“In the beginning, our plant exchange was really small,” says Elkhart County Park Department Chief Naturalist, Jerry Good. “But, it’s been growing. This will be our fifth year.”

Yesterday, more than 60 people were at the park trading plants. The sun was out. We made new friends. We took home a Rose of Sharon, a tea plant and yellow irises. I petted a baby raccoon.

It was a perfect day.

One man’s excess might be another man’s garden centerpiece.

 Friends and neighbors ponder the selections.

Queen patiently waits while her family trades plants and tours the gardens.

Steve Ganglo, DeFries Garden Park Caretaker, with orphaned two day-old Coonie.

Who could resist that face? Coonie is being raised on half ‘n half and baby formula.

Benefactor Beth DeFries, an amateur botanist interested in preserving Northern Indiana’s native plants, donated her land and house to Elkhart County’s Park Department.

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DeFries Gardens is part of Elkhart County’s River Preserve Park. It features a hiking trail, a unique Calendar Garden, informal gardens and canoe access to the Elkhart River.

Jerry Good, Chief Naturalist with the Elkhart County Parks & Recreation Department, gives us a tour of DeFries Garden’s unique Calendar Garden. Good has served with the park system for 25 years.

THE CALENDAR GARDEN

Designed by Jon Curtell, DeFries Calendar Garden has a section for each season. It is further divided by months. Every month features  grasses, bushes, plants and flowers at their peak. Native Indiana plants are on the outside of the garden. Horicultural displays are toward the inside.

 
Pathways representing four lunar equinoxes, form a compass leading to a pond in the middle of the Calendar Garden.

The pond with it’s water lilies is the garden focal point. There are goldfish and bluegill, too. The bluegill were added because the park department wanted native Indiana fish. Nobody considered size. As a result, the number of goldfish is dropping.

Another view of the pond.

This new building at the end of the west path is almost finished. Future plans include buildings at the ends of the north and south walks. One of them will be a reading room.

A patch of green amidst pink lily pads.

Every month has a lunar marker featuring a distinct moon phase.

One of the seasonal sections.

May is in full bloom.

This poppy is so pretty.

The back entrance to the house Beth DeFries built and donated to the Elkhart County Park Department. Steve Ganglo, park caretaker and his wife Linda live here now.

Beth DeFries worked to preserve native Indiana plants and established a garden by her home. Jerry Good is pointing to Wild Ginger. The pungent rootstalks look and smell similar to ginger root. It may be used as a spice, but is a powerful diuretic.

Soil conditions must be just right for yellow lady’s slipper orchids. If left undisturbed they can survive up to 100 years!

Early Indiana settlers called Trillium prairie lilies. Beth DeFries grew rare double and triple trillium in her garden along with this more common variety.

DeFries Gardens of the River Preserve is on C.R. 46 east of New Paris, Indiana.Daily hours are: Monday - Friday, April thru October: 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and November thru March: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The People Exchange is available at area businesses every two weeks. We get ours at the hardware store.

Every two weeks DH goes to N.P. Hardware to pick up our favorite magazine. Besides more than 100 pages of ads, there is always a reader-contributed recipe,Thoughts from Thelma, Humorous Happenings, Childhoold chuckles and a list of community events.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about making a wonderful pound cake from a recipe I found in The People’s Exchange.  The cake was not only quick  and easy, it tasted as if it had been made from scratch. Which is my favorite kind of recipe.

Since that post, I’ve received requests asking how to subscribe. I called the People’s Exchange and got permission to put their subscription form on my blog.

 Thanks to The People’s Exchange for producing such and interesting publication and for making it available to those who visit Turkey Creek Lane.

This was from my children. It is beautiful and I love it!

Sending all moms a big bouquet of wishes for a happy day!

FINALLY, it’s time to plant. I have spring fever. I want to dig in the dirt. And fill baskets with color and fragrance. But, I need to do research. I’ve used the same arrangements too long.

Baskets and beds are serious business.

In my neck of the woods, women aren’t judged by the size of their diamonds. Dresses don’t come off of racks, let alone from a designer. But, that doesn’t mean women here lead lives that are stark and without creative expression. 

Take a drive down Indiana country roads. You’ll see.

You can’t miss the pure joy expressed by chubby hand-raised calves and lambs romping together in fields. Or that of  the smiling, sparkley eyed, rosy-cheeked children outside trying to catch their pony. Or through their mother’s arrangement of pink tulips, purple phlox and blue silva intemingled with silver rocks.

It is a life I am privileged to be a part of.

I’ve been reading about new flower varieties too. Imagine petunias that don’t need deadheading or water. Or petunias that will trail for 3 feet and not be bothered by wind. I want to incorporate them in every basket.

