This was one of my favorite images captured during the Subaru at Greensgrow Farm event this past Autumn. The color of this healthy succulent only goes to show that this plant species can be festive anytime of year. I’m loving the show this all natural container is putting on; How about you?
View more of my images from Subaru Fall Festival at Greensgrow Farm in Philadelipha on my Flickr account.
Does every gardener take to birdwatching in the winter months? At first last year when I started networking the birds I spotted and took photos of from my office window I felt a bit odd. I guess I always thought of birdwatching as a hobby old people enjoyed doing because it was something you could do in the warmth of indoors without much activity involved. Well after a few photo shares of the birds I had captured as they stopped by my Ohio garden, I noticed that birdwatching was something all ages were enjoying. You can imagine my surprise to have a young 4-H Clover-bud who was a 2nd grader comment on a Blue Jay photo I shared on Facebook.
The Ladies Hangout
Nikon D-90 is my weapon of choice. I snapped this image with my Iphone4.
From the comfort of my home office about 15 feet from the window and 10 feet out into the garden, I took this cozy photo of two female cardinals in the late December burning bush. I’ve been keeping my Nikon D90 next to me with the 55-300 MM lens ready to shot at any given time. Natural shots are fun outdoors to and I will journey out to the wooded area of our yard as soon as the ground freezes. We’ve had so much rain this year our property has been Lake front this year in Ohio. The best time to take photos in the woods is later afternoon when the temperature is around 20*f – 35*F . I don’t mind wearing extra socks and using hand warmers to spend hours sitting in the deer blind the hunters left behind for me to use for my hunting with the camera.
It took FOREVER to get that photo of the cardinals on this partly sunny mild winter day. The bird feeder was just filled with a new blend of seed just for the Midwestern song birds I was given to try out in my garden. What gives? The bird feed was yummy! I couldn’t help but try a bite of a dried cherry. Seriously, look how yummy that food looks in the image collage below. My green feeder is filled with Midwestern Bird Blend with ingredients that include: Black oil sunflower, niger, white millet, safflower, peanuts, sunflower chips, raisins, canola seed, cherries. Anything good enough for my guest is good enough for me to try!
Picking out Bird Food Can be Confusing - I went with the Midwestern Blend!'
It wasn’t until I got up to get another cup of coffee that I noticed to the right of the window where I was shooting there was an Oppie Kitty on the prowl. SHAME ON YOU KITTY! I want to note that this kitty is a handicap kitty who had no back claws because of malnutrition when he was rescued and brought to us in 2005. I don’t think he could catch a bird if it was the last meal he ever had.
Shame on you Kitty ..... Oppie Kitty on the Prowl
I look forward to sharing more #birdwatching photos throughout the winter from my garden here in Ohio.
One of the highlights of being involved on Twitter is sharing and learning from my #gardenchat friends. From time to time I get a questions that would make a creative blog post topic and this entry happens to be one of those posts. Today I’m inviting you to join in on this topic as well as visit a few of my friends who are writing about where their blog names came from. Monica is not the first garden friend to ask me ‘what does the G in BGgarden stand for …. your last name starts with an H!’.
My story is pretty simple – just like me! I became a BLOGGER when I started my first blog using Googles Blogger. This account was first started in early 2008 and my intentions were to share information with my new Spark People Fitness group. My blog was to help me stay on track with making healthy food choices and exercising excessively. It totally didn’t keep me on track as I had hoped and I found myself sharing daily from my garden.
The screen grab above is off of my old site from April 2008 when I officially started sharing garden information on my blog. My first blog was titled ‘Mom In Garden’ while sharing healthy living tips on this over network. After a few months of networking I realized it was a very good thing I didn’t go with MOM in Garden because there are many garden loving mommy bloggers out there using that similar name.
It was very simple and some what of a no-brainer to pick BGgarden. You see, that is where my garden is located. I’m in Bowling Green, Ohio. This garden is my life. It is where we raise our children and grow with our friends. Over on the cozy garden swing that I use as one of my trademark images is where I find myself and all the creative ways of living in zone 5b Ohio.
I hope you will click on over to Monica’s site at http://gardenfaerie.blogspot.com to enjoy the story behind her name as well as the others who will be sharing. If you have a blog I hope you will join in on the fun and share your story.
In a short windy evening, the beautiful color in the landscape was whisked away. The color splashes throughout my surrounds is now tossing and turning as the winter winds arrive. I’m missing that autumn walk out my mudroom door as my Aussie Olivia takes her spot in the warm lawn ( photo above).
Getting down with the subject I’m photographing is much more enjoyable on the warm autumn ground.
Before the wind blew the Bald Cyprus was on fire and the pond could be framed by the Ginko tree leaves (photo above). Thank goodness for photography and being able to capture those autumn days to remember when we need a warming thought.
Did the wind blow into your garden this week? Are you missing the color splashes of autumn? I’d love to hear from you.
Cozy Slippers, Coffee, Dahlias, and my icloud for sharing it all
This is the one cloud that is truly creating continuous sunshine in my Apple world and I hope to share with you what I’ve experienced in this short post. I recently became an Apple user and have had a 90% positive experience since purchasing an Iphone and Ipad for business use. These products have become so much more then a business adventure with the introduction of applications like the icloud.
First note you must be an Apple user to be able to use this application. When you sign up for iCloud for your Apple devices you automatically get 5GB of free storage. <bonus… right?!> You have to be sure to do all current updates on your mobile devices before these options will work properly. I updated my iphone / ipad from my PC on Wednesday after my brother told me about his positive experience with the icloud. If you don’t have the new iPhone, the 4S, you’ll need to install the latest mobile operating system, iOS 5, a free update that will require hooking up the device to a computer. The new beta, which is available to all users with an Apple ID, features web-based version of Mail, Contacts, Calendar and photo sharing. luding iTunes Match.
What does icloud do now that I have it updated : When you turn on the icloud fuction in your app settings you will now be able to view your images on any devices using wifi. HOWEVER, I can’t figure out where this function is allowing me to view the images on my PC if it is at all. The official apple webpage says that it works on PC so I will have to do more research and get back with you as soon as possible. As for now the icloud is making it easier to share images from my growing experience.
By the way, the 10% negative about Apple experience I mentioned in the beginning of this share has to do with camera to Apple processing which save a totally different blog entry.
I’d like to hear from you if you use any Apple products for garden related networking. Be sure to leave me a comment below.
I would rather be called a ‘tweeter’ then a ‘blogger’ and in this short share I’ll tell you why. When I wasn’t out in the garden today preparing for the cold days ahead I was at my desk putting the finishing touches on a podcast and networking the community growing on #gardenchat. When I finally sat down do some sharing of all these garden related topics that had popped in my head over the past few days I drew a blank. For the past few days I’ve snapped photos galore and uploaded a few videos of Autumn arriving and yet I just couldn’t think. What did I do? I tweeted for help!
@HelenYoest was the first to tweet to me ‘Two For Tuesday’ and @SolakNC started sharing wonderful photos from his southern garden.
I combined the two suggestions and will share TWO of my favorite #gardenwalk photos from my garden .
Thank you friends for inspiring me to share something from my garden here in #ohio.
Two Dogwood Seeds From my Autumn Garden
A Few of the Many Knock-Out Roses Blooming
