Dear Michele,
First of all, congratulations on completing your
Ayurveda training and best wishes with the new Ayurveda aspect to
your business. This is very exciting! I know you will be a great help to so many people with treatments and advice.
I am really eager to see the plans the London garden design company comes up with for your balcony. What an interesting project! Thanks for the links to your updated site and
your mom's site, too. You did a great job on both. I loved reading about the services you both provide.
I also enjoyed your goat video! Does your neighbor get milk from his goats? It will be great to share more videos via youtube in the future. It really allows me to feel like I've visited your garden in a way photos, not matter how lovely, can't.
Here in Maine, we've had quite a mild August weather wise, for which I am grateful. It has felt more like fall. But, it really was too good to be true because now we are having a heat wave! I hope soon the cool temperatures will return. It's hard to believe the first frost probably isn't too long in coming. My garden is doing well. I've harvested lemon cucumbers and pickling cukes, tomatoes, squash, peppers, herbs, onions, elderberries, and pototoes.
I've added some perennials to my cottage garden. This is the time of year to find them on sale so I've added hyssop, coreopsis, echinacea, salvia, pincusion flower, Russian sage, rudbekia, shasta daisies, blanket flower, globe thistle and two new rose bushes.
In non-gardening news, we recently returned from a camping trip to Vermont and upstate New York. Along the way, I took photos whenever I spied interesting plants and gardens so I'll be sharing those soon.
We visited
Smuggler's Notch, Stowe and
Champlain Islands region of Vermont, then crossed Lake Champlain by ferry. From Plattsburg we drove to Malone, NY and a long time dream of mine came true. We toured the house and grounds of the
Wilder Homestead: Boyhood Home of Almanzo Wilder. This is the farm in the Little House book "Farmer Boy" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. As you may remember, five years ago I visited all the Little House sites except Iowa and New York. So, this was one of those things on my bucket list! We met the nicest ladies who give tours and learned so much. I'll tell you all about it soon, especially
the heritage gardens on the grounds.
After Malone we headed through the Adiorondack Mountains and forest to Lake Placid, NY. Lake Placid was the site of the 1932 and the 1980 Winter Olympics. I can't recall if you were still living in England at the time, but you and our readers may remember the "Miracle on Ice" American hockey team's gold medal in 1980. My daughter is a figure skater, so she wanted to practice at the Olympic Center where history was made, if she could get the chance. We visited the beautiful town of Lake Placid and camped near by in the mountains.
On the way home we took a few hours to visit
Fort Ticonderoga, which sits where the southern tip of Lake Champlain and the northern tip of Lake George meet. This was a strategic location back in the 1700s and lucky for us, because it's a breathtakingly beautiful spot.
I have a treat for all our readers because Fort Ticonderoga isn't just an historic fort. On the grounds, in the location where soldiers once grew their own food, the King's Garden now flourishes. This is a huge English style walled garden. Outside the walled garden are three amazing vegetable gardens and a breathtaking greenhouse. I can't wait to show everyone the photos I took of the King's Garden. It is one of the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen.
So, that's the update from here. I'll leave everyone with this photo of
an entrance to the walled King's Garden and a promise to post more
photos of my travels very soon.
~Caroline
