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A Day at the Farm

December 4th, 2009

After seeing the photos I took of my nieces & nephew for their Christmas card, my sister’s friend asked if I’d come take some photos of her kids. I spent an hour at their farm on Tuesday, which happened to be a beautiful day! The boys are true farm boys, they wanted to wear their John Deere hats and carry around their tractors and show me the goats and the calves.
kids_1
The youngest one was in a bad mood and didn’t want to have his photo taken but the older one was loving all the attention.
kids_2
Taking photos of unfamiliar people is a good way to hone your skills. I’m much more comfortable taking photos of plants and veggies (they don’t move & squirm). But I like to do things out of my comfort zone every now and then. I won’t be branching out into portraits any time soon, but I appreciate learning from these kinds of experiences.
kids_3
You just can’t get any better than a sunny day on the farm for some good photos, hopefully a few of these will grace their Christmas card!

Do you ever do things on purpose that are out of your comfort zone?

2009 Edible Garden Collage

October 17th, 2009

I enjoy being a member of Flickr. I like the social aspect of it, seeing other people’s photos, commenting on them and being a part of groups. I also like the way you can organize your photos into sets. The collage of all the photos in each set is great to see, I particularly liked the collage of my set titled:
2009 Edible Garden.
2009 Edible Garden
If you’re not a member of Flickr I’d recommend joining, it’s free (unless you upgrade to a pro account). You may just find a new group of friends (if you are on Flickr post a link to your photostream below, we’d love to see your photos).

Do you have a great on-line place you enjoy visiting?

Around the Gardens

June 2nd, 2009

I spent yesterday evening working in the garden. It was the perfect night, cool and breezy and the sunset was beautiful. I love working outside as the sun is setting, it’s always so peaceful and the light is lovely. I had my camera by my side and I spent more time snapping photos than weeding or watering as I should have been. So I thought I’d just share some photos of my gardens as they currently look.
blooming-arugula
Arugula blooming and spilling out of it’s raised bed.
bumblebee-in-flight
I was trying to take some photos of my catmint plant, which the bumblebees love. I caught this one in mid-flight, not quite in focus, but I still love it.
chives-blooming
I really like that chives bloom for so long.
chamomile-blooming
Time to harvest this chamomile for winter teas.
pink-peony-by-fence
The first bloom on my dark pink peony, it’s hiding on the back side of the fence.
pink-peonies-by-fence
We had a bit of rain shower on Saturday and the peonies always end up on the ground, I guess they need better drainage.
dog-in-the-grass
Lucy also enjoyed the evening in the garden.
peas-in-a-pod
I love it when the sun shines on the peas and you can see the little peas in the pod.
front-flowerbed
Things are getting a little crowded in the front flowerbed. I think it’s time to divide some perennials.
potatoes-growing
The potatoes seem to grow 6 inches each day!
sunny-border
I love the sunlight at this time of night, perfect!

What’s your favorite time of the day to work in the garden?

Nature’s Fingerprint

January 19th, 2009

During the gardening season I took tons of photos because I knew in the dead of winter when everything was covered by a blanket of snow, I would enjoy looking through all my beautiful garden photos.
blanket-of-snow
Since this is what I’m seeing out my window at the moment, I’ve been spending some time every day looking through all of my photos from the summer. I came across this gem the other day. The intricacy of nature is amazing, something I have noticed even more as I garden.
squash-stamen
I noticed the pollen pattern on this zucchini blossom while I was pollinated one day. It’s like it has it’s own fingerprint. Amazing.
squash-curl
This is a little curly that the squash/pumpkins vines put out to grab onto stuff.
echinacea-center
The center of an echinacea bloom, how vibrant!
asian-lilly-center
An Asian Lilly loaded with pollen.
hollyhock-bloom
A double hollyhock blossom getting ready to burst into bloom

What intricacies do you notice in nature?

Rain in the Garden

January 6th, 2009

I always love to walk around the garden after a rain shower. Everything looks greener and brighter. On July 9, 2008 I snapped a bunch of photos of various leaves & flowers after the rain so I could enjoy them in the winter. Soon enough spring showers will be here again and this is what the gardens at Chiot’s Run will look like again.

Hosta Leaf

Balloon Flower

Red Maple Leaf

Day Lilly

Rain on Stem

Double Hollyhock

Easter Lilly

Petunia Leaf

What’s your favorite time to take a stroll around the garden?

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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