This week's blog is brought to you by the letter P

Typically this would stand for Planning but for the Rooster's cryptic remark, albeit meant to be helpful, that I am not even a starter as opposed to a finisher.  I am a planner.  And that, dear blogging friends, has brought my head up with a mighty jerk!  :O

As I've said before, blogging has been a wonderful pathway of finding friends,  discovering new techniques and motivational tools but especially for learning about all kinds of new things.  Foremost has been learning about myself.  It has been most enlightening.  Therefore when my Dearie said that I was a planner all kinds of misplaced pieces suddenly slid into place. 

But even I know that the ultimate goal is finishing. It was even the word of the year some time ago.  Really!!!  ;^)   But you can't finish if you don't start.  duh!  So much as I luv planning, I must start.  So no Planning.  At least not first up.

I want to talk about Plan Ting.

My Rooster has reduced his farm chores down to the place where he has picked up my... oh dear, I hate to say it... my plans for the yard.  ahem.  We, as in 'he' leading and 'my' scurrying behind to say but, but...  have started to implement yard changes.  We divided and conquered the lectures during our first ever garden show.  We have acquired vermeculite and perlite and know the difference between them.  After many years of poor results with shelter belt plantings we have gathered pots, a custom potting mix and a manageable amount of young trees that will find permanent and prepared homes this fall.  Meanwhile they will receive TLC in a central location with good access to water. (I used to scatter them all over the yard and forget where I'd put them.)  The Master list keeps us (him) on track when the short list has been accomplished.  The short list for planting ends June 15th when we will be switching to structures. Workroom!  woo hoo!!!   oops, focus- planting!  lol

The Rooster is foremost a gardener, as in vegetables.  But as he is new to raised beds this is a bit of a learning curve for him.  He knows his soils but keeping moisture in the elevated  soil is an whole different thing from clay subsoils and torrential downpours!  :{  That and keeping the dogs from using his freshly tilled earth as a runway!  :[   Aside from the fact that I am gluten intolerant we have been changing our eating habits.  We are eliminating processed foods, downplaying grains, embracing what we grow best, and using our own or local produce.  My dearie is the menu planner and spare time cook.  I had not planned that when we married but I'm sure a happy chick with the way things turned out.  He'll take all that garden produce and turn it into soups and stews  for ready made winter meals. :) 

I need to start some seeds so I can incorporate them into my new luv, containers.  I learned all about using edible plants along with  decorative plants in containers for easy garden landscaping.  Those gosh, darn dogs have also been in my flowerbeds.  :[  I need a few carrot, beet, and swiss chard seeds for my plan.  It will hopefully cut down on the flower budget when we go for transplants and I rather doubt they'll have carrot greenery!  ;^)

So for today I am potting, and planting and kinda playing.  Does that count as starting???  ;^)

Grasshoppers and Ants

There is a story/parable/fable about hard working ants and a grasshopper who fiddled and played while summer days passed by. Fall came and still he played. When the cold of the first snow fell he knocked on the ants' door. They were pretty abrupt with him! Look to the ants, you sluggard! So, I think there may have been a bit of fiddle playing during the summer but these falling leaves have certainly put the hurry in my step. I'm hoping for a long, lazy, and warm autumn, but...

So I'm hustling. 3/4's of the way around the perimeter of my yard. pant, pant. The grass got into this end so it was easier to pull the plants, dig, and of course, rearrange. The field stones are very hard to keep nice so I just dug them out and stacked them. I need to think about a path surface. We also need to have a trench or something back behind as it is too low and the water pools and kills stuff. The farming chores are not going to happen. What is done is done. It is far too wet in the fields. I have a road trip this weekend and my dearie has said he can give two weekends to the studio shed project. So I want to be ready for that. Today is grandkids day. Surely the ants play on occasion! But I definitely want to get my work done so I can play all winter!!!

You Are Welcome

First Impressions

When people come onto our property they need to know where to go and what to expect from the home owners. This doesn't happen accidentally. It is by design.

Before we had the fence and the grass was less than a lush green carpet, we had people drive right up to within 5 feet of the house. Building the fence, which is just a line and doesn't actually enclose the house yard, set a boundary that said "Please park your car here!". The next problem has been that people were confused as to where to enter.

