Category: Yard and Garden

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Another foray into gardening

There was a time when I planned to turn Beardog Hill into an herb garden. ( Herb Garden, Part 1 )

But, that was before it was Beardog Hill and since Bear has taken as much of a liking to it as Karl did… well, I think it will stay Beardog Hill! (Bear on Beardog Hill)

At my Swan River Road house, there was a gorgeous herb garden right in front of the front porch.

Sage, chives, mint…. I was spoiled by being able to skinkle down the front porch steps and nip off a few fresh herbs when I wanted.

The fresh basil and cilantro from Swallow Crest Farm have renewed my want of my own fresh herbs. Although I’ve been buying the live basil and fresh parsley and rosemary…the grocery store “fresh” herbs do NOT have the intense flavor that the basil and cilantro fresh out of the ground have.

So, this morning, needing nothing from the regular grocery, I whistled Bear to the Jeep and off we went to Hooper’s Nursery to see about some herbs.

Hoopers is loverly!! The day was beautiful. At 10:30 a.m. this Saturday morning, there were more employees than customers and I had a chance to speak to several and ask all of my questions.

The Hooper’s folks are as wonderful as their grounds are beautiful and I came home with…

Chives, rosemary, sweet basil and regular basil, parsley and lavender. Cilantro, peppermint and spearment will be ready next weekend.

My plan/hope is for container herbs…transportable container herbs that can go in the motorhome as well as into the house for winter.

We shall see.

My thumb’s greenness has not been tested for some time.

But all of the children have new homes in new pots with good soil. A red flyer wagon is on its way to allow moving the little ‘uns to and fro in and out of the sun as needed.

Whoo!!… After all of that…

I put my feet up and poured a glass of my favorite summer wine: Paradise dry pear wine from Ten Spoon Winery in Missoula, Montana. I am not normally a fan of non-grape wine and definitely not of sweet wines, but I love pears and it said “dry” so I tried it a bit ago. While a wee bit sweeter than my normal Chardonnay, it is still a dry, crisp wine with just a hint of pear. Well chilled, it is a refreshing sip on a hot day and it is from Montana :)!

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Beating the heat

Sherbet…I love sherbet…icy, fruity, sherbet.

I was talking to my mother about the frozen yogurt and she related that when I was born… August, 1955 – a VERY HOT!!! August…my grandmother made her pineapple sherbet. My mother remembered that the recipe included buttermilk. As we were talking, I was Google-ing and found a pineapple sherbet recipe…WITH buttermilk – and NO ice cream maker needed.

I had a fresh, uncut pineapple in my refrigerator. I had buttermilk. I had fresh basil.

Pineapple-basil sherbet – So VERY good! It was almost worth the 90-92F temperatures to enjoy this treat. I added the basil to the recipe and if you have not experimented with fruit-herb mix, I highly recommend. Basil and cherries is good as well. I will be experimenting further.

Today, Saturday, it was much cooler at 74F. At my house, the forecast rain did not happen and the overcast sky and heavy air was not as comfortable as 74F usually is in Northwest Montana…still – it was nice to have the A/C off and the windows open. We are to be at our normal low to mid-80’s this week.

Saturday evening: beating the heat.

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The green, green grass of home

The bounty from Swallow Crest Farm is not the only thing that is green around here. We’ve had plenty of rain this Spring and all that should be green is VERY green. The green is so intense that it glows.

This weekend is the first in several that had mostly sunshine. We have been enjoying it. Today was the warmest day at 70F – perfect!

Sunshine, fresh green grass – what more could a guy like Bob ask for?

It was a day for Bob’s favorite grassy-sunny spot on the edge of the woods, just north of the front porch.

He’s there…just to the right…a small yellow-orange bit – that’s Bob.

And the grass, the trees, the sky – beautiful.

The woods grasses are in tip-top shape as well. With the exception of the “thorn-in-my-side” thistle patch, I’ve been able to keep up with the few other weeds that populate the woods: hand pulling. Good exercise and with the abundant moisture, the few weeds I find let go of the ground easily.

Bear was out also…WITH Bob! They studiously ignore one another – both watching me. I sing and talk to them both. I am very pleased that Bear does not feel the need to do something about Bob and is content in his own space. Bob goes about his own business like he is the only creature in existence… true Bob!

A noise, a smell, a sound…and the beardog is on alert: stationed at Beardog Point looking out for trouble.

Our lives, our Sunday afternoon: enjoyed all together on the green, green grass of home.

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They’re blooming!

Lilacs…

Lily of the Valley…

They’re blooming!

***Blooming in the woods right now: wild strawberries, violets!, pussy toes (LOTS!), heartleaf arnica (that’s in with the lilacs), yarrow is up, the lupins are sending up their blooming pods and with yesterday’s rain, it is GREEN :)!

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Our week end

The week end. I alternated between chores and general laziness.

The grass got mowed on Saturday and hopefully we will get the forecast rain this week as the grass looks barely greenish and it is early in the year for it to not be GREEN!

A mowing incident from two weeks ago…I don’t know what broke the rear “door” but thankfully whatever it was zipped by me or dropped inside and only the pieces of the door flew out. At any rate, no damage to me. But another chore today was to hunt up a replacement door which I did. And also a new blade and both are on their way. Meantime I have to mow with the catcher on, which means emptying the catcher (vs mulching/recycling) – a minor annoyance but an annoyance. There should be some happy mice and voles as the catch piles in the woods make lovely critter condos…

The time was right to rake pine needles off the driveway so that was accomplished. Not the entire driveway, thankfully. There are 3 trees near the garage that lose the large needles which are like straw and they refuse to blow away on their own. It went well. As with raking the yard, I did a bit at a time as I was outside with either Bob or Bear and suddenly…all done!

It did cool off, then warmed just a bit today but not so much that Bob did not appreciate the warm air from the dryer. We are due for rain and cooler temperatures which is fine by me.

Bear says ok with him for the cooler temperatures.

Our week end.