Blackberry & Mulberry Salad

I have been developing a new habit lately… Trying to eat healthy. I find being on a farm helps. The fresh clean air seems to change what my body craves. This morning I went out, and I picked some berries that grow wild all over the farm at this time of year. I was also gathering herbs and wildflowers for drying. So it has become a bit of a tradition this month so far, to go out in the morning flower and herb picking while I collect my berries. I bring them back wash the berries, add them to my breakfast plate, and twine the collected flowers and herbs into pretty bouquets for drying and then for sale over where my work sells in Sterling MA. I have a lot to prepare for, we get our own little room at the store we sell out of in September, so I am busy gathering and preparing and keeping myself on a healthy track so I have the energy to be ready for that.

I have many newer photos to share. But maybe another day. So sorry again for how irregular I have become, but life has just gotten really busy…. Which actually might be all the more reason to post more often. It is a nice way to reflect on life and to see it for all it’s beauty and more clearly. I promise I will try but I warn you I will likely fail. Oh well.

Our Vegies

It is a hot and humid hellish day…. I won’t lie about it. Nor will I pretend that I am enjoying melting from the heat. I have pretty serious asthma, and this kind of climate condition actually makes me very sick. I can’t be  out in it for too long at a time. Doesn’t matter how much I hit off my inhalers. So I am doing the gardening the asthma sufferers way. Out for a few minutes planting, in for a few minutes of air that I can breathe, then back out and back in. It’s rough, but slowly slowly, the gardens begin to take form. We have all kinds of things planted out there. Including, the big pumpkin patch where I am also growing a few other things such as some sun flowers and watermelons.

Visitor

This little guy, dropped in while I was watering all the plants hanging from the back purgala. Isn’t he lovely?

Where The Grapes Grow

We got our grapes going up the entrance of our secret garden a little earlier in the spring. I look forward to eating them and I am thinking of planting a whole mess more for wine making in another year or two.

Some Shots of last year’s garden

We look forward to another year of glorious gardens and visitors here at Wildflower Farm. We love how much our guests last year enjoyed our edible gardens at no extra cost, just as part of staying with us. We are working on setting up some lovely little romantic spots in the yard for a glass of wine in the evening…. Always crazy busy around here. But just like I won’t lie about my difficulty in this kind of heat and humidity I won’t lie either about how much I love and miss blogging about what is going on around here. Till next time I have a moment.

Bath Time

You may wonder where I have disappeared to. My apologies. Life just gets so busy. I am outside in the garden, planting the vegetables and working in the pumpkin patch, or at the gym trying to lose the second ass I have managed to acquired…. Or upstairs getting the guest room ready for the next guest, or, outside with the dogs, or feeding the animals that live here at Wildflower Farm, the home of the Cafe Primrose blog. You may find me in Littleton, at my music class at Indian Hill. Or if all that fails…. Try looking for me up at Maple Wood Farm, more than 2 miles less than 3 miles up the road… I did it. I got myself a horse. So a huge amount of my time is now spent with him. I call him Pete.

Pete, takes up a lot of my time. I love him very much, he is a Canadian warm blood, and my new best friend. We have all kinds of adventures together and I look forward to writing more about them in the future. Some of our adventures he likes better than others…. For example, anything involving horse cookies is a definite fave, but bath time…. Yeh, not so much. I guess I need to get him a rubber ducky or something… Because he was not thrilled when I washed him earlier today. Oh well, it had to be done, he was filthy. Now he is clean.

Pete’s nick name is Old Reliable, I call him that, because he truly isn’t the sexiest horse in the barn. There are some hot shot hot bloods…. But my Pete, I can count on him through anything and that, that is worth everything to me. I can trust him. I can rely on his good behavior and sound temperment.

I look forward to loving Pete for years and year and years to come. I have missed this, and it feels so good being back doing what I love to do, that I seem to not be up dating this blog the way I should be. I hope you will all love Pete, as much as I do.

Invitations to thanks giving dinner headed to Scandinavia.

It seems, we are having a bit of a Scandinavian invasion here this thanks giving…. So, I have officially sent out my invites. I love my new letter head. I am so thrilled with how it came out. It’s nice to be able to be civilized and perhaps a bit old fashioned to send out invites. We hope in the future to do it for other events too. Maybe a Glogi party at ours in January or February, a Pumpkin picking party next fall, and many other things that have yet to be imagined up.

In a world in which we no longer send things to each other through the mail, I thought it would be fun to do my part to bring the old practice back. So, I hope everyone who receives these invites our first ever in our new tradition of sending invites out, feel very excited and happy to get one.

We look forward now that our home is mostly together, to creating new and interesting traditions here partly based on who we are and partly based on farming and our farm. We love sharing good times here at Wildflower. And we look forward to an amazing thanks giving with friends and family. All of whom, will receive one of our beautiful new invites.

I love this! It makes me feel more human than just sending out a one line email.

