Pocket Full of Memories

I was poking around my desk, looking for a certain pen, when I brushed past a little artifact that made me smile. You know those little odds and ends that you just can't throw away, and end up planted in the back of your desk drawer due to months of neglect? I was very lucky this little tidbit didn't sprout itself as it hid there. What looks like a little wadded up piece of fabric is actually a farming family's piece of ingenuity.

When my grandfather passed away in 2006, the natural estate dispersal ensued. However, when we were about to leave for the last time, I noticed this little piece of fabric sitting behind the electric outlet mechanism in the basement. It was dusty and covered in cobwebs, but when I picked it up the memories flooded over me quite suddenly. I knew that my grandmother had placed this little bundle of leftover corn seeds in the basement, in hopes of using them in another season. But the fabric she used to keep these little seeds inside was no ordinary piece of fabric. It was a pocket she had recycled from one of grandfather's old work shirts.

Long before the days of Ziploc or even recycled 35mm film canisters, families used whatever they could think of as containers or receptacles. This was a small piece of that left over farm life that I remembered, and I knew I could not throw it away. Not only did the memories associated with this little bundle involve planting the vegetable garden with both grandparents each summer, but it also involved the shirt that provided the pocket. Growing up, my favorite place in the world was my grandparents farm in Bourbon County Kentucky. At 165+ acres, I could roam as much as I wanted and each visit included some new farm related adventure. Each summer, I watched 'Pappa' (pronounced Pah-Paw) go out to the dairy or out to the field in one of these light blue cotton work shirts. It is remarkable how holding something tactile in your hand can bring back the memories so clearly. In this case the seemingly unimportant little piece of fabric is a much larger representation of the first environmentalists. "Waste not want not" was the order of each day. Life was a bit tougher, but the rewards for a days work were felt even more as the day drew to a close.....complete with iced tea and a homemade desert.....ah, those cool summer evenings on the porch looking out over the fields.....how I miss those, and the loved ones who sat next to me.

Cherry Blossom Festival at Yuko-En

Last weekend (the 17th-18th), Georgetown Kentucky played host to a couple of wonderful cultural events. Both events were related to each other, held in adjoining venues, but separate in scope. The first event that usually draws more attention from those with families is the annual kite festival. Out past the Cardome Center on U.S. 25, a huge field is opened to participants flying kites. The colorful display is remarkable and a wonderful opener to the spring season! The events for that portion are free, but parking is $5. Games and vendors are included in this event, but a frequently overlooked portion of this celebration is the Cherry Blossom Festival held in the adjoining Yuko-En Japanese Garden.

The Yuko-En on the Elkhorn is Kentucky's only official sister relationship garden with Japan. If you are not familiar with Georgetown, the city has a special sister relationship with the Japanese City of Tahara-Cho because of Georgetown's huge Toyota factory that sits on the northern boundaries of the city. The word "huge" is no exaggeration as the right viewing angle will demonstrate its massive size.......bigger than Georgetown itself!

Opened in 2000, the garden was constructed to be a Japanese garden in design, but Bluegrass region in specimen use. By combining the two elements, the experience is unlike any other. There are several reasons why I love visiting this garden. The architecture alone is quite stunning. I have admired this gorgeous entryway since it was built, and I didn't even live in the county at the time. The visual impact is not only arresting, but when entering through the large gates, they seduce you into this long sunken pathway lined with bamboo. The impact creates an immediate sense of entering a special and slightly mysterious other world.

The architectural elements continue once inside the garden. This large multi-purpose building was recently completed within the past few years, but has played host to several events, such as weddings and educational sessions.

The approach to the multi-purpose building is embellished with this beautiful red bridge that serves as a prime place for a photo-op!

But on the other side of the multi-purpose building, the walled zen garden is truly a peaceful and shady place to sit and contemplate the beauty that surrounds each visitor as they pass through. You may not walk in this portion of the garden, but you may sit on a deck that overlooks this stunningly detailed enclosure which is just as enjoyable. One feature of the festival itself is the zen garden combing ceremony. I missed that event this year, but that only gives me a reason to try again next year!

Across from the multi-purpose building is the lake that holds, what appears to be, thousands of beautiful goldfish and koi. This is usually the favorite spot for the children as there is a place dedicated to feeding the fish. Honestly, some of the old scaled veterans in there look like they are just miniature sharks, but they assure me they are really just koi. I'm not so convinced!

