Our New Home

Our new home!  

Yes, it's a barn.  3500' Horse Barn, LOL.  

For now, we're living in the tiny upstairs living quarters but come spring we'll start turning a large portion of the downstairs into a huge family room, workshop, living area.

OakRidgeFarm lives again, in real life!

Yes!   After 10 years of living in town we have once again found property to bring OakRidgeFarm back to life.

Come along with us on this new journey by following this blog, and our website,

http://www.oakridgefarmlife.com

A New Year

It was a White Christmas and today we're blessed with another snowfall.  I love the beauty of the snow, it's a thrill for this California born and bred girl :)

Spring is here!

I don't post here much but once everything starts growing I get excited about working outside. The herbs have been up for several weeks and a few have spread so much they'll have to be thinned soon.

July

The flooding has abated some and as the weather dries out and it warms up there are more flowers blooming.

New Plant

I put in a new Rosemary this year, it's called Island Spice. Has a slightly fruity scent, not as piney as regular Rosemary. Supposed to be excellent for cooking. While it looks similar, the leaves are quite thick. I've not cooked with it yet but looking forward to it.

June 23rd Catch-up

Our girls, Katie and Shyanne, on their first trip to the river. Our granddaughter took us down to Swan Creek, see below, for the weekend for Father's Day and the girls had a ball. They are Chinese Crested Powderpuffs and are usually soft and fluffy :) Their long hair has to be brushed every day.
Swan Creek. Was a beautiful spot and we had a wonderful time. She has a friend who has a cabin near there and that's where we stayed. Could just walk down to the creek. Really a river, swift moving and the bottom was very slippery. I think we all took at least one fall :)

Bougainvillea on the patio, and my little private garden right off the patio. I usually have several hanging pots on the patio, but this year there is too much chance of damage with the storms. They get blown down and it's too much trouble to try and bring everything in for each storm.

My husbands cat relaxing after we got the edging finished.
I don't rememeber the name of this plant without looking it up. I got it at the farmers market last year, was just a small plant with a few bells on it. this year it grew quite tall and was covered with flowers. The rains have beat it down some, but it's still pretty.
This is another Lysimachia, I can't remember what she told me. I get native plants from a woman at the Farmer's Market. This was taken early. The spires grew to about 12" in length and covered the plant. Unfortunately, the storms have almost destroyed it for this year.

Planting Time!

An early trip to the Farmer's Market this morning yielded a car full of small plants and annuals for color. Then on to Lowe's to pick up some larger bushes. A new hydranga, rhododendrum, some Mr. Lincoln roses which are the deep red ones -- a honeysuckle to plant along the fence line and several others I can't think of right now.

I've got them set in the location I want them, but now comes the hard work. Digging the dirt and planting. We'd planned to have two beds enlarged and turned ready for this day but the relentless rain and cool weather kept it from happening. I still need to move the lavenders I layered last year - they are already almost too big to transplant and they are all blooming! The sage is in full bloom, pretty but needs to be cut way back as it is one that needs to be moved. The lemon balm that got froze out in the ice storm has come back stronger than ever and is scattered over the garden. It's so pretty but oh my, way too invasive for the small area I have now.

My plans are to move all the herbs to a small garden just off the patio. Love the scents and it's easy to clip pieces for cooking. My lavenders alone will fill at least a 6'square area, maybe more. I did get a new rosemary this year, called Island Spice. Has a lovely scent and I will probably keep it in a pot as it won't take the winters here. I can keep one large upright rosemary all year long as it's up against a south facing wall and fairly protected by the lavenders. I'll let it grow larger this year once the lavenders are cut back.

Spring Flowers

Dogwoods are everywhere in Missouri and are all in bloom now. The white ones grow in abundance alongside roads and the pink are usually found planted around homes. These in the front are a beautiful shade and in full bloom.












Coral Bells growing on the east side of the house, you can see one of the Hostas that surround them in the lower corner.


Redbud trees are another Missouri favorite. Blooming in early spring, the buds come out before the heart-shaped leafs open. This is a closeup of a few buds on the trunk, the tree is at least 15' tall.







Lilacs are one of my favorite flowers, I love the scent. These have been slow to open this year due to the fluctuating weather. On the left is a picture I took yesterday, April 30th, the buds are just barely beginning to open and there is no scent yet.

What a difference a day makes! The picture below was taken this afternoon, the 1st of May. The warm temperature overnight has helped the buds open and the scent is wonderful, I brought a few in for my desk.