Sea Rose

Check out my new soap packaging!!! There is a special secret on the back. Going on sale at Funky Stuff in Worcester sunday. I call this collection, The Sea Shanty Collection. These are perfect as beach wedding favors or as Christmas presents. I have had a great time working on fragrances based on actual beaches in different parts of NE, and working on packaging for once has been wonderful. No hair pulling or difficulty. I worked with a designer for the first time ever. Because I am great at soap bases and fragrance mixing but for some reason me and paper don’t really mix well. Never have. Robin, over at Kaz Zucker Design And Marketing, has been a joy and a gift to work with. I couldn’t have made this happen so well without her help. Working with Robin, has been the most amazing first experience working with a designer of packaging. I learned a great deal.

Sea Shanty Collection

This series of soap was inspired by New England’s coast and key regions, 2 of which can be found in MA and one of which is located in Maine. For more information than this, you will have to purchase the soap for the secret on the back. So that you can more thoroughly enjoy the product and it’s inspiration. This product is really….. (pardon the pun you won’t understand till you see the back,) quite an adventure.

Sea Shanty Collection All Pretty in a Basket

This product has been a 36 year life time in the making. It is full of my love for New England and her place on the big old Atlantic Ocean. A special homage to the home I left and finally returned to after seeing so much of a big beautiful world. Each place interesting with some unique wisdom and way of life all it’s own. I couldn’t have become the person I am today without going to all those different places. But coming home… How I have missed the smell of these places, the smell of lilacs mingling with the ocean in Maine, the fragrance of the beach roses of Cape Cod which is perhaps my favorite fragrance int he world, and the smell of Plum Island in Newburyport on the North Shore…. The Wisteria blooming right along the beach of the barrier reef that the ocean takes back to itself more and more every storm season carrying houses away with it.

Secret On The Back of The Sea Shanty Collection

There are many secrets here in NE, from haunted places, to haunting places…. Secrets trapped under the dark waters of the Atlantic all along our coast line. Secrets lost to the history of this region the oldest in the country. But perhaps my favorite secret, is the secret on the back of my little soaps created to share some of the beauty and the essence of my home as a statement of gratitude to the world for sharing so much of itself with me in each and every wonderful and wonderous place I have had the good fortune to visit or live for a time.

Darth Vader mask wearing a bright blue and gold shimmer mask with feathers.

Sorry all, I tried and tried to turn this picture around but it didn’t want to turn straight up and down, so I guess it is an early Halloween trick looking at it sideways.

Today I picked up some cheap Halloween masks for me and Dr. Primrose, to wear while we hand out candy. But I thought everyone should have a costume. So, as Halloween is the night of inbetween, when the veil between the worlds and the layers that insulate comfort zones are non existent, I put my mask on the Vader mask. Something about the concept of evil Vader in a cute little mask like that kinda tickled me.

Some of you may know Dr. Primrose, and I met due to our love of Starwars. So, for me it is always fun to make use of the holy trilogy, or something from it in some unexpected way. I think I hit the nail on the head here. Yes, I realize this is a bit weird, but happy Halloween all. Remember, black cats are NOT evil, and take care to watch out for them this Halloween to make sure no one is harming them simply for daring to be black and cats at the same time.

Happy Halloween!/Samhaine!

Mouse

Look what we found on the goat fence the other night when we went out to put The Felon goats away in the shed for the night. A cute little mouse! Which made me wonder how it got up there. I didn’t realize mice were climbers. What was weirder is the cat had noticed it but didn’t seem to mind it at all. No interest in it which was shocking…

Lately here all kinds of little things like a slight over abundance of lady bugs in the house and mice on the fence and other little things seem to be going on all around the property. Clearly the season is changing and everything is reacting and preparing in it’s own way for what is coming next. All this behavior from the animals, makes me think this winter will be a doozy.  Or worse than usual as they say.

I am not ready to let go of the beautiful autumn yet. Events like this make it very clear, Not to be mistaken for an episode of Game of Thrones but, winter is coming. Winter is coming quickly and winter is going to be a nasty woman this year. (sorry, had to find a way to use the nasty woman bit. As a woman, I aspire to be one. Or to be at least as nasty as a New England Winter.)

Wildflower Farm Road

Every so often, interesting things from beyond the borders of our farm come up our little dirt and gravel road to visit the farm. Today, Buddy, from down at Balance Rock, came up our tree lined private road bearing hay for the pumpkin patch we are preparing for easy set up in the spring. He wasn’t alone.

Buddy’s Cows

In the trailer with all my hay bales, these guys looked at me funny. We have never had cows on the property before. So this was very cool to have visiting cows.

I thought this would be fun to share. This way of life is still so new I expect a lot of firsts will happen over the next few years and I will do my best to keep a good chronicle.

Autumn at Wildflower Farm

Way down past the second visible telephone pole, our little private dirt and gravel road parts ways with the main street that everyone uses. The drive up our private road is always so pretty in the autumn. The bright colors greet us as well as any visitors to the farm.

Autumn at Wildflower Farm

The colors shimmer, catching the sunlight, shaking in the soft autumn breeze creating a path way of magic all the way to the door of the farm house.

Autumn at Wildflower Farm

Coming home always fills the heart with joy and color in the autumn. Driving up our little road is a treat when the autumn colors are at their peak.

The Road To Wildflower Farm in Autumn.

I decided to just share this since it is such a pretty picture of the little road off the main road that leads to the farm. This place has beautiful fall foliage. You can tell, because this is what it looks like during the worst drought in this region’s recorded history. Imagine what it must be like when the trees are getting the water they need.