Saturday, July 22, 2017

A long-winded attempt to catch up

I can't believe how long it has been since I've posted. I promise it is not because of re-joining Facebook! I am managing my time there very nicely, I think. And I've actually found it to be very helpful. The woman from whom we bought our sheep three years ago, wrote on my timeline and messaged me to offer two ewes who were done being mothers. They are nine years old, and are going to spend their retirement years at Windy Poplars Farm. Here they are in the back of Matt's truck.


They have settled in well, and I like having six sheep. They are more of a presence in the pasture.


Nebby, the donkey. In the back, close together, as always, the mother and daughter, Aberdeen and Angelina. On far right, Maybelline. In the foreground, L to R: Cappuccino (new), Maggie Mae, and Kiah (pronounced Kyah - also new).

Our Dominique chicks, born May 8, lived in a box in the cellar for a few weeks, and are now in the barn and moving around just like the big chickens.

Tom's parents made the big decision to move to a smaller place. They do not have to be in assisted living, but they wanted an easier life without having to shop or cook. They have a kitchen so still can make meals when they want, but both breakfast and supper are provided. It's a lovely place with a swimming pool which will be a big draw for the great-grandchildren. There is a library which I naturally love. It has chairs by a window and many shelves with all kinds of books. We've gone down a few times to help move smaller things, and to receive a few lovely rugs, Nina's framed needlepoint, some things for the kids, and this beautiful kitchen table.


It was Tom's grandmother's and we have loved it for decades. So happy to have it. Since the kids were little, we've had a round table which became oval with extra leaves. But I have always wanted a rectangular table. It feels like a real farmhouse table, and I love the little drawer. I put grandchildren treats in it. Incidentally, the white cupboard belonged to my aunt Mabel, and it was given to me when she died. It was in her kitchen and both Margaret and Michael remember she always had a can of Pringles in it. I love it so much. For fifteen years, it has had the 'distressed' look, aka, chipping paint. Tom recently painted it and we moved it into the kitchen. The books are my food related books, like Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking.

The final move-in was this week, and they are very happy. Here are some pictures from a few weeks ago. When we go down next, I'll take some more photos.

A lovely patio and garden


 Great kitchen


The living room looking out the sliding doors to the patio


It is a big change for them, but they are both such sports, always looking forward not back. They have a gift for enjoying life.

I've missed posting two weeks of my CSA flowers, so here you go:


Two weeks ago, I decided to use the little pail provided last year as my vase. And this week I used a pitcher that belonged to my aunt Gladys.


I've made a batch of pesto both weeks with basil that was in the bouquet! Just like last year.

After a rainy spring and early summer, we are finally having real summer weather. It has been perfect really - sunny, but not too hot. The gardens are going great guns, but there is still 'witchgrass' amongst the daylilies, and it has been hard keeping the weeds down in the garden as they all got such a hold during the wet weather.

Remember the rust on the hollyhock last summer? I actually decided to not plant any this year, but lo and behold, a plant came up, in the same place as last year!


The first flowers appeared this week.


There's something going on with the leaves again. Not sure if it is rust or insects, but the nearby Chelsea Prize English cucumbers seem to have it, too.

H
 C

We'll see. The cuke in general looks okay, and I hope it stays that way.


The Clarimore Middle Eastern zucchini is doing great. I've made two meals with it already.


The really tall French Gold filet pole beans are just coming. If there is a big enough crop, I think I'll freeze some this year.


I've eaten 3 or 4 Sungold orange cherry tomatoes, but most of them are still green. There is nothing like eating a warm tomato right off the vine.


As usual, I have too many plants in too small an area, but I can't seem to help myself. In the spring, the two we started under lights were so small, and I decided to buy two more plants from a local farm. Of course, ours have pretty much caught up with the ones I bought.

And now to my favorite gardening subject - the daylilies. The stars of Windy Poplars Farm which make July and August as pretty as could be around here.










I'm sure your eyes have glazed over by now, and you're wondering, when will this end? Well, now!

34 comments:

  1. Love your update, and have thought of something like what your in-laws now have - but cannot leave my country home :) Love their lay out and nothing like that near me, have to have outside space.
    Day Lilies, mine wonderful too and much did not do good this year and have no idea why But 100 plus degree weather continues and I do not like and can hardly tolerate.

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    1. I couldn't either. I wouldn't be able to breathe with neighbors so close.

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  2. I love this chatty post! Everything is so lovely. We have been having mid-nineties and humid but no rain. Suppose to break first of the week. I hope so, I'm melting and the kids are coming in mid-week and want to do some hiking in the Smoky Mountains.

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  3. Nice catch up post. That new place for Tom's parents looks and sounds great.

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    1. Thanks so much. It really is a good fit for them. She is 89 and he will be 94 the end of this month. They are lucky people!

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  4. It was so nice to see your daylilies in the banner, Nan, and then further down in this newsy post. I look forward to your posts, even if I don't comment, but this one was so newsy and had the feel of you talking to us over a garden gate. Thank you.

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    1. Thanks, Penny. I haven't even had time to visit any blogs for quite a while. I love what you wrote. I rather feel like that when I post. I'm not writing to strangers but to blogging friends.