One thing I love about MO is how fast everything greens up once we get a few warm spring rains. One morning you wake up and it looks like the faries were here and painted everything this beautiful shade of green.

Last Frost

April 28th is the last frost date for our area here in SW MO, and sure enough we had a light freeze on the 28th. Storms expected late tonight but isn't cold enough to freeze again. The up and down weather this year has caused some plants to be slower blooming. The lilacs are usually done by this time but are just now beginning to open.

But everything is coming to life and as it warms up more they'll really start growing. The herbs are already growing fast and a few are blooming. The sage has beautiful purple buds, not quite open yet. I'll post some pictures of the flowers in the yard.

Spring is here!

Haven't posted since last fall, but now that the garden is beginning to come to life again I feel more like talking about it :) We've had beautiful weather here in the Ozarks, warm and wet, which induced everything to grow early and fast. Now we've got a cold snap - darn! These late freezes are so damaging. I don't worry so much about the herbs but my other plants are too tender to take 3 nights of below freezing temps. I have most everything covered with cardboard boxes, the yard looks like a left-0ver garage sale. Sure hope it works better than the blankets I used last year.

I saw this little quiz - What flower are you? on another site and thought you might enjoy it too. I wouldn't have thought I was a snapdragon, but who knows :)

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

Almost Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving almost here work on the garden is over. I've been lax about posting here -- our life got so hectic this year I finally had to let the garden go and fend for itself. We had a cool spell late summer and the plants all came back to life, in fact I still had a lot blooming last week when we had our first hard freeze. I still have a few to cut back and some herbs that are ready to go dormant. Surprisingly enough my lavender is still blooming. The freeze got some of the tips but that's all. I'm amazed at how well it's doing here in this new location. I've been layering the last couple of years and come spring I will need to move all those new plants. I've been trying to keep my herbs close for easy access, may devote one entire bed just to the lavenders.

The rosemary which I can't live without, hasn't fared as well. I lost everything in the ice storm in January and the new, hardy uprights I put in are OK, but will still cover them this winter to help with the cold. Though so far, other than a few days, we're still in the 70's during the days and 50's at night. I'm sure that will change at some point though.

I got a lot harvested though not as much as I usually do. Just couldn't keep up with it all. I really only need enough for my own purposes these days plus a few gifts. We had a good rain yesterday and this morning so with temps in the 70's I'd better do what I can today to get everything cut back and the ground ready for winter.

Surprise!

I checked the Ipomoea online and feel rather foolish :) The green varigated is - Sweet Potato Vine and the dark one with the morning glory like blossom is ---- a variety of Morning Glory :) Whatever the name, I'm very pleased with them, LOL. Checking further I find there are about 500 species of this plant. They do make a pretty, unexpected vine for spilling over pots and hanging baskets; the dark one is perfect for my little "forest" garden off my patio, tucked in around the ferns. An interesting color, full and low growing. Nothing there to really climb on but I will watch it none-the-less. The common Morning Glory on the farm was pretty but prone to take over anything it could climb on.

I usually check everything I'm not familiar with on-line before I plant it but this was such a cheap little plant I didn't bother :)

Summer is here!

Summer arrived with heat and humidity. After our cool, rainy spell the plants are having a hard time adjusting. I think this will be another year they don't get to full flower till late in the season. A few surprises - the Bee Balm is blooming, actually a purple rather than the red I'm used to, need to check my books. The Lemon Balm which was frozen down to the root is coming up all over the garden - interesting as it hasn't done that before. And the Tickseed Coreopsis is still trying to take over. The two plants were so pretty last year :) I did know they would reseed but wasn't expecting the hundreds of plants that came up. They are probably 4' at least now, and shading the tomato plants, so every few days we have to pull more out. Oh, we have one tomato ripening! Finally. They don't do well here in town, poor soil and too much shade, so I'll still be buying at the Farmer's Market.

Most of the new plants are doing OK -- we're trying to plant primarily periennials -- but it takes a few years for things to get established here. On the farm we would have been covered in blooms with this many plants. The most expensive plants I bought were the Fragrant Heliotropes, both of which died in the first week, never fails. A nice suprise was a little annual I got at Wal-Mart for $1.48 -- Ipomea. A low growing, spreading plant it said, I got two varigated and two "bronze". All four are beautiful after only a few weeks and the dark, bronze ones have pale lavender flowers on them, similar to a morning glory. Quite pretty; the ones in the ground are spreading nicely and those in pot are spilling over the sides.

I took pictures this morning for my garden journal and will post a few as I get them edited.

