We’ve all heard how important it is to eat a diet high in roughage. Likewise, “roughaging” (spending time outdoors) is essential to our mental health. Even if it’s a settee on the porch, we need it, gotta have it. I aim to be the reason you pulled your bedding out the back door last night.
Winnie Nielsen says: What a gorgeous bouquet of Homestead flowers. They will brighten any space!
Cindi says: These are beautiful. What is it about seeing a flower that always brings a smile? We should all have such a reputation!
bonnie ellis says: Ah, flowering season. Music to my soul. We have winter7 to 8 months of the year. Just beautiful.
You just came in from the garden.
Maybe it started to drizzle, or
(woe of woes)
there just isn’t anything left to DO right now …
Sprouts are sprouting, knee-high to a toad.
Photo by jonsson from Göteborg, Sweden via Wikimedia Commons
Weeds (well, only the two) have been pulled.
Trellises dutifully await the dangling green weight of pole beans.
Photo by mark_dixon4 via Pixabay.com
Sigh …
Now what?
What do you do with these …
Photo by Daniel Sone via Wikimedia Commons
until it’s time to fill them with these?
Photo by Robert & Mihaela Vicol via Wikimedia Commons
I have just the thing.
It’s a … well, it’s a … ummm … okay, okay …
It’s a book.
“A booooook?!” you exclaim. “No matter how much I love reading, this is not the time. I want to GARDEN.”
Hush now, my dear. I feel your impatience—really, I do. (I am in Idaho, remember, where spring can be oh-so-slow to settle in.)
That’s why, when I say “book,” I mean something special—not just any book, but a voluptuous volume that has the power to tide you over until your first harvest and may actually beckon you back when your baskets are bursting.
This book is called Growing Beautiful Food, and it’s filled with mouth-watering photos (not to mention succulent text) by Matthew Benson, contributing editor and television spokesman for Rodale’s Organic Gardening.
Much to this impatient gardener’s delight, Mr. Benson created a video (set to a sweetly soothing soundtrack), designed to hook garden-giddy gals like you and me. Watch and dream …
Winnie Nielsen says: Beautiful, beautiful!!!!!!! Oh what photography. I especially loved the photos of the chickens and dishes made from the harvest. It is a testimony to growing delicious and healthy food and flowers. I feel healthier from all the antioxidants just looking at this video clip!
Bonnie Ellis says: What a wonderful video. It looks like a luscious book. Makes me more hungry.
Memorial Day, now observed each year on the last Monday of May, honors men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Many cities honor fallen veterans with parades, which are often followed by family gatherings and picnics also marking the beginning of summer.
Enter Operation 300, a non-profit that hosts adventure camps for children who have lost their fathers as a result of military service. The camps provide an opportunity to participate in activities that embody the spirit of adventure that characterized the lives of their absent fathers. Operation 300 “provides children who have lost their fathers in military combat opportunities to camp, hike, play sports, and do the fun things they would have done with their own dads with other supportive role models,” reports HooplaHa. Visit the Operation 300 website to find out more about the camps or support their mission.
Winnie Nielsen says: What an important camp idea. We often neglect to do anything about the impact that losing a father for a child might be. When I worked at Hospice, we held a children’s camp once a year that was filled with fun camp activities as well as grief support work. The kids always had fun but important emotional work was done as well. Children grieve differently from adults, and it is important to help them acknowledge their feelings in helpful and healing ways. Operation is needed as there is much work to do from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Cindi says: What an wonderful program! I have just shared this with all of my friends, many former military. Creating such good out of tremendous loss does so much to heal so many. Just look at the smiles on those kids’ faces and the hope they give to the widows. Thanks so much for bringing this to our attention!
There’s a modern-day treasure chest buried in the Rocky Mountains.
Howard Pyle, “The Ruby of Kishmoor,” 1899
No, really, there is.
Well, okay, I haven’t actually seen said treasure with my own eyes,
(so I guess it’s more gossip than gospel),
but it sounds true enough.
The story goes …
Vietnam veteran and art gallery proprietor (and, oh, did I mention millionaire?) Forrest Fenn closed his gallery in 1988 and began writing books about exploration and adventure.
Shortly thereafter, however, he was diagnosed with cancer. With a less-than-optimistic prognosis, he decided to create a real-life adventure tale that would serve to, someday, share his wealth in a rather unusual manner.
“While receiving cancer treatment, Forrest Fenn purchased an antique chest and began filling it with an estimated $2 million worth of treasure” explains Inquisitr.com. “The items inside the chest include jewelry, figurines, gems, gold nuggets, and 265 gold coins.”
Photo by Theodore Scott via Wikimedia Commons
Yup. A veritable pirate’s booty hidden high and dry in the Rockies (somewhere, Fenn says, in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, or Montana).
Photo by Milan Suvajac via Wikimedia Commons
Nine more clues to finding the treasure are purportedly provided in a poem contained within Fenn’s 2010 book, The Thrill of the Chase (which is currently selling for about 100 smackeroos on Amazon, if you’re wondering).
The first question that comes to mind is … why?
Why, Mr. Fenn, would you bury a fortune that has fueled fevered fantasies and fervid searches over the past decade?
“I wanted the monetary value to be a consideration for those who are looking for it, but mostly my motive was to get kids off the couch and away from their texting machines and out in the mountains,” Fenn, who has thankfully recovered from cancer, told KOAT in Albuquerque.
Huh—(shaking my head here)—that’s a surprisingly refreshing response.
