As I mentioned in my last post, April has been a mixed bag around here! We are still assessing the damage from the freeze but, of course, moving along with other things that need to get done! The weeds have taken on a life of their own (if only I could get everything to grow so well), the daffodils have come and gone, every week it seems as if something new is blooming and the bees are busy!
In the Garden
The garden is coming along, though several of the seedlings that I planted out did not survive the freeze. Cabbages and Swiss Chard are cold hardy but not that hardy! The kale, lettuces, spinach, arugula and peas seem to have made it through just fine. I covered the asparagus so they had minimal damage. The tulips also did just fine!
Flowers In The House
The evening before the freeze, I brought a bunch of lilacs in and we enjoyed them in the kitchen for days! The smell was amazing. Before the lilacs, we had daffodils and muscari in a mustard crock!
Around The Farm
The orchard in the spring is one of the most beautiful spots on the farm. While we didn’t get to enjoy the blooms since the freeze took them out, we did enjoy the tulips and daffodils!
Across from the orchard is a stand of maple trees, with a “walkway” of sorts between the two. Last fall, I planted 5 Woodland Phlox and they have made me so happy this year! They are a literal bright spot! They have flourished even while the weed and invasive pressure has been intense! I can’t wait to plant more and hopefully they will spread! I envision the whole aisle being full of them! I also like that the blooms have lasted a few weeks!
Celebrate
We celebrated Bryce’s birthday this month! We had my family over for dinner and the weather was nice enough to eat outside! While the dinner itself was fairly simple (grilled pork chops, a salad, and grilled asparagus) we did have some fancy bread. I like to make this beautiful bread once a year, during ramp season. It’s lovely and, in my opinion, makes a lovely centerpiece on the table.
I love using white daffodils, they are so classic and elegant to me. I made two little arrangements for the table and used mostly white narcissus, white tulips, summer snowflakes and boxwood for some green filler.
Since we were celebrating Bryce, I used our frog dishes and went with a green theme using the dishes and the bread as a jumping off point. We got this dishes 29 years ago at Pottery Barn! Also, I added redbud blooms to the salad. They are totally edible and add such a nice contrast to the green lettuce leaves.
For dessert, I made Bryce’s favorite chocolate tart (recipe from The Lost Kitchen by Erin French).
In The Kitchen
Grace made a carrot cake for her one of her best friend’s birthday. I love how she topped it with lilac buds and violets! We’ve been eating asparagus from the garden and have made some rhubarb dishes (my eternal issue is that my rhubarb is green, not red!). We had quite a few ramps from the woodlands and I’ve just made lilac sugar!
In the Field
Finally, we get to the field. The peonies rows are looking beautiful, neat and tidy is how I like them! The amount of hours we have spent pulling weeds is something we would rather not think about. We still aren’t sure of the damage from the freeze, it looks like there will be some but we don’t know to what extent. The turgor on some of the stems did not come back as I thought they would and we have some black around buds, so…. time will tell.
