Kwaree Blog

Farmers Market In Coventry, CT

Today was pretty fun. Went went up to the farmers market in Coventry, CT.

You know, it’s a funny thing. As I was standing in the shower this morning, I thought to myself that I probably wouldn’t be going to the Coventry farmers market today if it weren’t for Laura nudging me along. This will be the third event she has suggested to me in the past two weeks and all of them were fun. I think she notices how wrapped up I am in everything and gets a kick out of pulling me from my routine. Guys are dangerous creatures; if left alone, we would never leave town and just split firewood in the back yard for our whole lives. Thank the lord for women.

The farmers market was a suggestion from Laura’s friend that I told you about in my previous posts. This individual seems to have her finger on the pulse of all the cool outdoorsy things that go on in the area. She’s a great source for those kinds of events.

Since I had only skirted the area of Coventry and had never actually visited the town itself, the cruise up there was new to me. I didn’t even know they had a lake in the area. The thing I like about the location of Coventry, CT is its natural setting. There are large chunks of land that are pretty much untouched. I think those chunks are owned by the state, but I may be wrong. The lake is a good size and there are the typical smaller lake houses with larger and newer homes a bit further away. I think that’s the trend around here.

The farmers market itself is held 11AM – 2PM, every Sunday at the Nathan Hale Homestead. It goes on from June through October. It’s totally the kind of place my mother would love…old buildings from way back when that you can take tours through. People dressed up like they did back then. It’s fun.

As I was standing in the shower this morning, I imagined two little tables with a few heads of lettuce on them and no one being around. Ummm, yeah, I was wrong. Apparently, this farmers market is the cat’s meow ’round these parts on Sundays. It seems like the whole town was there. There was more than just lettuce too. People were selling maple syrup, all sorts of veggies, cheeses, yarn…all types of stuff. I’m not sure if the prices were better than the food store, but I am pretty sure the heads of lettuce were bigger. We got two of the largest heads of lettuce I have ever seen.

So, let me show you some photos. There are quite a few of them, so I hope you enjoy.

Of course, I didn’t get pictures of everything.

It was a pretty neat day. After we left the farmers market, we decided to head back up to the Dairy Bar at UCONN for some rootbeer floats. That was good. We also got a reminder of how much ice cream they give you – too much. Hey, I’m down with it.

While we were walking around the Nathan Hale Homestead, we picked up some brochures that listed all the places that have cool gardens around the area. I think that’s going to be our next adventure; visiting some gardens. Hey, with the next ten days supposed to be mostly sunny and in the 70s, I think that would be a grand ol’ time.

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Blueberry Picking At Belltown Hill Orchards

Today, we splendidly enjoyed ourselves over at Belltown Hill Orchards in South Glastonbury, CT picking blueberries. Boy, I hope I don’t get sick of all this fruit. There are a bunch of months left to pick-your-own.

Since we had never been to this farm before, we had to use the GPS for the last few miles. The farm is actually located right across the street from Rose’s…the one we went strawberry and raspberry picking at last week. It’s right off Matson Hill Road. If you decide to visit this farm, beware that the driveway is kind of steep.

This farm offered a nice tractor ride up to the blueberry fields. I read a little sign on the back of the trailer that said, “Tractor runs on bio-diesel.” I thought that was kind of neat. I kept trying to smell Chinese food, but all I smelled was exhaust. I guess it wasn’t running on Chinese food.

Okay, to the blueberries. We met Laura’s friend up at the bushes (by the way, one more hangout with the three of us and she is my friend too). She was already picking away. She is a blueberry fanatic, like I am. You can honestly never eat too many blueberries. The best part about picking these things is that you can get handfuls of them and stuff them in your mouth right there in the field. It’s gross, but worth it.

These blueberries were really huge. They were like small plums, they were so big. I hung a little bucket around my neck and picked and picked and picked. Towards the top of the bucket, my neck started to hurt. I am guessing that I had about three pounds in there because overall, we had about five pounds. Three pounds hanging around the neck gets to ya after a while.

