I have been wanting to return to Seed Savers Exchange since I visited Decorah a couple of years ago. Only this time I was not in search of ancient memories from places on Water Street; rather, I wanted to revisit Seed Savers Exchange, a magical place where saving seeds from heritage plants has been the mission since 1975, making it "the largest non-governmental seedbank of its kind in the United States."

Lina, White Park cattle painting by Steel Cow

Not only do they save seeds, they showcase them in their gardens and test trial plots.  It was these gardens and plots I wished to return to see again.  With my camera.

So I twisted the arm of my good friend Mary to join me for the day and oh what a day it was.

We both loved all of the raised beds in Diane's Garden, dreaming of ways we might incorporate more of these structures into our own gardens at home.

Of particular interest to both Mary and I were the willow structures constructed in a child's garden by Willowglen Nursery, also of Decorah, IA.  Mary had taken one of their willow trellis making classes this summer.

But for me, it was all about the flowers.

I love flowers, and I've missed growing my own since moving to the Little Farm.

Ironically, I used to grow hundreds of flowers from seed every year when I lived in places where I had no land to plant in - now I have more land than I know what to do with, and no time to cultivate flower beds!

Old favorites like cosmos, zinnias and hollyhocks grew in abundance alongside veggies and other varieties of plants I didn't always recognize like this beautiful striped maize, an ornamental corn from Japan which yields gorgeous burgundy kernels. Seed Savers has kindly labeled many of their plants so we could learn as we wandered.

One of the most famous flowers to come out of Seed Savers is Grandpa Ott's Morning Glory, an easy-to-grow flowering vine with deep purple flowers which I had been purchasing for many years before learning it was one of the first seeds given to Seed Savers when it all began.

For me, no trip to SSE would be complete without going out to see their herd of Ancient White Park Cattle, a heritage breed from the British Isles dating back to pre-Christian times.  The farm hosts two distinct herds of more than 80 animals and have helped the breed move from "critical" to "threatened" status by the Livestock Conservancy.

We probably could have spent more than the few hours we did, wandering, perusing, and gathering ideas (and seeds!) but eventually we needed food and water and to sit down and rest our backs.  So we drove into Decorah and stumbled upon the Nordic Fest - unintentionally, but a nice bonus to end our day!

I enjoyed several pieces of fresh-from-the-griddle lefse - a taste that can never be replicated by refrigerated, store-bought lefse, and we enjoyed wandering down Water Street, watching people and ducking into gift and art shops.

My only regret is that I don't live even closer, as I would be a much more frequent visitor to this area of Iowa.

Cheers -

I have discovered several birds' nests over the last week.  It always surprises me to find nests when I am not looking for them.

Two like the one above were found in the uncut tall grass attached to these "brown sugar weeds" (sorry, I don't know their real name - does anyone out there?).

One was in the old hay feeder.  I rescued it before feeding the sheep out there today and moved it to a nook on the old chicken-coop-soon-to-be-sheep-shed.

I apologize in advance if this shot makes you feel dizzy or like you need a new eyeglass prescription. I was playing around with the aperture settings on my new 50mm lens.

I happen to love crazy bokeh but I'm not sure everyone does.  Luckily you all know how to scroll.

The flower above is Queen Anne's Lace, or "bird's nest" flower. See how the flower clusters make a cup like a little nest?

If you visit the link above make sure you scroll down and read the poem. I will never look at my wild pastures the same way again, I will now be thinking of dainty white laundry strewn all over!

What are you discovering in your own back yard these days?

Cheers -

I woke up this morning with a panicky feeling that I had way too much to do and not enough time/energy/money to get things done.

I felt like a bee who had just been released into a new pasture of blooming wildflowers, and it was my (and only my!) responsibility to collect all the pollen from every single flower in the pasture.

It didn't help my mood when my favorite daughter cancelled her commitment to chauffeur my husband (who just had knee surgery yesterday) to one of his appointments today, which meant taking 2-3 hours out of my (already busy) day to drive him back and forth.

My list of "To-Do's" seemed even more insurmountable after that.  Not just the everyday things that need doing.  The messy house, the unsorted mail, the several months of checkbook entering and balancing.

Bigger things, like how to get our boys sheared with Papa Bear's knee out of commission. How to get Brigid sheared and moved to another farm in WI when we don't own a van or trailer.

And then, the Big Big things facing us - finding farmland in WI to purchase. Figuring out the best way to put in utilities. (Off-grid or grid-tied?  Well or cistern or both?  Wind?  Solar?)  Finding a builder to make us a recycled/re-purposed home (like this grain bin home - drool!).  What to do with all our animals when we leave the mainland US next winter.  How to turn my writing into a side-income stream.  How to run a more profitable farm business.

