Thankful for the Birdsong

Posted on November 26, 2019 by Mominthegarden

My friend Betty made this scarecrow for me many years ago.

I’m going to be honest; I haven’t worked in my garden in weeks, other than deadheading some of my roses. But every single day I am thankful to be able to look out into my garden and enjoy what is there. The garden will always attract me, but I also love watching the birds in and around the garden. It seems to be the perfect time of year for starlings to put on their shows – or murmurations. It is so neat to watch! Our garden is filled with birds, as there is still a lot for them to eat.

June 2013 Monsignor McCloskey in the garden

Monsignor McCloskey in the church garden in 2013, in Fayetteville, NY

Three very dear friends of mine, all of whom sadly have now passed away, also had a love of birds. Monsignor McCloskey used to have several bird feeders outside his living room window so that he could watch them during the day in his retirement. He also had a wrist watch that had several different bird whistles that it could play on command. He loved showing this to the children before or after mass on a Sunday!

Betty & Harold at the 4th of July parade in 2006 in Manlius, NY

Betty (far left in blue top) & Harold with my very young children at the 4th of July parade in 2006 in Manlius, NY

My other friends, and former neighbors, Betty and Harold, had their bird feeders right outside their kitchen window. I loved my visits with Monsignor and my visits with Betty and Harold, and it was such a bonus to get to enjoy the bird shows, too!

At a visit to ‘Betty’s kitchen’ in 2015

Aug 2015 hummingbird drinking at Betty's window

This was a a treat for me while visiting Betty and Harold in 2015 as I rarely see hummingbirds!

O.K., so not always birds at Betty’s bird feeders!

I think of Monsignor, Betty, and Harold now as I marvel at the starling’s formations, or as I enjoy the birdsong that is constant in my yard, despite not having a ‘bird feeder’. I miss them, and am so thankful for the many years we enjoyed each other’s friendship. I still can’t believe how blessed I am to have had such special people in my life.

This tree, as seen from my yard, is always filled with either starlings or crows, depending on the day!

They have had such a huge impact on me, simply by being themselves. I can still hear their voices, and their words of wisdom and comfort, and their laughs. They might not be here in person, but they are always with me in my heart.

These sunflowers will be left for most of the winter. In the middle of this picture (although not in focus) is a lovely male Goldfinch, noted by his red face and black and white head.

I’m thankful for the pure beauty of the birdsong, and the chance to not only hear it but to see the birds in all of their singing glory. I’m also thankful for those who share in this love of birdsong, especially Monsignor, Betty and Harold. May we each find our own ‘birdsong’.

I wish all of my American family and friends a Happy Thanksgiving!

In Peace,
Dana

Dried fall flower arrangement.

Things will get done when they get done

Posted on November 18, 2019 by Mominthegarden

Lavender wreath in the making - first round

It starts with a straw wreath frame, some floral ‘U’ pins, and groups of 12 stems of lavender each being pinned into place!

There are lots of good things about getting older, and one of them is knowing that things will get done when they get done. Are you smiling? I hope so. Because isn’t it the truth? I definitely used to fret more when I was younger, worrying about when things would get done. Now, a bit older and (hopefully) wiser, I see that life is so full, and most of us are always in ‘go’ mode which makes it really difficult to slow down or even rest. I’m learning that it is perfectly O.K. to stop and take some time out, because things will get done when they get done.

Section by section the lavender is pinned in place.

Lavender Wreath + fuschia roses side view

A side view shows that the wreath frame is completely covered in lavender, with an accent of roses and hydrangea.

Lavender wreath + fuschia roses + hydrangea full view

This design has the lavender go in one direction, ending with flowers.

This leads me to my lavender story. You see, I needed a rest. I’m used to going ‘non-stop’ and this past year I’ve just had to slow things down a bit. With my lavender this meant that while I harvested it in July, and even made some lavender wands, after I laid it out to dry, I just left it. One wreath was made ‘on schedule’, but then … nothing. I have no reason, and 100 reasons. There was a little progress as the summer shifted into fall and chilled into winter, and the little progress kept on going and bit by bit the wreaths were made. I needed that extra time to not rush through and make them just to make them. I wanted to enjoy the process and be present when I did so.

Lavender wreath + Rosemary and Rose focus - in progress

This wreath has Rosemary and roses in the design.

I really like the green of the Rosemary when it is first cut. Everything is attached with the floral ‘U’ pins, except for the roses, which are glued on with a hot glue-gun.

Rosemary from my garden.

Lavender Wreath with Rosemary + roses complete

I’m glad to have someplace to make my wreaths – and not worry about the mess!

I can be somewhat impulsive, and when the mood strikes to create a wreath, I just go with it, gathering up whatever materials tickle my fancy that day. This is the first year that I used up nearly all of my dried lavender from this season. The wreaths were so full of lavender!

