SWEET

Doug Mills/The New York Times

This summer was the first time EVER honey was produced on the White House grounds. 134 pounds or roughly 11 gallons of sweet honey was produced. Charlie Brandts, a White house carpenter set up a hive where the bees could forage on the abundant flowers and tree blossoms.

The resulting linden flower honey was bottled for the first family to eat and serve at events and for Mrs Obama to give as gifts.......

look here for The New York Times article.

fall in the garden

It's a common question " You are only open 4 months, what do you do the rest of the year? These people have never been self employed. ha! The pat answer is I garden. The truth is I garden and work and somehow the weeks fly by.

We have had such a nice fall. Scotty and I are getting our spring clean-up work done now. It continues to amaze me just how much organic material a garden can produce. And just like a vegetable garden we harvest our display garden and the end of the season too.

After collecting and saving perennial seed, we cut back all the perennials, load the mass onto the tractor and fill our compost bin. This bin is 4 ft X 12 ft. Over winter this will compost down to half it's size and in the center will be beautiful compost that next spring we will add to our raised vegetable beds and the new garden we are creating.

COULD IT BE THIS EASY?

Last week Scotty and I were in Seattle on a buying trip. We took our camping van but as a treat decided to eat out rather than cook in the van. We ate wonderful food, but we were blown away at the portion sizes! We split just about every meal.

I love food, and I don't like to diet or demonize certain foods. In an effort to lose weight I have been watching my portion size. If you have ever done this before, you know measuring food before it goes on your plate somehow breaks the romance of "what you are about to receive". This morning I think I found a beautiful ally. Sarah Morris of Thinnerware came up with a brilliant solution. She creates these beautiful plates that aid in the portion size dilemma. Cover the large flower and that's 1/2 cup, the small flower 1/4 and the two flowers together, that's the "proper" meat portion. The bowls have three 1/2 cup lines.

I ordered the set below. I think it's beautiful.

photos from here

cute and soon to be hot!

We've returned from our 7 state-National Park & Monument-pick up the sauna tour. This sweet barrel was quite an ice breaker everywhere we went. It was interesting that the residents of each state has their favorite liquor fantasies for what could be held inside. In Minnesota it was whiskey, in South Dakota and Wyoming it was beer, in Montana (Missoula) it was wine.

Right now the sauna sits in our shop where it will stay until next summer when it will move, somehow?? to the back yard. The shop may not be the most romantic of settings but we WILL be able to use it this fall and winter...ahhhhhhhh

Sauna from Superior Cooperage

Scotty took some wonderful photos of our trip, I'll post them soon.

National Park Tour

Badlands photo from here

We leave tomorrow to pick up our sauna and go on a National Park Tour.

Glacier, Roosevelt, Mt Rushmore, Badlands,

Crazy Horse.

I give credit to Ken Burns for making me rethink the west.

p.s. thanks to all who came out last weekend.

Scotty and I had a wonderful time seeing everyone and we had good sales too!

I'd shop here...

Well I am all ready for our Open Garden Weekend, and I gotta tell ya....

"I'd shop here" It is so beautiful. I hope my amateur photos give you some idea.

!!!

Happy 50th Birthday to you, my dear Suzanne!!
And may you have many more and good health and great happiness along the way!  I treasure our friendship and the time we get to spend together is both essential and precious to me.  Thank you, thank you! 

Love and kisses........
Carla