Along about Christmastime 2017, a package arrived from my new friend Susan Rankin-Pollard, a wonderful artist who specializes in picture book illustration. See her amazing work on her Instagram account here. We'd met at a Highlights retreat where I was teaching, then been to Ecuador together for Sue's first real bird expedition. She was bitten hard by the birding bug, and what a
Hummingbird Decoy Works!
Along about Christmastime 2017, a package arrived from my new friend Susan Rankin-Pollard, a wonderful artist who specializes in picture book illustration. See her amazing work on her Instagram account here. We'd met at a Highlights retreat where I was teaching, then been to Ecuador together for Sue's first real bird expedition. She was bitten hard by the birding bug, and what a
In Case You Missed It
photo by Anne Babcock
In Case You Missed It: Which, of course, all but about 60 people did...but let's consider what it's like to have 60 people arrive in your yard on a sprinkly, trying-to-be-fine Saturday noon. It's a trip, that's what it is! I'll confess that I spent several weeks in preparation for the Indigo Hill Garden Tour and Plant Sale, thinking of all the things that need
August Garden Tour--Sneak Preview
Like all avid gardeners, I work hard at beautifying this place.
2018's wonderful growing season, with gentle, frequent rains, has
brought the gardens to a peak of perfection. But we're so far out in the
sticks, nobody but my kids and I ever see them! The meadow is alight
with prairie sunflowers, ironweed and goldenrod. The zinnias are losing
their minds. I want to share!
Come to Indigo
reade more...
2018's wonderful growing season, with gentle, frequent rains, has
brought the gardens to a peak of perfection. But we're so far out in the
sticks, nobody but my kids and I ever see them! The meadow is alight
with prairie sunflowers, ironweed and goldenrod. The zinnias are losing
their minds. I want to share!
Come to Indigo
Big Skink News!
One thing I really get off on is being able to tell a story that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Even better is a story that continues. Stories need to go somewhere.
This is why I label and date my photos. When you label and date your photos you can retrieve them. When you can retrieve your photos, you can pile them all together and tell a story with them.
It's kind of like curating
How to Grow Sunflower Sprouts: Easy, Fun, Delicious, Free
Some years ago, I went to Casa Nueva in Athens, Ohio, with my friend Mimi. Mimi knows all the best things in Athens. "I always order this salad, just for the sunflower sprouts," she enthused. I love sunflower sprouts."
Of course, I ordered the same salad, and plowed into a big pile of delicate sprouts. I adore them, too. I could eat them every day.
"Why don't I sprout sunflowers?" I
The Bird is All Right
I've left this post to simmer a little while because it takes time to make a whole bluebird. You shouldn't get it all in the same week! Bluebirds stay in the nest for around 18-21 days after hatching. So we're back, checking on the "not quite right" foster bluebird baby, and things have changed.
The next time I came out to check the bluebirds, it was going to be tricky. You shouldn't open a
Rosepink Birthday
Longtime readers of this blog know that my favorite wildflower is Sabatia angularis,
Rosepink or Rose Gentian. Not only is it spectacular, but it smells
like honeysuckle in heaven, with a distant forest fire smoking away
somewhere down beneath the sweetness. Sabatia is a biennial, meaning it perks
along as a small plant for a year before bursting into bloom, going to
seed, dying,