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MEADOW SWEET GROVE

Shabby Chic to Edwardian Charm - A Vintage Rescue

8/26/2019

Hollyhocks

Summer is flying by and we can already feel Fall in the air!

But last month was hot and dry and my husband decided to take advantage of the weather and finally apply varnish to an old vintage plant stand ... that he had been diligently sanding and preparing for the better part of the year!

By far the largest part of the job was painstakingly removing the white paint from all the little crevices -- and all without damaging the detailed woodwork. Lots of delicate sanding was involved but the Grumpy Old Gnome in the Grove stuck with the task.

Here's the backstory ...

Shabby Chic Planter

BEFORE - Vintage plant stand outdoors with last year's tomatoes

This fantastically funky plant stand was gifted to us by my sister-in-law. It had a great distressed look as someone had once painted it white; with much of the paint flaking off, giving it this awesome distressed look. The paint was falling off in big chunks so using this piece of furniture inside was not an option. Instead, we had it first outside on our little covered deck, and then moved it to the top of our front stairs ... last year saw tomatoes growing in it!

Restored Furniture

AFTER - Vintage plant stand completely refurbished and ready for its new indoor life

While I liked the "shabby chic" look of the planter before (and being able to use it outside without guilt) - I think it looks just beautiful as a restored piece and will make a wonderful addition to our front living room!

The next task is to build, or have built, a glass atrium for the top ... so that maybe we can transplant many of our little succulents into it. I know it would be perfect for growing some kitchen herbs too ... but we have far too many of those in the Grove already!!

Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan 2019

Rose Petal Jam

8/19/2018

Summer is almost over. Did I just say that? No worries - capture the essence and feeling of summer by making rose petal jam!

This jam is really easy to make. I am continually astounded by how much our small city garden gives in the Grove. Our roses have been really abundant this year and I discovered that there are many recipes with which you can use or include rose petals such as: rose petal jam or jelly, garnishments for salads, rose vinegar dressing and more!

Collect rose petals and make some jam now with this simple recipe!

You will need:
- equal parts rose petals and berry sugar
- juice of one lemon
- water
- canning jars

... and a little pectin (if required)

Step 1: Collect the rose petals
Pick petals from your loveliest roses and choose only those free from blemish. For this recipe, I used approximately 250g / 8 ounces of petals.

Step 2: Wash rose petals, dust with sugar and chill
Rinse the rose petals with cool water, discarding any with blemish. Drain well and crush lightly in your hands with a bit of berry sugar, making sure to bruise each petal slightly. Place in bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight.

Step 3: Making the jam
Pour 1/2 litre of water into a saucepan, together with 250 g berry sugar and the juice of one lemon. Bring to a boil, stirring all the time. Add the crushed rose petals, reduce heat, and continue at medium heat, stirring constantly until jam consistency and setting point is reached. Add 1/2 package of powdered pectin if necessary.

Step 4: Preparing the jam for storage
Properly sterilize your canning equipment. I usually achieve this by boiling jars, rims, seals and any utensils I will be using. Spoon the jam into jars and seal tightly. Store as appropriate for the canning method you use. Enjoy with toast, croissants or scones on a rainy day when you are dreaming of summer ...

Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan 2018

Attracting Garden Fairies

5/14/2018

May is such a magical month that the appearance of fairies in your garden should come as no surprise! Even the staunchest disbeliever must do a double take when ... apple, pear or cherry blossoms float and swirl though the air, fresh new leaves rustle in the wind or the sun shimmers and gleams in nooks and crannies in the garden. All these subtle happenings can be evidence of fairy activity ...

Here are 3 simple ways to attract fairies to your garden:

1. Foliage
This is a biggie because fairies are like songbirds. They love trees as this gives them little branches to cling to, or big branches for swinging and leaves to hide behind. Not to mention that their older cousins, the Dryads, will often tell them stories at night about ancient times and places. Plant lots of perennial flowers that will magically sprout up in the Spring, year after year, without any extra work on your part - bluebells, tulips, daffodils, forget-me-nots, Jack Frost, Lily-of-the-Valley, foxgloves - your garden will be alive with colour and sweet scents that attract the birds, bees, butterflies ... and fairies!

2. Music
With all the greenery you have added to your garden, hopefully the birds will be providing you with their many varied chirps, trills and calls. But to add a little bit more magic, definitely include a wind chime ... or two or three! The calming melodies, resulting from the slightest breeze, will manage to slow down the pace in your space and literally "make the world go away". This is important as fairies belong to another dimension, where time plays out differently to our own. The music from birds, wind chimes, flutes or even gentle songs on the radio or other device will alert the fairies that your garden belongs to people that understand and welcome them.

Wind chimes can be made out of so many different items. This one is made from old bike gears!

