Sunday, June 2, 2013

A Feast for the Eyes




"When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it.  If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant."~unknown


It’s an astonishing morning. After days and days of dreary gloom and drizzle, the sun came up this morning to a breathtaking array of colors.  The cobalt, powder blue, burgundy&cream and butter yellow iris all stand high above the boulder in the back yard surrounded by sky blue flax. The pansies in my water trough/planters are now peeking above the rim with the white alyssum and bacopa starting their spill over the side. The shrubs and creepers against the rock wall stand out in contrasting hues from wine colored barberry to lime green trumpet vine. The smell of newly  mowed lawn wafts around my head as the hummingbirds zip in and out around their feeder on the end of the porch.





Even the most simple of combinations make me happy when they are in a pot or basket. There is something special that flowers do.


 Beyond, I can see Thomas, his bright white feathers setting off the red, buff and purple blacks of the laying hens. Buffy struts around proudly, in motherly fashion around her lone chick.

The sheep are grazing in the corral with the Maremmas laying about keeping an eye on all and the seedlings in the vegetable garden are stretching and muscling their way up toward the sun and out across the ground with a promise for tomorrow.

I prepare to put bread in the oven and make some notations of additional seeds I want to buy to start in the greenhouse for next summer. Iceland poppies and petunias are two I would like to get established earlier next year than this. It’s a good day to be alive.

Still recovering from over 2 weeks of being incapacitated with a back injury, I try to keep my bucket list small. Having mowed the lawn already, I add weeding around the corner of the house so my morning glories don’t get choked out before they have a chance to take hold. 

We moved the meatie chickens out of the brooder. They have outgrown it in just 3 weeks. There was hardly room for them to move around in there anymore. We put up a "Club Meatie" with 6000 sq feet of pasture and a 120 sq ft of shelter for them in the orchard. Bruno is currently living with them to provide security from any hawks or owls who may think of making a quick meal of them day or night.





 There are tomatoes and peppers, potatoes and cabbage, brocolli, lettuce and cauliflower up in the garden and the corn and green beans go in this week. Two lambs are ready to come home from freezer camp, a steer is on his way in and the chickens will be ready to process this summer.

Nourishment for our bodies is pretty much assured, but for now, I will continue to marvel at creation, and revel in the flowers and let them feed my soul.


17 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Will try again....Greetings from Wyoming - new to comment - but have been reading you for awhile - love your blog. Your yard is beautiful! Come visit me - http://willowcreekranching.blogspot.com/

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  3. You must think you died and went to heaven these beautiful early summer days. Even with the physical limitations you can enjoy the nice weather and bask in the efforts of your garden.

    D and I will be meeting in Portland for a photography workshop next weekend. I will fly in and she will bring me home and visit for a while. If we didn't have plans to travel down the Oregon coast, I would talk her into coming home by way of Bend, Burns and Reno so we could see you and I could meet you. Some day maybe...
    Enjoy the lovely weather and your beautiful garden.

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    1. Darn! That would have been great. Please tell her I said hello and think of her often!

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  4. "Nourishment for our bodies is pretty much assured, but for now, I will continue to marvel at creation, and revel in the flowers and let them feed my soul." Amen!! Staci

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  5. I find it is the nourishment for the eyes I need after a too long winter. I'm enjoying my gardens so much this spring - your pictures and descriptions are lovely!

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    1. They sure are a welcome sight. I had no idea how much I loved flowers until I was about 23 and bought my first petunias to stuff in a barrel. I've been hooked on them ever since!

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  6. " If thou of fortune be bereft and in thy store there be but left two loaves, sell one, and with the dole, buy Hyacinths to feed the soul." John Greenleaf Whitter
    In my opion Mr. Whittier has it correct. No garden is complete without flowers. :)
    Your yard is so lovely. The flowers as bright and beautiful and complement the view beyound the wall.
    Big hugs to all...

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    1. The iris brought a riot of color this year. Not sure what it will look like when those are faded!

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  7. What a beautiful yard and grounds you have created! So much color! I used to think that it was more important to just plant useful things, but, as I age I've changed my mind. I find the beauty in flowers to be very useful.

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    1. Me too and I tend to hide veggies in the flower garden to hide any bare spots, and companion plant flowers in the veggie garden because some are beneficial to the plants growing there. Double duty!

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  8. ur gardens and yard are beautiful. things here r somewhat behind where you are although we can see the beauty of daffodils, tulips and irises, it is the blossoms n bushes and the sharp green new grass and aspen leaves that make the mountainside look like a carpet. robert frost said Nature's first green is gold, in Nothing Gold Can Stay and your yard proves the point. thanks for sharing it and the hard work you put into filling it with natures first green. cya...daniel

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    1. I would love to see the aspens, they are one of my favorite trees although sadly short lived where I came from. There is so much that can feed the eye and I love seeing it all come back around!

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  9. Petey, how did I miss this? I have just been so busy having rounds of company, and working, and I haven't been spending much time on the computer.
    Your gardens are indeed beautiful and so soul satisfying. Everything is so vibrant. I love that rock wall, it's a perfect foil for your vines. Very charming!

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  10. Man, Daniel really writes with rhythm, even in prose. Petey the name of the disease is Brisket. I knew it was a funny name but its also a cut of beef. I wasn't going to write but I guess I did. X

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    1. Interesting, I had never heard of it before. Thanks for telling me.

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