Rose Cottage

   This week I took the grands to their volunteer training at our Public Library. While there, i picked up several seed packets from the Seed Library!  My granddaughter's middle school gardening class packages and restocks the seed supply, and she asked,  "Grammie, have you visited the seed library?" ... Seed Library - 'take up to 5 packets' I also checked out a couple of books - on gardens and gardening. In an essay on the lovely blue Poppy,  Meconopsis betonicifolia in Jamaica Kincaid's  My Favorite Plant , gardener Wayne Winterrowd writes of being given a start of M. betonicifolia.  The 'very good gardener' who gifted the start told him,  "Divide it into single crowns, with a bit of root when you get home. Plant then firmly just at the crown, like strawberries, in rich decayed leaf mold. Bright dappled light. Maybe some morning sun. But pinch out the first flower bud.  You MUST pick out the first flower bud."   Tibetan Blue Poppy Sin...

  It's exciting to watch the garden emerge and take shape!   I seeded more of my Homesteaders Kaleidoscopic Perennial kale Grex (Experimental Farm Network) - always fun to see the variety of plants which emerge.  Tomatoes, basil, kale seedlings on right I sketched various plans for each bed, then, go out to the garden and fine tune with the Devas, for the layout! We still don't have fences to the N or S, so the deer roam through.... tulle and binder clips provide night time protection!  Tomatillos and Monarda I enjoy planting a mix of old favorites and less standard greens - orach, new Zealand spinach, doucette (summer relative of corn salad/ maché) red celery, Alexanders, Magentaspreen, shiso ... and purslane transplanted from the lot.  Varieties of beans include Dragons Tongue, Red Swan, Edamame, runner beans, and Trail of Tears. There are Dragons egg and Persian cucumbers, bitter melon and okra ... a box divided into 4 sections for burdock... Morning vi...

  This spring my son came with his small tractor to till the back lot while the fence to the S is open. While I prefer no-dig methods, and minimal soil disturbance, Mary wanted the lot evened out. Garden shed, greenhouse, artichoke and Rosemary - and on the right, the row of blueberries.  Freshly Tilled Garden I'd already put together several garden beds, and Mary helped me assemble another. Two were in the garden with chard and perennial kale - so I moved those plants out weeks before Josh came to till. Two beds with branches and straw Ideally, I'd cover the whole back with tarps and cardboard ... I had saved enough cardboard to cover the bottom of each bed.  Matt took out the grape in back, and saved the branches for my beds.  The black bag has goat bedding from Michael's house - two bags was enough for  a good layer in 1 1/2 beds. I harvested some of our compost for another layer. The mound of our native dirt to the left of the back bed it's loose enough to d...

  Our theme for tomorrow's Red Thread Circle is Wonder Woman,  connecting with our own power.  One of my Sheros is Abigail Scott Duniway - our own 'Oregon Pioneer Suffregette!'  Born in 1834, Abigail's family traveled by wagon train from Illinois to Oregon in 1852, and seventeen-year-old Abigail Scott was assigned the task of keeping a daily journal. She married Ben Duniway the next year, and they settled in the Willamette valley. Her husband was injured in 1962, and Abigail became the breadwinner, taking boarders, teaching school and running a millinery shop.  The family moved to Portland in 1871, and Abigail began a weekly human-rights newspaper, The New Northwest, which she edited and published in Portland for sixteen years (1871-1887) Editor and Publisher Abigail first headed to the polls (closed at the time to women ) at 38, in 1872; after campaigning for Ulysses S  Grant/ Henry Wilson.  On election day, Abigail led Mary Laurinda Jane Smith Beat...

  We're a week into February and our focus on Resetting Your Space as a Living Altar. This is the third year I've been invited to co-host with my creative Sistar Katy, and we've both decided to focus on our studios.   Craft supplies & Altar I'm also enrolled in an 8 week course on using Creativity to foster Resilience, with my friend Cindy Jacobs . We are using Soul Collage and Mixed media to craft cards, and exploring insights in our journals. Cindy i s also offering a monthly circle to make cards around our Word of the Year - email Cindy to register for these! Yesterday I moved a small set of shelves next to my couch, where I do most craftey bits!  Angel of Time One of the first SC 'Neter' (archetype) cards is this helpful Time Angel! I've been working with her since ~ 1995, when my friend Anita and I invoked her aid on the way to a Reiki circle (and arrived 'on time' - though we should have been late!)  Whilst resetting our spaces, it can also...

  As January comes to a close, we are finishing our first blog challenge for 2025. It's been fun visiting each other's blogs, giving us a kaleidoscopic view of each other's worlds. New recipes, creations projects and inspires abound!  As this challenge ends, new opportunities beckon. One SiStar blogger has even set up a Pinterest board, inviting us to post favorite articles!  Emily, Mary, Josh n me Yesterday my son and granddaughter Emily came to town and we had a quick and sweet visit! Emily turns 21 tomorrow, so i passed on her gift. We stopped by Mary's work for 'a hug' (in facilities, at our nearby Uni)  In February I'm looking forward to our next space Reset (my Atelier/ Library and closets are next on the list!) and delving back into my  ᏣᎳᎩ Studies. I'll be blogging about that journey again - stay tuned! Connected I am taking a couple of my friend Cindy's creative workshops, combining Soul Collage ™  Mixed Media, and Intentional Creativity ™!...