Home Life

Enjoying the small beauties of summer life in South Carolina.

My veggie garden:

The garden has become a tangled mess of peppers and tomatoes... but that was expected with such a small space.  I just can't resist overplanting.  Also, finally success with the swiss chard there in the foreground (planted primarily for their colorful stalks).

Perennial Garden: I finally weeded and some of last year's favorites are coming back.

Purple Cone Flower!

And I can't forget the blue lace-cap hydrangeas in the front (this is for mom).

It is also the time of year when the local farmer's market never disappoints.  I've been buying peaches by the dozen and freezing them for smoothies!

And finally, blueberry picking!  Sonya, Grady and I went on Sunday and left with a gallon of berries each.  Also freezing them for smoothies, and other treats, like these Blueberry Breakfast Bars (which often doubles as dessert with ice cream).  We plan on making another trip to pick berries before the season is over.

Sunday

Today I made this beautiful loaf of bread.  My first experience since childhood kneading dough, watching it rise, punching the dough, forming the loaf, then baking.  Perhaps my experience with clay echoed this process... wedging clay, forming something, then baking it.  It was a beautiful process!  And the bread is fabulous!  I really enjoyed creating this.  This is a nine grain bread, I used 'Red Mill' mix.  Just perfect.  I will have to explore breads more.

The blessing and the curse of hanging ferns.  How do I water the plant without disturbing this wonder?  Such a curious little nest.  I am glad to provide a home for these flying friends.

Allium.  I found these bulbs on the shelf at Lowes and they were too intriguing to pass up.  Like most plants I fall in love with at Lowes but have never heard of I didn't expect them to bloom.  Quite a nice surprise this spring.  They would be quite nice planted in mass.  One day.

April must be for Irises

Emily Freeman Jones, my project manager at work, passed along these irises last winter.  No blooms last year, but beautiful blue green foliage and these dramatic purple blooms have graced my yard this spring.  I love these surprises of the natural world.

Irises remind me of Louisiana.  Commonplace, they will bloom on the sides of gravel roads in a ditch.  They are a striking image from my childhood.  I remember falling in love with art and irises at the same time after being introduced to Georgia O'Keefe's subtle renderings of irises.  Mom told me each spring that irises were special and her favorite.  PawPaw would cut them from the field and Grammy would arrange them in a tall vase, setting them on the kitchen table of the old farmhouse.

And then on top of all of that it is hard to ignore the color, as purple and gold are flags for Mardi Gras and LSU.  We know LSU's color came from Mardi Gras, but where did Mardi Gras's colors come from?  Perhaps our spring irises.

Thanks for sharing, Emily!

(recently planted veggie garden in background)

 

March

(SPRING!)
I can't resist sharing all the new life that has brought me joy this month.

Mainly, daffodils (Grandma Tietje Louisiana daffodils, bulbs mom dug up from the old farm house and brought me when we first moved to SC)...

 

... and now introducing Lola Hannah Barden (born March 6, 2010).  The Bardens are dear friends of ours and we celebrate their growing family.

We also took a little vacation over spring break (an early celebration of our fourth eWe went to Ocracoke, North Carolina, a small beach community on the Outer Banks.  I really tried not to go overboard with the photos... here is a preview.

  

Garden View

I really find I like the fall colors of my summer garden most.  I bought a  few cannas at an 'end of the summer' plant sale.  The butterfly gingers (whose bulbs I planted in April) are finally in bloom, though not as large as I would have liked them.  The lantana is forgiving, as it thrives on neglect.  The fall veggie garden has brought an abundance of bitter lettuce and aggressive predators that have destroyed my swiss chard and broccoli.  It is all an experiment.