Category Archives: garden

Apr13

Opening Day of Outdoor Farmers’ Market

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Deanna Greens and Garden Art will feature lovely 10″ hanging planters of perennials at the new Lake Saint Louis Farmers’ Market tomorrow held at The Meadows Shopping Center from 8:00am – 12:00 noon.  We have Boston ferns, geraniums and vinca mixed, geraniums and swedish ivy mixed, dragon-wing and charm begonias, and coleus planters and pots as well as heirloom tomato and herb plants.  This is the first outdoor market for us, and they are predicting storms, not just rain!  Hopefully, the patrons bring umbrellas or do not mind getting wet.  I know the plants like fresh rain water.  No high winds, please!  Our new tent as well as all 24 other vendors’ tents will be secured with 40# concrete weights at each peg.  Also featured will be hand-crafted photo cards and ceramic pots made by St. Charles County native artisans.  Come join opening day of the spring farmers’ market!

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Mar23

Through Art Only

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 Oscar Wilde once said,  “It is through art, and through art only, that we can realize our perfection.”  Art forms are many, and more is the artist in each of us.  The contrast of a black and white landscape captured through the camera, the colored palette made from a weaver’s loom,  the Gothic design of an architect’s arched door, a foodie’s crisp salad greens garnished with red nasturtium, artisan apricot beer accompanied with the baker’s cracked wheat bread, the wind sounds slowly dancing from a flute, the flow of a poet’s words; these all are the artist’s perfection.  I find journaling and blogging the avenue to keep my artistic mind going.  Time is an element for most of us, but I encourage all to take time to at least journal your thoughts.  You never know what inspiration will come to you …  Relic stepping stones for the garden are my next artist’s project.  I cannot wait to mix up some concrete and artistically arrange my “finds” into a one-of-a-kind design. 

Below is the gothic doorway of the Carmo Church in Lisbon, Portugal.   I found the photo on the internet.  It emphasizes the gothic arch.  Accompanying it is a photo of my home parish All Saints Church in St. Peters, Missouri, a gothic style church.  The parish was founded in 1823. 

 

Mar20

Unusual To Some

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Spring is officially here!  Though the signs of spring have been around for a few days now!  (Take a look at my previous post!) Gorgeous blooms, whipping winds, green grass, and gardens popping with new growth.  Farm friends of Dean & I’s are growing hops in their garden.  They started their local organic beer crop last year, and it has returned.  What may seem unusual to some is this grain comes from  a vine that grows very tall.  These recycled utility poles will hold twine which the hops vine grows on.  Best of everything to the LaBeaume Chateau!

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 …

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 …

Dec8

Garden Art Creations

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Garden art is an expression of one’s soul… Seeds packets, weathered hand trowels, a stalled tractor, the resting plow, pea shoots, sunflowers face the sun or lie their full heads to rest, rainbow reflections from the water-flowing sprinkler, dirt-cladded rocks, green garlic sprouts, worn ruts in the field road, sharp rows of green, bee’s visit to the flowering lavendar … all spiritual gifts to receive at the farm and share … an artist’s palette. 

So I have in mind to use my abundance of dried lavendar into soothing, aromatic soap for Christmas gifts and sell at the farmer’s markets this winter.  Bought some simple molds.  I thought to use creative ideas, and welcome yours. What do you use for your soap molds?  An antique or something contemporary?