Lavender Wands

Gosh!!!

Just couldn't stand my "Merry Christmas" wish anymore, so I just went ahead and skipped about six MONTHS(!!!) forward to some lovely LAVENDER.

My friend Cara invited me over to show me how to make lavender wands.
You cut enough for a small bouquet, we used 13 flowers.

An uneven number is key for weaving the band through the stems.

Also, pick them while buds are still unopened, and about 20" should be enough.

Cut about a yard of thin ribbon, line up the bottom buds, and tie a double knot just below.

(Remove any little stray buds or leaves on the stems before you start.)

Turn bouquet upside-down and start folding down the stems just at the ribbon point.


Pull out the ribbon and start weaving through the stems.

It doesn't matter if you weave clockwise or counter clockwise.

Experienced Cara weaved looser than me which created a bit more of a bulbous wand.

Weave,

and weave,

and weave until you reach the last lavender buds trapped inside.

Bring the ribbon around and up under,

then wrap around to desired length.

Finish off with a bow tie and trim the stems.

There!!!

A lavender wand to put in your unmentionables drawer, in the napkin ring at the dinner table (NOT interchangeably!!!), or just about anywhere you want something pretty and home made that smells fantastic.

Thank you Cara for showing me how to do these!

Claiming the Blueberry

More on these blue berries...

Many states here in the U.S. have particular foods that they claim as "their own".

The blueberry is popular.

Three states here in the U.S. (Maine, New Jersey and North Carolina) claim the blueberry as "their own" State Fruit.

For those of you who are wondering about our state fruit here in Massachusetts, it's the cranberry.

Further, Minnesota has a State Muffin.

And it is a...

Yep, you guessed it: blueberry muffin.

And nope, not all states have a state muffin.

To find out more,

check out this curious list of state foods if you have a moment.

Moving on to America's favorite muffin...

The Blueberry Muffin!

Above are "To Die for Blueberry Muffins" that I made.

And below is the recipe allrecipes.com.

(Psst, the website has a button for metric conversion.)

Ingredients for 8 muffins with crumb topping

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

1 cup fresh blueberries

1/2 cup white sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup butter, cubed

1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1 Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.2 Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with the flour mixture. Fold in the blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

3 Crumb topping: Mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Mix with fork and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

4 Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until done.

Notes from the pastry chef.

I made 12 smaller muffins instead of suggested 8, just because I wanted to use my new muffin tin and liners from IKEA.

And, I used less crumb topping because I dropped the bowl with the crumb topping mix on the floor. Oooops! Unfortunate, because the crumb topping makes the muffin top veeeery delish.

And here is where I'll sit.

On a bench by the apple tree.

Eating my really yummy muffins.

Waiting for the apples to ripen.

Blueberry Picking at Honey Pot Hill

Yesterday morning I took the boys and their cousin to go blueberry picking at

Honey Pot Hill.

A nice family run farm here in Stow.

It is something we like to do at least once each summer.

Picking your own blueberries is fun and the kids enjoy handpicked berries

so much more

than the ones we buy from the grocery store.

Here they are, the boys, on their way to the blueberry fields.

Each ready to fill their own pint size basket.

We passed by row 7 and 8 to sample the sweetest berries

(according to the sign by the entrance).

Then settled to pick from row 1 and 2 that had the most ripe berries.

The grayish coating protects the berry and is called bloom.

The patience to pick blueberries on a hot muggy summer morning for little boys

lasted just long enough to fill our baskets.

For lunch there was pepperoni pizza and blueberry smoothies.

Yum!

Miniature Poppies

Waaaaay back in January, I wrote about sowing poppies in the snow. Basically, you go out in the winter and scatter poppy seeds wherever you want them to grow, and that's what I did.

I scattered about 500 of seeds, and then... I waited. And waited.

From April and on, I've been looking close at every little green leaf that emerged from the dirt. Not being sure what I could pull as a weed, I let most things green remain until I was sure that it either was, or wasn't a weed.