There is no specialness that shows where the gate is. I've since dangled a basket and come summer I put a planter of flowers at the gate, but I knew I needed something more. Knowing that the fence needed some repairs, last fall we drove in large posts to inset the whole gate area. We'll add a bench and some plant pots but that should entice people in the right direction.

The next problem is the path. Grass allows two to walk together and is great for grass cutting. No trimming. But it does get a bit muddy and it is very hard to maintain a path come winter. So we need an acceptable alternative. I do know it will not be cement set in a straight line. It will curve slightly to encourage visitors to slow their pace, catch their breath, and anticipate their welcome. I luv the sound of gravel crunching as you walk. I have it at this gate and it is around the house. What a pain! It scatters all over and into the grass. Part of the reason for the insert is to get the gravel on the driveway side of the fence. So no gravel. Flat stones, even substantial ones, give fits to elderly feet as I've learned when they step anywhere but on them as they pass thru the flower bed to get to the front step. I replaced them with pavers but I'd need a lot for the whole path. For the moment, the well worn foot path leads the way and there is a mat to dry the shoes at the step.

There were 2 doors visible which sent mixed signals. The small basement entrance was too small so we began using the front door. It never had a proper step and when we did the house siding we covered over that unused door. The old wooden front step faced the road so we changed it for better traffic flow. The front entrance isn't in direct sight but all signs lead to it.

I luv my veranda. It is where strangers are met and given directions/assistance. It is where friends are welcomed and drawn in.

It is much harder to lay out the welcoming path here in blog land. If you have found the gate and are on the path to my front door, please come up the steps and into my veranda. You are very welcome!

The Process of Puttering

I've spent the day cutting grass. My part of the world received an unheard of amount of rain over this last weekend. I was hydro-planing in some spots but the coolness just makes the grass lusher so I must persevere. The good news is that this project is so bad that anything we do will be an improvement.

The first step is to drain the water, move everything out, including the dog who burrows into the far corner. Some things need to go to a new gardening shed. I'm not sure where that will be but... Some things need to come out and play in their summer spots. Hmm, I wonder where they will spend the winter. oops! I might need to think about the afore mentioned garden shed sooner than I thought. lol

When I walk out to the coop from the house, my first view is the east end of the shed. It has a quarter circle flowerbed that I call the Red Hat Corner. The colours are red and purple. Two purple clematis run up the wood support. It could use more red.

The south side faces an arrangement of garden boxes in a formal layout, four outside boxes and an inner square. I've wanted to put a pergola type structure here and have a Kiwi vine but if I put the windows on this sidethat may make the inside too shady. The shed is particle board that has been very well weathered. The shed was drug over with the tractor from its place beside the big barn, It had been a small work shed for oil, tractor parts, tires, cultivator shovels, etc. before I coveted it. These wood sheets are 4' X 8' so I'm thinking the shed is 8' X 12' with a cathedral ceiling! 8^)

I don't think the door survived the move. The shed is double walled and that is why it probably hasn't fallen over. I want double doors opening out.

The skylight needs to go though. Hubby says a truss or two needs replacing but new sheets of particle board and some shingles will fix it up just fine.

The north side faces That Faerie Place.

The colour is blue and lime green which mostly comes from the accessories. The chickens keep rearranging my meandering path and I'm waiting for hostas and ferns to fill in the open spots. The name of this little blue flowered plant escapes me but it does self seed.

So this is the before post. I shall continue to add weekly reports as the work progresses. I can hardly wait for the after post myself!

Summer Strategies

It is NOT going to be those 'lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer' like the old song says. Well, maybe crazy! ;~) I have been focusing on the summer plan.

As I had said earlier this will be a Summer to Dye For! I have taken the Pledge to talk about the Process and this I shall do, not exactly my quilts but the process of turning a very ramshackle potting shed into a summer dye studio. Hopefully I'll be dyeing/painting/stamping and generally messing around by August 1st. And thankfully my dear hubby is talking about what needs doing first. He suggests raising the whole thing so it can be blocked higher as it sits in a low spot and all the water collects inside and the mosquitoes breed in the damp and dark. But speaking of water, we've had 4 inches already this weekend and as I type more is coming down.

