SPRING GARDENING

A stroll along the Potomac at Mount Vernon in the spring. This Johnson Bros plate reminds us of early days of our country when ladies wore long dresses with hoops and gentleman wore jodhpurs when riding a horse. This plate is a sweet reminder of our American history.

Here on our farm in the west trees have completely leafed out and flowers are blooming everywhere. I am planting our veg garden now, mostly in hay bales. I have planted in straw bales for the two years previous and it was successful, but this year they doubled the price of straw bales....yes, doubled.....so I am using some old hay bales out of our barn that were baled before the seed heads were formed. So....free is best and we will see what happens. The trouble is, our baler makes small bales and they are much looser than the big straw bales from the Willamette Valley. I have read that it works if you keep pushing them down as they rot.

Here is my pink Clematis growing on the greenhouse.

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Here are last years straw bales in the conditioning stage. You have to condition them with high nitrogen fertilizer and water for 10 to 12 days. They should be growing odd little mushrooms when it is time to plant the bales. No...you don't eat them. They aren't poisonous but they wouldn't taste good.

A very nice bean crop coming along in the straw bales.

I have been very negligent about my blog but I am going to try to add to it more frequently.  Next blog will show the hay bales that I am just beginning to plant so that you can compare and see what I mean. 

 Today I planted my Blue Lake beans like the ones above.  No other beans taste as good when canned as Blue Lake beans. I have tried many other varieties and this old favorite is still the best in my opinion. 

If you are wondering....I set the bales on top of my already raised beds. Old ladies and old men find it hard to bend. LOL

See you next time.

Check out my etsy shop, especially if you like vintage.

www.etsy.com/shop/AlderHillFarm #etsysellsvintage

SPRING Is On It's Way....Slowly

March is right around the corner and I have been very lazy about my blogging. I have been sewing and quilting more, though, and of course, always busy with my Etsy shop, adding new items and getting them out where they will be seen. Takes gobs of time.

We have had rain, rain, and more rain. Our low pastures have flooded about 5 times this winter. Today, hopefully the last time this year, the water is receding quite well with the extreme low tides we have been having.

We are worried that the grass will be damaged and won't grow as well as past years. Also, the flood waters tend to bring in lots of weed seeds that settle into the bare spots. Here is a photo to the right of this one.

In spite of the rain and cold weather, this is beginning to happen. Makes me want to sing my Spring song. 

And here is a pot of Jack Be Little Daffodils that I can see from my dining room window.

Here is a little vintage planter that you will recognize as being rather...well....a....yucky. If was made by Lefton and it goes along with Spring. This is the humorous, yucky planter you can find in my Etsy shop.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/458421156/lefton-snail-planter-vintage-pottery?ref=shop_home_active_17

Until next time when I will show you a fabulous way to pin your quilts Without getting down on the floor.

Snow Days

Here on the Oregon coast we generally have some cold days in January. A few freezes, a few white frosty mornings, and quite a few dark rainy days. But this year.....well...since the 1st (and this is only the 7th) we have had cold rain, wind, snow that stuck and is still sticking, nights in the 20's, and now, today that dark day with really cold rain, which doesn't melt the snow very fast.

It was exciting to wake up to these scenes out our windows the other morning.

This photo was taken our front window looking towards the road.

 

This was taken from the back porch looking out over the garden and the fields below. The cows couldn't find their grass and got double doses of hay that day.

If you are reading this and you live in the northern part of the US, you are probably laughing right now. I know the cold has been just terrible this year for you. I don't know how you do it.

One way to cope is to have indoor projects. Sewing has alway been my go-to both winter and summer, so I always have something to do. I started out making clothes for my girls, then for myself, then stopped making clothes and started quilting. I started in the late 80's and I am still at it. Lately I have fallen in love with small quilts. Probably because at my age it is hard to handle all the yards and the weight of large quilts. I really love small quilts. It takes more patience and know-how to piece a small block because it has to be even more accurate than a large one, and quilting is all about accuracy. I don't want to scare off beginning quilters. Quilting is all about artistic adventure, about putting colors you love in your quilts and even about decorating your home with them. All the while, though, we strive for accuracy. We say to ourselves....the next one will be better. And, it almost always is. 

Here is a small cotton and wool quilt I made to hang on the wall in a small space where it will remind you that summer will come once again.

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM 1913 TO 2017

This antique postcard was sent to Effie's mother to wish her a Happy New Year. It is dated Jan. 1, 1913 by Effie, but it was postmarked on Jan. 9th,  Effie states that she guessed it would not be mailed this week. (See how lucky we are these days!) She also claims that they are all fine and hope she is too. She thanked her mother for the Christmas cards. It's a bit like a Facebook message, but just took a lot longer to get there. 

This postcard is especially dear to me because 1913 was the year both my parents were born plus it is postmarked Montana, and that is the state where they met and married. I will always keep it 

There are all sorts of reasons to collect old postcards. Sentiment, like my reason for this one. History and historical places. Holidays. Artistic cards, especially signed ones. Even the type of paper they were printed on. Country of origin, especially cards made in Germany are popular. 

Vintage postcards can be found in most Antique stores and vintage malls. I think the reason there are so many is because people used them as an easy and quick way to communicate with family and friends. Now we have Facebook, and texting. 

Here is a link to a site that has lots of interesting vintage postcards facts. Perhaps you would like to date or ID a postcard you own. 

http://postcardvalues.com/index.html

And, now, a Good Luck greeting from an Etsy vintage shop called Old Fashioned Finds. Find it here
https://www.etsy.com/shop/OldFangledFinds?ref=l2-shopheader-name

Wishing you all Luck and Happiness in 2017. 

CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS

Merry Christmas 2016

This gorgeous maple tree and the burning bush shrub in front are, of course, leafless now. This scene is our front yard looking out to the road and was taken in October. Now the same scene is green without the red, but I think this photo looks like a Christmas card, so here it is, from our farmhouse to yours,

Merry Christmas! 

Christmas traditions come and go as our lives change, or we move, or the children grow up and leave home. Scenery changes, attitudes change, lifestyles change, yet life goes on. One sure thing though? Christmas comes every single year. 

It's nice to have a few traditions to look forward to each year  to make the season special. Getting out my Christmas tree ornaments are a treat for me. Many of them hold long ago memories. I used to search out and buy ornaments that reminded me of my kids at that time.  So, now, after they are all grown up, those little ornaments make me smile while I decorate our tree and remember that time in his or her life. Our tree is just filled with vintage ornaments collected down through the years of our life.

This year I am going to miss those sweet little ornaments. They are still boxed up in the basement where they will remain for at least another year. We decided to scale down with a very very small tree with tiny little LED lights and tiny little red glass balls I found at an estate sale. It's cute, but there is not one single memory for me on that tree. Another lifestyle change.

I must end this very first blog. Hopefully I will get better at this.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL.