Grasshoppers (and not the cute shoes)

We've been noticing a lot of grasshoppers on the sunflowers along the south side of the house. John's dad loves sunflowers, and he planted dozens of them. Back on Long Island, the sunflowers never grew above a foot tall before rabbits or chipmunks destroyed them. The chipmunks in particular adored the seeds, and dug up the seeds and seedlings faster than Jack could plant them. Not so in Virginia. He was able to get quite the crop started and now we have towering eight foot high, glorious sunflowers growing against the house. They remind me of our trip to South Dakota, when John stopped the car along the highway just to take a picture of the miles and miles of sunflowers growing in the farmer's fields.

But one thing we've noticed on our own sunflowers are grasshoppers - and lots of them. The photo above shows one on a sunflower. The gray area is Pierre the cat. John holds Pierre up to the sunflower and the grasshoppers turn away. They hop a bit to one side. We've tried it several times and no matter how quiet Pierre is, they seem to know he's a predator!

I didn't know anything about grasshoppers, so I looked them up on Wikipedia. What I learned is that our insect visitors are probably katydids, rather than grasshoppers, because katydids have long horns and grasshoppers, short ones (who knew?). I also learned that they do eat plants, and that's the cause of the big holes in our sunflower leaves. The most fascinating fact is that they can camoflage themselves and change colors! So that explains why we see brown ones on the ground and green ones on the sunflowers.

The damage to the leaves is unsightly, but doesn't seem to bother the sunflowers, so we are not doing anything about the grasshoppers. Sitting in the house and watching them leap from plant to plant entertains Pierre, after all!

My latest gardening articles are posted to various websites, so if you have a minute, check them out - also have a new alternate health article on the benefits of drinking tea.

Keeping rabbits out of the garden

Thanks for the comments on my last post! Cari suggests in her comment using garlic and planting marigolds to keep out rabbits. Garlic powder may work, but marigolds (in my experience) are best to keep away insect pests. Marigolds planted around tomatoes, for example, repel tomato hornworn. While rabbits won't eat marigolds, they don't work as effectively as a repellant.

Since I prefer organic gardening whenever possible, I've tried other methods. With rabbits the best way that I have found is a stout fence. They won't tunnel like groundhogs or other critters, but they will squeeze through the smallest holes they can, particularly when something they love to eat dangles in front of them, like green beans or lettuce.

Another way is to use raised beds - although raising them won't deter a hungry rabbit, they will wander off.

I'm trying other organic methods now too. Since Shadow, our German Shepherd guard dog, is a long haired shepherd, I have to brush her every day. I get a huge mound of fur off of her. I am scattering this around the woods on the perimeter of the garden. I've been told that the smell of predators, from fur or urine, keeps herbivores like rabbits away. We'll see. We haven't had any rabbit damage in the perennial garden this year, and the rabbits appear to be living in the big brush pile next to the driveway where the builder piled up all the old trees.

By the way, the bear was spotted again in our driveway! I stopped to talk to our neighbors yesterday and Homer mentioned the black bear was in our driveway on Monday. John remembered all the blackberry bushes along the drive. I'd been picking blackberries like crazy at the start of July, but stopped before we went to Breyerfest. Last night we checked the bushes and they're picked clean, so I'm hoping the bear was in our driveway simply to get some 'fast food' and pick berries!

The photo above is another one I took in the garden. This is the "Sonia" rose. I think it's a grandiflora or a floribunda type, although I'd have to look in my rose book to be sure. I just love the color - it's one of my favorites. John bought me two Sonia rose bushes for my birthday from, appropriately enough, a discount store in town called....Rose's!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Today we are recovering from over four hours of gardening yesterday. The weeds seem to grow faster than the flowers. I feel as if for every one chore there are six more waiting. The trellis groans under the weight of the morning glories, and the vines are so prolific they now trail out into the iris bed. Seed packets purchased for a dime at Dollar General blossomed into overflowing beds of Bachelor's Buttons, cosmos, Marigolds, Sweet Alyssum, and snapdragons. Other triumphs include lavender started under grow-lights in the cellar this winter, coreopsis also grown from seeds, and tiny ecchinacea plants too. Even the roses survived the onslaught of Japanese Beetles and the Blaze climber continues to form a pleasant mounded shape covered with red flowers!