As you can see the grass luvs this cool, wet environment. So I need to find the shed and trim all the grass that surrounds it. I also have paint and can be painting the chicken coop as we begin the preliminary stuff on the Puttering Shed. Hmm, perhaps I need a better name for this 'studio'. Any suggestions? It is backed by That Faerie Place although a whole herd of frogs have been sneaking in as well! lol

Summer also means yard work and the North bush needs some attention. Poplars clone themselves. One tree has dozens and dozens of trees all off of one root system. So when the main tree dies the rest succumb. I like the poplar bush, birch is better, but... The wood is light, not like birch, but not dark either. I'm kinda dismayed to see oak which is very black moving into the stand. This will eventually change the whole feel of the bush.

So I need to fell these dead trees and add some more of the newer hybrid poplars that we got with our tree order and then pretty up the edge. This rain has done some flooding in the basement so we need to make a dry creek at the edge of this bush and have the water go further from the house. So there is some summer landscaping planned for this area.

I had said I'd make do with the quilts I have for summer decor. I originally was going for whimsical with a bit of thirties styling for a summer cottage look. But focusing has made me see that I'm better to do 30's with a bit of whimsy thrown in. It works better for a cohesive flow throughout the whole house. So I do have the main fabrics in their allotted space on the shelf.

I have a WIP as well. I'd started an Irma Gail Hatcher Conway Quilt that has not ever been finished and I decided after seeing so many of them at shows that I wasn't going to add another to the pile. But I'll finish up the individual blocks I have and design a new simple setting for them. A quieter simpler version.

I have very much admired the Quiet Quilts that Malka Dubrawsky wrote about in the April/May issue of Quilting Arts Magazine and that has got me very excited and ready to start fiddling. But I'm remembering Triple F so I'm whoa-ing! Focus, dye shed. Jot down the ideas for these quiet quilts but get out there and fiddle with the dye shed process. There'll be a few more rainy days to plan quiet quilts! oops, another whoa!

I also need to start to work through my Journal Spilling book. That will be part of getting ready for playing with the wet stuff in the dyeing shed. Isn't focusing great!

But I hope you'll join me as I process thru an exciting summer, a summer to dye for!

The wind beneath my wings!

Spring has been blown in on a typical gale force wind. It knocks the wheel barrow over and sets the straw and debris to blowing all over the place.

I had a helper for the chicken coop cleaning. This keeps up and my little grandson could become quite useful since all the other chicks have fled the coop and my dear Rooster has bigger and better nest eggs to search for. But now 'he who crows' is home and he has bigger and noisier toys then I do so Josh's off to ride shot gun on the tractor.

That leaves me with the wheel barrow and the flowerbeds. I have served warning that any more chickens remodel my flower beds and there'll be new feather pillows and chicken soup simmering.

Monday I shall have the feathers flying up here in the Coop and Saucer Playroom. I have major fabric related deadlines looming in these next few weeks.

Fall Cleanup

Tuesday is my Garden day. The weather has been conducive to getting things ready for winter so I had put things to bed and turned toward my indoor playroom. The chickens and ducks will be making the move to their winter quarters any day now. My coop is not readily accessible when the snow drifts settle in.

Tuesday will also be Garment day. I so want to make myself some clothes that fit and say who I am. I had not enjoyed sewing clothes but I am no longer intimidated by sewing machines and patterns. SO! I did. I wanna have jumpers like Jane Sassaman. But I do have a waist and the hips are noticable so straight won't work and gathers, hmm, not too flattering. Sew! I took a bodice from a size 8. (must have been one of my girl's) and a slinky nightie pattern. I enlarged top, over lapped the skirt till I could line them up and redrew. I could finally use that curved ruler I had to have. I made a tissue pattern with 4 pieces. I made the bodice proto type from floral reject stash, did a bit of tweaking and by golly it'll work! but .... pride goeth before the fall. I ripped! If all else fails, read the directions. I had lined the bodice with a coordinating quilt fabric and couldn't turn the darn thing right side out! But, I think I have it figured for next time. It will be fast, easy and looks not too shabby! lol

I've also been doing a bit of fall cleaning on the blog. I need to figure where some of scanner/photo options are now hiding. I need to figure out links and I did some tweaking to the over all look. Things are falling into place!