Lavender wreath in progress roses on top

This design was rather unusual. I worked the lavender in three rows around the frame. I have to say that this was a bit tricky to work through.

Close up of the dried roses.

lavender wreath + roses on top + ribbon on door

The finished wreath embellished with a ribbon.

Repeating designs is not really something I like to do. I prefer to try new ways of making things. Sometimes this works well, and sometimes I think ‘I should have stuck to the original plan’! It’s a learning process. This season my dried roses really kept their colors, which I think adds a nice contrast to the shape and color of the lavender. I do like to work with greens, too, so the Rosemary was a nice addition – although sadly, it won’t keep that pretty bright green color. This is the first time that I worked a very tiny amount of hydrangea into the lavender wreath, too, just to try something different!

This is my lavender basket, which is now nearly empty.

I am now finished with making lavender wreaths for this year, and I’m happy to say that I enjoyed the process (and I like the wreaths, too)! And it is so true that things will get done when they get done.

In Peace,
Dana

Lavender wreath + Rosemary + roses outside

Lavender, Rosemary and Roses

Lavender wreath with roses and a ribbon

Lavender wreath + fuschia roses full view

Lavender wreath with roses and hydrangea

Being creative is good for the soul

Posted on November 17, 2019 by Mominthegarden

Starting with a simple ‘Robin’s egg blue’ base for the blanket

Creating with my hands is one of my favorite things to do. Whether it be crocheting, making wreaths, or whatever, I enjoy crafts that finish with a lovely ‘something’.

A close up of the waistcoat stitch (doesn’t look like crochet to me)

Crocheting is so much more than just granny squares (although there’s nothing wrong with a good granny square!). I made a number of items over the past few years as gifts and I felt the time was right to make something for myself.

close up of the border (variation of the spike stitch)

We’d completely ‘done up’ our family room last year: pulled up the rug, installed an electric fireplace, bought a new couch, curtains, and light fixture, and painted the room. It was a long time in the making and last year everything finally came together. We all love it, especially the couch. It is like getting into a big family bed. 🙂

The main blanket finished but not yet embellished with poppies, held by my lovely daughter. There are orange California poppies in the background of the picture, along with red poppies which are not as easily seen here.

We went a bit bold with the paint in the family room – it is Adonis blue. Happy to say that we really like it. And we went bold again in pairing it with red curtains. So I wanted a blanket that would bring those colors together. Not only that, I wanted to embellish it with poppies, to tie in with the curtains. That was January 2019.

It was a painstaking process figuring out the poppy pattern!

The pistil (in black) and stamen (in bone) give extra texture to the flower.

Some things just take time, and deciding which pattern to use for the main blanket was no exception. I finally decided on a pattern that doesn’t really look like crochet. It is called the waistcoat stitch. I used a tutorial from Crafternoon Treats.

The completed poppy flower looks different depending on whether the petals are laid flat or scrunched up (my preference).

The border is where I worked in the colors of the curtains, using a variation of the spike stitch. I used Caron Simply Soft yarn, in harvest red, bone, black, off white for the border and the main blanket is in Robin’s egg blue. It is a ‘throw’ size, and if you sit nice and close to each other, it will cover two people for watching tv. (4′ x 5.5′)

Playing around with the flowers to figure out where to place them.

I ran out of the blue about half way through, but I had a trip to the States coming up, so I restocked (phew!). I finally finished the main blanket in June.

Completed blanket with poppies (winter sunlight distorts the coloring).

Finding a pattern that I liked for the poppies was a whole other challenge! Finally, I found one that had the stamen and pistil, with the bonus of texture for the pistil, and four individual petals. I really like it. I found it on crochet-ideas.com. The video is in Italian, but with subtitles, so although tricky, it was manageable.

Our family room transformed!

It took some time figuring out how I wanted the poppies to look on the blanket. They couldn’t be symmetrical – anyone who’s grown poppies will know that they grow all over the place, and never where you plan them! I also didn’t want to cover the blanket in them, as I quite like the blue and wanted to be able to see it. So they are in a bit of a cascade from one corner to the opposite corner. Voilà!

Blue Blanket with poppies + Dana in Family room

Me with my blanket 🙂

I am absolutely delighted with it, and thankfully the family like it too. I’m glad I took my time with it to find the right patterns. And I think it fits in perfectly in our family room.

Good things come to those who wait…

In Peace,
Dana

My chicken story

Posted on November 9, 2019 by Mominthegarden

Here is our chicken house and enclosed area with the front door open.

