Ballykeel Dolmen Tree from minipixel

Ballykeel Dolmen Tree from minipixel

Nesting Robins & Other Things

Howdy folks! Well, it is Beltane Eve, which is a busy and festive time around my house. The weather is not going to be very cooperative for the next few days, so much of it may be spent indoors.

I planted lettuce, radish, onions, and spinach yesterday in our ready veggie patch, and made another little bed for some flowers. I got some sweet peas in there, and when it is warmer, there will be cosmos, poppies, salvia, columbine and perhaps some other pretties in there too.

Our yard seems to be hot real estate for nesting birds, but I think the robins have won out. I have never found robins to be the most shy of birds, but this pair appear to be quite comfortable with me puttering around the yard.

One of them left a little feather behind {perhaps as a gift for all the worms in our beds and compost heap?}, so I gladly accepted it. ;) All of this interaction with them has spurred me to do some research on the lore about robins, so I will share that soon hopefully.

I hope that you all have a wonderful day!

Sláinte!

Laurel

Garden Progress...

We've got the one veggie patch with new paths {another one to come!} and our new and improved shade garden.

The New Place is Kitty Approved

I think Ellios is quite content. :)

Victorian Farm

This is a fun series which can be watched on Youtube. This is just the first video, but you can easily find the others thanks to the uploader.

Here is a blurb about the show:

Historical observational documentary series following a team who live the life of Victorian farmers for a year. Wearing period clothes and using only the materials that would have been available in 1885, historian Ruth Goodman and archaeologists Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn are going back in time to relive the day-to-day life of the Victorian farmer.

Working for a full calendar year, Ruth, Alex and Peter are rediscovering a lost world of skills, crafts and knowledge, assisted by an ever-dwindling band of experts who keep Victorian rural practices alive. Each month and season brings pressing priorities, from tending to livestock and repairing buildings to raising crops, preparing food and crafting furniture and tools. Can they make a success of farming the Victorian way?

Sláinte!

Laurel

Settled & Happy Earth Day!

So, we are pretty much settled into our new place, enough so for me to start focusing on getting ready for Bealtaine. I intend on doing a house blessing and a garden blessing ritual that day, and a list of other workings.

On the topic of Witchy things, I have been catching up on episodes of New World Witchery Podcast while puttering round ye olde homestead. If you have Pagan and/or Witchy leanings, you should definitely check them out! I especially enjoyed their episodes on weather magic and lore, hoodoo, and witch bottles.

We finally got the rest of the sod paths pulled up from around last year's garden. Wow, what a difference it makes {pictures to come shortly!}. I knew that the ground was pretty unleveled, but I had no idea how bad it was. The better half has a keen eye for such things, so he worked his magic on it and remedied that problem. My hero. *hearts*

I ended up transplanting the lady's mantle, and harvesting a whole bunch of dandelion greens and flowers, plus a few roots. A sad discovery I made was one of the lilac bushes is dead...I am not sure how old it is, but I would think that it is pretty old.

The good news is that we have 6 or 7 more, and I get some pretty wood out of the deal. I am not sure what we are going to do replace it with yet. Perhaps a rowan or raspberry bushes???

And finally, I hope that you all have a splendid Earth Day! Get outside and enjoy some natural beauty. ;)

Sláinte!

Laurel

Our Etsy Shop is Now Open!

After an extended 'vacation' our shop is now open again! I hope hoping to list some other new items soon. :)

Sláinte!

Laurel

A Must Read Article for Vegans...

The fine folks over at the Plant Trees, It's Self Defense blog have posted a fantastic article entitled Vegan Nutrition for a Temperate Climate Part Two: Fruit, Nuts and Seeds, which you can find here {part one is awesome too, which can be found here}.

Go check it out! :)

Sláinte!

Laurel

Luverly of the Week: Siberian Squill from

Photo from mwri

Thanks to a friend I found out that my pretty blue mystery flowers are actually Siberian squill {Scilla siberica}. :) Pretty, eh?

Sláinte!

Laurel

Guilty Pleasures: Buttons/Pins {Project Edition}

I have been going through my doo-dads and a pretty sizable collection of buttons popped out. I have always had a thing for them, and have hauled them around with me, only to gather more.

When the time comes to perhaps purge some of them I get all sentimental and don't want to part with any. I had one of those moments a couple of days ago. I then remembered this little project that I saw on some long forgotten webby...

Basically you take a frame, some fabric and glue it onto the frame {I used a glue gun}, and voila:



This will only help me so far, but I will hold off on the purge a wee while longer. ;)

Sláinte!

Laurel

Nesting...

Howdy folks!

Well, we're settling pretty well here and the move went quite smoothly. The phone/internet guy came yesterday and we are plugged in once again.

I have been puttering around trying to get our new place feeling like a home. We are still getting a tad bit more work done {right now as I type!}, so once all of that is done I will probably be able to relax. ;)

Every morning I do a little tour around the yard to see whats happening, and it looks like there is a pair of robins nesting in one of our ash trees and we might also have some crows and we have a few pairs of killdeers near by.

Here are a few peektures...

I found that we have some black witches butter on one of our chokecherries {!!!}

Our rhubarb patches are coming along nicely...




Our garlic is finally starting to sprout!



And our sweet woodruff and lady's mantle are waking up {yes, I know there's lots of weeds, but I don't mind them sticking 'round for the most part ;) }




I also found some pretty little flowers and I don't know what they are. Perhaps one of you do?




Sláinte!

Laurel

Moving!

Howdy folks! Well, today is the big day…the old man and I are finally moving!

Right now it’s 5:30 in the morning and I am surrounded by mountains of our packed belongings I really can’t wait to just get this part over with. I think the next few days I have my work cut out for me.

Admittedly living like this for the last few weeks and dealing with the drama of renos at the new place has been leaving me feeling a bit peevish. I have issues relaxing when my surroundings are chaotic. Not that I have a problem with that otherwise. ;)

Anyhoo, I was thinking that it would take longer to get our new internet installed, but apparently that is happening later this week, so this blog shouldn’t be silent for too long. Until then I hope all of our readers are well kept and wish me luck! :)

Sláinte!

Laurel

Luverly of the Week: Fairy Wrens from Nevil Lazarus

Fairy Wrens from Nevil Lazarus

Aren't they adorable?? :D

Roasted Curried Veggies

If you haven't noticed by now, I love roasting veggies. It is probably because it is so easy, and I am pretty lazy. ;) Here's a concoction I made last night for dinner and it turned out pretty good so I thought I would share it with the rest of you...

Before roasting

1/4 red onion
8 large potatoes, peeled
3 large carrots, peeled
1/2 quart green beans
5 large garlic scapes, roughly chopped
2 table spoons butter, softened
1 table spoon sesame oil
1/4 cup plain yogurt, full fat
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon curry
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon all spice
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 table spoon maple syrup
Salt and pepper to taste

I roasted mine at 4oo for about 35 minutes.

After roasting

Sláinte!

Laurel