Quiet Crystal Serenity

Kale is still a staple in my garden. It's there crisp, sweet and clean under the snow. Definitely worth sowing next year. Can't beat a plant that can feed you right through winter. Nothing is better than home grown potatoes, a bit of milk, home grown sausage and kale. Add a bit of hot pepper and you have Zuppa Toscana!



The snow is melting so everything is crystallized. It has it's own sense of quiet solitude and it takes just a bit more time for your eyes to see the beauty.





When colors are it's it's riotous splendor, would we notice the beauty of seeds?







Silent guardians of the northern winds, decked out in shining crystal just waiting
for some sun to be lit with fire.


A gate to next years garden, how many a gardener used you
to surround the bounty?




A reminder that a deary day is a good day to ponder the quiet beauty in all of us.

Finally warm enough to ride!

Doug's view on top of Eddie

Was a bit worried about icing in the fields but bit the bullet and got the horses ready for a short jaunt around the corn fields. Noticed that the ground was starting to thaw, rich black Iowa farm soil that makes it so easy to grow my gardens. Nothing better!

I wish that Doug had recorded Amira blowing at Kristy's cow. Her snort was heard by Indie and Es, a full field away and started them running and calling. It was fun to post to Mira's passage but it sure pointed out how much I need to firm up my core. All the layers had me looking as wide as Amira. I really want to get some lighter clothes to ride in. My favorite season to ride in is fall with winter coming in a close second. No bugs or flies to bother the horses :). LIfe is wonderful when lived on the back of a horse!
Mira being a beautiful arab

For the first 15 mins, it's always full contact with Mira since she just wants to go but after just a bit of a run, she's the best ride ever. First ride in almost 4 months so she was being perfect.


She can hear Indie being jealous across the field but she's nice and relaxed and was a dream of a mount for the rest of the ride. it's so nice to have horses you can ride any time without the thought of being hurt. I saw an ad on craiglist looking for a $200.00 horse I had to laugh at. hores like mine are priceless, not because of great breeding or tricks but because they are loving, safe and gorgeous ;).

Heat Wave - relatively speaking....

Iowa is due for 32 degree weather soon and while many are joyous, my worry hat is firmly settled on my head. Snow is my saving grace. It protects all my plants and with the warmup I am so afraid that I will lose the plant cover. It's always "exciting" to grow plants in Iowa.

I am looking online for the cheapest way to light up my basement. I want to google growing margiwana lol since they are the expert in inhouse growing but I'm hesitant lol.

Here are some picture of the Wisconsin tour Harshbargers took me on.

Janesville Rotary Gardens Wisconsin


Neglected Zebra Tall Bearded Kasperek, B 08


Coyote Ugly Tall Bearded Kasperek 07


Beneath My Wings Tall Bearded Meininger, L 05


Seedling BBB Tall Bearded Worel J 09

Sowing for Spring

Winter tends to be planning time for me so when I have any time on the computer that isn't work related, I am planning gardens.

I need to buy seeds for winter sowing and germination. Here in Iowa, I try not to winter sow until the last snowfall so the marginal winter sown seeds don't get froze out by the -30 temperatures.

Right now I am logged into the best gardening website www.davesgarden.com. Jill, critterologist is one of my favorite posters and her threads about seed snatching cracks me up. I thought "I" was crazy but some of these other ladies are truly my my idols lol. She has a link to http://wintersown.org/ so that's where I am. It's more fun to see what others have posted than posting mine so I will just add a link to my babies who leave warm hoofprints and compost all over my heart. Stay warm and be safe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8PBPcAiWNo

God bless and keep you!

My Virtual Garden

One of my friends from MGQ just told us that her husband has been tested for early onset Alzheimers. I first met her husband in Jasper Canada where he patiently waited while us giddy women planned out our trip for the day. Within our group of stitchers, a few men shine as part and parcel of who these wonderful women are. Bernie is one of those men who quietly supports their wives so well, we would not know and love the woman so well without also loving the man.
So this is for B and C. For the smile he gave me trying to flyfish in the coldest waters known to man. For C. who spend time every year making sure her quilt sisters receives and ornament. I hope that we will find a cure for this awful, progressive disease and I hope that C. and B. find many more years to build memories of a lifetime. All my love and prayers C.

Catching up on reading

12-18-09 Lotion Bars P Allen Smith Garden Home

Just received this in my email. Currently everything in my house is about color, color, color so articles and pictures in white really catches my fancy, at least until the stark grey and white of Iowa skies makes February a color saturation required month.
I love this idea and think it will be perfect for my holiday days off.
Posting the recipe here to make sure I can get back to it:
Gardener's Lotion Bar 3 ounces grated beeswax 3 ounces cocoa butter3 ounces shea butter3 ounces oil (olive, almond or jojoba)Essential oil for fragrance (optional)Rubber soap moldMelt the beeswax, cocoa butter and shea butter in a double boiler. Don't melt beeswax in the microwave. It will spark and possibly explode.Whisk in the oil.Add a few drops off essential oil for fragrance, if you'd like.Pour into a rubber or plastic soap molds. Set aside to harden overnight.Pop out the moisture bars and wrap in wax paper.
P. Allen Smith has many great ideas on his website. Recommended reading and viewing.

Promises of Spring

32 degrees brought some snow melt just in time to remind me of the pending spring. It takes a bit of faith to believe that there is golden sunshine and warm weather just around the corner from gray skies and lung chilling cold. I needed this brief melt to show me that a few catalogs and months away will be spring with all her glorious green.

Home Sweet Home

The shingles need replaced as well as the wiring. The wind rushes in like a freight train and snow drifts in from the surrounding fields. The rooms are not large nor fancy but now that I have a possibility to upgrade to another house, I find more and more thing I love about my home. The barns, although one side needs tinning, houses my horses secure and warm. The buildings provide promises of greenhouses to come. The dirt is rich, loamy and eagerly supports any ideas I throw at it. The dogs are safe and free to run about. The birds are starting to come back, eager to be fed. I feel safe within her walls and I find the thought of moving sad. I find that I have fallen in love with this place and loath to leaving it. I find myself filling the hours I spend alone planning the gardens. The other place will have to be spectacular for me to leave this happy place.