Climbing rose on the garden fence. Fallen rose petals Decorate the blades of grass, Beauty perseveres Tonya R. Hengerer _____________________________________________________________________________________ Day 4 of Five Photos, Five Stories Challenge for which I was nominated by the talented Prajakta. Her thoughtful stories and creative poems are a delight. Please make sure to visit her blog! My fourth nomination for this challenge is […]
“In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.” ~Aristotle
“To know someone here or there with whom you feel there is understanding in spite of distances or thoughts unexpressed—that can make of this earth a garden.” ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe * These photographs were taken in the Cotswolds area of England.
“Find Joy In Each Day” ~Saint Philip Neri We all have difficult days that are challenging. However, when we strive to SEE the seemingly small things in our everyday worlds, we often appreciate that there is more joy than we realized. For instance, the beautiful butterfly alight on my great-grandmother’s lilac shrub, the bunny rabbit that visits the courtyard garden […]
I love asparagus, not just because it’s delicious and has lots of fiber, vitamins, and minerals. I love it, because it’s perennial. No matter how long and cold the winter has been, that dutiful spring vegetable is one of the first signs of life in my kitchen garden every year. And, is it ever welcome! However, I must admit that […]
I grew up in an environment of “old stuff”–old houses and barns, antique furniture, and heirloom quilts and china. My grandparents lived next door in the family’s ancestral home, and Grandma Rieley loved antiques. Almost every Saturday morning she was either at an estate sale, yard sale, or antiques store. All of this influenced my appreciation and love of antiques […]
A few weeks ago, I decided to coax cuttings of a flowering cherry tree into an early performance in order to speed up spring. Persuading plants to flower out of season is known as forcing. You can either trim branches from your yard or buy them from a florist. There are a number of flowering trees and shrubs that […]
My name is Tonya, and I grew up on a 300-acre farm in rural Virginia that has been in my family for over 100 years. After graduating from college, receiving my master’s degree in speech and language pathology, and living and working in a small city for six years, I decided to return to the place of my childhood. Here, in this rural area, on this patch of green, where for four generations my family has farmed, gardened, and lived, I, too wanted to be a part of this continuity. As a fourth generation farmgirl, I have many interests that not only include, but also go beyond the basics of farming, gardening, sheep and chicken-keeping. It is all of this and more that I plan on sharing in this blog.
fourth generation farmgirl 