfunkel anyone?! My husband started singing and changing the words to tease us last night while we sat on the porch swing and readied the green bundles to hang for drying.

I thought we would dry them and make Christmas gifts this year. Some sort of herb blend bundled in homemade calico pouches. Doesn't that sound homey and wonderful? I might try my hand and making an herbal tea too. Blending Lemon Balm, Chamomile, and Lavender.

There really is nothing like partaking in the harvest and bounty the Lord has blessed us with. It gives me good feelings to know I have worked with my hands, tilled the soil, planted, harvested and enjoyed the bounty. It also tastes the best too!

Thank you sweet Lord for blessing me with creativity to use what you have given to glorify You and bless those around me. My desire is to be a good steward of your goodness to us! Amen

In My Garden

My goodness...I have been having a very successful season with my roses this year and I thought you might enjoy seeing this years blessing. Boy, do I love roses! There is something about them. Maybe it is the old fashioned nature of this flower or that it is considered by many to be the queen of all flowers! It is the sweet luscious scent some would argue, I would say, "Yes!" It is for all of those reasons that I love the rose.

This flower also represents life to me and I would like to share my thoughts with you on this. Life is filled with beauty and things that are pleasing to our senses! It is easy to be caught up in the sweet aroma of a rose, isn't it? To many the smell of a rose will take them captive and fill their mind's eye with lovely memories of places and people, and of love. It can represent friendship and congratulations. It often fills our churches and places of worship during weddings and funerals. It's oils have been used for centuries to beautify many a Lady and Queens.

However, there is also a dark side to the rose. If you have been pricked by it's thorns you know what I am talking about. Life too is thorny. We get prick and poked all the time and sometimes we even...bleed. There are seasons in life where we feel like we are bleeding sometimes physically, other times emotionally, even sometimes spiritually. The thorns of a rose are a caution, slow down, please handle me with care. I have felt the need at times to be 'handled with care'.

My roses are a great reminder that in order to enjoy the sweetness of life and all its loveliness we also have to be willing to take the thorns, to get pricked and poked on this journey. But most importantly, my roses remind me of a scripture from the Word of God:

2 Corinthians 2:14-16

14But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 15For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?

Hip Hip Horray-It's May

My Lilacs are Blooming! My Lilacs are blooming!

Oh, they smell so heavenly-especially, when they are carried on the evening breeze warmed by the days sun! My goodness! I have been vigorously, and I mean vigorously, working in my garden. This year I redid two of my delapidated beds. Phew! talk about a tilling the soil with the sweat of your brow! Ah, but those sweet and tender sun ripened strawberries will sure be worth all the toil now!

This year I decided to try my hand at Dahlias. Yippee! I am excited to see those beauties bloom forth! And it is a fruiting year for us too. We should have lots of apples and pears, along with rhubarb, blueberries and raspberries. I will also plant tomatoes, beans, spinach, lettuce, arugula, dill and rainbow carrots. Should be a wonderful and hopefully bountiful season.

I have also realized that my wonderful chickens can not be in my garden, boy they can be naughty girls sometimes! But boy are they cute.

Like they say, you can take the girl outta the country but you can't take the country outta the girl! Yeee Haw and Thank God!