Every hour of every day, a constant stream of things I have yet to learn/do/be bombards me, some days nearly driving me crazy.

A quote flutters by in my gerbil-wheel mind, and I latch onto it, trying to find some bit of peace:

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing
left to add,
but when there is nothing left to remove.
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

For a long time, I have been adding things to my life, in an effort to follow my joy and enrich my life. A lot of (enjoyable) things. Alpacas being one of them (which entails a huge learning curve regarding the business & marketing side of it). And this spring, chickens. And finding a farm. And writing. And photography. And fiber arts. And hoopdance. And and and...

There are a lot of beautiful flowers in  my pasture at the moment.  Like that solitary bee, I cannot extract all of the pollen that's available, all by myself.  I will have to let some of it go.  I will have to choose which flower to pursue.

I laughed to my husband on our way to his appointment today, an affirmation that I have been using for the past two months, "I accept myself unconditionally," struck me as the perfect template for anything that's getting my head into a bumble.  "I accept my lawn unconditionally (tall grass & dandelions and all!)."  "I accept my cluttered dining room table unconditionally."  "I accept my chaotic life unconditionally."  "I accept  not knowing exactly where I will be living this summer unconditionally."

Somehow, these images, these affirmations, help stop the constant buzzing in my head.  

At the arboretum on Monday, I was enthralled by their collection of tulips blooming in every color imaginable.

Suddenly it occurred to me that it might be fun to try to take some shots from a different perspective altogether - from beneath the flowers.

I couldn't look through the viewfinder for this method - I just had to hold the camera where I thought I might get a decent shot and trust that something good would turn out.

A lesson for life, I'd say.  Even when you can't see, or control, exactly what's in the viewfinder, if you keep doing the work and trust the process, something good will certainly come out in the end.

And when you find yourself in a buzz over all the details, all the flowers yet to be tended, the undone chores and To Do's, focus on the most important flower in front of you and...

Just...

Bee.

Blessings -

I'm on a mission.  Kali is out here - I suspect, hiding under the front porch. On my way to find her, I keep getting side-tracked. First by this gorgeous iris poking out between two stones of the flower bed...

Then by this teeny tiny violet hiding in the sweet-smelling grass I'm lying on as I wait for Kali to emerge from under the porch.

Kali, whadaya doin' in there sweetie?

Did you know it's gonna rain any minute now?

If you don't come back inside, you'll be stuck out here until it stops raining.

Did you hear me?

I'll give you a piece of cheese if you come out of there.

Works every time.

What's catching your eye today? 

Some days, when it seems I've accidentally put on my crabby pants instead of my big girl pants, there's only one cure - flowers.

And the best place for me to find gorgeous flowers in bloom, and lots of them, is always the MN Landscape Arboretum.

Even though it is yet early spring in these parts, the Arboretum already has a lot of blooms to enjoy.

Flowering trees, too.

I think it's impossible to remain crabby when faced with so much beauty.

A walk around the grounds always manages to soothe me and calm my ruffled feathers.

What's your favorite trick for healing a bad mood?

I started my first batch of seeds this weekend. About 450 seedlings in the planning stages for this spring!! I've got 'em planned out for seed-starting over the next 10 weeks. Ambitious, I know. But I haven't been able to raise anything from seed since 2008, when we moved into the house in Lindstrom which was smack dab in the middle of an oak grove. Read: shady. I love this Landware Pro-Seeder. It comes with 3 different sizes of needle tips, for handling seeds in a variety of sizes. The seeds in the bowl are snapdragon, and as you can see, teeny tiny. I was able to pick one seed up at a time with this tool and deposit it exactly where I wanted it in the cell pack. I don't really use it for anything larger, it's easier to do it by hand. But for tiny seeds, I haven't found a better method. In a few short weeks, this entire shelf system will be full of green sprouts getting a head-start on the growing season. Just makes it feel more like spring even when it doesn't look like it outside, ya know? What do you do to get ready for spring??

I have really been enjoying my stay in San Carlos. Aside from the 50+ degree temps, the city is in spring bloom mode. Lowell's house has been bursting with blooms from amaryllis and orchids ind side to paperwhites, daffodils, freesia and calla lilies outside. My walks have taken me past flowering azaleas, cherry trees, tulip trees and camellias. It is supposed to snow again in MN tomorrow. By Wednesday, I'll be back home trudging through snowbanks to the barn. Between now and then, I will savor every blossom, taking the heart of spring home with me when I go. Blessings -