What Is It?

I have no idea what these are (well, somewhat of an idea - but it is probably wrong...). Would my plant savvy friends give me a hint?
Amaryllis and Italian parsley or Queen Anne's lace?

Young peaches, apricots or the forbidden fruit?

I am hoping for peaches, but I think my hopes may be dashed either way.

I think they're being eaten by a parasite - what should I do?!

Thanks, friends!

Flowers

My irises at the old house have been putting on quite a show lately, so I had to take pictures to capture their beauty.

But the pictures just don't do them justice!

I am most certainly going to pull some of these up to bring to the farm! I love that purple!


My knock-out roses are in full bloom - these have been such easy and beautiful plants.







We even have a little bird who's made a lovely nest!

Harvesting & Leaving it Behind

It is Spring, undeniably, around here! Flowers blooming, birds chirping, bugs zipping here and there... I love Spring because of it's exuberance after the cold, still Winter and for it's beauty. My bulb garden outside of the kitchen window is finally going through the different stages after years of planning and planting: paper whites first, daffodils (both wild, miniature and standard) second, grape and traditional hyacinth third, tulips currently and who knows what will be next! When we first moved into the house, we planted an asparagus patch. This is the first year they have been ready to harvest and eat! We had our first batch for dinner the other night and they were wonderful - I'm already picking more for our next meal! It was fun to grow something in our own back yard and take it straight to our table.

It is also a constant reminder of how much of ourselves we have invested into this house, the yard and our neighborhood. I try not to dwell on it too much because God has blessed us SO much with this home and our new home and just life in general. No complaints here! However, as excited as we are to live on a farm with our horses we are equally going to miss our life in the city in one of the best neighborhoods ever.
I count ourselves very fortunate to have lived in a beautiful home surrounded by such great neighbors and to be moving on to living on a farm in the midst of His creation!
Thank you, God, for a life full of blessings!

Spring Projects

It is so strange for me to scroll down and look at those snow pictures... Life is bursting so quickly from everything right now!

Can you tell the difference in temperment of these two dogs? Yeah.

And since no one, not even the one person who reads my blog (thanks, Mama!), posted about their Springtime projects, I will write about mine for my own entertainment!

First off, we are having a foal. Since we don't know when Reagan's date of conception is, we don't know when the foal will come, what it will be (horse or mule) or what it will possibly look like. Honestly though, I don't see how Reagan can keep going and growing. She's eating 24/7 on grass and hay in addition to 6 + pounds special pellet feed with vitamins and corn oils added in three times a day. She's a machine! So, when will the Little Rea Rea come? Any day now is my guess. I'll get worried if we end up in April and there's no baby yet...

I'm also trying to work with Kahlo more.. I want to train her in several things such as barrel racing, trail competition and endurance. If we just stuck to one thing I think it would be boring for both of us. Plus, the more time we spend together and work on challenges together the better we will both be!

Another Springtime project is the beginning of the vegetable garden! Some of our seedlings have begun to sprout and we have plans to till up and compost the would be garden area. It is our first attempt to grow anything edible and neither one of us know all the little insider tricks of the trade as far as gardening goes, so I'm not expecting too much but nonetheless it is exciting! Our own little Recession Garden!

Of course, we have lots of little house projects going on as well. I'm currently looking for tiles to replace one or more of the sections of the floor part of the hearth were there once were tiles. Expense and availability are the major roadblocks at this point. I just can't justify spending 3.75 per antique white tile right now, yet I want things to be as historically accurate as possible, so I am wanting salvaged tiles, but will take reproductions. They are such small areas, but big focal points and one of the major traits of old houses - cool fireplaces! I don't want to skimp on these. I did pay a high amount per tile for the dining room fireplace, but it only needed a few tiles and they are so unique - I'm CERTAIN no one makes them anymore for any better of a price.

I'd also REALLY like to get the mudroom in shape, finish the remaining woodwork in the kitchen and put in some cabinets in the laundry as well as putting the finishing touches on decorating these areas. Oh yeah, and a new door for the art studio... and curtains... and the black board... and on and on and on! You old house people understand!!!