The latest addition to the herb garden

I am sooo excited! Look what I found at Wilco today!

HollyHock seeds!

I've always liked these flowers but this variety is, by far, the prettiest I've ever seen. These ones are called 'Peaches 'N' Dreams' and rightly so! They are a beautiful peach color all over and tinged with the faintest blushing rose shade be'twixt their fluffy petals..... ahhh, I can't wait until they bloom... :)

And lucky for me, they are an extremely useful herb so they will be right at home in my garden. :D

~Caitlyn

Pics of our "wilderness"

After I finished the post before this one, I decided to grab Emily (who then grabbed her camera) and see what the 98 acres looked like in all its glory. We go up there often but today was the first time, since January, that we ventured up in to "MossFlower forest". It was back in January that Copper got his paw stuck in a hunter's trap, and up until today he avoided going up there at all costs.

So, armed with a hat, a sister, a dog and my trusty quarter staff, we set off....



Lets play eye spy; I spy with my little eye, ME! Yup, if you look really close, you can see me amongst the tall grass in the center of the picture. :D


Foxglove. Poisonous but very pretty.

One of the many grand views that we have surrounding us....

And Scotch Broom! Up near our spring it is literally everywhere. The deer often bed down underneath them, and my sisters and I have fun in our sunny colored "forts". ;D It grows more than 6 feet tall sometimes!

Ummm... a pretty flower?

Seeing this picture makes me want to break out into the song 'Heavenly Sunlight'. :) It was HOT outside though. Mom said we were crazy to go out in mid-day.

Entering 'MossFlower Forest' See the path? the deer created that and keep it well trimmed. When we took this shot, there was a momma Red- tailed hawk screaming at us and swooping pretty low because we were too close to its chicks. We hurried on our way deeper into the forest so as not to stress her to much.

MossFlower..... The picture shows the exact color of everything. Emerald green with just a hint of something deeper and darker...

More pretty flowers! The purple is vetch but I'm not sure what the white is yet...

There is so much more to the 98 acres, I wish I could show it all to you but the pictures didn't to it justice. Maybe another time. :)

~Caitlyn

I am gone into the fields....

Yep, that's the way life has been lately for me. I've been waiting and waiting for leaves to unfurl, flowers to bloom and fruits to ripen so that I can get busy harvesting, drying, preparing and storing my herbs for the year. It's been pretty overwhelming of the late; but I'm in almost constant bliss. :D

Between my chores in the house, barn chores, working in the gardens and doing other things of the sort I haven't really had time to do any blogging. But I made time today!!

So far I've got some hawthorn leaves drying, some willow bark, alder bark, rosemary, shepherd's purse, dandelion root and some Scotch broom blossoms. I'm still working on getting everything else.

All of our Nootka Roses have blossomed now; Hurray! So hopefully within the week I can begin making some rose water (yes, the exact same stuff that you pay who knows how much for at the store).

And my herb garden is officially in and sprouting! I don't have very much this year as I wasn't planning for a big garden. In all I think I have: Fennel, Lemon Balm, Catnip, Forget- me- nots, Chamomile, MarshMallow, Meadowsweet, thyme, basil, cilantro.... oooh, there are a few more things, I just can't think of what they are right now. I am also working on transplanting some herbs into the garden: Mullein, Plantain, Foxglove (just for looks!), FringeCups, Nettles.... Well, you get the point, there's a lot. ;D

Hmmm, what else has been going on.... Oh, beware to whomever may dare come onto our property for the next couple of weeks. Why you ask?

Our CottonWood tree has gone to seed.

And it is not called a "Cotton" wood tree for nothing. It might as well be snowing, for that's what it looks like outside! The seeds are encased in small fluffy bits of cotton that gets everywhere. Not fun. I wonder if you could spin it somehow..... ;)

Well, I'll end my rambling here; maybe I will think of something else to blog about later that doesn't involve so much, um, rambling. :)

~Caitlyn

I leave this notice upon my door for every passing visitor:
I am gone into the fields to see what this sweet hour yields....

God Save the Flag

Washed in the blood of the brave and the blooming,

Snatched from the altars of insolent foes,

Burning with star-fires, but never consuming,

Flash its broad ribbons of lily and rose.

