Fun With Chicken Feathers

 

While doing some sprucing up for spring this weekend, I came across a collection of chicken feathers I've saved from our little flock. We've kept several different breeds over the years. I just love studying the different colors and patterns of chicken feathers!   

Can you guess what some of them were by looking at the photo above?

Nature is the ultimate designer when it comes to color, form and pattern. Artists enjoy working with chicken feathers as a medium too! I'm sure you've seen some of the beautiful artwork and jewelery being created today inspired by our feathered friends. 

I simply wanted to enjoy my little collection of chicken feathers so I arranged them in an antique creamer and placed them on my buffet in our kitchen where I can see them everyday.

It makes me smile to look at them and reminds me of the old adage, 
" Some Days Chickens, Some Days Feathers."

The top photo is a little sedum plant that was given to me by a fellow chicken keeper and friend. She tucked a feather into the pot for an added touch of whimsy and after the long winter we've had that's just what this girl needed! 

Do you collect feathers from your flock too? 

What do you like to do with them?

I'm sharing this post on the Simple Saturdays Blog Hop!
 Check it out for more great posts on simple lessons in Self Reliance

Branches in Bloom

I'm so looking forward to the first  blossoms of spring this year and I bet some of my northeast friends are too!  As I was looking back at some photos this morning I came across these images of some dogwood tree and white lilac blooms my hubby brought home from his mom's garden for me to play with a couple springs ago.

I love to use branches in bloom to make simple no-fuss arrangements to place around the house.

Don't be afraid to get out there and snip some branches for yourself. They don't last that long outside so go ahead and cut a few branches to bring inside before they are in full flower to force. You'll get a good week, week and a half of beautiful spring blooms to enjoy inside.

For shorter, smaller bouquets simply cut the stems so that the flowers will just come above the top of the vase by a few inches or so. Don't try to make it look too perfect. They aren't that way on the trees so why force them to behave in a vase? This goes for larger arrangements like the one below too. 

I find lilac cuttings to be a little less unruly to work with than the dogwood branches so  place them in the pitcher first to provide stability. Then you can just tuck in the dogwood branches like 'bookends' to frame the lilacs. 

Aren't they gorgeous? 

What are some of your favorite branches in bloom? Do you bring them inside to enjoy? Just about anything that flowers can go in a vase so be creative and have fun bringing in spring! 

Springspiration! GARDEN LADY, Celia Thaxter

Celia Thaxter in her island garden

One of my favorite ways to relax while the snow falls is to escape into other writers gardens and try to imagine what it was like 100 years ago to be a privileged garden lady of day's gone by. What is it about flowers that turns gardeners into writers? For Celia Thaxter it was love. Love for her flowers and an appreciation for the tender promise of new life that lay inside each tiny unopened seed. 

I like to imagine what it would have been like to swap gardening stories over the garden gate with her. You see, she and I have ( or would have had ) something in common besides our passion for flowers. She was an Island Gardener on a small pot of land over looking the sea on Appledore Island off the coasts of ( New Hampshire and Maine)  in the mid to late 1800's. One of my very favorite time periods in history. I suppose I have the impressionist painters to thank for that because they certainly painted gardens and ladies in their gardens in a most beautiful and romantic way.

Beach roses in our cottage yard by the sea

I know I read her book An Island Garden about 20 years ago when I was looking for inspiration about seaside gardening for our little plot of land by the sea. Two children and a long homeschooling career in between then and now and here I am again, revisiting my old friend, Celia in her garden hoping to glean some new ideas for our own seaside garden.

I've just ordered a reprinted copy for myself as I know there is more snow on the way and I'll be needing an escape! 

You can book a tour here!

And, watch this short movie trailer about her beloved Island Garden. 

The DVD would be a perfect gift to someone who isn't able to make the trip. Appledore Island is accessible by boat only. Once you arrive you'll need your land-legs to carry you across some rugged terrain before you arrive at Celia's Island Garden. 

Do you have local gardens or flower shows you've yet to visit?

 Now's the time to plug those dates into your Spring calendars! 

30 Day's of Spring-spiration!

Dear friends,
We've had so much snow in the northeast this year I don't know whether I'm coming or going and I've completely lost track of what day it is. I have to swim through white tunnels of snow to get to the chicken coop, the mailbox, my car, and more ' white stuff'  is predicted for this weekend. In an effort to get a jump- start on spring fever I'll be sharing a daily dose of Spring-spiration with you!
Today's image really gets my heart pumping for warmer weather, and the first blossoms of springtime. Forsythia is one of the first flowering shrubs to bloom in our area. I think it looks lovely when its branches are left to drape and fall naturally vs being trimmed.
It's also easy to force when brought inside and placed in a vase or pitcher.
Do you have a favorite early-Spring shrub or flower?

April~ The Urge To Purge!

  Dear friends, 

  As I walked around our yard today, barefoot for the first time since late last fall I couldn't help but let out a huge sigh of relief. The ONLY redeeming thing about this long, bitterly cold, dark, dank winter are the extra hours it has forced me to stay indoors and do some serious DE-cluttering, hence, my brief absence from blogging on a more regular basis. I hope you'll forgive me for not sharing pics of my car loaded to the gills with boxes of books, old clothes, and various household items we no longer need or find useful.

