Waging War

Here at Chiot’s Run we’re waging ware on the quack grass! The big garden in back is our main focus at the moment as the edges of it were being overtaken by it.

There are ways of managing quack grass organically. You can follow a tilling regiment for a year and eradicate it that way. Keeping the grass mown short around your garden will also help. I’m using pigs to help get rid of it here.

There’s no way we’ll get rid of this grass this year, no doubt this war will continue for years to come.

Of course the pigs don’t eat all of it, but they root it up nicely and I’ve been picking it out of the soil by the bucket full. I dry it and burn it, revenge at it’s finest!

Do you have a weed that you battle more than others?

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Kingwood Center in Mansfield, OH

Yesterday, we joined up with my sister and her kids and spent the day walking around Kingwood Center in Mansfield, OH. It was a wonderful garden, if you’re ever in Mansfield, I highly recommend taking the time to visit the gardens. Not only is it a beautiful place to spend a day, it’s also a very inexpensive place. It costs only $5 per car as a parking fee. Here are some images from our day.



















There are so many wonderful gardens throughout the country, thankfully I’ve been able to visit many. Now I’ve checked another off my list. I’d love to hear about any gardens you’ve visited that you love so I can add them to my list of places to go.

What’s your favorite garden to visit in your area or when you travel?

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It’s Tart!

Yesterday, Mr Chiots and I picked sour cherries at my mom’s house. She planted new trees a few years ago after her old one in the back blew over in a storm.

We picked most of them, totaling about a pound. I whipped up a batch of my grandma’s famous pie crust and made a slab pie.

Mr Chiots happily enjoyed a slice with ice cream last night for a snack. Sour cherries are one of my most favorite fruit, hopefully next year we’ll be adding a few trees to our garden.

What’s your favorite fruit?

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Cultivate Simple 34: Open for Business

On this week’s episode we discuss some tips for starting a small business. While these things may not work for everyone, they have continually worked for us.

Elderflower Fritters from Nigel Slater
Duck Breast Prosciutto how-to from Salted & Styled

Snug Harbor Farm in Kennebunk, here’s Pickle’s Pick of the Week

• Be Unique. You have to have a unique product or service or provide the product or service in a unique way.
• Figure out how to creatively market your product, don’t be satisfied with the status quo, get a website and facebook page.
• Make wise decisions and consider alternatives. Think things through to their logical conclusion.
• Be frugal. Try not to buy stuff you don’t need, for the business and personally.
• Be willing to invest lots of time and effort for a while without much return.

Books of the Week

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:43:32 — 71.8MB)

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Quote of the Day: Marcel Proust

The voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.

Marcel Proust (The Wabi-Sabi House: The Japanese Art of Imperfect Beauty)

Here are a few shots of flowers from my Maine garden that I took this past week.








The amazing thing is that none of the flowers in my new garden are the same as the flowers in my old garden back in Ohio.

What new and exciting things are you seeing in your garden this week?

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