Prouts Neck poppies

A favorite stop of mine in Prouts Neck is visiting Martha (“Farmer Martha”) and her farm, located on the main drag. Just look for her sign for flowers, vegetables and fresh eggs, marking the true beginning of summer in this area of Maine. Helen and I visited her on our final day of our trip. […]

Prouts Neck flowers

We spent the Fourth of July, as every year, with our dear friends in Prouts Neck, Maine – the perfect place to celebrate America on her birthday, with its American flags, red, white & blue decorated bicycles, multi-generational family gatherings, blue hydrangeas and fireworks. My favorite moment upon arrival is checking out Helen’s latest in her […]

Dunrobin Castle & Gardens Scotland

We left Ireland earlier this week and are now traveling around Scotland. Again, Jeff and I rented a car and are on a driving trip. Driving on the left side of the road has been harrowing not only because it is opposite of the way we drive in the U.S., but because Scotland does not […]

Today’s harvest

I feel like I haven’t been in the Napa Valley for ages, as we’ve had commitments elsewhere preventing us from being here. How I miss my garden when I’m away! The first place I checked out this morning was my vegetable garden and WOW has it gone crazy. My tomato and bean plants are 8′ tall […]

Powerscourt Estate Ireland

I am traveling in Ireland and spent an afternoon at Powerscourt Gardens in Enniskerry, County Wicklow. The beautiful Powerscourt House and Gardens made me feel like I was about to visit Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The gardens stretch over 47 acres and offer visitors a blend of formal gardens, sweeping terraces, […]

Bee Update

I brought bees onto my property to pollinate the fruit and vegetables in my garden and increase the production of my variety of fruit trees. It has not been easy! As I mentioned in a previous post, one of my hives was taken over with yellow jackets and the bees in the other hive just […]

Grandma’s Favorite Poem

I found this poem yesterday, amongst my favorite Grandma’s things and it immediately brought me back to how wonderful and important she was to me. I hope you’ll enjoy this as much as I do. Friends Are Like Flowers Friends are like flowers You can’t have too many! Some you don’t see around all the […]

Celebrating Foxglove

The season is ending for our foxglove, sadly, but what a season it was! Because we allow our foxgloves to linger and drop their seeds at the end of each growing season, we have more and more of these stately flowers each spring. I wanted to share some of my favorite foxglove moments from this spring. I love the […]

Trees talk to each other

Ever listen to TED Talks? Every time I happen on a great talk I am reminded that I should listen to TED Talks all the time. They are fabulous. Recently, I ran across “How Trees Talk to Each Other” by forest ecologist Suzanne Simard. This particular talk has had 2,291,628 views! I absolutely loved it and […]

Grilled Artichokes

My artichokes plants look like trees this Spring. I had to get a step stool in order to cut a few for grilling. The artichoke plants were cut to the ground in January so I am surprised at how tall the plants became. As usual, some of the chokes were full blown and not great […]

Onion Harvest

I finally harvested all my onions after having them in the ground for over 200 days. As I mentioned in a previous post, it was cold and rainy this winter and it took a long time for them to mature. Now, what to do with all the onions? I used several in a simple sauté […]

Chalk Hill Farm

Are you a clematis enthusiast? If so, look no further than Chalk Hill Farm, located in Healdsburg, in Northern California. Off the beaten path, this 120 acre farm (open by appointment only) is growing clematis in the open air and sunshine of Alexander Valley, unlike most clematis farms, who grow these beautiful flowers in greenhouses. Chalk […]

Our first beans

Guess what I discovered on Friday? Our first beans of the season! I couldn’t believe my eyes when I found beans ready to be picked – in May! I planted my seedlings over the first weekend of April and protected them from nibblers (squirrels, insects???) with netting and Critter Ridder, so I wouldn’t lose my first […]

Mount Vernon’s Gardens

I had a chance to see Mount Vernon this morning. As you well know, Mount Vernon was George Washington’s plantation home located on the Potomac River in Fairfax County, Virginia – and what a spectacular site for his property! I learned that a smaller version of this property had been in his family since 1674 but […]

All that basil!

I always plant basil in my vegetable garden because I love Caprese salad and pesto all summer long. Basil, a member of the mint family, is one of my favorite herbs. The variety I’ve always planted is Genovese because I love the way it smells. I plant it alongside my tomatoes because tomatoes and basil make great companions. […]