Rain, Rain and more Rain!

Another day of rain! I'm beginning to worry about a few of the herbs - they don't do well in this wet weather. I just made a tour of the garden and while there is a lot of rain, the plants aren't as beat down as they were in the last storm. Hopefully, they are getting strong enough to withstand the storms.

I've harvested Lavender twice already and could do a third; same with Sage and Oregeno. I cut the Thyme back to about half - and will let the Lemon Thyme grow a bit more. The Costmary plant I got is doing well and the Borage is about a foot tall now and flowering, so should be a good year for it. The Lemon Verbenas too are doing well, I have one in the ground and one potted but don't have a place to overwinter them so will have to be content with harvesting the leaves through the summer. The hardy Rosemarys are thriving, not sure about the others yet.

This continues to be an interesting year, weather wise :) Plus, we have more insects than I can remember...even having some trouble with the herbs and insects usually never bother them. We are reluctant to have the yard sprayed so will see what happens.

Friday morning

A big storm with high wind was predicted for last night so took the trouble to bring in all the hanging plants and move the rest so they wouldn't get damaged. The storm did come but was all thunder, lightening with a little rain. So this morning, I had to take everything out again.

With the exception of some annuals for color in the front, all the planting is done. Still pulling the Coreopsis out -- from that one plant we bought last year, and didn't deadhead, hundreds came up. We pulled many while they were small and gave them away, pulled more and put them in other areas, but yesterday the ones we let grow were threatening to take over the roses as well as the tomato plants. We don't get a lot of sun in the back, here in town, so have to make the most of what we do have.

The storm did cool it down some, which will help the new plants. I was able to find Borage at the Farmer's Market this year. Have two plants in and hope they like it here and will reseed. I make an herb punch that take two handfuls of Borage leaves and haven't been able to have it for a couple of years as I couldn't find it here.

I'm trying to get as many perennials in as I can so they will grow and fill in; tucking bulbs in around the base of some. With so much shade here it's hard to find things that will give color. The astilbes are finally blooming but not near as tall as I'd hoped they'd be.

My new plant this year is Corkscrew Rush, wiry, twisted, grasslike foliage. One of the few plants that like wet feet, I'm watching it closely, but may have to dig it up and pot it. Ihad hoped the Jewel of Opar I planted last year, and loved, would reseed - as it should have. Nothing showing yet but I'm still hoping it's our crazy weather slowing them down.

So, how is your garden growing? Send me some pictures of your garden and I'll post them.

Dragon Wing Begonia

This is the Dragon Wing Begonia on my patio last year, it got huge before the end of the summer. The same was true of the one on the front porch, people coming to the door had to detour around it.

Rain, Rain and More Rain!

Our late freeze this year meant we lost a few plants, several had to be cut to the ground to start over and a few had their new growth frozen. But herbs being hardy souls, one of the reasons I love them, they are back in full force! The sage and lavender are in bloom and ready to be harvested, the hyssop is also in bloom and though I don't use a lot I love the dark purple spikes. Lemon Balm was one of the plants that froze completely so now we are coddling the little plants that are appearing in the area to transplant where they will have more room. The thymes survived quite well, as did the oregeno and came back stronger it seems. The arch angel, which I though was destroyed, has been putting new growth out faster than you can believe...they love this weather.

These warm rains are wonderful for the plants, almost like a huge greenhouse :) The lawn too grows at a rate that keeps the lawn mowers in the neighborhood busy. Other than some annuals for color all of the plants are in the ground. I was able to get more of the Dragon Wing Begonias, they were gorgeous last year. I'll post a picture later this morning.

Words to the Wise

In the 20 years I've had computers I saved hundreds of photos to floppy discs, never thinking some day I wouldn't have a machine to access these with.

This week my granddaughter and her friend helped tranfer quite a few photos to CDs and my friend Vicki Conquest, http://fixthatpicture.blogspot.com/, worked her magic and retrived my old website from a zip disc. It was from 1996 and was like watching an old movie, the days when music on every page was the way to go -- and to see our pictures from 10 years ago....what fun.

It's so easy to forget what's on these discs, and to misplace them. If you have a similar problem, find someone with a machine that can still accept them and have your own trip down memory lane.

If you click on the envelope just to the right of the comment section, you can now send e-mail direct to your friends. Feel free to share anything I post...one of the sections to watch for is information on growing and using Herbs. Those of you who have been customers of Oak Ridge Farm before know I have a passion for herbs and love to share them.