Ireland!

Yep, off to Ireland at the end of the week. Our first stop before arriving back in Kilorglin will be the Ballinasloe horse fair in County Galway. We’ll surely be glad to see our friends there and to be celebrating the birthday of one of the ‘leading men’ ( pictured above) in Sally’s book, A Fair Day. Here at home, I’ll be scrambling to get the last of the gardens harvested, the ram lambs moved back home, and a couple more cords of wood stacked. The rest……can wait.

Yarn!

Yipee! I’ve been dyeing wool everyday in preparation for Common Ground Fair weekend. Just as I did last fall, I’ll be heading over to the little village of Thorndike to set up with the teardrop trailer and skeins of freshly dyed yarn. My friend owns a great little antique/garden/print shop right there in the village called Garden Variety, check it out if you’re on your way to the Common Ground Fair. There will be a few of us there with homemade wares……and music playing throughout the day.
There just hasn’t been much time for wool related fun this summer. There’s been plenty of hypertufa building. plenty of studio progress, and PLENTY of gardening ( no complaints, it’s a love as well), but all things fiber related have been simmering on the back burner until lately. So fun to be dipping freshly spun skeins and unspun wool into dye pots. Right now several skeins are out drying under the arbor. Our flock of Blue Face Leicester sheep provide us with plenty of scrumptious wool to dye and spin. I truly enjoy this breed….lovely, long stapled, lustrous and nicely crimped locks of wool. Also, these Blue Face Leicester will gladly get in your lap for some good long back scratches. When we are moving their fence to new pasture, I just let them roam while we get their new area in place, then I call ” Sheep”, and they all come running! Years ago I would move them down to their summer pasture in the early spring just by having them follow me…..it was two miles down the road! There I’d be, having a leisurely walk with an entire flock waddling along behind me.
So, that’s the sheep and wool news at the moment. If you are heading to the Common Ground Fair consider stopping by Thorndike Village, I’ll be there sipping tea and spinning away! Come join me!

More Naked Ladies At Fernwood Nursery!!!!

Lycoris chinensis

These posts on the flowering Lycoris ( Common name ‘Naked Ladies”) would lead readers to believe that we’re running a nudist colony over here at Fernwood Nursery. Not so, but the later blooming Lycoris chinensis is putting on a show in the display gardens. Once again, the naked stalks of Lycoris begin shooting up from where they have been dormant over the summer, and then grace the gardens with their amaryllis like blooms. A delight for the “fully clothed” gardeners here at the nursery!

Vintage Energy Drink!

Back when we were milking the cow, I kept this old 1940’s magazine advertisement tacked to the barn wall. Which would you prefer? A glass of fresh Jersey milk or a can of Cocomalt? We all got a hoot over the wording they used to market this ‘energizing food drink‘. The equivalent of 1 3/4 hours of energy! Imagine that! I’ll have several cans please! For goodness sake you all know I have to be ready to clean the house, be a wife, a mother, a sweetheart ( ha, ha), and let’s not forget…..a ‘pal’, all rolled into one! No telling when Rick may come strutting along and interrupt me while I’m cutting firewood, whisking me away to ‘go places’ ! Where would we go? Up to the general store for more stall shavings? Or to the hardware store to pick up more nails? Oh, I’d better be ready for that! To be a good pal, I should have a cold can of Cocomalt at arms reach to ensure that I have that extra energy I’ll need to preform all these wifely duties. Funny, after a day of chores……yes, housekeeping, but also cutting firewood, tending livestock, and pounding nails along with the men folk, I think I prefer a c

The Gardens Right Now

Some beauties that are gracing the display gardens at the moment……. This variegated Cimicifuga is quite eye catching

Cimicifuga simplex variegata

The kirengeshoma palmata is just opening

Kirengeshoma palmata

Phlox paniculata ‘ Norah Leigh’ and Lobelia cardinalis are looking beautiful

phlox paniculata ‘ Norah Leigh’

Lobelia cardinalis

And how about Chelone glabra and the native Helianthus divaricata?

Chelone glabra

Helianthus divaricata

This daddy longleg spider certainly finds the rich blue flowers of Gentiana asclepiadae worth visiting. Great plants for the fall garden, and most still available here at the nursery!

Gentiana asclepiadea