Vainly the prophets of Baal would rend it,

Vainly his worshippers pray for its fall;

Thousands have died for it, millions defend it,

Emblem of justice and mercy to all;

Justice that reddens the sky with her terrors,

Mercy that comes with her white-handed train,

Soothing all passions, redeeming all errors,

Sheathing the sabre and breaking the chain.

Born on the deluge of all usurpations,

Drifted our Ark o'er the desolate seas,

Bearing the rainbow of hope to the nations,

Torn from the storm-cloud and flung to the breeze!

God bless the Flag and its loyal defenders,

While its broad folds o'er the battlefield wave,

Till the dim star-wreath rekindle its splendors,

Washed from its stains in the blood of the brave!

By Oliver Wendell Holmes

May you all have a blessed Memorial day....

~Caitlyn

Tea for two

I had a very out-of-the-blue idea today. I would have a fancy tea party with one of my sisters out in our "orchard" (i.e. the four fruit trees in our backyard)! So with great dignity (okay, there were a few giggles) I asked Emily if she would care to dine with me at 12 'o' clock in the orchard. ;D She accepted with just about as much dignity (which wasn't much as we were both grinning from ear to ear) as me.

With that, I sat down and began rummaging through my 'getting- crowded' hope chest; pulling out napkins, glass plates, real silver ware and other necessities for an outdoor tea party.

Emily gave her word that she wouldn't peek as I set things up, I wanted it all to be a surprise.

This is an overhead view of our table. We had turkey sandwiches, salad, peanut butter cookies and tea of course. :D





It was so fun eating amongst the sun-dappled trees.

For a center piece, I took a crystal goblet thing that mom found at a thrift store, and filled it with water. I then floated pansies on top and put a few drops of lavender oil in to make it smell really nice. The picture definitely doesn't to it justice....

Tea. What a lovely word. For extra interest, I put a pansy blossom in each cup. The effect was very nice, if I do say so myself. ;D

Next time, I think I will use a bigger table and invite Meg, mom and Jessie....

In memory of.....

In memory of those who fought so valiantly for my freedom, and your freedom.






Who gave all they had for their country....


They will never be forgotten...

~Caitlyn

I was wondering where that hat went.....

I just haven't really been in a writing mood for the past couple of days, so my pictures will have to do all the talking for a while....

Mennagerie farm is slowly coming back!

When we moved out here into the country, we dubbed our little plot of land "Mennagerie Farm", a mix between our last name and the word menagerie.

The name fit well; for the first two years we had all sorts of animals: 3 alpacas, 5-7 dairy goats, 2 horses, who knows how many chickens, 3 geese, 4 ducks, 4 guinea birds, 21 rabbits, a dog, too many cats, and there were always the odd reptiles and orphaned birds that I kept in the barn. ;D

Within the year though, we sold every animal, except for the chickens, a cat (which we are still trying to re home!) and our silly dog.

But now, as I look around, I can see that our farm is very slowly building up once more.

We just got our 33'x35' vegetable garden in and my dad surprised me the other day by tilling me a 20' herb garden!!

I have been wanting an herb garden for a while now, but I didn't think it would happen this year so I contented myself with a little pot on the back deck for this year's "herb garden". I am so excited to start putting my herbs in and caring for my little plot. :D

And next year I might get to have another garden, specifically for the animals.

As another piece of news, although I can't decide if it's good news or bad news, is that we are getting some goats sometime soon; possibly sometime this week. No dairy goats this time, instead we will just be borrowing two wethers from some friends, to keep our pasture down.

And we all still dream of having our own milk cow....Someday....

So, block by block, ever so slowly, Mennagerie farm is slowly becoming a beautiful place for friends and family.....

The Masquerade ball....

It hath come and it hath went.... All that is left are memories.....

Okay, I don't know what that was all about; it just popped into my head and I typed it down. Very typical of me. ;D

But the masquerade ball did come and did "went". It was fun seeing everybody's costumes. Surprisingly, there were only around 80 people this time, maybe more, but definitely not as many as the Celtic ball. We did mostly slow dances this time, I'm not sure why, but, at least we got to do Mairi's Wedding at the end! Sorry, no video clips this time; but I do have a couple pictures! :D

Waiting to begin....

