La Belle's Hobby Farm: Seed Packet Art by Ben Hatke

The art of gardening.  In this the artist who lays out the work, and devises a garment for a piece of ground, has the delight of seeing his work live and grow hour by hour; and, while it is growing, he is able to polish, to cut and carve, to fill up here and there, to hope, and to love.

~ Prince Albert

In December, I am continuing to participate in the Two Pages-a-Day writing challenge.  And trying desperately to get in the holiday mood.

I

‘m so excited!

My greatest accomplishment in the garden this year (besides a bumper crop of tommy toes, basil, and marigolds) was saving seeds to plant in the spring.

Of course, I gathered way more than I will ever use ~ ever see a field of marigolds?  And several friends who now have a “bit of earth” and the desire to garden, have asked for some seeds.

But I didn’t want to just give them the seeds in plastic baggies; I always forget what the seeds are when people give them to me. (Note to self: put seed gifts in jars with labels).

So I asked my friend Ben Hatke to come up with some seed packet art.  And boy did he deliver!

Image credit: Ben Hatke

Image credit: Ben Hatke

Image credit: Ben Hatke

You may recognize Ben's  name: he's the artist and master mind behind the Zita the Spacegirl books.  In which case, these beautiful watercolours will not surprise you, but they will make you smile.

What fun!  I get to support a friend and a talented artist and my friends get to enjoy organically grown seeds in a special package designed with them in mind!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

What gifts from your garden are you giving this year?

La Belle's Hobby Farm: Seeds, Frost, and Pots of Tea

Farming is a profession of hope.
~ Brian Brett

In November, I am continuing to participate in the Two Pages-a-Day writing challenge.  And I must have been abducted by aliens who replaced my brain with rocks, because I’m also doing NaNoWriMo for the first time.  Someone get this girl a drink!!

M

y garden after our first frost looks like Miss Havisham’s wedding dress.  

At least it doesn’t look like her wedding cake.  Ewwww.

Despite its bedraggled finery, my arugula is still producing bushels of peppery leaves for my winter salads and juices.  Reminds me of the jar of flour that never ran out.

I also managed to gather quite a harvest of seeds to put by for the spring.  My marigold seed collection is ginormous; and that didn’t include the ones that didn’t make it through the frost.  The little soldiers were blooming right up to the last, shaking their tiny orange fists at the encroaching chill.  But there are still some seed heads that are dry enough to collect.

My garden will be drowning in marigolds next spring.

The second largest batch is the cilantro.  I now have a whole jar of coriander seeds.  My zinnias are last in line ~ teeny, tiny seeds that are easily lost.  So I harvested the entire flower head, dried them out, and tap-tapped the seeds onto a white sheet and then poured them into a jar.

So many friends want to exchange seeds (a wonderful way to keep organically grown heirloom seeds in existence), that I decided to purchase some seed packets.  Now, I have a new project in the works and once it blooms, I’ll let y’all know!

In the meantime, all this cold and windy weather is making me want pots and pots of caramel tea!  Not to mention catch up on my writing for NaNo.

Maybe I should add a little whiskey in my tea. . .

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Did your county get a blast of cold and frost yet?