The view looking toward the waterfall feature, as seen below. As you can see, the blooms are exquisite during this festival. The dogwoods, redbud, and other blossoms provide quite the show!
Wandering down below the hill to the small waterfall, keep your eyes open for pieces of artwork that line the paths. This is a fairly new feature to Yuko-En, but a very welcome one. It adds such a visual interest to the surroundings and exposes the local visitors to an unfamiliar art element. In my humble opinion, introducing art into the garden not only enhances the experience, but better connects us to the culture of Tahara-Cho. Nothing conveys a message more clearly than artwork. Combined with the elements of nature, one can quickly appreciate the spiritual influences that are so important to the Japanese culture.

Overall, the events of the Cherry Blossom Festival are numerous all weekend long and just as colorful as the kites flying in the distance. The educational value is priceless for both the kids and the adults. My only criticism is one that could be very easily remedied......I didn't see any cherry trees! There looked to be some on the hill near the Cardome Center, but the blossoms had already reached their peak the week before and were already brown. I couldn't guarantee that they were cherry trees since I didn't get close enough to tell for sure. Needless to say, they should add cherry trees to the this beautiful garden that has ample room for such additions, or change the name of the festival.


If you missed the festival, don't worry, this garden is beautiful year round! If you are in the Georgetown area, be sure to put this on the itinerary......you will be very glad you did!

Sayonara everyone!

Kentucky Herb Festival 2008

Since our move to Kentucky about 15 years ago, we have made the Kentucky Herb Festival in Frankfort an annual tradition. It is not a large festival, but quaint and just big enough to take up about half of the day allowing the rest of the day to get home and plant what was bought! Last year, for the 15th anniversary, the Kentucky Herb Association decided to move the date from the second weekend in June to the third weekend in May. Unfortunately, only their die hard members got the news and the largest city nearby, Lexington was left out of the advert....so this year appeared to be much better attended. To give you a taste of why this trip is worth the yearly dedication, I will provide a sampling of the day's activities, including lunch and another favorite garden center visit that makes the day very special.

The day begins with a stop at the Herb Fest located in the farm buildings of Lakeview Park which overlooks a golf course and nice size lake.

The festival is free to get in, but parking is $3.00 and if you want to stay for their herbal lunch held at the beautiful brick building at the entrance, the cost is $9.00 and limited to 120 people.

Other activities include guest speakers, live music and an auction with proceeds benefiting the Kentucky Herb Association.

Now for a few tasty morsels from this year's festival:

One booth we usually make a bee line for is Wash House Herb Farm's homemade herb breads. They sell out pretty quickly, so we load up before heading around to the rest of the booths.

Chrisman Mill Vineyard (the oldest licensed vineyard in the U.S.) offers a very nice wine tasting with wine bread and cheese spread standing by for a wonderful sampling.

The other booths loaded with wonderful smellygood stuff and books about growing, cooking or crafting with your favorite herbs make for a visually appealing and diverse shopping experience.

And then there are the herbs and plants! So many unique herbs, wildflowers, native plants and perennials to choose from!

In fact, there are so many things to load up with at such reasonable prices, we have adopted the habit of bringing along our trusty antique grocery cart. Simply perfect for bags of bread, wine, herbs and everything else we can pack into it. The opening is also just the right size for laying a flat of plants on top. But as you can see, we only bought a few herbs this year that fit into bags on top of the bread.

As we head back to the car, we have thoughts of lunch at Gibby's (voted Frankfort's favorite place for lunch!) and then more plans for shopping at a local greenhouse - Wilson's.

Wilson's Nursery sits on Frankfort's By-Pass and takes up many acres of growing space.

The displays throughout the greenhouse, giftshop and terraces combine to create a gardener's heaven! Once upon a time Wilson's used to participate in the Herb Festival but left several years ago, preferring to put on a nice herb sale at their own place. In years past, the sale has been very significant, but this year the Herb Fest is a month earlier and so the sale is not as wonderful, but the selection is still worth the trip!

The ultimate fairy garden!

And be careful where you rummage through the plants! You may find a feline hiding in the roses. One of the workers said she was very friendly, but didn't know her name....only that her mother's name was Lola! So keep an eye out for Lola's daughter while spending your Saturday wandering through Wilson's!

