the glory of the earth at rest

 

I wish I had taken a picture of the tree when all the leaves were still clinging to the branches.  Blanketing the ground, though, they're just as glorious.

We give thanks to the Earth and to Opa: Master Gardener Extraordinaire.

in the garden

In the Spring and Summer we spend a lot of time with Naiya in the back yard.  A lot of our afternoons are spent playing with the fairies, in the sandbox, barbecuing, enjoying meals or gardening as a family.  Naiya has her own little corners of the yard though that she has planted and maintains all by herself.

This area around her play house is filled with flowers and veggies she chose on her own.  It's a mish mash display and with all the eating of the fennel leaves and picking of the most beautiful blossoms, I'm not sure how this area will fare through the season.  (Which is, of course, totally alright, since her pleasure was its purpose from the outset.)

A pot on our table that Naiya calls her "special garden" has been dormant for months.  She told me she had planted seeds there and when they started to poke out of the soil I wasn't sure that weeds hadn't simply found a foothold in her little patch of wonder.  When they grew taller, they looked a little less weedy (but were still mysterious) and just this morning these poppies opened up.

Sometimes daddy brings plants home from work for her, because they're a little weird or especially fancy.

Inside the house we often find flies in the windowsills.  Other crawly critters meet their demise out of doors for any number of reasons and our daughter often discovers these bodies in both locales. We have tried to instill a reverence for all life (even the most pesky) in Naiya so when she asked what to do with these bodies I told her returning them to the earth might be nice.  She's had this area for years but only recently asked me to write out some markers for the tiny beings resting there.

screen-free week: gardening

Planting a garden is yet another wonderful way to encourage children and families to unplug during screen-free week.  Working out doors with living things in an herb or veggie garden allows children to see how some of their food grows and feel a connection between the earth and themselves.  (It can also cut down on grocery bills!)  A flower garden or butterfly garden likewise create connections between our families and the earth as we experience budding, growth, blossoming and decay through the seasons.

In my garden there is a seed,

I am the one who put it there.

Who will help it now to grow?

Earth and sun and rain and air.

In my garden there is a flower,

From a seed it came to birth.

Who then helped it to grow so tall?

Air and rain and sun and earth.

annual tulip fest

Every year at just this time we glory in the bright, fresh colors of spring at home.

Then our display is sadly eclipsed when we take our annual trip to the ever extravagant Tulip Fest at Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm in Woodburn, Oregon.

 Right?

 This year was a tad overcast so we didn't get those glorious shots with the beautiful blue sky but the fields were, as always, amazing.

It just puts our little patch of sunshine at home to shame.

Naiya also enjoyed some of the activities available for kids including a bouncy house, trampoline bungee jumping, water pump duck races and a bit of carving of some ol' wooden shoes.

Somehow we missed her favorite Cow Train this time around but did sneak in a serving of cotton candy and enjoyed a fine Oregon Spring day.

The Festival is on until May 5th.  If you're a local, you've still got time!

springtime at the rhododendron garden

It seems like every year I do this same post of the beautiful blossoms sprouting in early Spring at the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden.  It is only about five minutes from our house and we enjoy visiting during every season but especially now when the first blooms insist on delighting the senses.

It's no wonder I have to post it every year.  The flowers and I, we just can't help ourselves...

(Anyone know what this sweet little flower is?  So delicate and lovely but none in our party could identify it.)

The World is very old;

But year by year

It groweth new again

When buds appear.

The World is very old,

And sometimes sad;

But when the daisies come

The World is glad.

The World is very old;

But every Spring

It groweth young again,

And fairies sing.

                                                                 - from Flower Fairies of Spring by Cicely Mary Barker

leach botanical garden

We feel really lucky to be living in Portland.  I'm a transplant here and have enjoyed this city for just over a decade while Ryan has been in or around the area for most of his life.  Amazingly, we keep discovering little gems tucked away in every corner.  The metro area doesn't seem that large but somehow, I still think it's got a lot of secrets to share.  Just this weekend we discovered (only 12 minutes from our house!) Leach Botanical Garden while we were out searching for a letterbox.  This beautiful, 17 acre estate was donated to the city of Portland by John and Lilla Leach.  The Leachs - pioneers, explorers, botanists, artists and scientists extraordinaire - left over 2,000 species of plants here.  Even in late autumn, the gardens are a sight to see and a fun place to explore.

the oregon garden

 The Oregon Garden in Silverton (only miles from Silver Falls and about an hour outside of Portland) is a spectacular 80 acre botanical garden with 20 specialty gardens and an adjoining resort.

We try to get a visit in once a year and stay a night at the Resort to take advantage of the Dinner Special they offer with lodging, wine, breakfast and admission to the garden included.  (Great deal for $109!)  We spend a day at Silver Falls State Park, make full use of the resort's outdoor pool and hot tub, enjoy a decent dinner and comfortable room then spend the next day exploring the beautiful (and sometimes quirky) grounds.

This time around we also did a little letterbox hiding to spice up our regular routine.  (For our newest search clues click here and here.)

we're winners!

I have to admit that, despite being a blogger myself, I'm not an entrenched member of any blogging community.  I often forget to visit some of my favorite sites and just don't have the time to search out the many, many fabulously witty and creative folks who, all around the world, share some of their most intimate thoughts and lives.

