Surreybrooke Garden Tour Get-Together

This month several members of the Take Joy Society met at Surreybrooke for a garden tour and picnic.  Surreybrooke has been in operation since the late 1970s when Nancy Walz began her business at craft fairs selling handmade candles and dried-flower wreaths from homegrown everlasting flowers.  When I moved here in 1981 I made yearly visits as she began to grow her business by selling plants next to her house.  As she expanded her flower beds on their farm I could always go there to get ideas for my garden and buy perennials and annuals you don't usually find at Lowes or Home Depot.  Over the years they have added four greenhouses,  reconstructed salvaged log cabins to house garden-themed merchandise, and built buildings like the Pavilion to host weddings and other events.

The tour started at the Pavilion where we'd have our picnic afterwards. I'd brought along a tablecloth and had small pots of succulents for Edie and Chris from my garden so I was surprised to find the tables were already set with quilted tablecloths and pots of succulents! . . . .

Midsummer's Day

Today is Midsummer's Day.  I wrote about Tasha Tudor's Midsummer's Eve celebration earlier in the month.  Sarah Ban Breathnach wrote about Tasha's festivities also in her book "Simple Abundance," then goes on to tell us how she, herself, celebrates Midsummer's Day. . . .

I wander out into the backyard very early in the morning and pluck a blossom from the garden heavy with dew.  With my fingers, I’ll pat the dew upon my face, for legend has it that any woman who washes her face in the dew of Midsummer’s Day will grow more lovely with the passing year.  Fairy cakes are made for tea, midsummer’s syllabub (a delightful concoction of cider, lemon, berries, and whipped cream) is prepared for a moonlit picnic, and personal dreams are renewed.

I think it's a lovely idea to find reasons to celebrate the seasons.  There was a time when Summer was all about children home for school vacation, finding activities and trips to keep them busy and enrich their young lives.  Now Summer is about enjoying my garden.  Things are growing and therefore my garden must be tended:  weeding, watering, fertilizing, deadheading.  But I also take time to just enjoy it. . . . .the fragrance of Lavender as I harvest it. . . .

The sight of daisies and evening primroses rioting together. . . .

Climbing roses creating bowers over my garden path. . . .

Hearing the high-pitched croak of the frog as I startle him back into the pond when I draw too close. . . .

But I think one of the most joyful beauties of the place where I live is the sun filtering through the tree tops. . . .

Anne Shirley in "Anne of Avonlea" says it best. . . .

I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens, but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls sipping off a string. 

May you find Joy in every day!


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Take Joy!

June Celebrations

The Rose is June's flower according to Mary Mason Campbell's "The New England Buttr'ry Shelf Almanac", illustrated by Tasha Tudor.  She tells us that according to Mrs. Burke's book, "The Coloured Language of Flowers", compiled in a much earlier era, that a white rose and red rose together signified unity and that a yellow rose meant jealousy.

Here is her simple recipe for Rosewater. . . .

"Collect a pound of scented rose petals and put them in a heatproof glass, enamel, or pottery pan on the fire.  Cover petals with water and bring to a boil, then simmer gently for 10 minutes.  Strain off the water.  May be used for bathing the face and arms on a warm day--very refreshing.  It is best bottled and kept ice cold in the refrigerator."

My roses are coming into bloom.  I bought this climbing rose in 2014.  This is the first year for it to bloom.  It turns out to have a pinkish hue, which I love. . . .

White Ramber (Felicite et Perpetue)

Eden Climber (Meiviolin)

Rainbow Knockout (Radcor)

Carpet Rose

This is my Mystery Rose that showed up in the middle of my Azalea

One of the many wild roses--this one growing up into the Dogwood to continue the white flowers after the Dogwood is out of bloom

Tasha was very fond of roses.  When she died in 2008 half of her ashes were scattered, as she requested, under her favorite rose bush.  The other half were scattered where one of her Corgi's had been buried.

For Tasha Tudor June was the beginning of summer fun starting with Midsummer's Eve as told in "A Time to Keep". . . .

In "Around the Year" Tasha shares her delicate borders of flowers surrounding summer scenes. . . .

Tasha wrote about celebrating Midsummer's Eve in "The Private World of Tasha Tudor". . . .

"Just for fun, my family invented a religion like the Shakers we called Stillwater.  I'm eldress, and we have a big celebration on Midsummer's Eve.  It's really a state of mind.  Stillwater connotes something very peaceful, you see, life without stress.  Nowadays, people are so jeezled up.  If they took some chamomile tea and spent more time rocking on the porch in the evening listening to the liquid song of the hermit thrush, they might enjoy life more......Life is to be enjoyed, not saddled with.  Do you know that lovely quotation from Fra Giovanni?  He was an old monk from away back who wrote to his patron, 'The gloom of the world is but a shadow; behind it, yet within our reach is joy.  Take joy.'  That's the first commandment of the Stillwater religion.  Joy is there for the taking."

I feel drawn to Tasha's porch. . . .

Photo credit:  Richard Brown

Do you have a porch on which to sit and listen to the birds sing?  A place where you can collect your thoughts and enJOY all your blessings?

How do you celebrate Midsummer's Eve?


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Take Joy!