My next question …
Are YOU even the littlest bit tempted to try and find it?
Birdie Cutair says: No, my treasure is in heaven, but it makes for a very interesting story
Winnie Nielsen says: After reading Jubilee Trail, I don’t doubt that there are other small treasures buried out in the wild West. With the threat of bandits on any given day, what other options did people have to protect themselves? Both on land and in the sea, there are many people who find the idea of treasure finding quite alluring. And if it gets folks off the couch and out in the world, good things are going to happen. I think Mr. Fenn is on to something here!
Darlene Ricotta says: What a neat idea but it probably be like a gold rush to find it. Not for me but fun to watch what happens.
Thanks
darlene
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If you’re already yearning for an ocean vacation, complete with snorkeling, I have just the vicarious voyage for you … The Google Oceans mapping tool is one more way in which Google packs up the imagination and sends it sailing around … Continue reading Continue reading
Winnie Nielsen says: You know how I love me an old red barn! They always tug on my heart strings for some reason.
bonnie ellis says: That sounds great where you live, but in Minnesota we have mosquitoes, so it is best to use a screen porch or screen tent. Sounds wonderful though. Glad you and Winnie had a good time.
Lisa A says: What a great place to relax on a summer’s day.
Winnie Nielsen says: And across from that lovely table is the coolest wooden stove in mint condition that I hear makes an awesome cup of coffee! There is also a nice bed beside the stove and you can lay down on it and stare out on the beautiful landscape of MaryJanesFarm! The Palouse is the most beautiful place I have ever seen! The colors, the hills, the vistas are all magnificent.
Cindi says: Yes it is beautiful ~ my favorite place in Idaho. I’m so glad that you got to see it!! 🙂
Cindi says: Ahhh, the scent of camping is in the air. Love that table and bench!
Drop everything, and come with me …
Photo by bs70 via Wikimedia Commons
Today, we’re blazing a trail to Belgium, where an entire forest is abloom with bluebells.
Bluebells, photo by MichaelMaggs via Wikimedia Commons
Like a setting from a fairy tale, the Hallerbos (Halle’s Wood) was once part of the Sonian Forest, Europe’s largest beech forest, which spanned the southern part of Brussels. The forest was ravaged by occupying forces during World War I, but a few ancient oak and beech trees survived, and reforestation projects helped heal the scars of war. The wild bluebell hyacinths, an ancient facet of the woodland, reclaimed the forest floor and continue to muster their magic each year in mid-April.
Photo by David Edgar via Wikipedia
“Possibly one of Belgium’s best kept secrets, the flower fields offer one of the most amazing natural spectacles you will encounter,” says Eupedia. “The millions of purple-blue, bell-shaped liliaceae spreading in all directions, as far as the eye can see, make the scenery simply breathtaking. These sumptuous flowerbeds in the outskirt of Brussels are all natural (it’s not a man-made garden) and access is free of charge.”
What a perfect place to celebrate springtime …
Winnie Nielsen says: I wish I had known about this last April when we were in Brussels. The flowers are just stunningly blue!
Cindi says: What a beautiful video. To think it all began with one little bulb. It is difficult to imagine that beauty was once trample by war ~ and now it has become nature’s memorial.
If you’ve had daydreams of glamping already this year, raise your hand.
Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes via Wikimedia Commons
I knew it.
What was your cue?
Flowers blooming? Froggies singing?
Photo by Cary Bass via Wikimedia Commons
There’s just something in the springtime air that tells us to take out the tent or tidy up the trailer.
It’s time to get back OUT THERE.
Photo by Emilian Robert Vicol via Wikimedia Commons
Of course, locating the perfect place to pitch camp can be a challenge. While the Internet has endless info on where to go, it’s not always easy to pin down a campground that has exactly what you’re looking for in an outdoor getaway. Does it allow dogs? Are grills provided? How far is the nearest shower? Hopping from website to website in search of answers can take hours.
Not anymore.
All hail Hipcamp.
While it may sound like a resource reserved for intrepid young hipsters, Hipcamp is shaping up to be an excellent go-to guide for anyone seeking a campsite that’s just right.
“Hipcamp is the only place you can go that lists campgrounds across all government platforms (national parks, state parks, national forests, etc.),” says co-founder Eric Bach. “We make it easy for users to filter through campgrounds based on what matters most. So, you can easily answer questions like, ‘Where can I go camping by a lake with my dog next weekend?’ We’re bringing the world’s public campgrounds online, unlocking private lands for camping, and working overall to increase access to the outdoors.”
Hipcamp currently covers 367 parks, 2,170 campgrounds, and 56,375 campsites in California, Texas, Florida, and Oregon. The team’s goal is to add more states this summer and offer national coverage by the early fall. In the meantime, you can help beef up the site by adding your own information and impressions to the cache.
“Our users (or tribe) play a key role in helping us paint a more complete picture of a state’s camping experience,” Bach explains. “They can upload photos and tips directly to the site. We could use any and all content around past camping trips. It’s what helps us get more people outside!”
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
The idea of an “outdoor kitchen” where you live is not only Farmgirl Romance, but Farmgirl Genius! It sure beats those work shelves we made out of sticks for our Girl Scout Primitive camping badge and our buckets of wash, rinse and sanitize water we had on our campfire stoves for doing our clean-up!
I love the idea of an outdoor sink for washing those fresh-from-the-garden veggies and fruits before they come into the kitchen.