summer forever

there's something really lovely about the overgrown greenness of late summer. everything is filled in and climbing everywhere...

my neighbor's climbing vines are coming over the wall (free plants!).  i think these are clematis? 

the climbing hydrangea is hanging in there, despite its scale infection. the polka-dots are so hardy and cute (and cheap). 

i'm growing a baby fiddle leaf fig. it's thriving! but i'm a little concerned about it transitioning to the indoors. i hear it's finicky. (not sure what that other gorgeous tropic thing is, but it'll have to come inside too.)

still willa's favorite corner. she spent hours sunning herself there this morning. 

julie brought me all these terra cotta pots. all lined up for the next planting season...

where i read the sunday paper and ponder an alternate career as a gardner. but first i put out the cushions, which i was too lazy to do for this photo.

rooftop farming in long island city

last weekend, i finally visited brooklyn grange, a farm that sits atop a sprawling office building in long island city, queens. it's actually not too far from where i used to live in astoria! too bad i didn't know about it then...volunteer farming would have been a good way to spend weekends. 

there's something really incredible about all that produce growing in an industrial landscape. they have tomatoes (dozens of varieties!), eggplants, peppers, okra (which have lovely yellow blooms, did you know?), and big ol' sunflowers at the end of every bed. 

they keep chickens in this coop, as well as a bee apiary down at the edge of roof. i also learned that it's nyc honey week soon! looks like there are some fun events, including a honey-themed dinner at the giant 50-ft long picnic table at the grange.  

there are open visiting and volunteer hours every saturday from 11am to 4pm, and you can buy their vegetables and honey. we were big fans of the ground cherries, which are related to tomatoes. totally delicious. 

and there was this little guy, who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying his visit. 

brooklyn grange now has a location at the brooklyn navy yard. there's a pretty cool video of that space by christopher st. john. you can check it out below.

A 7-month time lapse documenting the first full growing season at the Brooklyn Grange's farm in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. At 65,000 square feet, it's the largest rooftop farm in the world. For more info, check out www.brooklyngrangefarm.com Shot and edited by Christopher St. John A big thanks to Ratatat for the music! Song: Montanita - https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/classics/id354003618

sprout creek farm

last week, we moved some furniture up to the campus apartment. on the way out of town, we stopped at sprout creek farm. apparently, hhh drives past it all the time and has seen its cheeses in brooklyn markets, but we've never actually visited. 

there is a main complex that houses the market as well as a cow barn, it seems, and a couple other barns. 

sprout creek farm is a working farm and educational center. prior to this, the only farm i'd visited in the hudson valley was stone barns, which is probably way too fancy an establishment to call a farm anyhow. also, i think it's in westchester county, which maybe isn't technically in the hudson valley? anyway. on our visit, there was a group of campers looking like they were learning useful lessons about the earth. there were also other people on tractors, tending to cows, doing generally farmer-eque things. 

i just noticed that those benches are made out of pallets. 

apparently you can stay at a cottage they have on the grounds! they will pair it with meals as well, and if you have kids they can go to camp. i was trying to figure out if they have adult farm classes, but it didn't look like it. (too bad. learning to farm sounds like an excellent way to procrastinate on my dissertation.) 

the porch in front of the market, where i waited with willa while hhh bought some cheese.

the craft barn and a silo.

these goats were awesome! they just kept staring at us as we approached. it sort of looked like they were about to put on some kind of performance. or maybe they expected us to? 

it was a nice little detour on the way back to brooklyn. you should stop by if you have a chance! 

a country weekend

it's nice to get away sometimes (all the time). i was upstate last weekend with some friends. there was a lot of lounging about, swimming, grilling, aimless (but sometimes weirdly heated) discussions about celebrities, and a really lovely early morning walk.

we went into hudson one day. lunch was grilled cheese at grazin, and then window-shopping down warren street. steph and amy picked up some plants at the secret gardener on warren street. 

i saw this pretty pink house, which reminded me of this one.

and then back at the house, i ogled the decor some more before jumping into the pool.  

man, this summer has really sucked so far.

summertime

this is what summertime looks like around here, at least on weekends. during the week, there's still construction in our neighbor's yard, so all the cushions get put away and it's pretty dusty out.  let's start with the patch of fake grass...

looks good, doesn't it? hhh had a lot of doubts, but he's a convert now. :)

this is the shady part of the yard. there are ferns, hydrangea, a rubber plant, and some ivy. 

a tall planter with coleus and korean feather grass.

all the furniture is from ikea. it's pretty beat-up but is definitely good value.

the climbing hydrangea is fighting a scale infestation in the corner. scale is really gross. :(

this is how the yard was arranged for hhh's birthday bbq a few weeks back. there some small pots of thyme and polka dots on the table.

another view of the picnic table area.

willa enjoys the fake grass too. she loves how warm it gets.