Then, in late June, I noticed the teeniest little green stems, slightly fuzzy, with microscopical buds on them. MY POPPIES!


But what had happened? Why were they so small?

Well, one thing I'm guessing is that I scattered the seeds a tad late and they didn't get enough time. In March, as the last of the snow was melting, I realized that I better hurry. I ran out and scattered them on the melting droves of snow. So, more like spring sowing than winter sowing.

Out of five distinct areas that I targeted, the seeds only sprouted in one of them. That one spot is a full sun spot and isn't occupied by other plants.

I have to say, snow covered ground makes it a bit hard to know and remember exactly what's underneath and where to scatter the seeds.

I used a few envelopes of mixed seed varieties. California Poppies did NOT work as one of my facebook friends had told me, but I had to try.

Here is a size comparison. To the far right is a normal size seed pod from my Oriental Poppies. And, to the left of it, in the middle, is the seed pot from the biggest snow poppy (showed on top right), this one was about 1.5" across when blooming.

To the far left, the average size of my snow poppies.

Size: annoyingly small! Its blooming size is smaller than an American quarter.

Now that I know where they take seed, I think I'll try it again this coming winter. It is by far the easiest and quickest way to sow seeds.

Well, folks, that's all.

Hope you are enjoying your summer as I am. I wish I could slow it down, though. June just flew by, have no idea where it went. I'm feeling slightly stressed about that to be honest. The fear of a runaway summer entered my dreams the other night. I dreamed that I saw frost on my plants and someone told me that the fall was here. GASP!!!

So, take advantage of these beautiful summer days. Stop and smell the roses, eat some ice cream and make some trips to the ocean and dip your toes in the water before it's all too late.

Annelie

The Italian Garden at Taxinge Castle

I don't know if you feel the same, but, I'm feeling kind of done being excited about winter and winter pictures. I decided to dig in to my archive for some unpublished pictures of a visit toTaxinge Castle in Sweden from last summer.

Taxinge Castle sits on a piece of property that has changed hands several times since the 1200s. Various kings and noblemen have taken up residence here, but since 1999, Nykvarn County is the owner.

Image of Italian Garden above from www.nykvarn.com

Thankfully, this space is open to the public. The property is beautifully located on lake Mälaren, provides lots of open space and greenery, and there are several themed gardens, where of the Italian Garden is my favorite.

(The ornate bird nest above is not a part of the Italian Garden.)

The Italien Garden is situated on top of the cellar of one of the castle's original orangeries. I don't know much about the orangery, when it was in use and when it was torn down, but I'm curious about whether those walls were part of it or not. I do like the "roomy" feel that the walls create and how you can look in to the room from different areas and see different views. Stone walls have always caught my attention and I love the texture it lends the room. The symmetric, geographic pattern that the boxwood make, appeals to me even though I'm not much of a formal garden lover.

I just felt happy sitting on one of these benches in front of the water fountain on this beautiful day. It was green and lush with beautiful roses and honeysuckle, the sound of the fountain was calming. If it wasn't for my two boys running around chasing each other, treating the Italian Garden as a maze, I could probably have taken a nap right there on the spot.

But, no time for sleeping, coffee and pastries were waiting for us.

Taxinge Castle's Café houses Northern Europe's largest cookie and pastry buffet. With more than 50 different kinds of home-baked pastries, it is not hard to find something that suits you. But... it is hard to make up your mind. Everything looks and tastes great. With your coffee and pastry selected and paid for, you can choose to sit either in the library or outside in the park. I like it outside were the kids can run around while I finnish up licking my plate.

Needless to say, I've been here several times - and I will come back.

From Slottsträdgårdsmästaren, who coincidentally was writing on the same topic, I learned that Taxinge Castle is competing for the title of Sweden's most beautiful garden this year.

Good Luck to Taxinge!