Granny's Parlour

The weekend is a good time for grazing. This is a summary of some of the delightful Blog articles I have been reading during the week. I invite you to graze through these, and also through the archives of the creative writers who have written about appetizing recipes, food preparation, gardening, canning and preserving, aspects of nutrition, homesteading and life’s choices, hopes and lessons.

You can access the entire Weekend Highlights series to date by clicking on that category in the sidebar at left.

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The ground has been generally so bare here in Vermont that I was shocked by the amount of snow in the photographs posted by The Gardening Canuck and dated March 12, even though she does live much further north. We dance on one foot and the other, don’t we? It is as though we have lost all points of reference to determine where we stand with the weather. Should we begin to plant? Should we hold off? Has the planting season shifted and by how much exactly?

“And now this double-digit, bud-swelling weather! If it freezes hard again, I shudder to think (as my mother used to say) what will become of our poor friends in the garden,” writes the author in “Spring is Knocking at The Door,”… Perhaps I should go outside to cut some branches of forsythia in case the emerging buds get frozen off. At least that way, I can watch them bloom in a vase of water indoors. Forsythia is chancy here in Manitoba where late frosts can nip the blossoms of many woody plants… We talked about all the exciting new plants coming on stream this year – well, not new, but exciting in their variations… I’m still trying to get my head around black petunias!… [Read Full Article]

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While doing a search for information about children and gardening, recently, I found intriguing miniature gardens instead. Shortly thereafter, I stumbled upon “Really Small Teawares,” on The Tea Blog. I do not mean tea sets for children, I mean real miniature tea sets; mind-bogglingly (is there such a word?) real. I immediately thought they would fit remarkably well within the amazingly detailed miniature gardens.

Tea and gardens must be very important aspects of our lives indeed if artists so painstakingly attempt to create such intricate representations. What sort of perfection do they seek through such art, and why? Maybe it is about just that, perfection. I’ll sip to that!

“Having recently expounded on some really BIG tea cups and mugs, I thought I would look at the other end of the size spectrum and showcase some really small tea cups and mugs,” begins the article “… I kept seeing links to stories about teacup poodles in the search listings. Tea time has gone to the dogs… How small can a teacup be and still hold tea? Good question and quite a tongue twister…” [Read Full Article]

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Upon a spring morning, an awakening bee might yawn, if bees do such things, and take flight to explore the flora at its disposal. It might fly from tree to tree to investigate the first growth of young flowers and return to the hive to report. Then and only then can the colony plan the work ahead.

Reading “Trees for Bees, Thee and Me,” I felt I was flying along with an expert bee, reviewing the state of things on “its estate”. Every morning, it repeats the routine, for every day brings new growth and hope. And every morning it encounters the creatures that share its territory. “Ha! Mama and Queenie are chatting again this morning,” notices the bee, “and Waldo is as pensive as ever. I wonder what mischief he will concoct today.” Thus the bee continues about the business of being a bee and meanwhile we pull the green, lush, organic, aromatic, colorful rug from under its little bee feet. The Kitchen’s Garden reminds us of our ability (responsibility?) to provide a suitable landscape as a fair trade for the succulent honey we receive, unconditionally.

“We all talk a lot about flowers for bees in the garden… But there are many lovely trees for bees. There are a few just showing their stuff in my gardens now. Especially in the dawn before the bees are even awake. Bees are late risers… I have a theory that wild and domestic bees are starving and vanishing from lack of fertile organic flowers more than anything else… if a hive is healthy and strong it can repel most things. As is true of a human  body… if you have a spot to plant a tree that has flowers for bees then you are directly helping the bees gain back some ground lost to industrial farming…” [Read Full Article]

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Northwest Edible Life, welcome to our Review!

Northwest Edible Life offers an impressive wealth of resources along with very well written, lighthearted articles. Segments include (among others): food preservation, productive home, gardening, cooking and a clever, downloadable, all-in-one garden planner, tracker and journal.

In the “Downloadables” section, explore the “Do It Yourself or Hire A Pro Flowchart – a fun way to sort through the confusion surrounding what projects we should take on and which are best left to the professionals.” Other user-friendly downloadables include: a Seed Inventory Organizer Database, an Annual Produce Planner, Customizable No-Stick Canning Jar Labels and a Monthly Budget Fun Card.

The author, a professional chef in and around Seattle for ten years, asks, “What happens when a professional chef turns into a gardening fanatic? Can ‘homemaker’ be a political statement? How self-sufficient can a family be on one-third of an acre in suburban Seattle? Where is the right balance between living cheap and living well? Can one ever have too many rutabagas? How much lawn do growing kids really need when there are fruit trees to be planted?” This Blog is an amalgam of knowledge with a down to earth sense of humor. Let’s read on…

“I can tell it’s officially spring because yesterday I was hit with an overwhelming urge to take everything in my house, pile it in the driveway and burn it,” begins the author in “Burning Polly Pocket: My Clutter-Clearing Fantasy“… I am confronting, yet again, how much s–t I own… It’s as if the Inspirational Goddess of Spring Cleaning watched Hoarders and freaked out a little just before she came to my house…” [Read Full Article]

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Thank you for stopping by to read this Weekend’s Review. Please take a moment to leave a few words on the Blogs you enjoy, if you feel so inclined that is.