Brainerd Lakes Minnesota MN Inn Accommodations Lodging Bed & And Breakfast BB

plains coreopsis

Look what grew from tiny seeds imbedded in my plantable calendar pages! They are such beautiful wildflowers that I researched online to learn that they are "plains coreopsis".  Click on the photo to enlarge it so you can see how lovely the blossoms are.

 

The following two photos that I found on www.wildflowerinformation.org helped me identify the flower. I found it quickly by typing "yellow" in the color category. Info is also sorted by common name, botanical name, height, No. American growing region, USDA zone, sun or shade preference, type (annual or perennial), soil preference, and moisture needs. The web site has wonderful photos and info about each plant, as well as a link to a site where the seeds may be purchased.

 

I enclosed my flowers in tomato cages because they are so tall that they were beginning to get a little too floppy. If you grew a larger patch of them, I think they would help support each other as it appears in this large field.

buckwheat sprouts

This is unhulled buckwheat...

This is sprouted unhulled buckwheat...

 

This is vanishing sprouted unhulled buckwheat...

 

My hens are receiving a new treat and we get nutrient-packed eggs. They flip out over the little morsels.

water fountain

Today I was in Fleet Farm buying yellow paint for the exterior of one of our cabins. On the way to the checkout lanes, I was drawn to the sound of trickling water. When I spied this fountain I immediately gushingly fell in love with the little yellow bird (a finch) and the bunny peeking over the ledge of an old tree trunk. I knew that they must come home with me. We set it up on our porch near a table where Dick and I have our meals together and guests sit a while to watch the variety of birds that come to our feeders. Can you hear the trickle? 

  

this little innkeeper went to market

I so look forward to my weekly 3-mile trek to Brainerd's Farmer's Market. Although there is slight duplication in products offered, it's amazing that what it lacks in number of vendors, it makes up in variety.   

 

Today I came home with a collection of freshly-picked leafy greens including Swiss chard with stems of lime green and red... so pretty that I recut the stem bottoms and placed them in a glass of water for a porch table bouquet until I use them to make "Healthy Swiss Chard Tuna Salad", a recipe I ran across on In My Kitchen Garden... a very informative food and gardening blog. I also couldn't resist the bright green and purple curly lettuce, bibb lettuce (a.k.a. butterhead), and a leaf lettuce mixture. Since the lettuce in my garden doesn't come close to resembling this lettuce's mature size, I was feeling quite inadequate about my gardening skills until I learned the farmers utilize greenhouses to get a headstart on the growing season. Do whatever you gotta do, I say... just keep these greens coming.

 

The willy nilly growth of this thumbergias, with its delicate tendrils reaching out to curl themselves around the closest object... well, what's not to love about it? I just had to have it to hang from my front porch roof.

early june's offerings

After I opened the coop door to let my hens out this morning, I strolled through my garden to see what fresh growth I could harvest for my breakfast menu. We received such a nice steady rain all day yesterday, so all vegetation glistened with water droplets and happiness and contentment exuded from every corner of the garden. I pulled several stalks of rhubarb to partner with strawberries for sauce with mint sprigs for garnish, green onions and flat-leaf parsley for an omelet, and some chives with blooms that hadn't burst open to add a pretty spot of color on each plate.  

 

Spring, summer, and fall never cease to amaze me. Each week, there is a new sprout or a fresh bloom. As some reach their peak and begin to fade, different varieties are waiting in the wings to take their place at center stage. The smallest most delicate ones are my favorites. They are ones that can be so easily missed without a conscious decision to slow down to notice.   

field trip

Today Dick and I went on a field trip to Seven Pines Farm in Verndale (Minnesota) 45 miles from Brainerd accompanied by about 20 other members of our local food co-op. The tour was hosted by owners Kent and Linda Solberg whose focus is grass-based agriculture and pastured egg production. They use New Zealand-style swing parlors to secure their cows for milking in their immaculately sanitary dairy operation. To provide fresh grazing, animals are rotated to different grassy acreage to provide maximum nutrition. To facilitate the moves, the two chicken coops are built on top of boat trailers to provide portabilty and a large fenced protective enclosure is transported and set up again in the new locations. This is an exterior photo of the portable chicken coops.