100 posts and I definitely feel like blogging is helping me to be a better, more creative chick! My jumper is purple for heaven's sake!

I struck gold in the end!

The new floor clock, about 4 1/2' high is a hit. I was gonna put it in my bedroom but it was just 'made' for the up hall. The bad news is that now I have options as there is one too many things in the hall. The good news is that I haven't painted any of them so I have new options. The piece is yellow/ gold with daffodils. No purples at all which was where I was headed with my paint. But yellows work, I just need to make sure the whole house doesn't become a Big advertisement for my favorite colour!

Grandson and I had to manhandle the 'buy as is' clock out of the store and into the trunk. He offered laughs and claps. I just hoped the trunk didn't shut on my 'hind end'. I gave that up as I needed another inch. So I reclined the front seat and the clock and grandson napped all the way home! Good old hubby, hardly missed a beat when he arrived up in the hall. lol

I made good progress on the flower beds. I should see the end of them soon. I have a bit of brighter yellow to rearrange by the opening to the back. Tricky as the hot colours are primarily in the more cottagey back yard, but that spot is also near the end of the pastel pink/yellow border and I need a link to the back.

There always seems to be an answer to my what if's!

The grass is greener...

on the other side of the fence. And if not, it is definitely longer as I only got the yard cut. This is a spring photo. I have some lovely photos in my new camera. I just can't get them into the 'puter. gnash, gnash So the 'puter is going to the hospital. The camera will have visiting privileges and hopefully my blood pressure will finally stabilize! Meanwhile I fixate on mosquitoes and low maintenance but fast filler garden design. The heat of summer and high humidity is here.

Beyond the feature tree is where I am working. There is a path into the bush thru an arch that is in the continuous bed that runs around the perimeter of the whole yard. The fence gate at the bottom of the photo is about 2/3 of the way around. The metal arch is kinda shady from the green ash trees we planted some 35 years ago and near is a wrought iron bench that has its back to the bog area. This is a spring area as the woodland phlox and bulbs are quite pretty. Sitting you can pretty much see the house and front yard. The area just to the right of that big weeping willow suffers from the wind. I've lost 2 spruce trees and a birch. I moved an elder (shrub) over from under the willow. It is too large and is very octopus like. Quite tough so I hope it'll survive. This is a semi wild area. Purple cone flowers, hyssop, thyme, Joe Pye, day lilies, lady's mantle, a yellow rose, sedums.

The plan is to transition from the white bed at the house to the white/mauve arch area to the pale pink and yellow of the wild corner. I've some grasses, wild currents and 1 lonely but small spruce for a backing. I am reconciled to using what works in other parts and is low maintenance as water hoses to this dryer part isn't practical. Even my so called bog area is wet because of grey water but it doesn't reach over to that corner.

Even though I limit my plant selection to what I can divide or move from other places on the yard, I try for variety in shape, texture, and size. Actually using plants in repeats does add a cohesiveness to the overall plan. Main repeats are day lilies, hardy geraniums (cranesbills) , sedums (Autumn Joy), ladies mantle, and some shrubs like zone 2 roses!

One day I'll have to guesstimate how long that border really is, but not now. I'd probably throw in my hoe! I definitely need to get the ground covered tightly enough so the weeds can't find any spaces for occupancy! The problem is I like space around my plantings. Therefore I MUST be more diligent with my composted manure mulch. That is pretty much shovel work though! I think I need to go read about how gardening is SO very good for nurturing ones creativity! 8^)

A new perspective

This view is seen from the coop door. The chicken run is to the right of the brick walk. That Faerie Place is to the left. The grassy strip straight ahead separates the garden boxes (my attempt at a parterre) and the dry creek bed which will be the west boundary of the house yard.

No plan yesterday. I just grabbed the wheel barrow but instead of starting at the house as usual, I headed west. I need to get creative. No more bigger and better. The plan needs to be smaller and simpler. I have grass down to one day; now I need the flower beds to be one day. The new fence will help with both as the sheep will graze more yard grass and this boundary will be a low maintenance area, kinda nature/wild. I had let the chickens out in the shadey Faerie Place. They did some of my weeding but things are seriously disheveled. The big plants can take a bit of that but the small and sickly keel right over when the chicken feet start excavating. They are back in their fence and I pitch weeds in for them. The ducks have big fat feet but they only trample a bit and actually do very little damage. So their gate is pretty much open. They're a shy bunch and head for the bush at the slightest bit of intrusion into their space.

