Yard Flowers

YARD FLOWERS

Go out and gather some beauty today...

The Cottage Hens

Visit with your hens ( if' n ya got' um )

My sweet M I L

Spend time with someone dear...

 Play with your pooch...

Look up close at something beautiful...

  Marvel at something you love....

Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop # 64

Vintage Apron Patterns

Welcome friends, old and new to the Farmgirl Friday blog hop # 64. By the looks of your entries last week I'd say summer is in full swing for everyone! It's hard to believe some of you are putting up jam and canning beans already! This weeks featured farmgirl Lisa, of Fresh Eggs Daily took a break from running her darling Etsy Store ( where she sells really cute farmy and vintage things ) and whipped up a NO COST utility cart makeover! She came up with more uses for it than you can shake a stick at and her blog styling was over the top for each idea! She really poured her farmgirl heart into her makeover and her post! If you didn't make it by last week be sure to go by and say hello! You'll love her idea's, her blog and her shop! 

Fresh Eggs Daily

I adore it as a chicken supplies cart but her creativity doesn't stop there!

As for this farmgirl, I have a confession to make. Just as I was writing this post I received an email from the rightful owner of the apron photo I made my Farmgirl Friday blog button out of. Yep, it's true... I'm a thief! Well, not entirely. Ya see, last March when I was poking around online looking for apron photos ( for the now infamous Farmgirl Friday blog hop button ) online I found said Apron photo, but with no link to it. So, I thought it was okay to use it. FREE RIGHT?  Not so much...
I can't tell you how embarrassed this farmgirl is over being caught " apron handed " by Lori Abraham of Vintage Apron Patterns.com. In her email she kindly requested that I include her link ( which I will do from now on ). Wasn't that sweet of her? I've been over to her website and you need to go see the rest of her amazing vintage Apron patterns, cooking aprons and more! It's right up your farmgirl alley I tell ya! And, in the future make sure you add those links to the amazing images you find out there floating in web-space so you don't get caught with your apron ties hanging on the wrong hook like I did!
Okay, now that Frank and Ernest hour is over and my cheeks are almost back to their normal menopausal rosy glow instead of fire engine red we can get on with the Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop! 

  I'm going back to the garden where I can stay out of trouble!

Here are the rules for the Farmgirl/guy Blog Hop!

1.) Write a post about your farmgirl lifestyle and brag a little about your farmgirl talents while your at it! Share what being a farmgirl means to you. Include lots of photos of your farm, crafts, animals, quilts, home decor projects and thrifty make overs, your backyard garden, chicken coop, recipes, studio or workshop. You get the idea!

2). Leave your entry in the Mr. Linky space to your Farmgirl Friday post.


3). Please include the Farmgirl Friday button ( or link back here ) in your post and remember to share this hop with all of your blogging friends!


Have a great week everyone and thank you so much for all you share here every Friday! 

Farmgirl Blessings to all!

ORANGE Flower Power

I stepped outside this morning under a cloudy sky to check on the garden and look what I found! The Salmon Cone-flower is in full bloom! Most people are familiar with the more common pink color of this old fashioned perennial favorite and I've planted some of those too, but I fell in love with this color when I spotted it at a local nursery a few years back. I think this is its best year so far!

The petals look like little mini scoops before they unfold.

Who says pink and orange don't go together?  Don't you just love all the color in summer clothes this year? Even my hubby is wearing brights this season. He picked up a polo shirt the exact color of the orange in this cone flower! Handsome indeed!

Here they are making a splash in a sea of GARDEN green! Besides being pretty in the garden Cone-flowers attract birds ( hummingbirds ) and butterflies to your garden providing nourishment all season long.  Birds,Squirrels and racoons look for the seeds of cone flower in wintertime so be sure to leave cutting back the seed pods until early spring.

The Tiger Lilllie's are in bloom too! I love how they spice up an other wise cooler pallet in the deck garden. 

How about you? Do you go for softer shades or do you like to heat things up in your gardens with spicy colors too? Coming Soon:! Red Dahlias, Sunflowers, Bee Balm and more!!!

I'm taking these hot blossoms to An Oregon Cottage Tuesday Garden Party!

Saturday Scenes with Boz

 

Waters Edge 

 A Saturday Scene for your enjoyment~ with Boz

 We're having a heatwave in Plymouth and the only place to be is near  ( or in ) the water. 

Stay cool where ever you are! 

Boz

 

Farmgirl Friday blog hop # 63

Welcome one and all to the Farmgirl Friday blog hop # 63! The place where romance meets rustic, fields flourish, bee's buzz and backyards bustle with farmgirl/guy ingenuity every day of the week!
  If you're the sort that likes to can it, bake it, cook it, grow it, raise it, and share it... read on!
 There's so much to learn from this online community of kindred spirits!