 

This is an interior view of one of the portable chicken coops. Eggs are collected by lifting the hinged lid on the box attached to the side of each coop.

 

This is a photo of the chickens winter living quarters. It is a greenhouse so no artificial heat source is needed. You can see one set of nesting boxes near the door at the far end. There is another set near the door where I was standing to shoot the photo. Think about it... In the spring, when the chickens return to their portable coop, the structure could be used as a greenhouse to start garden plants. Does this make perfect sense or what?! 

my father's birthday

Today I planted presprouted fava beans. My research indicates that they are similar to lima beans and they add a large amount of beneficial of nitrogen to the soil. Look at the sturdy tap root the seed sends out! These are Windsor Fava Beans, which are an heirloom variety from England that grow 48" tall. I also transplanted several varieties of heirloom tomatoes... some that I started from seed and others started from seed saved by the owners of Brambling Rows, a farm south of Brainerd where I pick raspberries July through September. They sell the tomato plants at Ace Hardware, which is one of my two favorite small town stores yet remaining from my childhood. (Little Farm Market, where I purchase seed potatoes, onion sets and transplants, and a few filler seeds to round out ones I've mail-ordered, is my other fav store.)  

 

Today's planting was in honor of my father's May 20th birthday. When I was growing up on a 160-acre farm 10 miles southeast of Brainerd, it was tradition to plant on his birthday since we could generally assume that it was the beginning of frost-free nights and soil that had warmed sufficiently for seeds to germinate. My father died at the end of January 2004 at age 94, so each year on this day I spend time with him... just the two of us digging in the soil... tenderly remembering his walk on this earth and his "graceful exit". Journalist Ellen Goodman says, "There's a trick to the Graceful Exit. It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, a relationship is over - and to let go. It means leaving what's over without denying its value." As my father let go of this world, I too have let go of him. I have released him, but he is still close... especially when I garden.   

greenhouse plants

My greenhouse plants are begging to be set free in the garden. Even the ones that I have transplanted into milk cartons are outgrowing their quarters. Frost is predicted for both Saturday and Sunday morning, so the plants aren't leaving the protection of the greenhouse just yet.

 

At the end of April, I transplanted the wildflowers that grew from March's seed-embedded calendar page and planted April's page in their place. Look how big January and February's wildflowers have grown! This plant in this photo is an example of the size of all of the varieties from the two calendar pages after 70 days growth.

 

Here are my cukes and pumpkin that I started from seed...

gnome habitat

This afternoon I transplanted cauliflower and beets into my covered raised bed. They are plants that I started from seed and have been hanging out in my greenhouse. Beets supposedly fare best when direct-seeded in the garden because they don't transplant well. However, I decided to see if starting them from seed in newspaper pots would make the transition into the garden less traumatic. The roots are undisturbed because the newspaper pot is set intact into the soil. 

I also went to the local nursery today to buy some flat leaf parsley. Fat chance that I can get in and out with just parsley. One of the things I added to my cart was some Irish Moss for my gnome habitat that I am creating. Click on the photo to enlarge it so you don't miss the perfect little gently rolling hill that is naturally formed in the moss. To get started, I set a round enamel tray on top of an old... very old tree trunk to catch the water drips when my plantings are in place in the rustyenamel bowl/pan that has rusted through to form perfect drainage holes. Next I will go on a scavenger hunt in search of miniature plants in the woods and in among my stepping stone walkways to use to transform my gnome's world.

pear blossoms

A  pear blossom bouquet from Momma Nature... blooming beside the "out my kitchen window cabin".  

 

May 10, 2009

Today's mileage: 0

Total mileage for May: 11 miles (same as yesterday) 

Bible reading? Yes.