It feels good to have got all around the back yard. I'll be seeing what I can do to fill in the spots that the weeds like to claim. I have found a more local garden web page and perhaps I can find some hardy, low maintenance, plants. Then I'll need to see how creativity and low maintenance work together.

Second Go-round

I machine quilted like a madman in the morning but that sun on my tall green grass beckoned in the afternoon. And who knows when the sun will be replaced by rain again so...

The bush on the north of the house is poplar and some oak that are starting to make their presence known. But I realized that I like the lighter wood and the shaking leaves that sound like water (?) sometimes. This bush would be very dark looking if the one oak that was here when we came continues to make its presence felt. But the poplar has been dieing. That could be evolution or because I mess around with the edge. I've coaxed out a peninsula and I've made a path thru the bush behind this area in the photo. Last year I mulched with straw and sawdust. I planted an aspen, and a couple of shrubs.

While I was waiting for someone to come rescue my lawnmower from the mud I'd stuck it in I weeded this area. Hence the before and after picture. 8^) Mulching works. I've ordered trees from the prairie shelterbelt people for next year. Some are native to this kind of bush so I'll fix it up. I also have 2 sprawly shrubs that need to come out of my current flower bed. Both have their gene pool from hardy natives. One is a yellow green dogwood and the other a burgundy ninebark or elder. They would work along the edge to bring it a bit more civilized look. I'm aiming for the cabin at the lake look.

The lawnmower was rescued and I continued. Looks like I might have to continue today as well. But I did get the MQing done last night and this morning it will be binding. I should have photos for Creative Night on Thursday!

Good News

I get a plus added to my grade for the day!

I stuck to the plan.

I spent the morning organizing

The Coop and Saucer Playroom.

I think I have all the mixed media stuff in the

bookcase where it is most useful.

The main table is clear.

Then I had to switch to outside work as our weather has been extremely rainy and a break in the clouds gave opportunity to accomplish something without getting too soaked.

The larger of our barns is undergoing reorganozing as well. We are downsizing our sheep flock and a summer kitchen, chicken coop, and feed storage area is planned for the front half. So son #3 and I were cleaning. He and I worked on cleaning old pens. One job was to get rid of old ashes from the pellet stove in the house. It was my job to disperse them over my flower beds. These ashes are residue from burning feed grade grains in the stove. The poplar tree bush we have next to the house is not suitable for heating. But we can grow a feed grain that heats the house wonderfully. So I'll be anxious to see if the flower bed benefits from the added fertilizer. But boy, was I dirty when I was done!

Then in the evening I organized my dyeing notebook for next time and I basted the small quilt/tablecloth for machine quilting today.

The grass cutting will have to wait for sunnier days. Things take longer to dry as the sun is starting to loose it's warmth so drying takes a lot longer. The flock and farmyard animals are not liking all the mud. Well, ducks excepted! 8^)

So I am feeling extremely virtuous. YAY!

Light, a colourful word

Light streams through the atmosphere from its source, the sun. Without it we would not have life. It brightens everything. It strikes the earth at different angles at different times of the year. It is diffused through the canopies of clouds and trees, and the curtains of voile and rose petals. Light then bounces all around and back into our faces. It makes us laugh as we try to catch the dancing specks from sun catchers. The revealing light of the North American prairies is different from the heavy light of the South African rain forests, is different from the crisp light of the European coasts, is different from the breathless light of the Asian mountain steppes, and is different from the relentless light of the Australian desserts. Generally we take light for granted; specifically it is probably the most constantly changing aspect of our days.

We say it is white but it is a bundle of colour, refracting through prisms of water or crystal.

Ah, all the colours of the rainbow!

What is your favorite colour? Mine? Ah, it depends what day it is, where I am, and what jewel I'm beholding! But if pressed, I'll go for the source, sunny yellow!

Art's Garden

Not the homeowner's name but perhaps a little poetic license is allowed!

