Bittersweet Farm: Around The Farm

Approaching the house from the garden

The main pond

View of the pond from the second-floor porch at the main house

Garden shed (Mark built it, of course)

House & honey house

Another pond on the 80-acre property

Lily pond. We saw green heron here!

Back door to the house

This old pump still works!

Lunchtime on the porch, overlooking the pond and the majestic farm

   One of the things that impresses me about homesteads like this one (and like Greg & Peggy's, up in Homer, Alaska) is when I stop to think about the immense amount of imagination that went in to creating it. This farm has been in the family for years, but Mark and Becky (with a little help from their friends) have dammed creeks, added ponds, and seeded them with lilies; they've cut trails through the property; they've put in lush gardens; built another house, and a shed, a chicken coop... you name it!

   My favorite idea of theirs is the large wrap-around porch on the main house, with a row of rocking chairs all lined up, overlooking the pond and a large chunk of the property. It was the ideal place to sit and relax, have lunch and a glass of wine, and share stories. 

   I hope someday I'll have a place as beautiful, unique, and inviting as theirs. They are certainly the type of people to make everyone feel welcome, and people come to spend time together there. They've even got extra beds tucked all over the place... What a special, wonderful place!

Asiatic Lilies

   This weekend my lily bed came alive with these beauties. I especially love the star-shaped blooms and the palette here: the intense pink and yellow-green against the greens of the liriope and blue-green foliage of the juniper, with that pop of white.

Fantastic Friday!

   Today was the end-of-summer show for this year's interns (that's our star Alexandra's work above!). It was a great show—the group is really talented—and the gallery was absolutely packed. Don Hall Jr. even attended (and I owe Alison a big thanks for grabbing me so that I didn't accidentally back up into him). And by a happy coincidence, Ken had brought Sharon & Lily in to see the show. I hadn't seen any of them in a long time. We started talking food (we always do) and Sharon said they still hadn't tried One Bite, which I knew they'd love. Later Sharon gave me a call & invited me to join them for dinner! Erika looked really surprised when I walked in, considering I was planning to meet her Saturday morning.

   We had a great dinner: chicken teriyaki, Japanese pumpkin & tofu, spicy kimchee shrimp & tofu with rice crackers, gyoza and of course okonomiyaki! To top it all off, Erika treated us to some desserts: the raspberry cheesecake rolls (deep-fried. And indescribably delicious) and kakigori. We took a photo to prove that it is literally as big as Lily's head! (Kakigori is a little like a gourmet snowcone, with finely shaved ice, sweetened condensed milk & fresh strawberry sauce.) What a treat!

Asiatic lilies

Now showing in my backyard! I like going out at different times of day to take photographs, to take advantage of the unique lighting conditions.