State of the Frog

In one of my earlier posts, I lamented about the fact that the snowdome had been so firmly in place over the central Kentucky area that we had not had a significant snowfall in several years. Well, I can officially report that the snowdome has a crack in it as it just let in about 5-8 inches of snow over the first part of the weekend. Reports have come in that Lexington received about 5 inches and Georgetown about 7. That's pretty accurate, although, some blowing made it hard to measure through the drifts. One of my best measurements has to be Mr. Frog in the rose garden since he sits low and among so many rose branches that snow has a hard time blowing away from his area. As you can see here, only his small face is peeking through the accumulation. Despite this significant crack in the snowdome, it was only a crack since we were predicted to get the storm of the decade with a foot or more. Around the Ohio River from Louisville to Cincinnati and points north, the accumulations were over a foot which is not really uncommon for them. For me, I am enjoying our 7 inches and am glad for the bands of dry air that swept into the area during the storm to lighten our ultimate total!

By Saturday morning, the storm was still in full swing and the birds were fairly sparse as you can see from this early gathering around the bird feeder. We decided to head outside and let the dogs romp around a bit while we filled up the feeder. Our black lab Pookie was really enjoying herself, even though I kept telling her NOT to drop her toy in the snow or we wouldn't find it for a week. She is the baby at about 7 years so she really enjoyed the snow. Brewster on the other hand at 13 ran around for a few minutes then decided to crouch and give me the most pitiful looks imaginable. I got the feeling that he blamed me personally for the cold white stuff clinging to his nether regions!

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I couldn't even catch Little Girl since she came out, leaked to make some yellow snow and then slinked right back in. She is Brewster's sister so the age thing also prevented her from enjoying the fluffy white.

Once the feeder was filled we decided to add a few more trays of open feed since we figure the birds in the area would be looking for any food source around. We started with just a planter bottom full of black oiler sunflower seed strategically placed next to a very small sapling that had been a favorite perch of local cardinals. After adding a few more open plastic trays of regular mix, we backed away and perched in a strategic locale to await the new arrivals.

The first takers were four poppy cardinals followed by one or two females. They didn't exactly gravitate towards the oiler seeds as we expected but rather sampled all of the trays.

Here is a nice couple trying out the oiler while the others feasted around the main feeder. Here is another one perched in the northwest quadrant of the rose garden, watching the feasters. While they consumed and ruled the area, it wouldn't be long before the Starlings invaded the bird buffet.

After the hoard of "welfare birds" had their fill, we were left with the same cardinals that had started the action along with a new black-eyed Junco seen here who was so skittish or polite that he spent most of the time circling the main offerings to clean up the remnants left in the snow. As you can see from this angle, the terracotta saucer is no longer hovering on the snow in a picturesque manner, but now slants awkwardly on top of the trampled pack.

Since we haven't noticed any Juncos since our days in Cincinnati, we looked this lone hunter up in a book readily available: Birds of the Smokies by Alsop. I know we are 2.5 hours from the Tennessee border, but this bird is so widespread across the country that he is represented in this source. What I found to be interesting is the local vernacular regarding this little bird: "Juncos are called 'snow birds' by locals because their appearance in the low elevations in the fall is a signal that winter is coming. Their scientific name hyemalis is New Latin for 'wintry'." Well, it was nice to see this little bird, but if he is the snow bird, I've had enough for the year, he should feel free to retire back to the higher elevations and let our Spring come forth!

Spring Arrives in Second Life

One of my fellow garden bloggers out there recently made a reference to the five foot tall daffodils in Second Life - sorry, I can't remember which one it was, please comment to leave a link if it was you! So, on a recent foray into this new world, I was amazed at the amount of flowers and blooming trees that are in full flourish right now in SL.

So far, I have only come across one group of overly large flowers...some tulips over five feet.


Most of the other plants I've seen are large and beautiful but of semi-normal size. UK Island has a beautiful scene right now with blooming cherry and dogwood trees.












My favorite grouping is the red tulips next to the water garden in the gazebo area.





It seems that gardens are an important design element in SL with many people focusing on the specifics of nature to help an area look more realistic. Besides these beauties, you can encounter plants of all kinds from the deserts to the tropics. In one Italian location the trees are square and triangle just like the modernist representation in Disney's Sleeping Beauty. Our current quest in SL focuses on education and libraries, but many fail to notice the importance of the garden features....but I knew the garden bloggers would like to see it. By the way, if you're ever on UK Island in second life, keep an eye out for my avatar, Sifriya Devin, she's probably over in the gazebo, listening to the fountain.

On to embrace March! Finally, a few warm days in Kentucky! 60s today and tomorrow!