I am not at all familiar with urban gardens but this garden was chosen for a number of reasons. It is a fairly simple garden that relys on greenery rather than flowers. There is about a foot rise from the patio floor to the back of the yard. It requires no steps but is such a treat in our relatively flat area. This grouping of houses has no fences and yet the area is very private. It relys on trees, shrubs and a few screens around private patios. Very pleasant.

No gardening for me today. There are areas that are ankle deep with water in my back yard. Good to know where the fill needs to go when we level the ground! 8) But people are starting to talk about summer being a wash. Good thing I can make my own rainbows and I'll be washing them out this morning. The sun is supposed to peek out sometime. I'll be taking the opportunity to wade out to the clothes line which turns out to be one of the areas that needs leveling!

Art in the Garden

The garden club in town has been having garden tours. They needed a last minute fill-in for the art part of the garden for this last Saturday's tour. I'm usually 'up' for last minute fun so I agreed. I had 10 minutes to come up with a theme and chose Seasons in the Garden and tried to pick with that in mind. I luv making vignettes. A few challenges: no idea of what I could expect, getting pins into the little holes in stucco, the rain every half hour, the ho, hum between visitors, and the mosquitoes! (course they kinda took care of the ho, hum!)

I'm sure the organizers were disappointed with the rain and poor turn out but there are a few zealous gardeners out there.

They appreciated the quilts and a standard question was "You did all of these!". I kept thinking of all the stuff I'd left at home. :D If I'd been quick on the up take I could have asked if they had planted all the green growing things in their back yards. Gardeners are collectors, too. lol

The biggest quilt, Garden Trellis, welcomed visitors and went straight into the washer and dryer when I got home and I was very okay with that. I use my stuff. A small wall quilt on top of an easel tells a story. The sun is shining, birds are singing, there is laughter in a secret walled garden. Inside there is singing and love because of what it contains. There are triangles representing my favorite things: sunshine, birds, butterflys, and bunnies, music, each member of my family, flowers, garden tools, veggies, each season, a creek, well, you get the idea. Oh, the figure representing me holds a quilt!

Below that is another small quilt that has small squares of some of my favorite fabrics. This shows that even with the disparity of colours, designs, etc. it all works beautifully within the confines of a well chosen border. This applies to gardens and LIFE as well.

It was a new experience. I did enjoy it, though I'm not ready to have business cards printed up. And I better get busy and make some more/better 'art' in case they need another warm body in the future! 8^)

Thought I'd die

I was really tempted to forget the plan and start to dye some fabric but I have to keep my word to myself. Garden day, exercise day. Turns out to have been maybe the hottest day so far. I made sure to keep drinking water.

I worked along the 'terrace'. It is a long hook shaped border that has a gravel path between it and the south wall of the house. The hook has a somewhat circular gravel area that really needs a nice wrought iron table and 2 chairs, white. I haven't found one but plastic just blows away. There is a weeping willow in that hook which is lovely to sit under.

This is close to the water hose so I've some roses, lilies, iris, foxgloves, peony, cranesbill, heuchera, hosta, ferns, Joe Pye, Autumn Joy sedum, (etc.) and a couple of shrubs. The colour scheme is pastel yellows and pinks with a silvery blue for accents. I can't seem to wait for the 'right' time to transplant and if I see something that screams 'wrong colour' I move it. I'm eyeing up some of the day lilies. Their peach is bordering on orange. I try to contrast leaf textures and I've learned that the shade plants can do well under or behind some of the sun lovers..

I luv the sound of the gravel but it does get into the bed and that black edging is a pain. I am switching out the field stones that lead thru the bed and up to the front steps which is our main entrance as nobody likes walking on them, except me! My hubby is off from work for a day or two and has agreed to get about 3 big patio blocks tomorrow morning and position them for me.

