Juicing Berries

2015 turns out to be a wonderful year for many berries. I have picked most of my gooseberries and am still trying to pick the red currants and black currants-- I'm crouching, kneeling, bending or sitting some evenings and most maornings trying to harvest them before they go bad. Then at night, I usually have all the burners of my apartment sized stove going cooking berries and canning juice. My chandelier is usually hung with cloth bags full of dripping juice. I have a gallon of black currants sitting on my kitchen table and plan to pick more tonight. I let my pie cherries get eaten by birds, but I'm trying to pick red raspberries every other dsay. I saw a blackberry already black yesterday-- I was hoping for a rest before they came in. Luckily, the blueberries were badly eaten by deer and they died back alot in the winter so I don't have to struggle to keep up with them.

Flowers for the West Newbury Church

This past Sunday I featured a peony called Dinner Plate (as I remember) which as you can see is a huge pink cabbage. Also, I had Japanese iris, goatsbeard, Rodgersia and a few Malva and "big blue" geraniums. It has been a good spring for flowers and plants in general --after a rough winter--with the exception of peonies: some of them rotted, many were filled with rose chafers and most flopped

Gardens Doing Better than Normal This Year

Probably because I have had Mondays off most of May and June, I'm having more time to work in my garden than normal. My gardens show it: I have 2 people working for me which helps me greatly. I even have my baby beets and carrots weeded and I weeded my asparagus patch this morning

Old Fashioned Iris Project

For the last several years I have been collecting "old fashioned" Iris from peoples gardens-- Iris which are vigorous enough to be almost weedy--Iris which do not poop out in the garden. Of course, in poorer, more sandy soil, I might have better success with the huge modern Standard Tall Bearded Iris which are beautiful.

Lilac tea photos

Lilac Tea a Success

We had our lilac tea on May 24th at 4:00. The lilacs were at their peak, it was sunny, the dancing demonstration and Scottish folk music went well. It you had to complain, there were black flies and the tea wasn't made properly. My lilacs are still nice, so I have invited a few people to come this Sunday at 4:00 when we were originally going to have our tea.If you would like to come, you are invited.

Daffodil WalkOne Week Away

Things are coming along well as far as the flowers at my house go. The daffodils should be at their peak by Sunday (although, of course, some won't bloom for quite a while).