garden glimpses

 I was watering my dyeing plants, and admiring this bumblebee, thinking about something I read about bees:

»In many ways the bees renounce love, and thereby this love develops within the entire beehive. You'll begin to understand the life of bees once you're clear about the fact that the bee lives as if it were in an atmosphere pervaded throughly by love ... The bee, with the exception of the queen bee, is a being that would say, if I may put it this way: »As individuals we want to renounce all sexual life, so that we make each one of us into a supporter of the hive's love life«.«

 (Wisdom of the Bees, by Erik Berrevoets)

 ... when my thoughts were interrupted by a sound, which took a few seconds to interpret: the sound of a hen talking to her newly hatched chick. A bit late this hen was, but her labour is so appreciated by everybody in this household. A summer without some sort of new babies, well, it's just not quite right.

The next day there was three ...

And the day after that there was four ...

So much chick love

And fluffy bunny love

and generally just love of flowers, fruits, berries 

and abundance in this wonderful late summer's day

Summer's over

... and I will slowly return to the everyday routines. Ever so slowly. Summer was too short - and less summer'y than I hoped for. But there certainly were some highlights - which I will share with you soon!
But for now, perhaps you'd like to take a little walk with me in my garden - around sunset, my favourite time of the day?

My Happy Japanese Indigo

Now I must knit something, goodnight and see you soon!

I Got the Blues

... growing in my garden! I'm beyond thrilled - because it's hard to get the blues. Natural dye-wise, that is. But I got it, and am so proud!

 I know it sounds silly being proud - but blue just wasn't a part of my natural dye world for more than ten years. And now I've grown blue - in my own garden - organically grown.

Cutting and filling this basket with Polygonum tinctorium from my own garden (not the 'real' indigo, it's also known as Japanese Indigo) - filled me with an exitement which can only be compared with the exitement I felt as a child before yule. And it smells so good too!

How to dye with Polygonum tinctorium:
I trimmed off the leaves and put them in the food processor with some cold water. Let it soak for half an hour with some vinegar added to the solution, then strained the liquid through a silk scarf and squeezed the pulp thoroughly. Added some more cold water and a bit of vinegar to the pulp, same procedure as before. Then the wetted yarn and sik scarfs were added to the dye bath. I let it soak for an hour, stirring occasionally. Squeezed it and let it hang to dry. It was wonderful to see the blues develop - slowly before my eyes.

 After 1. dye bath ...

The silk scarf on the top and in the bottom is dyed with only Polygonum tinctorium. Number two from the top is the one used to strain and squeeze the liquid. It's a very strong turquoise. Number three and four is over dyed, ivy and birch leaves, I believe.

I really recommend trying to dye with this plant! It was easy to grow, the seeds sprouted right away (sowed in pots inside) - and I didn't do anything but planting them in a mostly sunny spot with lots of manure. We had a pretty cold, wet summer which they apparently liked.

The dyeing process was easy and fun. No boiling, chemicals or synthetic additives. Organically grown leaves, cold water and vinegar, that's all. And no stress or rushing, I baked a cake and made apple butter while dyeing.


I had to dig up and bring a couple of plants indoors, hoping they will make seeds for sowing next year. Fingers crossed!

Small World

I was pottering around in my garden one beautiful morning, picked up an apple laying in the glittering dewdrop adorned grass, and passing an small basket hanging in the Corkscrew Hazel I let the apple drop into the basket ... And then something happened, which made me stand still for a looong time. The apple dumping woke up some little guys living in the tree (i.e. sleeping in the shell in the 1st photo) and they were some very curious little critters.

{If you click on the pictures they enlarge, please try the 2nd and 3rd picture and see for yourself how charismatic and charming he .. or should I say she ... is}.

New Chicks in Town

 Well, not so much town - but new chicks, and busy too. Really hard to get a sharp shot of their heads, they're SO fast moving! - But look at this pretty lady, she has got a beard!

 My eldest daughter claims chickens are as smart as - or even smarter - than dogs. Um, I'm not really sure I believe that to be true. But then again ...

This  little chick is actually pretty smart. Whenever she sees a spade she comes running, because spade means worms. Once she egerly jumped up and sat on the spade while I was digging, wanting to be the first to spot the worms.

But the best part must be the eggs. Because eggs means cake, right! But they are also a joy to look at, with their perfect shape and lovely subtle colours. My children can always tell which chick laid which egg. Truly! They all have just a slightly different size, shape and colour, and some have freckles too. It's good to know exactly who laid the boiled egg in your lunch box, you know.

And for the lovers of birch bark a couple of close ups of the birch bark basket. My maternal aunt made it, it's sewn with very fine roots from a spruce tree.

I like it so much I think I could eat it. But I won't!

come walk with me …

… in my garden. The sunset coats everything with blue varnish. The elder is making magical reflections on my house and the chickens are getting ready to go to bed.

Be happy for this moment
This moment is your life.