We are planning the vegetable garden now. I've asked John to construct raised beds, and he showed me yesterday an idea for a fence that looks great to me. I don't think it's deer or bear proof, but certainly it will keep out rabbits and with luck the groundhog.

Civil War cannons and miniatures

It's good to be home! We had a great time seeing old friends and making new ones at Breyerfest. Kollean at Stone Wolf Creations dropped off beautiful painted micro minis, we had dinner with Will and Sheri Rhodes and their daughter Alyssa from Mountain View Studios, got my requisite hugs from fantastic artist Candace Liddy, and hung out with Maggie Bennett and Heather from Mirror Bay Farms. I always feel so overwhelmed by all the beautiful artwork at Breyerfest. How does anyone take it all in?

We went sight seeing in Lexington and toured Mary Todd Lincoln's house. I am not a fan of Mrs. Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln yes, but Mary Todd Lincoln, no. John says she reminds him of Hillary Clinton. I do see the ambition behind both women but there the resemblance ends. I think Hillary is tough as nails and although I dislike her politics, I do admire that about her. Mrs. Lincoln always struck me as a spoiled little rich girl who was very weak. The tour guide went on and on about her tragedies - yes, she lost sons and had her husband murdered. Horrible stuff. But then we toured Ashland, the home of Henry Clay, the great statesman. I compared Mrs. Clay, whom I admire after learning about her, with Mrs. Lincoln. Mrs. Clay gave birth to 11 children. Out of those 11 children, all 6 daughters pre-deceased her. Of her four sons, one died during the Mexican-American war, and one had to be put into a mental hospital due to mental illness. That left two boys alive. Can you imagine that? No, she didn't have to see her husband murdered, but she certainly didn't fall to pieces. For that I admire her. I know that everyone is different, with different levels of strength. I've read a lot of biographies about Lincoln and Mary Lincoln is just not someone I can admire.

At Ashland, the Clay Estate, I spotted a toy cannon in the gift shop and bought it. It's just about Breyer Stablemate scale, and I have a plastic draft horse to pull it. John and I researched Civil War cannons and artillery and I will need to build a limber, the cart that carries the cannonballs, and a harness. I want to try to paint and sculpt some figurines to make a little Civil War dioramma. This could be a fun project for us both!

The chores never end so I have to sign off. The pet hair in just four days is ridiculous. And the weeds have once again taken over the garden.

Enjoy your day as I will enjoy mine!

To Breyerfest We Go!

Well, it's off to Breyerfest! This will be our third trip since founding EquinArt Creations (http://www.equinartcreations.com/). I'm excited to be going back. Even though I know John thinks it's a pain in the neck, and we never sell enough to make it really profitable, I enjoy it a lot. Maybe because it reminds me of being a kid and waiting for the mailman to bring my issues of Just About Horses...the boxes of Breyers ordered through Bentley Sales...and the old model horse journals. In the days before the internet, we used to live and die by those badly photocopied newsletters. Model Foal Breeders Association, Model Horse Gazette...Doris Rau, Rebecca Hileman, Linda Leach, Kathy Maestas....anyone else remember these folks? I loved collecting model horses as a kid. It just struck me this morning that I can begin collecting again. I stopped back in the 1990's because I knew we would move and the house we had in Huntington had no room whatsoever for models. We barely had room for our clothes and books, never mind toys. Now I have the china hutch in my office and I have my models out. There are shelves there too which I am hoping to display my new RESINS. Yes that's right, I'm finally collecting resins! These are casts my company has produced and I am having painted. I hope to start photo showing again soon. I need a hobby so I stop taking life so darn seriously!

