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Here’s a cute kid with a cute scarecrow by a cute sign. Look for the sign again this year. Certainly we’ll have scarecrows. And maybe even the kid! And watch for the green T-shirted workers. Like Mike and Dawn below, they’ll also be wearing smiles.
Join us at Pioneer Days on Sunday, September 19th, from noon to 4 PM. The event is held at the Elk Grove Farm House Museum, 399 Biesterfield Road. For more info, www.elkgroveparks.org. Here’s the deal – I’ll try to post another scarecrow picture every day from now till October 31st if you’ll try to come back regularly to look at them. Deal? Deal!
It wasn’t always like this. Some 10 years ago, we ran into Frank Campise at Friendship Gardens. Frank was tending the huge Dahlia garden that was there at the time. Life hasn’t been the same since. Frank and the other members of the Central States Dahlia Club have helped Mike to become the addicted Dahlia grower he has become. And I love it this time of year when there are beautiful blossoms everywhere! The 8 Dahlias is this picture are Alfred Grill, Peaches and Cream, Blackberry Ripple, Jessie G, Colorado Classic, Kiara Pompadour, Gloriosa, and Safari Sunset.
This project tends to get forgotten with higher priority projects taking, well, priority. Let’s see if my commitment to a blog update on June 15th of 2011 will give us the incentive to make progress by then. Please mark your calendars – I did. I gave myself an Outlook task dated June 10th. Knowing that you are going to make a calendar task for June 15th to check up on me should get us moving along. So what makes this fit in the Work Less category? We have a lot of mulch in our yard, including paths and the area where the tables and chairs are. It’s work to remulch, and it’s work to weed. The work has got to stop! Wondering what our bricks really look like? Here ya go… Come back and put me to the progress test. P.S. Don’t tell Mike. Let me break it to him gently.
The question is …
It isn’t necessary to be eating chocolate, but it does enhance the experience. You have my permission to go get some as long as you promise to come right back. The yard is quite large by Chicagoland standards. A half-acre in the city would not happen for us, but a half acre in the ‘burbs. Absolutely. We started out with a yard smaller than that before I knew that I was gardening obsessed. It wasn’t my fault. Really. My husband Mike, and his Mom, Ardie, took me to the Flower and Garden Show at Navy Pier. Its been all up-hill, down-hill, and dirt-filled since then.
I’d like to introduce you to our Dahlias. This one is really as big and beautiful as it looks. Want to learn more about growing these beauties? That’s where Mike comes in. There will soon be entries by Mike (he doesn’t quite know that yet). We’ve got about 100 Dahlias in our yard, blooming beautifully from August through mid-October. It is truly a labor of love for him.
If you’d like us to speak for your group, we’d like that too. Because a gardener (you) can be grown! I certainly was. And now I am blooming where I have been planted…Carol I have been given this plot to tend, Ideas running through my head. Where there would be weeds, a garden now grows, He provided the rocks, the soil, the plants, the thoughts. Carol Cichorski Compliments of Michele George -enough fresh cucumbers or pickles to fill a 1 gallon container Wash & scrub cucumbers, cut lengthwise into spears. Put cucumbers in a large crockery or non-metallic container. (I used my large glass cooking pot with lid) Boil & pour remaining ingredients over pickles. Add 1 sliced medium onion & fresh dill (& garlic). Cover & let stand at room temperature for 24 hours. Place into smaller non-metallic containers. Refrigerate. (It takes more than a week for the flavors to mellow out and for the pickles to start to absorb the flavors-so try to be patient.) |
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I have to admit it. Fall is here, even if the calendar doesn’t quite say so. I know because the Elk Grove Garden Club is gearing up to make 100 scarecrows next weekend. We are part of the village’s Pioneer Day Festival, and our scarecrow making is always a hit. Its as much fun for us as it is for the families making the scarecrows. 
I’d say the operative word in the title of “We’re planning a patio” is “planning”. We’ve been planning it for a while. Ever since the driveway bricks from a neighbor found their way to our yard. You don’t want to know how long ago that was. Really, you don’t. So if you think our patio looks like the one in the picture, afraid not.
It isn’t often that I sit back (yes, me, sit) to enjoy the beautiful garden that Mike and I love. I did that for 10 minutes today when I sat outside (yes, actually sat) to eat my breakfast. So now its your turn to sit (yes, you, sit) to enjoy the moment.
We bought a small house with a large lot, complete with a weed filled so-called grassy area. No garden to speak of. We fixed that. Oh boy, did we fix that. We started an addition, which meant that Mike got to play with a back-hoe and the excavated dirt became a berm. It took me a few years to claim it, but I did. Now it is one of the low-maintenance areas in the yard. We could use more of those. If you could too, watch the 
