Irises are my favorite flower. So we have lots of them and are always looking for more.
\
Not an iris.
The new poplar tree on the old tree house location.
Spring Peak Three: Rocket Time
May 9, 2023
farm, flowers, hiking, photography, river dames rocket, dog, flower, golden retreiver, moonshine, rocket, shenandoah, shenandoah river, wildflower Leave a comment
What’s the difference between Dame’s Rocket and Prairie Phlox? Why the difference between four and five (and alternate toothed leaves). This is rocket on the trail by the river that we walk every day.
Moonshine
And some black locust to perfume the air.
Final Moonshine
Summer Solstice 2022
June 21, 2022
cooking, farm, flowers, party barns of rose hill, bonfire, chef michael, garden, gem, romey, solstice, solstice fire, solstice party, video Leave a comment
We’ll start in the middle, with a video of the lighting of the summer solstice bonfire of 2022. The weather was absolutely perfect and the crowd friendly and warm. Every year the size of the fire seems to come as a surprise.
This year the weather was so cool that a dip in the river was not in the cards.
Rewinding a day, Aubrey provided another great iteration of the smoked salmon Messerhead feast helping to set the FOOD stage. Speaking of FOOD, Chef Michael was down from Chicago with Astro. That means we were spoiled rotten on the food front for days on end.
Salmon feast table
Any solstice that starts with caviar is destined for greatness.
Before.
Prepping for late night tacos
It seems that Chef Michael can’t cook for less than 700. But that’s OK. We just need to make the solstice party seven times bigger. Pork shoulder in the firepit by the shrine.
We had a mid-day break to tour Eli’s fantastic art show at the Barns of Rose Hill. The show continues through July 2nd.
Then it was time for the pre-game Negroni.
And we were officially underway. Esther and Cora presided over the opening.
The sufferin bastard made an appearance
After an outstanding potluck feast, replete with fresh flowers, it was time for one quick song (thanks guitar week fellers) and FIRE.
By far the cutest thing at this solstice iteration was the jumping of the gun by Brantley the marshmallow boy. The fire was still a bit young. But that did not deter Brantley.
The fire burned for two days. In fact, it is still smoking as I write this.
Thank goodness for Alec, David, and Gina. We had a few hours of music by the bonfire.
Rumor has it that absinthe hour stretched from 3am-6am.
The next day happened fast.
Morning after breakfast
The chef outdid himself three times.
Party cleanup was a breeze with Aubrey in charge. The weather cooperated the entire weekend.
What is left of this fire?
Are there coals down there?
Fresh veggies from the Berryville farmer’s market (thanks to Chilly Hollow Farm)
While the
veggies roast, we hang by the fire.
Donkey Hodie says “sup homey?”
Astro has the best home
The garden
Roast veggies
OMG more food
Even moonshine is in a food coma.
What do you do with recd currants?
You make a fresh tart. Then mezcal straight from Mexico City?! Yup.
Morning never arrived for some of the mezcal participants.
And then a visit from Iulie.
Fin.
A Little Island Off the Big Island
April 17, 2022
flowers, nature, who knows art, city, fashion, Little Island, nature on concrete, NY, travel, video Leave a comment
The Little Island is new NY close to the Whitney and the High Line. Have a visit.
Which do you choose? NY? Or NJ? We’ll take them together.
The band. Naming rights remain unsold. Contact us for details.
This coat on Lisa caused the biggest splash in NY fashion.
Garden Pre-Beach
June 11, 2019
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Here is update three on the garden. Most everything is up except the third corn plantation. The weed situation is entirely under control. My bet is after we return from two weeks at the beach, chaos will be happening. We shall see!
Shenandoah Bluebells 2019
April 10, 2019
farm, flowers, hiking, photography, river bluebells, nature, photography, river, shenadoah river, shenandoah, Spring Leave a comment
The bluebells are peaking in mid-April this year (a bit early), so we are outta here, headed to Norway for more winter. Because we, um, actually we think we’re nuts.
Here are some pictures from the daily walk.
Willie likes Spring
Bluebells by the river (this is our home loop)
The dogs have lost the trail!
The greening of the Blue Ridge has begun
This field smells like honey
Pollen leg is a thing
Footbridge on Wheat Spring Branch
The Blue Mountains: Katoomba, Australia
December 1, 2018
flowers, hiking, mountain, nature, photography, plants australia, blue mountains, day trip, gem, hiking, katoomba, nature, photography, sydney, train, video 2 Comments
A two hour train ride outside of Sydney, you can find the tourist hamlet of Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. Tourists have been coming here since the turn of the century (1900). Katoomba itself reminds me of West Virginia in its old coal town turned bust turned tourist vibe. You can now find hipsters and artists in residence.