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  5. Agree with others, this is a lovely post.... like sitting down with a friend over coffee and cake, and starting off with "... did I tell you?" I too love day lilies, and this year has been a good year for them here in my UK garden. I have a cream one that is the first to flower, and then off they go - I call my "blousy ladies" - a bit gaudy, but hearts in the right place! This year has been their longest flowering season ever. It seems that they do not all flower at the same time and I have the happenstance of having several that flower one after the other, but with a little overlap. Not planned at all but so far about six weeks of loveliness. Hope your inlaws enjoy a few good years at their new place, too.

    PS Love the names of your sheep!

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    1. I do, too! They were all named by the breeder. I would say six weeks might be the time mine bloom, too. Such a wonderful flower.

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  6. What an enjoyable post, I'll have you know I read it twice and showed your photos to my husband. I love the flowers and the freshness and the burst of colors after a winter. I miss that being in swampy Florida. Sometimes I think I want "home" back to Pennsylvania.

    The sheep will have a lovely home in their retirement years, great photos.

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    1. Oh, that pleases me more than I can say!! Thank you so much.

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  7. You have been busy. It is like that this time of year. Love your table. So nice to have some things with such nice memories.

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    1. It is. I realized as I read through the post that I mentioned Tom's parents, his grandmother, and two of my aunts!

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  8. I love that you run a retirement home for sheep, 🐑, wonderful!
    I want day lilies! When do you plant them? I wish I could split some of yours

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    1. Actually, I suppose Nebby is in that category, too. The owner's children had grown up and the family wanted her to have a new home. How 'bout I drive some daylilies up to you! Only 15 hour drive. Maybe someday. Here is a great little site with lots of info about them. http://www.thegardenglove.com/easy-to-grow-delightful-daylilies/

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  9. Love the update. So great to hear all that is going on. Your daylilies really are show stoppers! Wow!

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    1. "Show stoppers" - I hear that word most every evening as I make my way through The Great British Bake Off show on Netflix and PBS!! Thanks for your words.

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  10. I love the sound of Tom's parents new home it would suit Terry and I very well! Somewhere with a library and a swimming pool would be fine with me.
    Your kitchen looks so warm and inviting, and I love the table. I can imagine you having many happy family times sitting around it.
    Your daylilies are wonderful, we have just one plant but it too is doing really well this year.

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    1. Thank you. It is a perfect situation for them. We've been in touch and they already heard a band play some Glenn Miller type music which they loved, and have had dinner with some people who live there. I think they will be happy there.

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  11. Just catching up with your blog, and what a lovely catch-up post this is! As yellow is my favourite colour, I love the yellow daylilies best, of course.
    What a good decision to downsize, and move to such a pretty place! And no wonder you really love this dining table - who wouln't!
    Also wonderful to have your small herd of sheep increased.

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    1. Thanks for all your words. Now I have to get over and visit your blog. I'm so behind with all my blogging friends!

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  12. I like everything about this post! And your day lilies are just magnificent; such an array of colors.

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    1. You are so dear, thank you. The daylilies just do it all themselves. Wonderful plants.

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  13. Nan, I love this update! I just started gardening in containers this season and your photos are #gardengoals for me! I didn't realize how happy plants would make me :-)

    And I LOVE that table and the cabinet - your home looks so cozy!!

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    1. I love that you have been gardening! It is such a great thing - connecting us to the essential, the real. You made me smile with the hashtag. The house is cozy. Wish you were closer so you could come sit a spell at that table.

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  14. Agree with everyone...this is a lovely post. "There is nothing like eating a warm tomato right off the vine" brought memories of childhood when I lived in a more rural version of my home town. Sensed the aroma, heat, and taste of a tomato off the vine.

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  15. That's so nice that the family table has come to you to enjoy, with lots of happy memories involved in it. I hope Tom's parents love their new home. I know that we love having a smaller home now.

    And I love that you have more sheep now! How wonderful to look out and see them all. And I have thoroughly enjoyed my glimpse into your garden. I want to plant daylilies here, might have to go to the old house and dig up some to transplant.

    And Laurie Colwin! I remember that she is a favorite of yours too. Hers are some I pull down just to read, even when I'm not looking for a recipe.

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  16. Ordered Home Cooking
    it is me
    I want to stay home
    eat my own food....

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  17. We are so much alike, Nan! I love day lilies too as much as I like fresh vegetables from the garden. Believe it or not, I have an Aunt Gladys too! (She is my grandmother's youngest sister which made her only a few years older than my mother, it works that way in large families!)
    Your in-laws look great, love their new place...it still looks big to me! :-)

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  18. A slice of heaven! What a wonderful catch-up! Please go on and on as the mood strikes you. I scour your photos (not in a creepy way) for all the backgrounds that show the gorgeous high summer countryside. And I must say, the new ewes are glad you are on Facebook again! Just in time for them to have a lovely retirement. Best wishes to your new furniture and happy garden, and of course to Tom's parents as they downsize.

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  19. Oh I loved this post and you know I think your dear parents made the right decision and I look forward to more pictures whenever you have time. We've downsized long ago and with any luck when the time comes we'll find something like what they have here. (BTW, I know they are Tom's parents, but you are probably like we were, after a certain number of years you love them just as if ...)

    Loved the sheep story -- and your pictures. FB really paid off for you -- and certainly for Cappucinno and the other new one whose name I already forgot.) Great post loved the flowers of course ... nothing about it was too long. Don't apologize.

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  20. Enjoyed catching up on the farm and the flowers.

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