We leave on Thursday morning. John's dad will babysit the critters and watch the house. Actually, I think Shadow, our German Shepherd, will watch everyone. She is too funny. This morning John took Shadow and Pierre outside to play while it was still cool. Shadow loves to play fetch with her tennis ball, and Pierre loves to get into trouble and chase grasshoppers and crickets. This morning, Shadow was playing ball out front, and Pierre darted around back. Shadow was on top of him in an instant! She grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and dragged him back to the front porch. We had one wet, bedraggled cat, and John couldn't stop laughing. Shadow always 'finds' Pierre and drags him back when he runs off. The two of them go everywhere together. Just an hour ago, I went down to the basement to pack some model horse orders. The next thing I know, my two 'helpers' we at my side. Pierre leaped into the bag of packing peanuts and started making a nest for himself while Shadow lay down on the stockroom floor keeping guard on the resins while I packed the order. My two helpers...I wish I could take them with me to Breyerfest!

A busy day today as I try to wrap up everything so we can leave without worrying. Lots of writing this week but no new marketing work coming in. I just accepted a job with Smarthinking as a writing tutor and need to complete my training by next Tuesday. With being out of the office for two days, that may be a little difficult, but I'll manage.

The garden continues to flourish. I'm so happy that my photographs are now on Morguefile.com, a free website where graphic designers and marketers can grab photos for use. Yesterday they emailed me to say that my pictures were accepted. Hopefully that will generate some additional interest in my consulting services, Seven Oaks Consulting, www.sevenoaksconsulting.com and my writing career. I'm really pleased with the flower photography and include a photo I call "shy glory" here featuring one of my morning glories. Japanese beetle chewed leaves and all, I'm pleased with it!

In the meantime...Breyerfest, here we come!

Wonderful Summer

It's summer, glorious summer! We have been busy beyond belief. I guess everyone is, but this is our first summer on the farm (such that it is!) and our first summer owning our own home.

Fourth of July weekend was great. I shut down the company early on July 3rd, and although I did a ton of housework this weekend, we managed to find time for dinner with friends, watching old classic movies on TCM, and cooking John his favorite dinner - my special pot roast. We did skip the fireworks on July 3. John's back was bothering him a lot, and I couldn't see us sitting on the ground or on lawn chairs for a while. Luckily for us neighbors on Olive Branch Road had great fireworks which we could see from the second floor of the house.

We did so much work on the yard. I weeded another large section of the perennial garden, then remulched the entire second half. I am thrilled at how many flowers are blooming now! The photograph I'm posting to the blog is one of my pictures, taken after a thunderstorm, of a snapdragon I grew from seed. I have coreopsis, rudbeckia, cosmos, Bachelor's Buttons, marigolds, snapdragons, zinnias and hollyhocks all coming up or blooming and all planted from seed.

I wish more people would plant flowers. I've always had this strong urge to encourage beauty wherever I go - in Manhattan, I would stop and enjoy the little alleyway gardens and I encouraged everyone to garden. Rooftops, fire escapes, alleyways...if there's a patch of dirt, plant a flower. Why have things ugly? I've had some people say it's too expensive, but the garden I planted here didn't cost much. Truth be told, I bought packets of seeds at Dollar General for 10 cents each. Yes, you're reading that right! Even the gladioulus bulbs I bought at Dollar General came out to around 10 cents a piece. I just scattered the seeds and watered them and now I have patches of beautiful flowers gracing the garden. Why won't people take the time to do this? It is just so gorgeous...flowers lift the spirits...make the world a more beautiful place!

The ticks seemed to have died down now, but the Japanese beetles are eating everything in sight, including the apple trees, the morning glories, the hollyhocks and hibiscus. We have traps and sprays but all to no avail. The man at the Prince Eward County Cooperative Extension office was great about helping me with my questions about the orchard trees - he sent me so much information. Unfortunately, I'm too late to spray this year, but we are now armed with our to-do list for next spring.

My gratitude knows no bounds. New friends from church gave me a used keyboard, and I am back playing piano. I regret daily giving away my sheet music ten years ago, but I know that little girl who got my beautiful spinet piano and all that sheet music was so happy, she probably loved it and played it for a long time. I just wish I could remember the author of that sonatina I played all the time. I found the Beethoven sonatinas I played in high school online, and printed the music out, but haven't found the one I played at my senior recital. I wish I could find it!

Thanks to all who submitted comments on my last post. To the lady who asked about Catholic model horse collectors, I don't know of any such group. There's a Christian model horse collector forum which is nice but not particular to Catholics.