early morning mint fields & so very dear

Deerfield in the early morning light.

The sun barely peeking over the edge our hills and making rainbows through the arcs of the sprinklers.

We raise acres and acres of peppermint for tea.

Plenty of good water, cool nights,the warm sun of the high desert and growing on the 45th parallel make this the most sought after mint leaf for our German tea buyers.

They tell us that the taste is the best in the world.

Such an honor for us for we are but a small farm compared to all those in the world who grow mint for tea.

Just this morning, the sun barely peeking over the hills, my husband called me to the new mint fields where he had found this new baby sleeping in the mint, his momma and twin not far away.

Wearing my boots & my nightgown-6" deep in mud, I quietly knelt down and the wee spotted baby let me take his likeness.

He is about as big as a cat, so tiny and more than likely just a day old.

Each spring the deer come down from the hills into our fields and my gardens and make themselves quite at home.

Surely most of them were born here and they have their babies here.

There are so many deer here on Deerfield that you can imagine why we call it Deerfield.

The dearest place on earth.

humble

she bows in her head in gratitude and gives thanks. grateful to be loved just as she was and humbled to be loved beyond measure.

in profusion gaye

Flowr's in profusion gaye

delight us

in

the monthe of Maye!

early may morning

All nature smiles,

the fields look gay,

The meadowlark carols

on the spray,

a thousand songsters join the throng

and echo answers to the song.

my Momma

my Momma

was born singing.

She sang with the voice of an angel,

she sang solos in her church choir, she sang at weddings,

she sang before an orchestra when she was 16.

She sang her way through life and was given a college scholarship in music and voice.

She gave it all up for the love of

a 6'4" farm boy of good German stock.

Tall, dark and handsome, a boy of few words,

he sang to her heart...

and she listened.

She sang in the wheat fields, she sang at the stove,

she sang to five babies,

she sang at the clothes lines filled with billowing flannel diapers and Levi jeans.

She sang us all to sleep when we were feverish and fretful.

She sang while we worked, she sang while we played.

She gave us her gift of music...and so much love.

She sings to us everyday

simple things small joys

Here's the wonderful little catalogue that Cathy of Cathy Penton Designs has available right this very moment. I always enjoy Cathy's beautiful little books, they are works of art & inspiration in themselves

I think it's just beautiful and I know that you'll enjoy it,too.

all about family & friendships

and celebrating the love of old paper...

for the love of old paper

old paper...

doesn't the sound of those words just make your heart sing?

I know it does mine...

19th c. wedding invitations, early school copy books, early farm ledgers carefully handwritten in spidery sepia ink....the columns of carefully recorded numbers as beautiful as the writing itself. Thick & thin, long script-y letters, faded and leaving only a whisper of the writer behind...

old paper is a needful thing here...we celebrate with it, we write our hopes and dreams on it, we search for it, collect it and we hoard precious stacks of it, safely tied up with old ribbons.

I remember my Mother, my little sister & I sitting under a Hawthorne tree on an old quilt. My Mother drew wonderful paper dolls for us and colored them with our crayons. We made dresses for them from cupcake papers & pink clover garlands from the lawn. We played with them for hours and hours. My littlest brother & I made paper shoes for him to wear...they only lasted about 2 steps, but we had the best time. Laughing til we hurt.

Nearly all our family gatherings have something we've made of old papers, whether it be paper hats to wear through dinner or a hand lettered & decorated place card at each place setting....a frilled paper wedding cake top & Wedding crowns and wedding invitations for friends & family. Wonderful paper favors & invitations for college graduations, Birthday crowns commemorating a milestone birthday with layers of mementos of treasured memories.

A precious baby crown I made for the birth my grand daughter, Emma, all in sweet pale pink rosebuds with a tiny baby face peeking out from rose buds ...tiny enough for her sweet newborn head...

at this moment there is a whole gathering of little paper ladye's and gentlemen that my daughter,Katie, made for me--the entire glad party of them dangling amid the crystals of the dining room chandelier.

To help celebrate the love of old paper I invite you to visit my dear friend, Cathy Penton of Cathy Penton Designs in Australia. She has just put together a truly beautiful little catalogue which is available through her website.

Inside you will find her wonderful little "inspirations in glass" charms handmade from old images and lovely old papers along with beautiful one of a kind hand made treasures that Cathy has been gathering together to delight the eye...

wonderful handmade one of a kind treasures made of old papers & old linen, wondrous treasures handmade by artists Angela Osment,Stacy Nash, Lori Brechlin of Notforgotten Farm...Sparrow's Cottage & Deerfield Farmhouse.

All surely will delight the eye and celebrate the love of old paper.

precious & sweet may baskets

Wishing you all a Happy first day of May !

As many of you know, I have an affinity for wonderful small things that have to do with old dollies & babies...little shoes, little dresses, little cups & bowls, wee bonnets and books and most charming of all

these little children's baskets. These are from the early 1800's and have just come to live with me here. I discovered my very first of these little baskets nearly 15 years ago in a dusty cupboard of a Pennsylvanian estate sale. My heart just jumped!

Now, all of the Deerfield dollies are clamoring for a turn at holding them. The smallest here is but 3" tall, just right for my New England dolly, Elisabeth, that came to live with us 2 summers past.

I can only imagine the happy hours that these little baskets have spent under the lilac hedge with their little girl owners, pretending to be grown up ladies, playing with their dollies & having tea.