country life
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Bug of the day
Sometimes the best bug is a dead bug. And today Harper and I found a really cool dead bug. It was about the size of a house fly, but irredescent blue and green, and it had a really long stinger. I have never seen one of these flying around. Just as well. The stinger is Continue reading
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Life’s a jungle–eat raspberries
Turn your back on things for a bit, watch a few thunderstorms roll through, and the yard becomes a jungle. Weeds sprout tall and vines creep in, around, and over everything. Multiply that by a few years and even things you planted start to take over. In the front of my house, the dark north side where Continue reading
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Where there’s smoke…
Where there’s smoke at Maywood there may be a driver on 83 who thinks the woods are on fire. We live at the dead end of nowhere bordering an interstate. In summer we can’t even see the highway. We hear it, though– a constant whoosh that is immensely soothing to our 6 week old grandson. Continue reading
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Tadpoles
What do you do when you and your favorite five year old find yourselves stuck at home on a gorgeous sunny morning? Check out the tadpoles, of course. We had gone down to the field to see how the blueberry plants were doing and, while I was yapping on the cellphone, I tried to distract him by making Continue reading
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Fête du muguet
I’ve been around long enough not to be surprised, but I’m still delighted at how things bloom every year like clockwork. It is now May and the lilies of the valley are opening their little bell-shaped flowers right on schedule. In France, May 1st is the Fête du Muguet, when one gives bouquets of lily of the valley Continue reading
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Mondays at Maywood
Mondays at Maywood are my musings from my corner of the Hereford Zone. So far the posts on my MaywoodLiving blog have been mainly read by friends, family, and whoever reads my husband’s Facebook posts, but The Zone Magazine has invited me to share my posts via their website on Mondays. So welcome Hereford Zone readers! Maywood is the property on which Continue reading
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Wild Violets
We don’t have a lawn. We have non-wooded areas that get mowed. Occasionally those areas are supplemented with grass seed, and the grass learns to live in cooperation with all the other ground covers already occupying the yard. Right now the yard is sprinkled with delicate little violets, as are my flower beds and the vegetable garden, Continue reading
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A real snow day
Tractor Supply was mentioned on the radio recently as a strong company to invest in and it was described as a company catering to “recreational farmers.” Is that what we are–recreational farmers? Wow, that sounds so la-dee-dah, like we are landed gentry who can just play around at farming while real farmers go bankrupt trying Continue reading
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Snow day!
Baltimore County two hour delay. Schools in the Hereford Zone are closed. Sorry, Julie, that you are teaching at the other end of the county, but as you know, the roads are tricky out here–hilly and windy with guardrails lacking in critical drop off areas, like the sharp bend on Miller Lane! Ok, so it’s Continue reading
Slightly Off the Grid 