Bunches in the Barn

I've been waiting to do this for many months....hang the bunches of herbs & flowers in the new barn. Ahhhhhhhhh  finally :)

I took this shot on the upper level

Here's the view of the lower level of the loft-the trees are just starting to turn colors~

Drying are Hydrangeas, Sage, Basil, Anise Hyssop & of course More Mints!

Falltime Flower Bouquets

Here's a collection of flowers & herbs that I just cut from the gardens and started bunching. A mixture of Mints, Rudbeckia, Sweet Annie, Artemesia & Zinnias~

Now I'm off to put a bunch of nails in the new barn and start hanging these beauties :)

Busy as a BEE!

Wow! It's only half way through the week and I've made Hundreds of Tarts & Cakes already~ AWESOME :)

GIVE-AWAY~

Out-Of-The-Box Sampler is having a GIVE-AWAY with my Crow's Nest Goodies!

You Could WIN!!!

Details at outoftheboxsampler.blogspot.com

New FALL-TIME Candles~

Still making Lots of Candles :)
Here's some of my Newest Scents~

 ~ FALL-TIME BITTERSWEET Soy Candle~

~ BONFIRE MARSHMALLOWS Soy Candles ~

~BONFIRE MARSHMALLOWS in both sizes ~

Sponsoring "Out of The Box Sampler"!!

The Crow's Nest is the proud sponsor of "Out of the Box Sampler" for the month of August!

I made hundreds of goodies that go into the sampler boxes!
Plus dozens of Large Size Products as well!
Go buy your box before they've sold out~ http://www.outoftheboxsampler.com

Here's some of the items I made for Out of The Box Sampler :)

Brown Sugar Scrub

Black Cherry Melting Tarts

Blueberry Muffin Potpourri

 

Natural Pillow Sprays

Organic Lavender Salve

Plus MUCH MORE!!

Herbal PILLOWS

Made with a blend of organic herbs including Lavender, Lemonbalm, Mugwort, Chamomile, Mint & Rose.

My "Herbal Pillows" are the perfect size to tuck under your pillow at night. Enjoy the wonderful aroma of soothing herbs~

Crazy making Candles!!

Whoohoo~ This week has been FUN!!
Web Orders, Gardening & LOTS of Candle Making :)
I get so excited about my new scents & I'm trying really hard to get into the "Fall" mood. I can't believe I'm selling NOEL candles in July :)

There's more candles & tarts coming soon~~

Snazzy Zucchini Bread

I was just about to bring one of my freshly baked zucchini breads over to the neighbors when I decided it needed a little "something". So I snipped off a tansy leaf and turned it into a stencil~ Sprinkled on some powdered sugar & now they are Pretty too :)

Zucchini Bread

It happened again!! I went out into the lower field to weed the Pumpkin & Squash Patch and found some GIANT zucchini's lurking under there! How did they get away from me? They were tiny just the other day :) Thank goodness it rained today and I am able to make a bunch of Yummy Zucchini Breads!



Here's my ZUCCHINI BREAD recipe~

• 3 1/4 cups organic white-wheat flour (king Arthur brand)
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground organic cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground organic clove
• 1 teaspoon ground organic ginger
• 1 inch piece fresh ginger root chopped very fine
• 1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
• 2 ½ cups organic sugar
• 1 cup organic canola oil
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/3 cup water
• 3 cups grated zucchini
• 1 teaspoon organic lemon juice
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, clove, ginger powder & chopped ginger, plus sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini, vanilla extract and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in. Spray your choice of pan with nonstick spray. Loaf pans will take about 50 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Muffins take about 25 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

Stevia can be substituted for sugar. Stevia is an herb that doesn't effect blood sugar and has 0 calories. Just follow the directions on the package to substitute for sugar~

New Cottage Garden

We had this patch of grass near the driveway that was "Calling-Out" to be a Cottage Garden.

(Of course I was the only one that heard this calling)

To me this area was just an ugly, useless piece of grass that had to be mowed every week and did nothing for me~  So when the escavator was here finishing up work for the new barn I tossed out the idea of scraping up that grass section for me.  After that was done, my sweety took the tractor on many, many trips to the neighbors farm.  He filled this space up with composted manure~  and then tilled it.      YIPPEE!!!!! 
(I should mention that we discovered the old gravel driveway under here..yikes)
And of course I did the dirty work of picking out a gazillion (or more) rocks and spreading all that manure~ Yes, I was still very excited!!

Here's a picture of the patch being worked on ~

Here's one month Later~

My pictures don't do the flowers justice, but it gives an idea of how it looks.  I love to come sit here for a few minutes in the morning before work.  Spooky usually follows me and munches on the assortment of cat mints while we both watch the barn swallows swoop into the car barn.

I'll take more pics as the seasons change and everything gets full~  Just wanted to share this garden because I know there's lots of us that have patches of boring grass that we'd love to turn into something Magical, but just need the Gentle Push :)

Baby Barn Swallow

After returning this little guy back into the nest TWICE already, (with gloves) I was minding my own business, watering the garden when I looked up and here he was "attempting" to fly right towards me, with his mother chasing him!! He zig-zagged back and forth and then ended up in the radish patch.

Soooo cute!!
We love having the barn swallows live here every year! They are very amusing :)

Late PEONY Harvest

Just harvested these "late" Pink Peonies~ All of these blooms are from only 2 plants (and there's over 40 left) that are growing on the north side of the house so they bloom much later than the other peonies. I'll make bouquets with most of them and dry the rest~

Mmmmmmm they smell Wonderful!!

Monarchs

The Monarch Butterfly's are hatching in the back field and flying all over the yard~~ Love them!

Green & Lush

Just got home from work and thought I'd take a pic at how GREEN everything is!

And in my planter near the mailbox I've got a "Red theme" going on with this large dahlia and red verbenas~

Soooo Happy Spring is Here!!