Fortunately,  Country Garden Greenhouse’s Mennonite design team has been helpfully coming up with ideas for my arrangements.

One of my favorite places to hang out.

Hanging basket 1 is a spike, white lanai verbena, red calibrachoa superbells, lanai blue verbena, yellow calibrachoa (million bells).

Lanai Verbena: Lanai verbena is simply the best trailing verbena on the market today. This improved series exhibits dark green, large broad leaves with a trailing habit of up to 3 feet! Lanai verbena is drought and heat tolerant, and thrives in full, hot sun. Plants in baskets and containers also hold up very well in windy conditions.

Superbells: This new line of hybrid Calibrachoa takes an old favorite to a new level. Developed and selected for their large flowers, their resistance to Thielaviopsis, and their strong summer performance, these Calibrachoa are truly Superbells. Deadheading is not necessary. The plants are heat tolerant. They attract hummingbirds.

Millon Bells: A Calibrachoa, these plants are prolific bloomers that produce hundreds of 1” wide flowers from spring to frost. Flower colors include shades of violet, blue, pink, red, magenta, yellow, bronze, and white.

Hanging basket 2: has a double rose begonia, a tri colored sweet potato vine, a geranium and opal innocence nemesia.

Opal Innocence Nemesia:  Abundant opalescent tri-colored flowers with a strong scent! (They smell heavenly…think lily-of-the-valley or lilac) Nemesia, the mauve pink plant shown, requires no deadheading and thrives in full sun or partial shade. It will bloom all season if fed and watered regularly.

Double Rose Begonia: Take care not to overwater. Water early in the day, water deep and water less frequently. 

Tri colored sweet potato vine: This ornamental plant provides color and interest like no other plant. They are grown for their distinctive foliage and vigorous growth habit.

Ornamental container 3 has failproof plants, a spike, pink geraniums, asparagus fern, and vinca vines. These are perfect for my climate and will survive the care of someone like me, who waits for wilting to watering.

Vinca: Vinca or Periwinkle is a prolific heat and drought tolerant annual, perfect for hot, dry areas. It’s easy to grow, and requires little or no attention. A grower once reported that he has grown Vinca in the same location for 30 years. (I can vouch for vinca’s ability to come back on it’s own. I have some that came up unwanted and it prolifically reproduces and reproduces. It’s like a weed it is so prolific and sturdy.)

Purple fountain grass are in the center. Around the edge are white and purple velvet nemesias. The red flowers in front are red lanai verbena.

Purple Fountain Grass: The flower heads progress from dark ruby red, through shades of pink, to buff as they mature. They are produced in constant succession so all stages are present throughout the flowering season. It makes a great center piece in a container. It is a vigorous grower that will quickly fill in any bed or container. The foxtail like plumes will appear mid summer and last until first frost.

Red Lanai Verbena:  The Verbena Lanai series is free flowering from tip to crown with flowers that are clustered in a ball providing a carpet of color. Lanai verbena is simply the best trailing verbena on the market today. This improved series exhibits dark green, large broad leaves, with a trailing habit of up to 3 feet! Lanai verbena is drought and heat tolerant, and thrives in full, hot sun.

White and Purple Velvet Nemesias have an appealing fragrance and make an excellent choice for early spring color and sales. Ideal for small pots and color accents.Upright and compact. Use in 4-6” pots and combos.

One of many greenhouses.

Waiting for mom.

Sigh….I’m only getting started. There is so much more to do… But the work is such a pleasure. To be continued…

Spring plowing.

Tadpoles. I hope they eat EVERY single mosquito larvae.

Mama and her baby. The neighbors must be trying to wean the baby because the mother horse and colt are in separate pens. He throws a fit every time his mother gets too far away.

Spring violets.

More violets.

I am not sure what kind of flower this is. But, we have a lot of them.

The may apples haven’t blossomed yet.

We have wild ducks living in our woods. I hope that means baby ducks!!!

We’re going to have to take our walks in other directions. I want the ducks to stay.

Why did the ducks cross the road?

To get to the pond on the other side.

The groundhog has his hole in the branch pile and a possum has moved in. Buster and Abby are thrilled. The possum is slow. Sometimes he plays dead. Which makes the dogs ecstatic.

Kitty is as happy for sunshine as I am.

The owl is waiting. He has his prey in sight.

The raccoon dares not move.

He cowers…motionless between the branches.

There’s a life and death drama going on in our treetops. Do you see it?

I’ve circled the owl and raccoon to make them easier to find.

I know owls eat mice. I didn’t know they hunted raccoons. But, there’s no mistaking the owl’s intentions.

His eyes are glued on the raccoon.

