Our new front yard: history

November 11, 2015

Back to the Garden, front yard series, Garden Design, Gardening

Our front yard a couple of weeks ago. This is a “before” picture. Recently we posted my enthusiastic review of Planting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West. In it, I mentioned that I was using this book to help guide the redesign of our front yard, and promised to post about that process. In the hope that our process might be of some use to somebody considering their own landscaping, I’m following through on that promise. In a...

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Yard Panther

Mrs. Homegrown

September 28, 2014

Cats, Picture Sundays

6 Comments

...Phoebe, our heart-challenged kitty, is still doing really well, against all odds. I almost don’t want to say anything to jinx it. She’s glossy and sturdy and full of beans. Today we celebrate with a picture of her....

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Compostable Holiday Decor

Mrs. Homegrown

November 27, 2014

Design

3 Comments

...wreath was spectacular last night. This morning it is a bit wilted, as the picture shows, but still nice. Properly, if a wreath is to last, it should be made of dried stuff and/or evergreen boughs. We’ll see what this one does over the next couple of days. I’m not bothered if it doesn’t work, as it only took about a half hour to make, and I made it more for the pleasure of the making than anything else. It is worth remembering that you can throw t...

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The Mystery of the Zero-Irrigation Squash

Mrs. Homegrown

August 22, 2014

Food, Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

20 Comments

...to be clear, that means they’ve had no water for months. The chairs in the picture above are holding over 100 lbs (45+ kilos) of food grown with zero water inputs! To top that, this was one of the healthiest squash plants we’ve ever “grown” or rather allowed to grow. How did that work? And more importantly, how can we make it happen again? I have three thoughts: 1) Perfect timing. Volunteers know exactly when to come up. They’re rarely wrong. We h...

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Have you ever wanted a uniform?

Mrs. Homegrown

July 21, 2014

Miscellaneous

90 Comments

...geometry than the realities of hanging fabric. What isn’t visible in this picture but typical of the movement is use of folk embroidery/weaving on the garments, so they were modern yet spoke of place and history and identity. This particular design is for a school uniform, I believe. I didn’t know that when I first glommed on to it– I thought it was a factory worker’s uniform. But whatever — I like it. I like the red and black combo–very iconic,...

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