As for this farmgirl, life is busy but good! Everything is planted and thriving here at Dandelion House, thank goodness... The veggie garden was the last to go in this year due to the cut flower garden taking priority, but if all goes well we'll have plenty of tomatoes to share!  The seedlings I started in the greenhouse all did great. I have a feeling I'll  be wanting send you some through the ether's come harvest time!
As if we didn't have enough going on in the farmyard here at home, we decided to put in a small community garden at the BEACH this year! 

MaryJanesFarmgirl Sisterhood

Promise not to laugh... I just planted it a few days ago and it just looks so puny compared to others who got started a month ago! Better late than never.... right? I'm trying cuc's, peppers, tomatoes, sweet basil, zucchini, onions and snap beans.

4x12x 8 raised bed

 A friend of ours ( a wise organic farmer ) shared this great plant marker tip with me ( and some of his cast-off mini-blinds ). Snap off a section of mini- blinds long enough for one end to stick into the dirt and the other to write the plant name. Use a permanent marker ( or water proof pen ). SIMPLE!

Like so!

Join me on the shorelines for some " early summer " Farmgirl Ramblings in my latest entry:Mud-puppies and Horseshoe Crabs!

 Okay! Now it's your turn to share what's happening in your farmgirl world!!!

1.) Write a post about your farmgirl lifestyle and brag a little about your farmgirl talents while your at it! Share what being a farmgirl means to you. Include lots of photos of your farm, crafts, animals, quilts, home decor projects and thrifty make overs, your backyard garden, chicken coop, recipes, studio or workshop. You get the idea!

2). Leave your entry in the Mr. Linky space to your Farmgirl Friday post.


3). Please include the Farmgirl Friday button ( or link back here ) in your post and remember to share this hop with all of your blogging friends!


Have a great week everyone and thank you so much for all you share here every Friday! 

Farmgirl Blessings to all!

Happy Summer

 

  It's finally here! The day we've all been waiting for. The FIRST day of Summer!

Thank Goodness... Most of the hard work is done ( or should be ) in the garden and temps are on the rise! It's time to run for cover, find a cool place to relax and reap what you've sewn! That's just what I plan to do today right after I feed the chickens, flowers and fold the laundry!

 I'm ready  "for the lull of summer " to let my mind wonder and bring about new inspirations; 

to just be.  

 

How about you? Will you fill your summer time to the brim with many activities, or shy away from the crowds and steel away for some peace and quiet under the shade of a favorite tree, in your garden, stretch of beach, or a cabin in the woods? Or, will you go on the adventure of a lifetime? 

Picket Fence Dreams~ NOTECARD GIVE AWAY

Picket Fence Dreams 

To my gardening eyes, nothing says summer quite like a picket fence smothered in roses.
To celebrate the arrival of Summer I'm giving away  the first ever Picket Fence Dreams note card set of TEN beautiful Picket Fence images to one lucky commenter on my Facebook page! Enter today! I'll announce the winner June 21st!

If you don't do face book leave a comment on this post! Go here for a peak at all images!

 Good luck Dandelion House Friends!

Backyard Blossoms

Endless Summer Hydrangea 

Howdy friends! Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful Father's Day celebrating with your favorite peeps!  The Yankee and I have a tradition for Mothers/Fathers day. Instead of going out for breakfast and fighting the crowds we stay home and cook- in for each-other.  This year I made him Cheese and Onion ( heavy on the onion ) Quiche with dried red peppers sprinkled on top and homemade blueberry muffins. Sorry, no pic's we ate it all! YUM! What this has to do with backyard blossoms I haven't the faintest idea. I just felt like sharing!

Snapdragon and Delphinium

Good news on the garden front! All eight raised beds are planted! I  " tucked in " the last of the greenhouse seedlings plus a flat of snapdragons and a few delphiniums Saturday! Whew! What a relief to finally have everything in and growing...

Dahlia's

We've had rain off and on the last two weeks which has brought about slugs...but I've managed to keep them at bay with a dish soap and water spray once a week. Little buggers...

Sunflowers

Wider View of Cutting Garden. 

 Creating this large cutting garden has been a ton of work ( thank you honey I couldn't have done it without you ) but worth every sore muscle and droplet of sweat. Not to mention it's one heck of a workout! Now that the hard work is done I'm looking forward to watching my Backyard Blossoms arrive!

Since this is my first year I decided to try a number of different flowers to see how they would perform.

Here's what I've planted:

 Cosmos, Bachelor Buttons, California Poppies, three types of Sunflowers, Dahlias, Zinnias, Snapdragons, Delphinium, Parsley, Ornamental Eggplant, Oriental Lillie's, and I made room for some heirloom tomatoes too!

Here's what I've learned:  This was also my first year with the new greenhouse which has been mostly trial and error. Because I didn't start seeds indoors ( with heat and overhead light ) I waited until the end of April to plant my seed trays in the greenhouse. I relied entirely on the warmth inside and extended daylight hours for germination. Somethings did well, others not so much. Some of my Zinnia trays didn't germinate at all so I replanted them in mid May and they did better that time around. Plus, I also sowed one entire bed by seed after the danger of the last frost just to see how it would do...So far so good!I'm already thinking ahead! Next year, I'll plant three times what I think I need to fill the beds just in case some don't germinate  and I'll start some seeds with heat and light ( in the greenhouse ). Once they've germinated they'll stay there until planting time!

