Not often enough.
The ringer…
The liberals (bitter variety)
The garden flowers
The boots that were left behind
Paltry Garden Explodes in Flowers
October 14, 2024
flowers, photography, plants flowers, garden, vegetables Leave a comment
For a garden that has produced such a paltry selection of vegetables this year, it is certainly going gangbusters…with flowers.
OK, there were some vegetables too…
Summer on the River
August 28, 2024
photography, plants, trees fungus, garden, mushrooms, river, shenandoah, shenandoah river, trees, trees down Leave a comment
During the time of the dog days, this is what we see.
Lots of trees down this summer due to chaotic weather (weeks of drought followed by an intense several day tropical storm).
Yo Turns 65
June 17, 2023
food, party, photography, travel belgium, bookstore, caroline, garden, gem, grappa, leuven, mixology, party, photography, travel, video, violin, yo 2 Comments
Nothing quite like staying with dear friends in Leuven. Yo and Caroline are excellent hosts. This visit was made even more fun by including a 65th birthday party for Yo.
Here are some pictures from my visit.
I even managed to sneak into the circus on Friday evening. An incredible show focused on lighting matches, making pizzas, and spinning plates.
The cast of two and the poor “volunteers” who were pulled from the audience.
Leuven.
There was dancing in the kitchen.
And there were homemade cakes.
We even got to try out some mixology for the party.
Rosemary grappa lemonade…let’s call it the “yo-yo 65.”
The birthday king presides.
The actual power behind the throne is slightly capricious.
The site of the party is the back garden with lots of veggie plants. Delicious food was about as “locally sourced” as you can get. There were fresh snap peas and strawberries. So healthy and so delicious.
This gorgeous cake was my favorite. Banana cheesecake. Yum.
There was some dancing in wooden clogs yo some truly bad fiddle sawing.
We walked several miles together all using the house as a base of operations.
And we visited the English books at FNAC to compare notes.
All in all about as much fun as you can have in Leuven!
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.
The Garden Winds Down
September 26, 2019
farm bounty, corn, dogs, fall, flower, garden, gem, gleaning, photography, sunflowers Leave a comment
The garden produced prolifically this year. It was a great year for watermellon and corn. Heck, even the squash lasted for several months before it was wiped out by the squash beetles.
Some of the last of the bounty is coming in now.
Pepper haul Sept
Cayenne
Jalapeño, habañero, hot banana, cayenne
Late September tomato
Pick a peck of peppers
The tomato plans and the peppers have lots more production to go before they peter out. Meanwhile, the corn and the sunflowers are done. So down they come.
Gleaned corn
Now you see it
Now you don’t
I will stand up the husks in a typical Fall display, probably tomorrow.
extra junk
Sunflowers down.
Beheadings galore
Now you see them
Now you don’t
Sunflower poles
Fall.
Winter is coming.
Shadow play
Garden Update: Mid-Summer Bounty Begins
July 11, 2019
farm, food garden, gem, harvest, photography, video Leave a comment
Rain and sun. Rain and sun. 90 degree days and massive afternoon thunderstorms. The garden is OK with all that.
First real harvest and a vegetarian dinner grown entirely on the property.
Watermellon? Watermellon.
First real harvest. Still waiting for tomatoes to get red.
Garden Pre-Beach
June 11, 2019
farm, flowers, plants garden, no weeds, vegetables, video Leave a comment
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!
Garden Tour
May 18, 2019
who knows garden, gem, planting, vegetables, video Leave a comment
Seven hours in the garden later, the garden is finally up and running about a week late. I usually get everything in around Mother’s Day, so I am not too far behind, but the rain put a serious kibosh on the original plan.
Here is a celebratory video about all of the stuff in the garden. (I forgot to mention the cucumbers near the beginning, but I think I covered most everything. Hopefully all the seeds will germinate and we’ll be off to the races.
