When we moved into our house I was thrilled that there was also a hen house in the back yard. The building is about 30 feet long, divided into three sections. We store the feed, kept in metal garbage cans, as well as bales of shavings, in the first section. We also brood our chicks in that section when they arrive around the first of June. There is a chicken door that allows the chicks to go outdoors into a…
Layanee of Ledge and Gardens is the winner, chosen at random by a disinterested party, of the Fiskars tool organizer. Congratulations Layanee! On the next three Mondays, December 6 (which is the actual anniversary of my first post, the 13th and 20th, I'll have a new Giveaway. Plenty of time to win a present for yourself, or for a gardening friend.
In December of 2007 (!) I began my career as a garden blogger. I hardly knew what a blog was in those days. I had just discovered Garden Rant, and my friend BJ Roche at Fiftyshift said that as a writer I had to have a blog. And so commonweeder was born. What I knew about garden blogs - a blog was a place to share information and experiences and opinions through the Internet. I did not imagine…
It's not yet 9 am and the temperature is slowly climbing. It was 10 degrees when we got up, but now it is almost 15 degrees with still gusting winds. Still it is beautiful outside. The sun is shining and I love admiring the beauty of the landscape. From inside. Close to the fire. You don't need to go outside to take this last chance to enter my drawing for Right Rose Right Place by Peter Schneider and…
And the wind is blowing. I barely made it out to the hen house and back. This is a day for staying home, browsing through Right Rose Right Place by Peter Schneider and considering what roses I want to add to The Rose Walk in the spring. My daughter Kate in Texas suggested I build a wish list on the Antique Rose Emporium website. So I did. I hope someone looks. You all have a chance to win that…
Because it is my second Blogoversary, both Storey Publishing and CowPots are making it possible to have two Give Aways. Right Rose, Right Place: 359 Perfect Choices by rose lover and expert Peter Schneider will be a lovely and useful holiday treat for any rose gardener, or would-be rose gardener. There is advice here for the experienced gardener as well as for the novice. I have already added a number of roses I never knew about to my…
When rose the eastern star, the birds came from a-far, in that full might of glory. With one melodious voice they sweetly did rejoice and sang the wonderous story, sang, praising God on high, enthroned above the sky, and his fair mother Mary. The eagle left his lair, came winging through the air, his message loud arising. And to his joyous cry the sparrow made reply, his answer sweetly voicing. "Overcome are death and strife, this…
Now that Thanksgiving has been celebrated in riotous style (23 for dinner!) it is time to move on to the next celebration. On December 6, 2007 I asked myself the question, as posed by another blog, whether I was too old to blog. The only way to find out was to begin the commonweeder.com, and I guess the answer is no, because I am still standing. Or kneeling, bending, stretching, digging, weeding, in the garden and sitting at the computer.…
On December 6 last year I launched the Commonweeder blog. I had only discovered garden blogs a short time before and I was fascinated by a subject that was commented on at length (I can't remember which blog) about whether older experienced gardeners were too old to blog or read blogs - and thus help younger gardeners. Well, of course, I never feel too old to do anything I want to do, so I began a new life…