Can anyone recommend what kinds of heat mats and growing lights I should look in to? 

The joy of stepping into the cutting garden every morning, coffee in hand and greeting my new garden in progress makes it all worth while... I can hardly wait for the first blooms! You know I'll keep you posted!

What has this garden season taught you? I'm sharing this post with An Oregon Cottage Tuesday Garden Party! Swing on by for more clever cottage gardening ideas!

Saturday Scenes with BOZ

Rose Campion

  A Saturday Scene for your enjoyment~ with Boz

Wishing everyone a SUPER weekend!

Thanks for looking...

Boz

Farmgirl Friday blog hop # 62

 

Howdy friends and welcome to the 62nd Farmgirl/guy Friday Blog Hop!

Your place to let your hair down and share what's new in your corner of the world whether it be your backyard or farmyard, kitchen or craft room, we want to see it all! Well, not ALL; you know what I mean!  

 Here at Dandelion House the sun has finally come out! The clouds lifted and floated away with the rain today!  My sweet mother in law is here for the weekend and I love to put fresh flowers in her room and in the kitchen! After I finished up the last of my " skirt work " left over from yesterday I asked my daughter's BBFL to go cut some yarrow for me.

 

 Someone has to teach these young un's farmgirl ways! 

This weeks FEATURED FARMGIRL is Katie from Brighton Park Blog! She recently returned from a trip to France where she saw some above average looking chickens! Apparently the french have chic' chickens! Be sure to stop by to see them if you haven't already!

  Katie wants to know...

" Do you look for chickens when you are away from home too ? "

French Chickens

If you're looking for new ideas for creative container gardening, check out this months guest post Up cycled Container Gardening at Kanelstrand!

Now it's your turn to flaunt your farmgirl/guy spirit! 

1.) Write a post about your farmgirl lifestyle and brag a little about your farmgirl talents while your at it! Share what being a farmgirl means to you. Include lots of photos of your farm, crafts, animals, quilts, home decor projects and thrifty make overs, your backyard garden, chicken coop, recipes, studio or workshop. You get the idea!

2). Leave your entry in the Mr. Linky space to your Farmgirl Friday post.


3). Please include the Farmgirl Friday button ( or link back here ) in your post and remember to share this hop with all of your blogging friends!


Have a great week everyone and thank you so much for all you share here every Friday! 

Farmgirl Blessings to all! 

Cooped Up

 I don't know about you but I kind of enjoy a late spring RAIN DAY!  Besides being great for the gardens, it gives me a chance to direct my energy to  " what's doin' " inside and rest my bones from a hard days work in the garden.

When I'm working in the garden things have a tendency to pile up! Today, instead of heading outside first thing to mulch the new raised beds I covered the pile and walked over to checked on the Cottage Hens. Look who I found all snug inside the coop! Lacy Lou is taking advantage of the quiet time too.... No dust baths, scratching for bugs and worms for her today! I know she's sitting on a pile of eggs. Those have stacked up too! 

I'm off to tackle the laundry, go through the mail, make out a grocery list, vacuum up the dog hair,swish the toilets and gather eggs. Glamorous, I know but someone has to do it!

 I think I see a batch of homemade brownies in my future!

Have a great day what ever the weather! 

Farmgirl Friday blog hop # 61

 

Welcome one and all to the Farmgirl/guy Friday Blog Hop! 

Here's where you get to strut your stuff about all things, homesteading, crafting, cooking, gardening, keeping chickens and more! As always I so enjoy each and every entry but only one of you can be the featured farmgirl/guy! This week I chose Jabez Farm for her post on Expressing One's Farmness!

I got a kick out of it! If you didn't get a chance to read it last week click here! 

So, what sort of Farmness have you been up too this week? I got the veggie garden planted and the rest of the raised beds for cut flowers filled! Only one more bed to plant;then I can mulch and begin to relax a little while everything grows!

A friend and I went to our local Farmers Market today to check out the early June harvest.

Tender Herb seedlings ready for planting.

Homemade bread

 chocolate buns!

FOR THE FULL STORY " Meet Me at the Market " 

 

  visit the MJFbeach farmgirl blog 

Don't all farmgirls love chocolate? 

Now it's your turn to flaunt your farmgirl/guy spirit!

1.) Write a post about your farmgirl lifestyle and brag a little about your farmgirl talents while your at it! Share what being a farmgirl means to you. Include lots of photos of your farm, crafts, animals, quilts, home decor projects and thrifty make overs, your backyard garden, chicken coop, recipes, studio or workshop. You get the idea!

2). Leave your entry in the Mr. Linky space to your Farmgirl Friday post.


3). Please include the Farmgirl Friday button ( or link back here ) in your post and remember to share this hop with all of your blogging friends!


Have a great week everyone and thank you so much for all you share here every Friday! 

Farmgirl Blessings to all!