Spring is Springing

 It continues to be a long, lush Spring around here.  Things are blooming and many fruits are forming, including mulberries, chokecherries, raspberries and more.  I made the collage above to juxtapose a collection of the textures that different plants are showing now as buds and flowers blanket limbs and branches.

 A week ago, I collaborated with 3 other families to resurrect my father's vegetable garden.  In years past, I had edged two of the three plots with a mix of perennials, shrubs and bulbs, but left the center square free for ever changing vegetable crops.  A mix of seedlings and seeds are finally installed!  Heavy on cole crops, and plenty of beans, peas, lettuce and much more to pick and use in due time.

 A trio of salmon pink oriental poppies have bloomed for me for many years now and I'm just fascinated with these flowers and with the striking seed pods they become when mature.  They are part of the "border" that surrounds two of the vegetable patches.

Finally, one of the best surprises so far this Spring:  a number of my tractor tire planters have self-seeded with snap dragons!!  I was so happy to just discover this, as I'd been searching in vain for seed starts for the larger, taller snapdragon plants.  I guess they aren't in fashion this year as I could find NONE at any of the numerous garden places I checked.  And then, a few days ago I finally took a closer look to see about weeding and preparing these planters that mark the road back into the campground.  Lo and behold, numerous, vigorous seedlings from plants here in years past had grown all on their own!  Good thing too, because I've never had much luck trying to start these from seeds, but good old Ma' Nature had no problem getting these guys started all by herself, no help needed.

So the past weekend, a good part of the transplanting, putting in seeds, general pruning and clearing weeds, etc. was all almost completed around WillOaks Farm and Campground.  Everything is happening so late this year but am hoping the "better late than never" holds true....to be continued!  Meanwhile, bone weary, long days, tons of work to do all in between running a campground that seems to get busier every week.  Yep, things are very busy around here!

Peony Season

You thought lilacs smelled divine?  There are certain varieties of peonies in bloom here now that seem to perfume the whole farm!  Another brief, glorious, seasonal event as my collection of peony bushes bursts into bloom--a bit later than usual due to the cold spring, but welcomed in the landscape and wonderful to cut for bold, fragrant bouquets to bring indoors.

I love this form--and also have it in deep ruby and bi-color pink, but white has little fragrance.

This variety seems to have the most fragrance (and the most ants!)

 

I remember when we first moved to this farm when I was quite young, and as was typical of many farm houses, a large bed here, devoted to peonies, was memorable.  At some point, it disappeared from the landscape.  When I moved back to take care of my dad in 2003, I brought numerous plants from Iowa, including a few that are heirloom varieties.  If the big storms currently moving through our area this evening haven't destroyed the look of some of the bigger, brighter bushes, I hope I can photograph and post a few more views soon.

Anyone else enjoying peonies this month?  Thanks for dropping by!

Wordless Wednesday (Bead Shopping)

2013 Bead and Button Show, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Return of the Cicadas - Samuel Orr

A 7+minute clip by Samuel Orr - Return of the Cicadas

The other day, I did a "show and tell" blog post with my new Pinterest Board about all things Insects.  I specifically mentioned using this collection as a kind of therapy to sort of toughen myself so I could take more time to look at bugs, and try to tamp down the "eww" reactions.  I particularly mentioned how the Cicada emergence this summer was on my calendar, specifically the 17 year cycle creatures, which I hope we will find a few of here on our farm in the Midwest.....

So maybe I can just watch films and videos about cicadas instead of bracing myself to actually go nose to nose with them?  I was wandering around the Huffington Post today, and I found the totally amazing clip embedded above, which is a fusion of stills and video all about the life cycle of this fascinating insect!  You can also watch it here on Vimeo.

In fact, I was so smitten by the beauty of this piece, and by the topic, that when I read that Samuel Orr, the author/artist of the piece has a Kickstarter campaign going to more fully develop and produce his Return of the Cicadas, I promptly signed up for Kickstarter here http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/motionkicker/return-of-the-cicadas  and added my little contribution to help him more fully develop this beautiful "nature tale" about a truly facinating creature AND, more to the point, a fascinating life cycle.

No, really, they are very beautiful creatures--don't say "ewwww" until you watch the little movie! (And the sound track is fantastic, too!)

Thanks for dropping by!

Camping in the Rain

 Actually, I mean campground in the rain!  It's so hard to complain when we're just coming off of full summer of pretty bad drought, but come on, we don't even get a break for a HOLIDAY WEEKEND?  Nope, but we had some pretty awesome campers show up despite the cold, wet weather, and it was really busy around here.  Not very much swimming, but I guess the fishing was pretty good the past few days!

So to add some cheer and color, I decided to set up a new potting bench behind the office.  I'm slowly making planters and pots of annuals to sort of spruce up the place!