You can pick blueberries all the way into August, which is cool because we will probably end up getting more.

I am really enjoying visiting all the farms around here for their pick-your-own fun. There is really a good variety through the Summer and Fall, like apples, blueberries, cherries, nectarines, peaches, pears, plums, pumpkins and blackberries. Some farms even have cut-your-own Christmas trees, which is cool.

Here, check out some pictures of blueberries.

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Pinkish White Knockout Roses

I was walking around up on the hill yesterday when I noticed the roses starting to bloom. It’s amazing that they are even starting to flower with all the rain we have been having. Actually, I think the rain kind of stopped. It’s just cloudy now and really not all that bad. It’s good walking weather.

I figured that I would give you a few flower shots, since I haven’t in a while.

There are three colored roses up there…pinkish white, white and red. I took a few pictures of the red roses, but they didn’t come out at all. They were all blurry. For some reason, my camera doesn’t like really bright colored flowers. It’s like there’s not enough contrast or something.

Anyway, here are those photos of what I think are Knockout Roses.

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The Blooming Of A Peonies

So apparently the Peonies are in bloom right about now. We have some very colorful pink ones over in the front/side garden. They really are some thick and substantial flowers.

Just wait until you see these pictures. The larger (more bloomed) flowers are so pink that the camera couldn’t get the color right. They almost look neon.

Okay, the purpose of this post is to show you the steps of a Peonies blooming. Strangely enough, we have a whole bunch of Peonies blooming right now and I was able to get five photos…one during each step of the bloom. It’s really neat. It’s like I took a picture every few days of the same flower. Check it out…

That last picture of the fully bloomed Peonies looks a little weird. I have a feeling we’ll be getting some better looking flower very soon.

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My Micro-Garden

I was going to call this post, “My Mini-Garden.” Then, I thought of the word “micro” and figured that it sounded much more “green” and “organic,” so I used that. Now I can be like those hippie folk up in Ithaca who live in their “ecovillage.” All I need now is a guitar and a little chair.

Okay, the truth of the matter is that Laura found a squirrel sitting in the bucket where my strawberry plant is planted. He was sitting there, not eating strawberries, but eating the actual plant. We have some very badly behaved squirrels. Very bad indeed. I knew where this was headed, so I had to do something.

I walked around the yard and found all the scrap wood I could muster up. Then, I ran out to the hardware store and got some of that rabbit (or whatever it is) fencing and got to work. After a few hours, this is what I cam up with…

I know it isn’t perfect, but I needed to figure out something fast on such short notice. I didn’t think the squirrels would actually eat the plants. Geez.

The fencing is stapled nice and tight to the sides. The top part is just a piece of fencing held down by bungee cords. I think it’ll be okay.

I have a feeling it’s going to get mighty crowded in that little garden, but at least I won’t have any issues with the vermin. Next year, I think I will limit my little mini-garden to just strawberries.

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Iris, Hardy Geranium, Perennial Flax Flower And Some More

Okay, let’s go. I have some photos of the most recent flowers that have bloomed ’round these here parts. They are pretty good shots. Make sure you click and then click again on the pink Rose picture. You can see a nice looking insect and spider web on it. It’s pretty cool.

In this batch, I have the Iris (some variation of the Bearded Iris, I think), the Hardy Geranium, Perennial Flax Flower (I think…or something close) and a few others that I can’t identify.

We’ve been playing nicely here. I post the pictures and you guys either correct me or simply identify the flowers that I don’t know. Let’s not stop now.

UPDATE: Once again, my trusted readers have come through. The two last flowers are Columbine variations. Thank you.

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Mountain Bluet, Bailey’s Gold, A Red Rose And A Dianthus

I have a few more photos of flowers for you. I have three identified, but am having some difficulty with the fourth.

I just found a website that helped me identify the Mountain Bluet. I already knew what the Bailey’s Gold was, along with the Rose. The last one is a little troubling. I have actually never seen this flower before. I am going to write a description of it below the photo in hopes that someone with know what it is and leave a comment.