I risked life and limb to grab a couple of photos. The mosquitoes are bent on murder. But I've lived to tell and maybe I can dye tomorrow! 8^)

Boundaries

When we moved here in 1974 this was a derelict farm. There was a big barn and a farmhouse from the 30's, a few old graineries and tangles of barb wire fence remnants. Imagine the worst! First year we hauled junk. Second year we hauled junk. All the while trying to make the farm support our family of six. When we finally could get down some grass things looked better. We ordered shelterbelt trees with only mediocre success. But the single most impressive thing we did was about 1985 we put in a rough lumber fence that divided the farm yard from the house yard. It enclosed nothing and curved slightly. We could not believe how it anchored the buildings and gave a settled appearance to the site. This year that fence is getting some needed attention because the focus this year is fences whether it be sheep fences, poultry yards or the kind you hang garden gates on. My farmer had also said to me, "enough". He has curtailed my plans for world dominion but he agreed to a short decorative fence across the back for another boundary. But as we've been cutting grass and gnashing our teeth over lack of hay this year we realized it should not be decorative but functional. So we are getting ready to pound posts for another sheep pasture behind my yard. I'll need to refigure that back area but I believe it will be just as impressive. We look west to the prairies and east to the parklands. I'll still be able to see forever but I'll have that edge that says, the garden of Elle stops here!

Foxtail Barley

I'm not sure what this is really called. We call it foxtail barley and once it gets to this stage it is unpalatable for the sheep, in fact most grazing animals. The farm yard area has had the sheep grazing in it but they left any of this stuff and it makes everything look untidy so I was in that part of the farmyard cutting it down. whooo, itchy stuff. We need to remember to rotate them sooner as this grass is taking up far too much time when I could be doing something way more fun.

The Coop

The coop is a working coop. The back part opens to a large area and houses the chickens. I have Buff Brahma Bantams mostly. Buff is the colour, Braham is the breed, and bantam designates size. This rooster is darker than the hens, has a plumy tail and feathered feet. The hens fade as they age but are definitely less colourful. They lay small brown eggs. This year they are babysitting my farmer's spring chicks. He ordered some Canadian chicks. Chanticleers from Quebec. His are full size and will live free range on the main farmyard.

My favorites are the call ducks. They live in the front of the coop and exit from the side. They have a smaller area but I've given them a pond. Call ducks are minature ducks that come from England. They were originally used as decoys to lure in wild ducks. They are very noisey and their small size enabled them to be kept in pockets. I particularly like the butterscotch/apricot colours. I can watch them in their kiddies pool from the upstairs windows.

They, too, are babysitting as my farmer ordered 3 Indian Runner Ducks and 3 Kahki Campbells. They are full sized ducks and quicly outgrew their surrogate mothers. Actually they'd kinda run them over! 8^) I've been leaving their gate open so they can get used to the big wide world as they'll be living over at the barn. Mine often forage about in That Faerie Place near them. I lock them back up at night as an owl visited and 'did in' my male a while ago.

Yesterday when I returned from the city I could hear a call duck. Usually they are quiet in the heat of the day, chillaxing under the shrubs in their pen. I found the neighbour's dog in the pen and much carnage. The chickens also did not escape as they often find ways to 'visit' the ducks and perhaps they feel the bugs are juicier on the other side of the fence!

The final tally is still not in as some were driven off into the bush behind the coop and the stress on the live birds is huge and they just sucumb later. So it has been a sad day, but nothing for it but to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and start all over again! Hmm, maybe the Faeries can console the survivors! I'll have to see if there are any faerie lights tonight!

Perfume

I need to straighten up a bit and smell the flowers. I probably should have heeded the advice to start small and get things under control before adding new beds, especially as I kept dividing the little to spread over the much. Those darn weeds hate to see any bare ground. But my peonies are really doing well this year and I have a big bouquet on the table that makes everything so worthwhile. I've also left the roses alone and they, too, are doing well. I stick to the hardy Canadian Explorer roses and the Morden roses that have been developed in Morden which is in my province. I try to get the fragrant ones right up near the house. I don't find the roses to be very demanding and they come thru winter without needing much more than some pruning and of course the peonies live forever. I have realized I'd rather not fuss with my plants so I try not to get the big doubles that tend to flop and I'll cut those that do for fresh flowers in the house. The roses aren't the big teas but they are still charming and suited to our farmsite. The bulk of my beds are mixed plantings but I try to have a sprinkling of flowers happening somewhere in each bed so there is always a flowering focal point.
Now that I've got a few of the kinks out, I think I'll go for a stroll and a sniff before I retire.