The most fearsome pirate that ever sailed the, um, er, dance floor?

Ach, more pirates a' waitin' to start jiggin'. ;D

Cheers!

Ahem, here is what appears to be my sister Megan.

Regency meets cowboy.... (sorry it's blurry!)

Dancing the 'Bonny Cuckoo'.

If there had been a prize for the best costume, I think this guy should have won. he was "Mr. darth-cy"!

My family cracked up when they saw this shot. Almost everything in the picture is blurry except the guy with the paper bag mask. :D

A group photo.

Hmmm, I actually think that, that was a few more than "a couple pictures". ;D

Oh, and guess what! The gal who is in charge of the whole ECD thing took my suggestion for the next ball theme!! I am tickled pink! So the next ball will be held on July 11th and is going to be a Chronicles of Narnia ball ! Although, she gave the credit to some friends of mine for the idea.... Oh well, it will be fun no matter whose idea it was. :)

~Caitlyn

A practical joke...

Dads are so funny.... I looked at my playlist today and found that my dad had secretly added three songs of his own to it!! I deleted two but left one on because it's pretty funny. It's down at the very bottom titled "Convoy". Apparently he used to listen to it when he was a kid. :D

I'm not sure how long I will leave it up though....

And I will post tomorrow about the masquerade ball!

~Caitlyn

Do you hear something?

Because I think I do. It sounds sorta' like music.... yeah, you hear it now too don't you?

Yep, I finally bit the bullet and tried adding a play list to my blog!! At first it was all just music from Pride and Prejudice, but then Megan asked me to do a song from Pirates of the Carribean and Chronicles of Narnia; and then we found the Celtic Woman music.... It was fun. :D

I hope this doesn't bog anyone's computer down; I guess if it does then you might either contact me or leave a comment. I'll either take off some songs or just take the music off period. I wouldn't want any of my readers to stop coming because I put music on.


~Caitlyn

She is a photographer's daughter...

In our profile view I said that Emily is rarely without her camera; I was, in no way, joking.

Today, she was industriously taking pictures of movie scenes.

Observe:

She is a photographer's daughter....

~Caity

The Countdown Begins....

Only 5 days until the ball....

And Finally... Pictures!!

At long last I have pictures! Actually, it's only one, but never the less, a picture. :D Em and I spent quite some time outside taking pictures and this the only one that was... um, tolerably okay. But don't I just look ridiculous!? :P I don't remember what I was looking at, but it must have been funny. :P LOL.
The sash was made with some leftover brown linen fabric I found in Mom's sewing basket. The brown and the green gave a woodsy air to the whole dress (at least I think it does). :P

Here's Em's dress. We made it in a record three days! Isn't it lovely? She found a pretty, blue silk skirt at Goodwill and used that for the underlay. Saved us lots of time, it did. :P

See the dainty white lace she sewed at the waist. It looks simply smashing with the white cotton fabric she used for the overlay.

That's all for now!

~Megan

It's finished!! And I have pictures!!

I finished my costume!! Whahoo! Apart from the little problem that we ran into with the fabric being tucked up, it was a breeze to sew and I am so excited to start on another. :D


Here's a full view of my dress. See my sleeves? ;D At first, I wasn't planning on doing the sheer around the neckline, but I wasn't comfortable about how low the neckline was, so, with fear and trembling I tried adding some sheer. Amazingly, it worked! When I originally cut out the pattern, I raised the back of the neckline 3 inches and the front 2 inches, thinking that it would be high enough..... next time maybe I will try 5 inches in the back and 4 inches in the front.


A closer view of my sleeves.... I made a copy of the sleeve pattern so that I can do it again should I ever want to. I have a friend who wants to try doing these sleeves as well so I am making a copy for her.



And the dress is really comfortable. Perfect for a ball or a simple tea party....


Emily and Megan will be posting pictures of their regency dresses really soon too.

And tonight we are going to watch S&S again. ;D

~Caitlyn