Potting Bench and the flowers I have left to plant.

These pots and planters seem kind of sketchy looking when first planted--they are just babies popped from cell packs, after all.  I seem to have a pretty pink theme going this year.  I love the contrast of the pink against all this green everywhere.  And I'm thinking of this post as a place to look back when things are all lush and overgrown, overflowing with trailing flowers.   It's been a couple of years since I planted flowers in the Spring--another chorus on the "Yes I Can" theme I started writing about last week, I think.

I'm hoping a few hanging pots of "Wave" Petunias will really take off; I can't plant enough geraniums; and I chose a mix of Nicotiana in hopes of getting a few hummingbirds to stick around.  Otherwise, the concept is:  mix it up.

But the real mystery (as in "will this work?") is all the seeds I'm busy putting in.  For a few years now, I've had a vision of tall, colorful sunflowers all along this old wooden fence that secures our firewood for sale.  I've transplanted a number of catnip plants here, saved from certain death as they were growing in our bonfire circle.  I'm adding seeds for dill plants.  And to really make it colorful, a collection of zinnias will be in front of the planting.  So far, only the catnip is visible....but in a couple of weeks, I think it will all be clear whether or not this is going to work or not.  And since it's predicted to rain for at least another week or so here, maybe this will actually all come out.  I'll keep this new garden project documented here!

Now about the 6 tractor tire planters along the road into the campground.....to be continued!  Thanks for stopping by and hope your holiday was a good one---and enjoy the short week!

Bugs Project

WillOaks Studio "Insects, Bugs, Butterflies & Moths" Pinterest Page

I've found a wonderful purpose for my new Pinterest collecting--it's becoming a kind of therapy to help me get better with my insect aversion.  Alright, aversion might be a bit tame:  a better description would be my tendency to totally freak out when spooked by bugs.

So on Pinterest, I'm carefully collecting them, looking at them, actually enjoying the amazing shapes, colors, diversity.  And not just the really pretty ones, either, although there are plenty of these. 

Look at this spider photo I found yesterday....it reminds me of the time I came nose to nose with a "Wolf Spider" in Fresno, where I could have sworn the creature was larger than my hand, and had a row of eyes that wrapped all around his head.  I became hysterical because he was in my place and I had no idea what to do.  Lucky for me, my friend took care of the problem....but I ask myself now, why couldn't I just relax and LOOK at the amazing creature?  Calm down, take a breath, and study him?

So maybe bug photo collecting will help prepare me to handle insect encounters better?  You see, I'd love to go nose to nose with some really big cicadas this summer, if I'm lucky to see some, AND if I can remain calm, cool and collected enough to really get up close and look at them.  So if any of my readers know of any good bug photos, please leave me links here, and I'll add them to my collection!  And if any of you happen to have any ideas to add to my proposed course of insect therapy here, add those too!  Thanks!

Weekends at WillOaks

 This has been our third weekend of the new season but the first one that was "crazy busy" with lots of campers.  I took this soft photo of the pond, and the ones below, just after we finished our weekly mowing and prep work, but before about 100 campers moved in for the weekend.  Looks peaceful here!

 There's a visual softness at this time of year as trees are just beginning to leaf out and on the audio side, I think I actually heard the first "peepers" (little frogs) of the year begin their first little call and answer just a couple of days ago, and then the first amazing reverberations of our resident bull frogs just yesterday.  In due time, these become the steady background sounds of life here through the summer.

And I'm really glad we pushed to get the beach up to speed this past week, because it was full of swimmers already today!  Methinks the water has a nice chill to it yet, but when it's 80F, maybe that's a good thing?  After that frightening drought last Summer, to see the pond full to the brim with clear, clean water and lots of healthy fish in all sizes was an enormous relief this Spring, and I hope we can just skip the drought drama this year, thank you.

I'm totally exhausted and since the majority of our campers this weekend are kids with families, I feel pretty safe going to sleep early as crazy midnight parties, etc. seem pretty unlikely.  OTOH, early morning fishing and swimming are very likely.  So good night for now and best wishes to all for a lovely Sunday, folks, and thanks so much for dropping by!

'Tis the Season

'Tis the season for truly heady fragrances!  I wish there was a way to capture them for a blog so I could come back to visit in the dead of winter, but I guess a few photos will have to suffice.

The WillOaks Campground is a small part of an old midwestern farm, so naturally, a few lilacs, crabapples and other blooming trees have wandered into the more wild and "natural" landscaping of the actual park.

This lilac bush is closest to my camper.

So, in spite of the small spaces that life in a camper has to offer, I've currently made room for 2 nice big bouquets just so I can breathe the incredible perfumes....amazing!

Have a wonderful weekend (& don't forget to smell the flowers!)