Makin' wreaths, my first bit of letterpress

I've been making wreaths! It's that time of year, right?! I feel like I've skipped a season. I also feel like the luckiest individual ever---> the folks at The Disillery have made me tags and business cards that completely undo me. Letter press is pretty extraordinary and this place is great because everyone in there is so charming and in love with what they do. It shows in their work. They also get to use giant antiquated equipment daily so I'm kind of jealous.

Here are the first wreaths off the block, some sweet pea I grew {that's almost a lie, I plonked the seeds in the ground back in July, saw them come up out of the ground then I went overseas for 2.5 months and came back to a wall-seriously it's nearly two meters tall-of delightful peas. So they grew themselves I did t do much at all} and some letter press. They drew magnolia branches and flowers for me. Cassie and Elise at The Distillery you are delightful, talented women and I am ever so grateful.

{ps If you look closely, you can see a Lipton tea bag on the tiles. I saw it as I was taking the photo, went to move it and then left it there. Realism, you know}

I found my first bird's nest on a walk with my pal. I am always ridiculously jealous of people who find them. I did feel a bit sad that the bird had to make a new one but I'm fairly certain they wouldn't be able to pick this one up and they did a grand job of this one, maybe they enjoy the work

Elevation seems to be a theme

Soon after Josh finished his trail race in the Alps, we found ourselves at our favourite burger joint in Chamonix. It's called Poco Loco and if you go there I highly recommend the Chèvre burger {it's worth it in cheese alone} and I think the other great one was called the Americano. It had seafood sauce on it-sounds peculiar, was great. 

It is so intriguing and joyful to watch the runners finish the race. They run through wild country. Sometimes it might just be them, the narrow trail and the sound of their own foot falls. They also find themselves in little groups running together for a while, sharing the highs and lows, keeping each other going/sane. The lovely thing about this race was the array of people from different countries. Sometimes people run together without speaking the same language, together in purpose.

When they finish the race they are given glory and an item-of-clothing-present, in this case a bright red vest. This, along with the unsettling amount of gear they run with makes it kind of obvious that they've just finished running and people stop to congratulate everyone. All very civil and generous. 

While we were eating our excellent burgers, a guy from the US started chatting, he was running the following day. This has been a long winded introduction into how I heard about the Brooklyn Grange. This guy's friend had been instrumental in pulling the project together in 2010. Basically, the Grange is an inner city roof top farming initiative. They have one acre in Queens and one and a half in Brooklyn, which is the one I visited. 

This farm, the largest of its kind is on top of the Navy Yards. They produce over 40, 000 pounds {about 18,000kg} per year. When I went there was spinach, kale, basil {green ands he pretty black kind}, various lettuces, a good variety of tomatoes and peppers, eggplant, ground cherries, carrot, raddish, a few chickens, bees and a couple of flowers!

They supply vegetables to restaurants, CSA members and directly to the public via weekly farmstands. They host Wednesday/Sunday dinners on the farm, inviting local chefs to cook up a storm. And roof top yoga, of course. 

The farm is open to visit on Wednesdays from 10am to 5pm they take you up every hour on the hour {last visit at 4pm}. They are good people, enthused, knowledgeable and also just figuring it out as they go, which is my very favourite kind. While I was there I met a Danish beekeeper who was volunteering for the month. I asked them if they needed an extra pair of hands on harvest days etc and they said that they actually have more help than they need at the moment which is so great. 

Go visit! The season is winding up so i think you can visit until the end of October brooklyngrangefarm.com

on roses and courage

It took me a really long time to decide to grow roses in the garden. I'm not entirely sure why but the thought of roses being dependant on me was slightly terrifying. I have long adored David Austin roses and, after reading through Susan Southam's gorgeous gorgeous book 'Velvet Pears' I felt convinced I could attend to them closely and have pretty fragrant roses all through the garden. Davis Hanna's Guide to Growing Roses {http://www.hanna.id.au/roses/}was a very helpful resource, detailing various types of roses and which areas in Australia different strains enjoy growing. I had a few special spots in the garden that I wanted to have a more roseate glow, mostly areas where I wanted climbing roses. We have a newish wooden trellis which has crab apple trees growing in front of it. They have lovely deep green foliage and the fruit begins a fresh bright green, later turning to a deep russet. At the moment they are in the midst of their colour transformation, mostly being green with a pretty warm blush. The trellis is up against a warm cream wall and there is also an ivy covered gate which leads to the neighbours' yard and a stephanotis vine arching over a deep green arbour. 

I am hoping the trellis will lose some of it's yellow hue-I know it will turn that nice silvery grey soon but I am a little impatient. 

I chose to plant Blushing Pierre de Rosard which is an exquisite fragrant hardy variety which will fill out the area nicely. I think the soft warmth of the bloom will be particularly nice against the deep red of the crab apples. The grower told me that the blooms will take on more of a pink blush throughout winter, returning to the rich cream in the warmer months-flowers are extraordinary!

Pierre de Rosard. I adore you. ever. so. 

We have had an old wooden half wine barrel in the garden, collecting rain and leaves for the past 6 years so I drilled holes in it, filled it with rose potting mix and a little mulch and chose the very pretty William Morris rose. The grower said it is quite rampant and forms a nice full shrub without too much work. The fragrance if this flower completely undoes me. The colour is a little stronger than something I'd usually choose but I do like it. They buds are a deeper pink which take on a lovely apricot and then open to a paler pink-mine are darker than the photo below, with a bit more apricot in them.

William Morris. Pretty creature.

We have two large wooden columns in the garden which I am hoping to cover in roses. The variety I chose was 'Jude the Obscure'. I have had them as cut flowers before and they cause my collar bones to ache when I look at them. The petal and bud form looks more oval and less blowsy than the other varieties. They become quite pale once they open and I thought they'd be pretty against the nicely aged wood of the columns. 

Jude the Obscure. Precious darling. 

Oh I adore them all! I planted them all yesterday with my mum. We dug nice big holes in our clay rich soil, put rose mix into the hole, spread out the roots and covered them up with soil and mulch. I have two more plants which need a home. The are 'Madam Alfred Carrier.' We thought we'd find room in the a garden bed but it looks like they'll have to find a home in a trough or pot-they are great climbers and we hope they will cover the wooden shed eventually. I have seen such wondrous photographs of them wildly consuming shed and arbors and homes. 

Madame Alfred Carrier

It was really heart warming to read Susan's book. Her garden is so special and she learnt so much by experimenting. I felt like I would do something wrong with roses or have a sad failure but if I do, I do and I'll just try something different next time. I was also fretting about making the wrong decision colour wise and then realised how silly that was because although some combinations are definitely incredible together, all plants and flowers are gorgeous so I'm sure it will all work out somehow.