gardening

  • Virginia. Is this place for Real?

    ByHeather Bailey

    It's great to be back home, but a bit of my heart and a large portion of my imagination
    are lingering behind in Virginia. For the middle-part of our big summer
    vacation, we drove south from D.C. to Colonial Williamsburg, with a stop
    at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello on the way.

    GovernorsMansionT

    If I could live my dream life, I would garden and keep animals on a
    lush green farm at the edge of a big city. I would spin yarn and churn
    butter, cultivate the perfect cabbage, and make cheese. However, I would
    also wear glamorous dresses to the theater, learn portraiture at an art
    atelier in the city, take the light rail to business meetings, and type
    away on my top-of-the-line computer. All with my kids in tow.

    WilliamsburgGarden

    My life isn't too far off of this dream in spirit. I grow fruit trees
    and make art. And my kids are here with me. But the lush trees and
    rolling hills are missing.

    This is where Virginia comes in. My. Freakin'. Word. Pardon the language. Virginia is gorgeous.
    I almost had to close my eyes on the way to Monticello in order to
    survive the view: white fences, electric green grass, trees as big as
    buildings.

    Williamsburg

    Perhaps Providence will plop the perfect excuse in my lap to move somewhere lush and lovely and near a fun city. How about a Kickstarter
    campaign to build a blogger's getaway paradise with fully-teched-out
    guest cabins. Or a reality tv show about trying to make such a
    disjointed reality work. Have it all. Be it all.

    WilliamsburgGarden2

    But I need a town to pin this fantasy to. What are the best little
    beautiful places to raise children, with great schools, strong, moral
    families and exciting things an arm's length away. And don't forget the
    large plots of land, big trees and cute houses. Give my dream new
    breath.

    If you relate, then you'd love Colonial Williamsburg.
    They run the town like it never left the 1700s, wigmakers, shoemakers,
    blacksmiths, cabinet-makers and all. I can't say enough about the place.
    There's' nothing like it out west, that's for sure.

    Grid_Williamsburg470

    The gardens are immaculate and the buildings are charming—and I'm all
    about the workshops. I don't blog about them much, but I have a
    spinning wheel and a jeweler's bench of my own. I've built shoes,
    churned butter, made yogurt, turned pottery, made lampwork glass beads,
    and worked on a horse ranch. My inner pilgrim.

    MossCovered

    I feel so disloyal to Arizona right now. Sorry, Arizona. I still love
    you—and your sun-bleached cow skulls and scorpions—but where are your
    towering trees and brick buildings? Where are your moss-covered walls
    and magnolias? Tell me it was a hallucination. Virginia is not real.

    Virginia is not real…

    Virginia is not real…

  • Growing Things

    ByHeather Bailey

    PepperCrop2

    Wow, is it already the end of
    May?

    Last week I was swept away by a birthday blizzard on one
    side and a
    Spring Market squall on the other.  My brother's birthday is the 16th,
    Isaac's is the 17th, my sister's husband's is the 18th, and my mom's big
    day is the 20th.  Add to that a trip to Minneapolis last week from
    Wednesday through Sunday and a father in the hospital. (He came home on
    Sunday too — after two weeks.  I won't go into it without his consent. 
    He does seem to be doing much better now.  We were worried.  Love you,
    Dad!) 

    I have a book-contribution to photograph, fabric to finesse, patterns to polish, kids to cuddle.  (Now I'm
    just having fun with alliteration.)  Mayday, Mayday!


    FencePlayW     Minneapolis,
    what a beautiful city!  I don't know what I was expecting exactly, but I
    was pleasantly surprised.  The weather was great, the city was clean
    and lively, and the public transit system was fantastic, and there was a
    Target right downtown.  I picked up some flip-flops and chocolate on
    Thursday, grabbed apples and couscous on Friday, and made a last-minute
    umbrella-run for Saturday's rain.  This is exciting stuff — as on most
    of my city-stays, I lack some mundane object I have left behind;  there
    was no want this time. 

    I love to catch up with everyone at
    Market.  Friends everywhere with new patterns, new books, new fabric,
    new fabric shops, new wallpaper.  Some with launch-parties, some with cake-parties.  I forget to work.

    Minneapolis was great. I feel
    completely refreshed right now.  And I'm happy to be home to my little
    green garden of growing things. 

    TinyappleWI have a number of outdoor
    projects to scoot-to before the coming heat scoots me back inside: work
    tables to build, chairs to refinish, a storage unit to clear out, a new
    garden to tend.  Truthfully, I can't even start on this list till a
    whole different work-list is checked.  We'll see how it goes.  The blaze
    is on its way.

    I've got some fresh energy so I'm hopeful.  I'll
    keep a camera handy.

    And school is out tomorrow!  My kids are all
    mine again. This makes me squishy.  I go.

  • Let There Be Green

    ByHeather Bailey


    RetroVase

    Bless you, Goodwill, not only
    for the regular entertainment, but also for the occasional thrill. 

    -o-o-o-o-o-

    We're
    landscaping our backyard this week — finally!  I won't confess how
    long we've lived here with no yard (hm-hmm – years).  We installed a
    patio and raised garden beds last year, but then the summer overtook us.
    Outside is the last place you want to be in the Arizona summertime. 
    Now we have the sprinklers set and the garden beds filled with dirt. 
    Two pallets of sod arrived this morning and we're in the final sprint.

    Gardeners
    here enjoy two growing seasons each year.  (Yeah, I know, isn't that
    awesome. For the most part, the weather here is gorgeous.)  Though it's
    late for planting a summer garden, I'm not giving up.  I'm going to see
    about adopting some larger plants from the nursery.  Even if all I can
    do is tomatoes.  Then tomatoes it will be.

    In fact, I'm going to
    call the nursery right now. 

    -o-o-o-o-o-

    Here's the
    scoop.  I guess it's the tomatoes that are the bigger concern.  I'm told
    the blooms need to "set" before the weather reaches 100 degrees.  If I
    can pull that off, then I'm home free.  So, it'll be Early Girl tomatoes
    or Celebrity.  Then, I'm still in the clear for peppers, eggplant,
    squash, zucchini, etc.  And herbs.  Basil goes nuts here.  Last time I
    had a garden, basil was my favorite luxury.  Homemade pizza with basil,
    yum.