This blog is about my garden and the outdoors. I am new to photography but I am trying to show some of the pretty things that grow here in Michigan. I love the wild things who visit me and I dont mind if they eat a bit here and there. I like it more if they let me take their picture. As time goes on I think I will try to show you around the beautiful area that I live in as well as my garden. I try to use my own pictures as much as possible but will also use pictures from the web. If I inadvertently use your photo or work without permission please email me and I will remove it or give credit if you prefer. I will give credit when I know who the owner is. I would ask that anyone using my pictures do the same.
... I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.......Psalm23:6
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Sunday, September 10, 2017

Sunny Sunday..................

Today was a lovely day and I was watching Ryland so didn't attempt to do anything. I had thought about going out today but was tired. This getting up at 5am is not doing my body any good. If I had to do this constantly I would have to make a big effort to go to bed early, This is the last day for babysitting so I am thinking tomorrow I will sleep in............Then next week I have plans to either tidy up this garden or rearrange things inside. Monday though I will rest up best I can and get some strength back.
This afternoon I went out to see whats going on out there. The bee's were busy out back they were enjoying the Garlic Chives.
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I love the Garlic Chives, the flowers are so pretty. Look at this pretty little bee

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The Mums are full and pretty right now.
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Ryland, my little charge for the day is sitting reading and later feeding the fish.
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Happy Fish
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I filled the bird feeders and the Blue Jays were first in to enjoy the bounty.
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The poodles got their hair cuts yesterday and so were enjoying some sunshine
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I was enjoying checking out the seeds, I love how beautiful they are, and of course the promise of the year to come.
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The daisies are all battered from the rains, several days last week as well as bugs that have been chowing down on everything.
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Some flowers still surviving but not very showy, it's been a very weird year. The garden was never really impressive at all.
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The Hydrangea are small and sparse but very pretty.
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Well there is a lot to do out there so that I won't have so much to do in the Spring. That will depend upon the weather. If it's hot or wet forget it. I am done with heat.
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So the garden is pretty much ready to be put to bed. I should get bulbs now for Spring, but Spring is so far off I just can't get in the mood to spend money on next year. It is only September after all. I am just wondering what kind of Autumn we will have.

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Last of Summer adventure #2.........................

Well my garden is so boring right now and I figure I will just post the garden pictures from Yesterdays adventure here instead.
So Laura and I probably took our last summer outing because she is moving down state at the end of the month. The weather has not been cooperating this year and so much else has been going on that we have not been out that often. So now, after Labour Day weekend the tourists are thinning out and the beaches are nice and quiet again. This post though is about the gardens out at Port Oneida.
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This is part of the gardens they planted to show how people lived back when the first farms were settled. At Port Oneida there were several farms in the immediate area, this one is being used as an example and has been planted with things that would have been grown back in the 1800s. This is the back view of that farm.
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Three Sisters.....Corn, green beans and Squash. Planted together they do well.
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They grew Sunflowers for oil and seeds. Tomatoes, Millet, Dill for pickles and in another garden raspberries, strawberries and blackberries. The orchard here has apples, but another also has pears, I have also seen Gooseberries.
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With a few acres they were pretty self sufficient, all they needed were a few chickens, maybe a goat and a cow along with horses to plough. What more could a person want? In that area at least there are many Deer and Turkeys and Bear and Beaver if you are so inclined for fur. Canada Geese and Sandhill Cranes are common visitors and so a good farmer and outdoors man could provide very well for his family. Certainly an abundance of trees for heating the house, but Winters are long and cruel sometimes. The farms seemed to be within a reasonable distance of each other in this community. Further on the other side of Empire is another collection of small holdings. Lovely barns and I bet they helped each other put them up. I think I could have lived and been happy there.
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Sunflowers are such beautiful and useful plants. The flowers they grew encouraged the bees and so had a practical side as well as a beautiful side.
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Some flowers had medicinal qualities and most farm wives knew how to use them.
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I wonder now how many people these days know about such things, there was a time when every house wife knew her herbs and what grew where and what it was used for. Nature has so much to offer out there, the willow trees for baskets along with the reeds and grasses from the rivers. The rivers also being full of fish. No one should ever have gone hungry. All they had to do was learn how to preserve things.
This farm across the road from this one.
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.......and around the corner this one
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Along the same road are 3 or 4 more farms and one is still being worked. Usually they are with a life time grant before it goes to the park for posterity.
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There were pests to hold off and I know chickens can help with some of the bugs.
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The Olson Farm also had gardens and had Zinnias in theirs as well as Hollyhock and a Butterfly bush...........Look how pretty the Zinnia are close up.
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I suppose if we do get out there again it will be for the Fall colours. Not quite ready for that yet.
The history of our area is simple but interesting. I can relate to the early settlers and their lives, hard working people. How beautiful it must have been when they first arrived. A shame that it was all taken from the original peoples who did not know the concept of "owning" land.

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Raining again................................

I am loving the cooler weather, no humidity and much easier to breath. Tomorrow Laura and I are going out for the day. I don't even care if it does rain, I am off out. I should clean the house but oh well..............
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I will soon have to prepare this and a few other things for coming inside for Winter.
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I don't like bringing stuff in but can't see them dying, so, has to be done. I am always wary of what may come in with them. I just wash them off and sit them in the sink but don't spray them.
This Geranium will come inside. I didn't plant it I just set it on the top of the planter. I had success with the other two or 3 I brought inside so this year I will bring them all in.
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The ones I had inside did better than the new ones. I suppose the fertilizer helped. Although they all got a good dose of dairy doo.
Some of the summer flowers are making a come back and next year I will buy some of these again and put in the garden.
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I didn't used to like them but have changed my mind. They are really pretty.
I see that my Mums are popping. I learned to pinch them back in the Spring and again in Summer. That way they stay bushier and don't get stringy or leggy. I am thinking I may try to buy a few more to put in along with some Asters. The Asters I have always get mold and I don't know why.
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Asters or Michaelmas Daisies are pretty Autumn flowers but get scraggly. I need to find out how to stop them from molding. The leaves get gray and fall off leaving stringy leggy plants.
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Maybe not enough sun. I may get a couple of those to fill in some spots as well. Meanwhile a couple of Roses are making a last effort.
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The rain has helped to bring a second wind to the planter on the deck as well
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Tomorrow I must go and get bird seeds. The garden is getting very boring. I am ready for birds to come back. We have not had many all summer. I just put away the things I had set out to make a few more wind chimes. I am done for this year I think. It seems like a non summer to be, came and went and is done. Not ready for snow just yet but glad to be done with summer.