3. Trinkets
Fairies appreciate offerings from the human world. The food they most often prefer is bread, honey and milk. But in the Spring and Summer, so much more can be offered. Leave out some pretty polished stones or gems, light tealights or candles and place glass marbles, orbs and prisms in various parts of your garden. Tuck cunning little statues of their kin folk everywhere you can - this lets the wee folk know that you are a kindred spirit who believes in fairies and will take care of your garden in a fashion that does not disturb or control nature too rigidly.

And for some fun, blow some bubbles from a bubble wand! There is nothing more magical or gentle than bubbles floating on the breeze ... and the fairies will be sure to notice.

Accept the magical world around you and welcome it into your garden. It doesn't matter how big or small it is. Whether you are charmed with a "back 40", a fantastically witch-y cottage garden, a "postage stamp" city plot or a balcony; you can always add in a little bit of nature - usually more than you think once you get started! Prepare to be amazed at how special life becomes when your home becomes a safe haven for fairies to congregate and play.

Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan 2018

It's Almost May, Hurray! Summer's on the Way!

4/27/2018

The beginning of May marks the beginning of Summer in old English tradition. The year was divided into two halves -- with Summer beginning on May 1st and Winter beginning on October 31st. Of course, the weather doesn't always conform to these dates!

This year, however, the Grove has seen a lovely hot week of sunshine - after the usual amount of copious April showers of rain and hail. Hopefully, it will continue for a wonderful and warm May Day on May 1st.

The garden is certainly responding to the heat and all sorts of plants are bursting forth with leaves and blossoms. Here are just a few that my camera caught today!

Jack Frost & Bluebells

Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan 2018

January: Time for the Apple Wassail

1/6/2018

Apple tree in the Grove

Apple Tree Man, Illustration by Sandy Nightingale, 1996

The Apple Tree Man, the spirit of your orchard, lives in the oldest tree. Here's
an old rhyme which I believe is meant for him:

Huzza, Huzza, in our good town
The bread shall be white, and the liquor be brown
So here my old fellow I drink to thee
And the very health of each other tree.
Well may ye blow, well may ye bear
Blossom and fruit both apple and pear.
So that every bough and every twig
May bend with a burden both fair and big
May ye bear us and yield us fruit such a stors
That the bags and chambers and house run o'er.

— Cornworthy, Devon, 1805

January is the time of year, whilst your apple trees are resting, to practice the Apple Wassail ritual, and thus encourage a good crop for next year!

We have incorporated this English custom into the Grove for the last couple of years for our apple trees ... hey, a bit of magic never hurts!

Here's what you do:

On an evening in January, take your last mug of cider from last year's crop, add a bit of cinnamon and honey and then warm gently in a pot on the stove. Pour the wassail mix at the base of the oldest tree (or all of them if you are so inclined or able), so it seeps down to the roots. Wish the tree well with an apple wassail song or rhyme to encourage good growth.

~ Note: If you don't make cider with your apples, you could substitute applesauce or a leftover apple - the point here is to include a physical representation of the literal "fruits" you wish to bring forth - it is a form of sympathetic magic ~

Incidentally, sympathetic magic is used the world over. Recently I learned a Native Canadian tradition of returning the bones and a little flesh from your communal salmon meal back to the stream, in order to encourage more salmon to spawn.

Apple tree in the Grove

Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan 2018

Blustery Days and Rain, Rain, Rain #blusteryday #winniethepooh

10/19/2017

The Grove is certainly having its share of blustery days and lots of rain. So much wind that everything - hummingbird feeders, bead curtains, candle holders and even wind chimes have had to be taken down - or be blown down! So much rain that you can hear it literally pounding on the roof!

But we did have warning - a couple of beautiful sunny days absolutely full of the sounds and sight of crows, hummingbirds, chickadees, juncos, bushtits, flickers, blue jays and robins, robins, robins ... all looking for food. Now that the wind and rain is here, only the crows have remained steady visitors - hunched on the telephone wires, awaiting a hand-out and then back off to relative dry in the cedar trees.

The combination of bright sun and swaying branches create dancing shadows everywhere. The rustling of leaves in the wind produces a magical song. Clouds move quickly and cause dramatic changes of sudden dark and then sudden light. And the rain pounds relentlessly on the poor plants. And amazingly, the ethereal and fleeting appearance of a gorgeous rainbow! Well, with all this funky weather going on, coupled with cold mornings, there can be no doubt that Fall has a firm foothold and winter is definitely on the way.

Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan 2017 Pounding rain! Make sure to turn your sound up!

Flowers and Folk Names #flowers #fairy #folknames

7/5/2017

Picture of Roses & Woodpecker

Country Roses

Flowers are friends and neighbours to the fairies and so the wee folk have given them names to suit their personalities. It makes it so much easier to have a conversation! And flowers like it when you talk to them.

Latin names are important for classification (and safety) purposes since so many flowers have multiple folk names and sometimes even share the same name with a completely different plant! But the fairies, living in a

Picture of Willow Herb

Willow Herb

separate realm, don't worry about these little things and intuitively know with whom they are sharing their garden space - so we have let the folk names prevail in the Grove.