Tis the season for clearing the decks so I though I'd share a few "creative seeds" to help get YOU started if you haven't already. But wait! I'm not just talking about hauling boxes and bins full of " stuff" to the nearest donation center. Sometimes we humans need a good DE-cluttering too! 

Ya follow? I know this is certainly true for me and this year my urge to purge is stronger than ever!

 I think it has a lot to do with my trying a gazillion and one creative ideas last year. Imagine me standing in my front yard, blowing on a big ole fluffy dandelion sending out hundreds of scattering seeds hoping to find rich, fertile soil where they'll be loved, watered and nurtured into beautiful maturity. Romantic isn't it? In reality, I learned that's it's darned near impossible to take care of all  my little dream seeds at once and do it well. 

Most creative people have a hard time saying " no" to opportunities to try new things. I know, I'm one of em! And, I still believe in saying YES more often than NO. But what's a gal to do when she starts feeling stretched and worn out?

TAKE STOCK!

Ask your beautiful self these questions and BE HONEST!

1. Where is the bulk of your creative energy going?
2. Does it feed your creative soul or are you starving yourself by wasting your precious creative energy on tasks that don't fit your idea of living your best creative life? 
3.  Are you feeling inspired or are you perspiring too much and not feeling any forward movement? 

There's nothing wrong with letting go of a precious dream seed if it didn't quite take-off the way you had hoped. Perhaps it just isn't the right time and you need to put it on hold for now. Or maybe it just needs a new setting with different circumstances to take-root and bloom! It could be the hard truth is that it just needs to be ripped out of the ground and tossed into the compost heap where it can die in peace.

I had to make the tough decision this spring to close my booth Burlap and Bling. I learned that I enjoyed some parts of running a vintage booth and others not so much. It was a wonderful "creative experiment" and I'm glad I gave it a try! I'll admit, it hurt a little to let it go, but I LOVE the feeling of  more FREE space on my hard-drive ( and in my basement ) for new ideas to develop and grow! 

The  urge to purge is paying off. Rather than going into spring time feeling like the head juggler in a traveling circus act, I'm feeling a sense of calm and peace. I'm ready to get outside and be one with my gardens without the distraction of feeling like I should be doing something else.

 Life is too short for "shoulds"!

Here's wishing you all a beautiful April filled with fresh ideas and the energy to create and share as all creative seed sisters are meant to do!

Tell me, what are YOU making room for this spring?

Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop# 102 and Easter!

 

Welcome friends to Farmgirl Friday # 102! Happy Easter!

Thanks so much for all of the inspiring posts everyone shared last week! Cream of the crop as always! 

 This week, Gladys and I are looking for signs of spring and I'm sharing our family Easter traditions over at the 

MJF Beach farmgirl Blog! 

 Come on by and say howdy!

 

  Farmgirls love anything to do with homesteading, keeping chicken's, embroidering, sewing, knitting, spinning, quilting, natural home remedies for health care and cleaning, horses, goats, cows, organic gardening and cooking, caring for their loved ones and friends and are community minded. Re-purposing and UP-cycling are high on their list of " fun things to do too! Our resident "FARM-BOYS ' ( Clint the Redeemed Gardner and Rob of Bepa's Garden ) bring wheelbarrow's full of good organic gardening tips to this hop and we are honored to have them join in the fun each week!   

Your Farmgirl Friday Hostesses~  

Heidi of My Simple Country Living 
and White Wolf Summit Farmgirl Blog
Dolly of Hibiscus House and Dolly is Cooking and me of course!

 Now, it's your turn to link up for your weekly dose of farmgirl soul food!
 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  Linky tools 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!

4.) Enter up to three entries per hop! 

 DON'T BE SHY~  

Be sure to leave a note if you're new to the hop! If you haven't clicked that follow button yet, please join us and be sure to stop by our FACEBOOK page and like us there too! 
As always, thank you for your continued participation and welcome new friends and followers!

Don't forget to grab your FEATURED FARMGIRL BUTTON if you've been featured!

Welcome Spring 2013

 Woo Who! It's Spring! Now that's something to cluck about!

Busy Bee

Crocus from my kitchen door garden

Welcome friends and HAPPY SPRING! Spring seems to have arrived early this year in many parts of the US. I know many of you are getting an early start with seed planting and garden prep too! It's so refreshing to be able to smell the earth warming and see all the plants and shrubs starting to bud already. I think last year around this time we still had frozen snow on the ground.

 It's bright, sunny and warm today. I hardly know what to do first! The Robins are calling me outside, the dryer is whirling with clothes that need folding, my floor needs mopping and my head is full of ideas for my backyard flower farm. What's a girl to do? Make a list or wing it? I think a list is in order!

Here's my April chores list for our backyard farmyard.

1. Clean Hen House ~ add new shavings and clean the window so the girls can see out! 
2. Buy lumber for 16 4x6x8 inch raised beds and build! I've decided to go with treated lumber for the flower garden. Herbs and veggies will go in the ground or into Cedar raised beds.
3. Order soil for raised beds
4. Chip wood and tree trimmings
5. Order mulch for established gardens
6. Start seeds 
7. Order Dahlia's and other spring flowering bulbs
8. Clean and organize shed  
9. Get proper garden shoes
10. Dust off my garden hat 

 Spring brings more than just good weather... It brings feelings of hope and a sense of renewal!
I'm ready to dive into Spring (head first)  just like that bee! How about you?