Author Archives: deannagreensandgardenart

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About deannagreensandgardenart

Personal chef and greenhouse owner using sustainable, organic methods for growing herbs, flowers, and perennial plants.
Mar12

Contrasting Weather

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I watch the weather like a farmer.  I grew up with this ritual, and continue.   Spring seems to bring the storm fronts, but its started early this year.  Above normal warm one day, and then comes that front bringing clouds and rain followed by cooler air.  This cycle continues.  St. Louis’ record high for today is 84 degrees set in 1990, and record low is 1 degree in 1948.  The norms are 54 and 35, yet today we are currently at a sunny, clear sky 71 degrees.  It is gorgeous!  I took a stroll around the block during my lunch break.  The crab apple and bradford pear blossoms are busting out today!   A walk to the indoor pool after work will be refreshing, though still too cool for an outdoor pool!  The next front is due in on Wednesday.  This contrasting weather creates a beautiful palette for us to behold.  Clouds, storms, rains, sunshine, and rainbows …  Is not this a picture of life?

Mar5

Thoughts

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The brain can distort your thoughts if you have an acute infection, fever, tumor, Alzheimer’s, lacking certain vitamins and minerals, or severely dehydrated. Non-prescription and prescription drugs and anesthesia can distort things in the brain as well.  I have a colorful picture of the brain I found on Photobucket, a bit of art if you will in hopes for brighter days to come.   Yet life is not too colorful these days, a gray palette.  My father has a brain tumor, and underwent surgery this past Friday.  His thoughts are distorted right now.  Words come out wrong or no words at all. Previously, we know his distortion has been caused by the tumor, but now we are not sure if it is post-surgerical swelling that is causing the distortions, or other things now.  Prayers are requested for my father’s full recovery, and strength for my mother and family.

Mar1

March Into Spring

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“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold:  when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.”
–  Charles Dickens 

March has such turbulent weather conditions, storms, tornados, and floods.  Yet there is a knowing of what is to come after the ruckus.   Baby birds chirping, wild violets showing purple,  green grass glowing after the rains, and a rainbow’s  promise of that pot of gold.  For me the pot of gold is garden growth, showy dogwood blooms, the birth  of a new thought, the memories of my child laughing in a swing, capturing a walk in the middle of my day …  “No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.” –  Hal Borland .   March into spring …

Feb24

Missouri Wines

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Missouri wines are a local treat, we are just minutes away from the closest winery.  Pictured are bottles of local wines served at Dean & I’s Hermann, Missouri wedding dinner.  Indulge before, during, and after …

 

Missouri Wines

The end of May Deanna Greens and Garden Art will be housed just down the road from the elegant Chandler Hill Vineyards in Defiance.   We will be a vendor at their Sunday afternoon Farmers’ Market this growing season.  Come indulge!

Feb22

Down The Row

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Working down the field row of freshly planted garlic bulbs, I cover each bulb with the organic soil using a hoe at the historic Mueller Farm in Ferguson, Missouri.  Those bulbs will sprout greens very soon, as we have had a mild winter.   Garlic greens add so much flavor to stir frys, salads, and mashed potatoes.

November Garlic Planting

Lush Deanna Greens Houseplants

Gazing down a greenhouse row of beautiful houseplants and perennials, asking myself,  “what did we get ourselves into”?  So many plants to care for in this 1300 square foot greenhouse.  Memorial Day weekend Deanna Greens and Garden Art will move this greenhouse to Boone Hollow Farm in Defiance, Missouri.  We will have a moving sale on houseplants not sold before the big move.  We will convert to total organics, and grow more edibles, lots of vegetables and herbs. 

 
Feb14

Pen & Paper

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The written word seems foreign now.  Particularily I am talking about the old-fashion long-hand letter writing and journaling.  You know … what we did before Word docs, Word Press, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.  Some of our famous poems and quotes were birthed in these letters and journals.  Authors such as Thoreau, Twain, and Whitman are American classics.  “Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart,” writes William Wordsworth.  So I regret I have put aside my pen and paper.  A letter or two to my estranged aunt, uncle, and cousin while wrongful imprisoned would be good for them as well as me.  And I regret that I  do not journal each day as I once did. In was my sanity through the most difficult days in my 1st marriage.   Garden journaling would be so therapeutic, like gardening is.

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth

I have found a writer’s colony in the Ozarks.   My new husband and I will visit there this weekend.  We have in mind to write a historical novel based on real characters we have known in our lives.  These characters are full of whit, adventure, and stature.  We are in the autumn years of our lives.  And we have much to say as the winter years come quicker than we like to think …

Feb6

Dinner Bell Ready

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Ready to Eat?!

The dinner bell has rung!  Are you ready to eat?!  I know I am with all these scrumptious dishes laden with vegetables of tantalizing flavors and texture combinations at a EarthDance Farms potluck.  Another potluck coming up this Sunday to welcome the freshman farmies.
Jan20

Slow Is Simple

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Life in the eyes of a child … simple.

A child’s life moves in slow motion though they run and play with full speed.  My granddaughter Ella wants to experience life to the fullest, yet slows down to view upclose a green frog hopping in the garden.  Life is simple as a child.  Slow is simple.  Simply said …

Green frog in the garden, a child’s bauble, maybe prince charming, a fairy tale in the making …

Jan15

Leafy Green Cravings

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So I am salivating while planting a micro green mix and red sails leaf lettuce seeds at the greenhouse … I think viewing this July vacation photo of a salad made by my longtime Minnesota friend, Tamie Jensen started it! 

Is it not a palette to behold?!  I am craving leafy greens … like fresh spinach, pac choy, arugula, leaf lettuce, borage, you name it!  Some of these items can be purchased at most local grocery stores, and fewer even have the organic variety.  And how far did these items have to travel to my local Schnucks or Dierbergs? And how much did that price tag say??? I am not willing to pay $5.99  for a pound “fresh” spinach that was grown 2,000 miles away!  I have become “spoiled” or a better word “selective” in my grocery purchases after farming with EarthDance Farms this past year.  Organic and local are the way to go for optimum health.  I froze several bags of spinach, swiss chard, and kale from my field labors this past growing season.  I just want fresh right now! Deanna Greens and Garden Art  recently bought this 1300 square foot greenhouse full of houseplants and flowering plants.  And it now makes way for my leafy greens!  Not quite the same as spring or autumn sunshine…  but it is organically grown, local, and cost pennies to those dollars! In 4 – 6 weeks I will be satisfied when a few of our nasturium blossoms and leaves are married with Deanna Greens and Garden Art’s very own leafy greens …