Summer doesn’t have to end just because the blooms do. We spend months patiently cultivating our gardens, watching every bud erupt into peak summer color. But as the season begins to shift, a new kind of artistic expression begins: the art of preservation. Historically, drying flowers wasn't just a craft—it was a necessity for keeping beauty alive through the darker months. Bringing your homegrown flowers into your interior design shouldn't stop when the frost hits. By leaning into drying techniques, you extend the life of your footprint well past the final harvest. Flowers like Hydrangeas, Strawflowers, and Lavender take on an entirely new, sophisticated visual texture when dried. Their colors soften, their structures become sculptural, and they bring an effortless, muted warmth to autumn and winter spaces. Instead of letting the late-summer garden simply fade away, let's preserve it. True design is about finding beauty in every phase of a plant's life—from sprout, to bloom, to dry structural artifact. Have you ever tried drying your own garden harvest? Tell me what you're hanging upside down this week in the comments!

Funny thing about gardening - especially vegetable gardening, you always think you need to try something out just to see what happens. This year, decided to test out dehydrating yellow squash. Now I don't have a dehydrator, I use the gas oven so when you read about dehydrating in the oven, that is because I don't have enough counter space for any more kitchen gadgets! Anyway, dehydrated this squash back in June, and I elected to not blanch it first, I will next time. Put it into a pot of hamburger soup (everything from the fridge, plus some burger!) and I tossed in a bag of this dehydrated squash. Was PRETTY darn good! I do have to admit the skin was a little tough, I probably should have broke it into smaller pieces and I think the blanching would have helped too. But all in all - had nothing to lose and gained a little knowledge - not a bad day at all!

I was looking and realized I do a lot of posting on FB to help identify plants for new owners. And it occurs to me that not everyone may know where to go or how to go about identifying a plant. So I am going to put together a cheat sheet of sorts to help and I am going to drop it I think Friday during the coffee break!

Today my thoughts revolved around water. I know - it seems silly. But living on a sustainable farm, we are always looking for ways to save a penny or a dime. I think that is why I am always looking at what I have and what can I make out of it. So, back to water - Our chicken coop is about 40-50 yards away from the house. I was looking at how many water hoses (hose pipe) we have that have busted ends and I was looking at the distance from our closest pond to the chicken pen. about 100 - 150 feet. And I found an old pump out in the barn that I believe I could perform minor repairs on. With a little time, a trip to the Farm Supply store for splicing materials...I could run water from the pond to the chicken coop AND I could literally have a perfectly built trellis for gourds next year! And a way to water the chickens, the gourds, and maybe some blooming annuals like coreopsis or cone flower that would give the chickens some green and me some cut flowers! Anyone else looking around for what they could do to make a small improvement?

Has or is any one experienced this peak and valley thing with their houseplants? You hit a peak and you have several things to do and then you run into a valley where you simply get to enjoy your plants and know if you even look at a watering bottle, you are going to drown something? I've decided that instead of just watching my plants inside, I am going to do some damage to a daylily patch and a porch corner of irises. At least I can be seeing something happen!