Kylee Baumle's Blog, page 8

I Bought it For the Foliage

This spring, I was walking around the garden centers, in search of petunias to fill lots of spots in the garden, since I had declared this year to be The Year of the Petunia here at Our Little Acre. I found an orange one that I decided I needed, and not too far away on the bench was a plant with foliage that looked like it was just made to go with that petunia.

I can imagine all kinds of wonderful things this would complement!
I bought them both and potted them up in a hanging container for the...

Update on the Cedar Waxwing

The young cedar waxwing I saved from the jaws of death last week is doing fine in The Berry Barn. I took some strawberries out to it and it wasn't too long before those disappeared. I also put a little dish of water with the berries but I don't know if it's drinking much of that.



The other day, I noticed another cedar waxwing hanging around and I assumed it was a relative - mom or dad, perhaps?

 
A concerned mama?Well, today, we got confirmation that it is - Romie found the nest.We have a...

I Saved a Life Today

I was mulching this afternoon, in a fine mist, thankful that we weren't getting a downpour of rain AGAIN. We've already set a new record for the most rainfall in a single month ever. (We're currently at just under 12" for the month.) There's still one more day left and it's supposed to...wait for it...RAIN. *sigh*

But anyway, as I was mulching, I noticed OhNo, one of our outside cats, a short distance away, under the Japanese maple tree, being quite attentive. A little too attentive. That coul...

Fiskars PowerGear2: A Review and a Giveaway!

I love to prune. I mean LOVE it. Ask my husband and his face will cloud over, because he hates pruning. He gets ouchy about it not because he actually hates the act of pruning, he hates that I love it so much. He isn't convinced that pruning trees and shrubs is altogether good for them. It's one of the Top Ten Things We Argue About. (I know you have silly things that you argue about with your significant other too, so stop laughing.)

When Fiskars, a company who has been in business for 365 yea...

A New Way to Feed Hummingbirds: The Hummerbar® ( A Review )

Summer seems to be a busy season for so many things around here - taking care of the garden, going on trips, and receiving new products to try. Here's one I got a few weeks ago, just before I left for Toronto that has me intrigued. From Perky-Pet, it's a hummingbird feeder extraordinaire!

Called the Hummerbar, the one I received is a two-foot long tube that holds the nectar for the hummingbirds, with 22 ports (11 on each side) that allow many hummingbirds to feed at one time.



It hangs via two c...

Fruit-infused Water is a Refreshing Treat! (+ a giveaway!)

It's the height of strawberry season here and while I like my strawberries best just-picked off the plant, there's a plethora of ways to enjoy their ruby red juicy goodness. I just for the first time have started enjoying them another way - in water.

When I was contacted about testing and reviewing the Fruit Infusion Pitcher by Kitchen Frontier, I jumped at the chance. I'd not used such a product before, although I'd had strawberry cucumber infused water in Seattle one time, when I was attendi...

What Happened to Our Pine?

We've been inundated with rain this spring. I hate to ask for it to stop though, because it's about this time of year that it stops and doesn't return for a couple of months, which has me doing rain dances. But really... enough for now!

We had a particularly windy storm pass through this afternoon that put an additional half-inch in the rain gauge, and except for a brief break, it's been raining ever since.

During that break, I walked out to the garden to take a photo of something and noticed a...

Our Little Acre's First Cherry

Several years ago, I acquired two small cherry tree seedlings at a garden writers event, which I planted in the northeast corner of our property, where most of the other fruits are. (Apples, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries...)

The first couple of years, they grew as they were supposed to and we caged them over winter to protect them from Thumper's destructive behavior. Two winters ago, we forgot to do that and we paid the price. The cherry trees were gnawed off all the way to the ground...

Wordless Wednesday: Flora or Fauna?

Once I saw the swans engaged in conversation, I could no longer see the columbine.

Aquilegia sp.

There's a New Tool in Town! Barebones Hori Hori Garden Knife (+ a giveaway!)

This past week's Earth Day festivities, ongoing since the first Earth Day in 1970, are meant to call attention to our planet and to urge us to be kind to it. It is life-giving in that we derive our sustenance from it, either directly or indirectly. Did you do anything special to observe Earth Day?

Just a couple of days before, I had received a new tool in the mail to test. It was not only new to me, but new to the rest of the world as well, with it being officially introduced on Earth Day by B...