HerbnArts

HerbnArts: Postcards from the Pumpkin Patch... :           Everywhere the glow of the color orange eminates as we progress through October.  It is hard to believe that it is half-wa...

          Everywhere the glow of the color orange eminates as we progress through October.  It is hard to believe that it is half-way through the month.  Today is warm, much warmer than it has been for a while.  A bit of Indian summer is upon us.  This it the time for finishing up those outdoor tasks so necessary before the freezes and the snows settle in for the next several months.  Ohio's leaves are beautiful this year.  Gratefully they are taking their time to change to vibrancy.  Always eager to steal a Zen moment.  I enjoyed my mid-morning breakfast in my sacred spot in the side garden.  Dining in my orange-colored cacoon gave me the impression of how it must be to live inside a pumpkin.  Silly thoughts from an old garden fairy?  So much for whimsy...      The breezes are strong enough to rustle all my windchimes.  Even the tiny windchime I placed...

    ...Stepping into October, I have been outdoors as much as weather will permit.  This weekend has been absolutely gorgeous with cool temps and warm sun, breezy with lots of blue skies with playful clouds that provide plenty of room for the imagination to make fun creations from the fluffy forms.  I love Ohio in the fall.  How did I spend the weekend?  Art shows and outdoor festivals were my cup of tea.  To no avail I tried to get various friends to join me.  Don't they get it, it's time to play outside before the cold and wet and snows drive everyone inside for the winter.       I saw a wooly bear caterpillar in my garden by the walkway.  For those who know how to read their wooly bears, the body was tipped with black while the main center body was reddish brown.  So goes the 2012 winter prognostication!        My best reward of the day was when I noticed a little spot in my...

      Crisp, cool breezes are in the forecast for the day.  This definitely is a sparkling fall day in Ohio.  It lets me know that I had better step up my pace for getting the house and yard ready for winter.        Attending the Quailcrest Herb Fair in Wooster, Ohio was absolutely delightful.  The weather shaped up after a nasty early morning storm.  One reason I love going to the Herb Fair is that I know there will be sweet annie for sale.  The fruity, herbie scent of Sweet Annie is a signature fragrance of fall to me.  I'm so glad I'm not allergic to it as are some.   If you harvest it before the buds open you can avoid the pollen , but still enjoy that heady fall aroma.  Spraying dried sweet annie with a fixative from the craft store will allow you to keep wreaths and swags from crumbling apart as they adorn your home.  Even using hair spray will achieve...

       ...It is a gorgeous day here in Ohio, and we are rapidly approaching the unofficial end of summer and the Labor Day weekend.  It has been a strange summer with such excessive heat and drought conditions.  Looking at many of the trees in the area I can see that the loss will be great.  There are a lot of half-dead trees and some of the young trees that were planted in the spring did not survive.  Last winter was a nearly snowless one with mild temperatures.  I knew those conditions would cost us here in Ohio.  We need that moisture from the snows.  Lots of people were thrilled at not having to shovel snow and struggle through the cold and snowy conditions all winter, but it cost us dearly in the end.  Though we have had some respite with rains finally in early August, it has proven to be too little too late in many cases.  When the rains came they were accompanied with severe lightning and brief tor...

     ...The little kid in me still picks up stuff I find on the ground wherever I go.  This summer I have discovered pennies and nickels, lots of interesting rocks and stones, bits of wood, feathers, and scraps of fabric.  Occasionally I find bits of pieces of jewelry and worn pieces of glass.  Sometimes rusted nuts and bolts find their way into my collection of discarded memorabilia.  Placing all these things together creates an interesting tapestry of how I spent my summer.  As a child I put my special treasures together in a memory box to help me to relive my summer exploits.  In the middle of the snowy winters I would pull out my summer treasure box and spend time with my memories of when I found each item.  Autumn is another season that provides copious treasures that find their way into my pockets.  Bounties of acorn caps testify that squirrels have been busy storing food for the coming cold months.  Even winter h...

       By the end of June the roadsides were becoming loaded with bright blue blossoms.  My grandmother always said that the blue flowers bloomed in July.  Chicory seems to be blooming early this year due to the hot, dry conditions here in Ohio.  Usually I have bee balm blooming in time for the Fourth of July, but not this year.  Their red flowers always look like a fireworks burst of color to me.  I should have planted daisies so that I could have a red, white and blue display in the garden.  Maybe next year!  But I certainly do have and abundance of blue with the excess of chicory everywhere.  Gardeners who plant in a clock fashion use chicory as it dependably blooms in the morning and closes its flowers later in the day.  Some of the old-fashioned uses for chicory is that of decorating salad, as it is edible.  The root has traditionally been used for a coffee substitute.  The lea...