We took the train out in the morning and spent several hours walking from the train station to a trailhead, down the cliff face, and back up again.
Highlights on the mountain visit include the three sisters, the giant stairway (976 steps!), waterfalls, and the steepest railroad in Australia.
We started our morning at Sydney central
The two hour train ride is a little long. The tourist center by the train station is well worth a visit. That is where we finalized our plan.
8things cafe. Great food and super service
Cassiopia coffee (recommended)
We walked from the station to Echo point (2.3 km).
The Echo Point visitors center
This is where we first caught sight of the famed three sisters. Which we saw many times throughout the day.
Three sisters from Echo Point visitor center
Three sisters from the echo point trail
Three sisters from the trail
Three sisters from just above
Honeycomb cave (at the three sisters)
Three sisters from below on the Federal trail
Three sisters from Scenic World gondola
Here’s what happened in between. After honeycomb cave, we entered the giant stairway. Lots of stairs down (976 in fact). Amy did not do them all.
This is an alternative way to get down the stairs (not recommended by our attorney)
Not here
Here
Flowers and bromiliads
Amy
AMY
A tiny fiddlehead against the mountains
Down
Flowers on the mountain
Looking down 500 feet
The blue mountains
Amy contemplates
Cliff hangers
Amy takes the stairs with a monk
Cliff hangers and rare species
Eventually, we entered the rain forrest at the bottom of the cliff.
The giant stairway is well named. It has been there a while.
Rainforest ecology
Amy rounds the bend
Ferns and trail. The rainforest shift is striking
A very big tree indeed
Katoomba Creek falls
After the falls, we were back in what passes as civilization. Scenic world was first contemplated by coal miners. Just take the train thingy up.
And, why not? Try the cable car too.
We walked back from scenic world (another 2.5km). All told we may have hiked around 5 miles. We deserved a beer.
After a long day hiking, it was high time for a beer!
The 2 hour train ride back to Sydney was slightly too long.
Living Art: The Remarkable Little Paradise Art Lodge. New Zealand
November 27, 2018
art, flowers, nature, photography, plants, travel, who knows art, flower, flowers, gardens, little paradise lodge, nature, new zealand, photography, travel Leave a comment
Highway to Paradise
There are magic places in the world, created under intensity so focused that nature absorbs and reflects the power of the creator. The Little Paradise Art Lodge is one of those places.
Put together over 26 years by a Swiss artist who is both intense and incredibly human at the same time, the grounds are nothing short of remarkable.
We were not able to stay during this trip due to a birthday (paradox) conflict. But we will be back for sure. Even a short visit is highly recommended. We stayed for about an hour, enchanted the entire time.
You’ll be caught in the web little tourist
Enter the property
The lodge itself is hand built in such a quirky and delightful and natural way, it is hard to describe. Primitive, and yet so very planet earth.
Bedroom
Bathroom full of skipping rocks
Hand carved headboard
Living table
A couch fashioned from one piece of poplar
Though the lodge is a sight to see, the six acres of curated gardens are astonishing in their willy-nilly natural order.
We have always talked about a tree house like this
Lawnmower
The artist, touched
Fin
Little Lego Dude on a Mission…
December 12, 2017
cute, flowers, humor, photography, who knows humor, leggo, lego, plants, succulents Leave a comment
with his vegetative cohorts.
Aerial shot taken by the enemy..
Garden Gleaning on the First of October
October 1, 2017
animals, farm, flowers, horse beets, carrots, cayene, garden, gleaning, habañero, jalapeño, Norway, pumpkins, sweet peppers, Virginia, watermelon, wood Leave a comment
The best way to garden in the Fall is apparently to go to Norway. Then when you come back, it is actually Fall and time to move wood and gather in the last of the garden.
Farm Truck
First Load of Wood
The garden is quite the disaster.
But hiding behind all of those brown corn and sunflower stalks is a bunch of good stuff: pumpkins, sweet peppers, cayene, jalapeño, habañero, carrots, beets, and watermelon. More to come too!
Mini pumpkins hide under the grass and weeds.
An entire basket of peppers with more to come.
Hotey admires the flowers while eating corn.
Fin.
Fall bounty.