Pansies & Sweet Williams

Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan 2017 (gif courtesy of animatedimages.org)

Finding fairies - #fairyspotting #cicelymarybarker

5/17/2017

Meadow Sweet Grove has experienced a record downfall of rain this Spring. Most of the fairies are probably sitting by their little stoves and looking out longingly at their gardens. When they do go out, I imagine they dart for cover, hiding under handy toadstools along the way. Still, May is the perfect month to search for fairies that might be starting to play in the garden after those long winter months.

Drawing Rose Fairy by Cicely Mary Barker

I took my favourite "fairy spotter" with me and she pointed out many fairies and woodland creatures in the Grove. I had to be quick with the camera!
Image: Cicely Mary Barker

An absolute abundance of froggies! Well, it has been raining an awful lot ...

And even Robin Goodfellow, or Puck - as some know him - was found amongst the leaves ...

Finally, a gnome atop his new wishing well home (dry as a bone) and a fairy, trapped under ice all winter, returned to the Grove.

Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan 2017

For the spring is flying and the month is May #mothergoose

5/8/2017

Picture of bleeding heart

For the spring is flying and the month is May.
Mary N. Prescott

That's the last line penned in a poem by Mary N. Prescott (reproduced below) from "Rhymes from Mother Goose". An absolutely enchanting child's book printed in 1903 by the W.B Conkey Company, with the promise: "arranged to please the boys and girls" and "with pictures that will amuse the children".

Picture of poem

Antique child's book, "Rhymes from Mother Goose", 1903, Meadow Sweet Grove Collection

Picture of apple blossoms

Sweet fragrant apple blossoms

April showers did indeed bring May flowers to the Grove. Not quite as stunning as last year's spring but as promised by Margaret Elizabeth Sangster, "Never yet was a springtime, when the buds forgot to bloom."

Meadow Sweet Grove © V. Buchanan 2017

Samhain & Green Tomato Relish

11/1/2016

Fairy celebration on All Hallow's Eve

Samhain
(Oct 31/Nov 1)

the old Celtic end of
summertime and harvest

Long ago, the ancient Celtic people divided the year into two seasons. May 1st was the beginning of summer, with October 31st the beginning of winter. It certainly is the end of summer here at Meadow Sweet Grove!

1st place in the chutneys & relishes category of the "WVCCS 8th Annual PumpkinFest, Home & Harvest Competition, 2018".

After a very successful All Hallow's Eve celebration last night, the fairies are now diligently searching the Grove for the very last bit of goods from the garden to preserve. It's been a very rainy October, which made it difficult to see all the lovely reds, yellows and oranges of the changing leaves, but harder still to see all your lovely tomato vines wither and droop in the wet and cold - especially if you had visions of ripe, red tomatoes! But here is a wonderful recipe to salvage and savour those green tomatoes - Green Tomato Relish - yum! yum! Good on sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers and a nice treat with crackers and sharp cheese.

After being unable to find a recipe that I liked, I decided to mix together about 3 different recipes for green tomato pickles/green tomato relish, removing some items I didn't like and adding others. I'm very pleased with the result and hope you will be too! Also, if you are low on green tomatoes, you can add more apple or pepper to make up the difference. Enjoy!

© Meadow Sweet Grove / V. Buchanan, 2016

Chop tomatoes very fine and sprinkle with salt. Allow to sit for 10 minutes. Hang in cheesecloth overnight to drain. Next day add onion, pepper, apple, celery - all very finely chopped. Add vinegar, sugars and water. Put most of the pickling spice mix in spice bag, tie and add to mixture. Sprinkle with remaining (or additional) mustard and dill seeds. Stir over low heat for approx 3 hrs (until water is reduced). Seal in sterilized canning jars. Makes 3 to 4 mid-size jars.

Green Tomato Relish
© Meadow Sweet Grove / V. Buchanan, 2016

4 lb green tomatoes
    (approx one large mixing bowl)
1 granny smith apple
1 large white onion
1/2 large red pepper
1 1/2 celery stalks with
    leaves
1 1/4 c white vinegar
2/3 c brown sugar
2/3 c white sugar
1/3 c water     also need:
                                              - 1/3 cup canning/rock
                                                  salt (for salting tomatoes)
- cheesecloth (for draining
                                                  tomatoes)
                                               - spice bag
pickling spice mix:
1 crumbled bay leaf
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp dill seeds
1 tsp whole cloves

GIFs provided by animatedimages.org & R. Buchanan

GIF Blue Fairy & Birds

Let this Blue Fairy magically transport you to the Store!

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Disclaimer: Many of my items are vintage or pre-loved. Please be aware that vintage items will vary with the manufacturing methods available at the time of their production. They are not made at the current standards of manufacturing ... and in my opinion, that is a good thing! They are generally an exceedingly higher quality than today's manufactured items, last much longer and have more attention to detail. However, safety standards do change over time, vintage and pre-loved items do deteriorate with age, and it is up to the customer to decide how they will use each product purchased.

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