As you can tell, it’s that last one I am having trouble with. I wrote down that it has pink flowers with white specks and spiky green leaves. It’s a pretty cool flower. I just wish I knew what it was.

UPDATE – I have learned that the last flower is a Dianthus barbatus. Thank you.

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Flower Identification

As many of you already know, I have a little trouble with flower identification. Actually, my next post has a few flower photos in it.

I wanted to tell you that I found a pretty good website that has a bunch of flower pictures. I found one of the flowers I was trying to identify and another one that someone else identified for me. If you are looking to figure out what type of flower you have growing in your garden, give this site a try.

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Purple and White Bearded Iris

This is becoming a little tradition for me. Every year, I take some nice photos of the first Bearded Iris to bloom.

This purple and white beauty bloomed yesterday. A few more came to life today and I expect the rest will start showing their colors tomorrow. When the entire row is bloomed, I’ll take some pictures for you.

The bearded Iris is, by far, my favorite flower. The flower stems are like small trees. They are tall and strong. Although the flower itself has a short life, it’s really good looking. The best part of all is that the Bearded Iris multiplies, so you can pretty much expand your garden as far as you would like throughout the years. I have these flowers growing all over the place here.

I took a few pictures of this bearded Iris today. I tried to get a regular shot, one from the top and another close up so you can see the pollen. Lastly, I got a photo of another plant’s bud.

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Transplanting Rose Bushes

Last Autumn, I dug up about six rose bushes from the hillside out front and transplanted them to a more reasonable area down in the front yard. I am now mowing the hillside and having those rose bushes with their sharp thorns is really a thorn in my side (haha). I get snagged all the time and I don’t enjoy it much.

Initially, I didn’t know if they were going to take, meaning survive. Well, this Spring I noticed a bunch of new growth on some of the branches, but mainly from towards the bottom of the bush. I pruned out all the dead branches and the rose bushes are beginning to look pretty good. This is surprising because I wouldn’t say I did a great job of transplanting these things. I almost just ripped them out of the ground and plopped them in a dug out hole.

If you have not had the pleasure of seeing what the roots of a rose bush look like, let me tell you that they are pretty substantial. Rose bushes grow quite a bit under the ground and I have seen roots longer than six feet. I am not saying that I have seen this in a previous life, I’m saying that I saw this yesterday. Right at the base of the bush, if it is a few years old, you’ll find a gnarly root with a bunch of finer ones all tangled up.

If I had it to do over (which I actually did today), I would first cut the rose bush down to about a foot tall and then transplant it. This way, the plant is easier to work with and I won’t get my hopes smashed as I watch all the nice green growth wilt away.

As I said above, I transplanted six more Rose bushes over the past few days and I did it just the way I said I would, by cutting it down first and then transplanting it. Rose bushes are good at growing very, very fast under the right conditions.

Before I started writing this post, I did a little online research on “How to transplant a Rose bush.” You would be surprised at what I found. On one website, there was about two pages of instructions. They wrote all about the classic, “dig the whole twice as wide…compost…fertilizer” blah blah blah. I read this type of stuff all over the place and really don’t know who writes it. I get the feeling that the faster and dirtier the transplant job, the better things grow. I’m talkin’ pickup truck and chain style. The minute you stop and spend all sorts of time and money transplanting bushes and shrubs, they die.

Here is my advice when transplanting a Rose bush from my own experience:

1. Cut the bush down to 12 inches
2. Dig around the bush to remove as much soil as you can
3. Push the shovel under the Rose bush as much as you can and rock it back and forth to loosen up the plant
4. When it’s nice and loose, grab the roots and pull until you rip it out

To transplant:

1. Dig a hole
2. Plop the bush in the whole and cover with dirt
3. Water a few times a day for about a week

One word of warning for when you are trying to get the Rose bush out of its originating spot – You are going to sweat, get dirty and if anyone is driving by, laughed at.

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