Hi there! It was just last year when I received my cute little Chicken house for Christmas. I’d wanted to get chickens since we moved to Ireland, and waited patiently (9 years!) for the right time. Living in the country, it was fairly easy to source chickens and it was recommended that it would be best to buy them right before they would start laying eggs, at around 22 weeks old. The idea of getting little chicks didn’t appeal to me, and getting them at 22 weeks and ‘ready to go’ did.

Poppy, Lily, Rose and Daisy climbing the wall/hill in our yard

We knew very little about chickens! I did know that we wanted a good egg producing variety, and the Rhode Island Red hybrid would be perfect for that. In March we bought just 4 for our house that would fit 6. We had our little chicken house and a tiny, albeit extended from the chicken house, enclosed area. After the first couple of days, if we were home, we’d let them out of their area. We soon learned it was quite challenging to catch them to put them back! So, little by little, we started leaving them out all day. We soon learned that they’d put themselves to bed when the sun went down. In the summer that meant 10 PM, and not a minute before!

Chickens in the yard following me April 9

The girls would always investigate what I was doing in the garden.

four chickens on the compost heap March 31

The girls usually stay(ed) together. Here they are on our compost heap.

Chickens are curious creatures.

About 6 weeks after we bought the chickens, they started exploring the extended area around us. We are completely surrounded by fields, and that season the fields were mostly planted with barley. At first, it was just one chicken who’d go off to the field behind our house. And then little by little, the others started following. Before this, they would spend all of their time wandering in our yard. They’d often go under our hedges and be completely camouflaged. In the beginning, I’d constantly go out looking for them. They could be anywhere in the garden! They made several dirt-bath locations in my flower beds. Nap time could be spent on our deck, under the hedges, or in a flower bed (anywhere, really). If it was raining, they would hang out on our front porch, or under the table on our deck. It seemed the perfect life! But the ‘call of the grain’ was too strong, and off they went exploring. They’d been spotted a few fields from our house on several occasions. I’d also been informed of their being in the road, too; Not just for crossing to the fields, but if grain was spilled on the road, they’d stand there and eat it…

Chickens in the ditch wall garden April 26

This is when they would still stay in our yard, perfectly happy wandering the garden together.

The chickens love it when I weed and freshen up the soil for them.

No matter how far they went, every evening they’d make their way back home. And as the sun set, they’d put themselves to bed. They each would lay one egg a day, and those eggs … WOW! Delicious!

Sometimes we’d get jumbo sized eggs, which always had two yolks.

The house is very easy to keep clean, with a removable tray. There are two nest boxes where the chickens lay their eggs.

By late summer, they were only in their house at night, and they were never locked up otherwise. We’d been planning on making an enclosed run, but mostly I loved having them roaming the garden with me and they seemed really happy, so I was in no hurry to start or finish the run. But unfortunately, chickens and roads and cars, well, they don’t mix well. I sadly lost two chickens, who were both hit by cars (at different times). Since then, we finished our run and they have remained safely in it.

It took a while to completely ‘chicken proof’ the run…

After the second chicken was killed, I stayed off of social media. I didn’t feel like posting … anything. I love having chickens, and they were/are my pets. They each have names and are identifiable. The first one to die, Poppy, well, she was quite bossy. I thought she’d been the ring-leader to crossing the road and exploring. So honestly, when she was gone I thought the others would stay close to home. I was wrong. Of course I am responsible for their getting hit. I should have kept them safe. I feel terrible about my negligence. The run they now have is quite a nice size, approximately 25 feet by 10 feet, but it sure isn’t the same as roaming free.

The completed chicken run (getting fencing in the hedges was super challenging!)

So I now have just two chickens: Rose and Daisy. Rose lost some feathers on her back a while ago. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, as I thought maybe she was moulting. But she is possibly too young for that, and it was only one area. Those feathers have mostly grown back in, although her tail feathers seem to be on their way to falling off. I consulted with a ‘chicken friend’, and we sprayed the area to stop Daisy from pecking at it. Although the area had been clean and looked ‘fine’ for a number of weeks, Daisy had then started pecking at it and causing it to bleed – which is why I called my friend. The spray has worked, and Daisy has stopped pecking at it. Hopefully the rest of the feathers will grow in and all will be fine… Hopefully!

And then there were two. And one has been sprayed blue.

Next up is winter. After we get through the winter I’ll reassess, although I’m already planning on getting more!

Chickens in the sunflower bed with kitty watching them

Kitty and the chickens like to keep an eye on each other. The chickens are taking a dirt bath here while Kitty watches on.

So there you have my chicken story. I will miss having the chickens roaming with me in the garden. Maybe someday I’ll have fencing around the entire yard so they can once again roam freely.

Just a chicken resting in the grass.

In Peace,
Dana

Mom in the Garden

Enjoying life. In Ireland. With my family.

Monthly Archives: November 2019

Thankful for the Birdsong

Things will get done when they get done

Being creative is good for the soul

My chicken story