I’m hoping this owl has overreached and that his eyes are bigger than his hunting ability.

He’s a Barred Owl. Only, I probably should have said she. According to this Barred Owl site, the females are larger. Of all of the North American owls, the Barred Owl is the species most likely to be active during the day, especially when raising chicks. The chicks leave their nests at 4 weeks, before they are able to fly. They crawl out of the nest using their beak and talons to sit on branches. These owls are called branchers.

Parents care for the young for at least 4 months, much longer than most other owls. Young tend to disperse very short distances, usually less than 6 miles, before settling. Pairs mate for life and territories and nest sites are maintained for many years.

UPDATE: Today we walked the trails and looked everywhere. NO RACCOON FUR.

 More about Barred Owls:Barred Owls (Strix Varia)

We use a lot of flowers in the summer. Geraniums are a good choice for us. They’re hardy and will  survive mild neglect.

There are too many lovely geraniums to throw away. We decided to try to overwinter them.

We overwintered our geraniums dormant in our dark basement.

Here’s how: Storing your geraniums dormant. 

When we brought the geraniums up this spring, we didn’t take them outside right away. We were afraid too much sun, too soon, might harm them. We kept them in our garage for 2 days to acclimate to the sun that came through those windows. Then we brought the geraniums outside and sheltered them next to the wooden fence.

One of the 12 geraniums we brought inside for the winter was overwatered during our acclimation process. It turned mushy. But even so, 11 geraniums is a good start on summer flowers.

This is what they look like after being in the dark for months. Notice the little leaves starting to sprout on the thin white stalks..

The leaves are more developed on this plant.

We brought this one up over a week ago to see how it did. It looks good.

The sticks up…it’s going to be a nice day  

From the days of the Abenaki Indians, even before there was such a thing as New England, weather forecasting was a science. The Abenaki invented what is now called the weather stick, a slender piece of balsam fir wood, about 15-16″ long, that was affixed to a vertical surface.

If the stick bent upward, fair weather was in store; downward meant inclement weather was near.

In Vermont it’s called a Vermont weather stick. In Maine, they call it… surprise, the Maine weather stick. But by whatever name, it is a remarkably effective barometer. It fascinates my husband who plans his day around the weather. 

How could something so simple work?  

I don’t have a clue. But it is fun to watch it moving. Fair weather approaches and the weather stick reaches toward the sky. When the weather begins to turn, the stick points to the ground.

Bad weather’s coming. We’ve got to hurry to get our outside stuff done.

Weather sticks can be ordered from old-time country stores in the northeast…just google Vermont Weather Sticks. Or if you or your significant other likes working with wood, try making your own.

The People’s Exchange is an “advertising paper” serving the Amish communities in Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan. It has a circulation of 10,500. It’s printed every two weeks. And, it is FREE. 

In The People’s Exchange you can find a “Charming Spinner” to get your clothes “50 to 90% dry” or a “woman safe” driving horse. There are ads for “certified organic” Jersey cattle, for race ponies and for farms. Every issue also contains a “favorite” sent-in-by-reader recipe.

Last week they had  the best tasting cake recipe ever. It came out light, fluffy and moist with a wonderful sugary crust. Yummmmmmm…

Last week, The Peoples Exchange had 136 pages.

AMISH POUND CAKE

1 box yellow cake mix (2 layer box)

4 eggs

8 oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup milk

1 pkg.instant vanilla pudding (The recipe didn’t say which size. I used the small box)

brown sugar

cinnamon

Mix together the cake mix, eggs, cream cheese milk and pudding. Pour batter into 2 loaf pans and top with brown sugar and cinnamon. (I was pretty generous.)

Yes, the recipe does use mixes. But, you end up with a cake, fresh from your oven, that TASTES made-from-scratch.

This is my husband’s favorite dinner. Absolutely. No question about it.

The recipe is from Betty Crocker’s 1973 “Dinner for Two”, which was one of my first cookbooks. I own a LOT of cookbooks, but this is the one I’ve used the most.

Over the years, I’ve doubled the chicken recipe many times. It is foolproof.

 OVEN FRIED CHICKEN

1/4 cup shortening or salad oil (part butter)

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp paprika (I use more)

1/8 tsp. pepper

1 1/2 lbs. chicken pieces or 2-pound broiler-fryer chicken cut into quarters

 DIRECTIONS: Heat oven to 425 degrees. In oven, melt shortening in baking pan. Mix flour, salt, paprika and pepper in plastic or paper bag; shake chicken 2 or 3 pieces at a time, in bag until coated.

Place chicken skin side down in pan. Bake uncovered 30 minutes. Turn chicken; bake until tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

1973 Betty Crocker “Cooking for Two Cookbook”