That said, one of the places I do regularly visit (and often share with at Friday's Nature Table) is The Magic Onions.  Every year the creative, warm and friendly Donni hosts a Fairy Garden Contest there.  This year she had over 150 beautiful gardens entered and (unbelievably) she chose our little backyard village as one of her winners!

We feel so honored (and somewhat falsely deserving since it is the fairies themselves who did most of the work under the trees in our little  garden corner).

Our garden changes throughout the Summer with Naiya and I sometimes making offerings to the Queen and her entourage but mostly with the fey folk themselves leaving evidence of their nighttime festivities.  Our daughter is endlessly delighted to discover what new bit of magical something or other those tricksy pixies leave behind.

solstice offerings

fairie firepit

additions to the village

fairieland festooned

Might I suggest you check out the many super creative folk who have likewise welcomed magical creatures with amazing creativity into their own tiny spaces?   Donni lists this year's winners here.

Perhaps you or your children will feel inspired to create a mini garden of your own?

praying mantis

A little over a month ago we bought this praying mantis egg case at the Farmer's Market.  I thought it would be fun for Naiya to see the wonder of birth in the insect kingdom.  The egg sat in the covered jar on our kitchen counter and we were all pretty sure nothing was going to happen.  Then, this morning (after a few weeks of warm weather...just like the instructions promised) I looked over and thought, what's all that stuff in the jar?

They hatched! 

We couldn't believe they all came out of that little egg case.  (The case is that brown blob in the lower right of this picture.)  There must have been about 70 or 80 of the little critters.

Pretty immediately we noticed that some of them didn't make it, so we quickly released them out in the garden. 

Likely, we'll never see them again.  I understand that that's usually how it goes, but perhaps we'll be favored with a glimpse of some adults in the months to come...

spring flowers

My dad (the Master Gardener) sometimes gets invited to view private gardens in the local area.  A few weeks ago we joined him on one of his visits.  Often these folks have acreage but this incredible display was just someone's back yard on a city lot of average size.  

It's amazing what these folks have done in a relatively short time span to turn their personal space into a sculpted paradise.

I felt especially lucky to have visited in the Spring to catch all the color and  the many glorious shades of green.

'Tis like the birthday of the world,
When earth was born in bloom;
The light is made of many dyes,
The air is all perfume:
There's crimson buds, and white and blue,
The very rainbow showers
Have turned to blossoms where they fell,
And sown the earth with flowers.

                                 -  Thomas Hood

slug hunting

limax maximus, the leopard slug

For years now, we've worked at chemical-free slug eradication in our yard.  We plant our vegetables in raised beds.  (This is supposed to be a mild deterrent.)  Between those beds we've lined the paths with yards of hazelnut shells.  (Supposedly the slugs would rather not crawl over the jagged edges.  I've heard eggshells are similarly useful.)  We've got chickens.  (Who eat at least the slugs that wander into their appointed area.)  We put out little cans of beer amongst the most desirable fauna.  (The slugs can't help getting a taste of even the nastiest, cheapest swill - which is, of course, what we put out there - and they drown in the cans.)  But still, our yard is infested with these plant munching critters.  They can decimate five basil starts in about two days.  They love spinach and lettuce and my primroses look like swiss cheese. 

That's why I've begun late night slug hunting.  Yup, slug hunting.  When the Spring shoots emerge each year and I begin to see them nibbled to the stems, I get out my gloves, my trusty flashlight and an old cottage cheese tub and I head out into the nighttime garden.  Slugs are nocturnal you see.  They come out in droves a few hours after the sun sets and I find them leaving their slimy trails on the patio, up the sides of pots and ravaging the potentials of my summer salad bar.  In about 10 minutes I can rustle up about 40 of the beasties.  About 90% of those I find are Leopard Slugs, also known as "great slugs" or "great grey slugs" ("limax maximus" for those scientific types).  They're quite pretty as slugs go actually and they're speedy little guys (I've read they travel at the awesome speed of six inches per minute).  I've collected about 200 of them over the past month or two.

What's been especially interesting about the evening stalking has been finding not only a variety of small snails and numerous slugs but discovering all the other cool critters that also inhabit our midnight garden.  I wish I could take pictures of what's going on out there in the dark.  There are centipedes, millipedes, beetles of various sorts and, the first night I went out, I nearly jumped out of my skin when out of the corner of my eye I saw startled massive worms suck themselves under the soil when the beam from my flashlight caught them unawares.  Those things were huge!  Like eight inches long and as big around as a permanent marker!  I don't know what I thought it might be when it shocked me so intensely that first time but I was out there in the dark with unfamiliar shadowy figures skittering here and there and I was taken unawares.

Since that first night, I've come to especially love the quick, slimy worms and their dash for safety.  I've even come to appreciate the beauty of the slugs I so despise (although not so much that I'm leaving them to range free...in the morning they make the brief acquaintance of a few chicken friends of mine).  I also feel like I'm coming to understand things about my garden that I never otherwise would have.  It's an incredible, dynamic, kind of magical, insect paradise in my back yard in the dark. 
Probably in yours too.

Got a flashlight?