Spring Garden Joy in May

What brings you joy in the spring time? I enjoy seeing so many gardens come to life after a long winter.  my joy comes from the success of the plants I have growing. In the veggie garden right now are my cooking greens & lettuces.  I feel lucky to be in Rochester, NY and have the Fredrick Law Olmsted designed gardens to walk through here.  As the calendar says mid spring, the lilacs in Highland Park are bursting with their fabulous scent.   

This is some of the late fall 2022 Collard I planted last year.  It was not big enough to harvest last fall and it has overwintered here.  We had an odd winter and it was not cold long enough to kill this off. 

Why I love gardening. My paternal Grandma had an amazing green thumb. Growing up, I helped her in her gardens.  I have fond memories of her yard in the spring bursting with colors. Some of the flowers and plants in her gardens: roses, zinnias, geraniums, peonies, sweet potato vine,  pansies, petunias, snapdragons, raspberries, blackberries, violets and many others.   

This is perennial sage in my backyard garden.  I have many fond memories every spring when the snapdragon bloom.  it still is my favorite flower and she always put them into water whenever I harvested the wild snaps near her summer cottage.  As I grow older, I am grateful for all I have learned from her about gardening and food storage.  She is the reason I started canning tomatoes.  Now in the winter, I can enjoy the fresh tomato flavor forth summer garden.  Thank you Grandma.  

Black Lives Matter

Free the People ROC is the group in Rochester, NY.  As an ally, I want to support and stand up. 

 Free the People ROC

 

We need to support our brothers and sisters.

#bekind
#blacklivesmatter 
#blm 
#standup
#listen
#lovewins

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Why shop Small?  For every $100 you spend at a local business,  

$68 stay in the community

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This stunning statement necklace is made with a OOAK Dichroic Glass focal.  Always happy create custom pieces for your special person.  

 picture by Pixel Wave

Support Local Business

How many friends do you know with a small business or a side gig? How do you help them grow? Do you want them to succeed? 

• Stand up & recommend them
• share their social media posts 
• write a recommendation

 

We all remember 2020.  We were reminded frequently to shop small & buy local. Small business need your support always.  In New York state we lost 25% of our small business during the pandemic.  That is 1 out of every 4 business closed their doors forever. 

 

Buy Local & Shop Small

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This stunning sterling silver piece is shown with a gemstone I personally cut.  

 

 

Why shop small?  For every $100 you spend at a local business,  $68 stay in the community

  

 

BLACK LIVES MATTER

 Free the People ROC is the group in Rochester, NY. 

 Free the People ROC

 

I believe in supporting my local community. As an ally I know we need to listen and show up to support local groups. Stand up and join local events or protests and learn about wheat is going on in your city.

 

 

Artists Feature

Monthly, I will feature a small women owned business.  I have been selling my work online and have a great TEAM of people whom I consider my second family. Here you will learn about the business and the creator of the idea.  This will focus on female members of my art family. 

 

Vegetable Garden 2022 day

 

The day has arrived.  Transplant day for my veggies.  Greens are going into the dirt today, Tuesday 4/12/22!  Can you feel the excitement?  It is the best feeling to begin a new season in the garden.  Happy to have found another resilient veggie my tatsoi mustard survived the winter.    

Obviously this is not the dirt of my vegetable garden.  This stunning hyacinth demands to be seen.  Success planting the greens yesterday.  I am thrilled to be growing food in my own garden. We should have a harvest in a few weeks.  

 

 

 

 
These beauties went to Alex last week as the winner of the Glass Geometry giveaway.  He is the delivery at his booth at the Rochester Public Market Saturday.  

It was fun to launch this new line with a giveaway. the individual pieces are being added to the website this week.  If you see one you have to have before they are online, please reach out.  I have shipped a pair to Hawaii last week.  

 

 

 

Black Lives Matter

 

We need to change the way we treat others in this country  I invite everyone to be kind and support our sisters and brothers.   We need to teach history accurately all year. 

Free the People ROC is the group in Rochester, NY. 

 Free the People ROC

 

Buy Local and Shop Small

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Buy Earrings

 

 

Why shop small?  For every $100 you spend at a local business,  $68 stay in the community

My Family

Valentine Memories

As we are in mid February, I have love and memories of a few family members who are no longer with me.  

As many of you know, I am an avid gardener.  My Father & his Mother both have birthdays the end of the month.  They showed me strong family, love & tolerance for all. 

This picture was taken many years ago at my family cottage near Alexandria Bay, NY.  you can see my Grandmother wth her tow oldest sons here.  It looks like a very successful day fishing on the St. Lawrence river.  I remember my father taking me out on that river as a child.    

My Grandmother loved gardening and her flowers were a show of her dedication to nature.  This was obvious at her home in the NE area is the city of Rochester & the summer home her husband build in the 1000 Islands in St Lawrence county. One of my favorite flowers in her garden was the Peonies.  She had both the pink & the white flowering plants.This is the pink flowering type in my backyard garden.  When they first bloomed here my only thought when I inhaled the intoxicating aroma was of Grandma.

As I enjoy planting my seeeds, I think of my family and the fantastic gardens at Grandma & Grandpa's house.  The Blackberries & Red Raspberries were always harvested by my sister & I.  Amazing that any of the fruits made it into the house by the color of our hands from the harvest of the super juicy berries.This is the view from the dock at the summer place several years ago.  The water lilies are wild there and inspired my backyard pond.  My waterfall sound takes me back to the cottage in the 1000 islands and many summer weekends with my father when I was a child.

Black Lives Matter

I know my father would support me in standing up for others.  His family emigrated to the US and he was first generation of his family born in the US. 

The BLM group in Rochester is

Free the People ROC

Black Lives Matter in ROC

The Group in my city is Free The People ROC

 I invite everyone to stand up, listen to others, be kind and speak up.  

#blacklivesmatter 

#standup

#speakup

#listen  

We are in this together. Wear a Mask,  Stay safe,  Facts Matter, Science is REAL.

More important this Black History Month!

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For every $100 you spend at a local business,  $68 stay in the community.  

Hello FALL

 

Though this Month has been exceptional warm at times, FALL has arrived.  The trees are turning colors and there is a crisp in the air in the early morning. Happy to have this image from last fall in Letchworth park to remind me to enjoy the season while it is here. We must enjoy the moments we have with those we love.  

 The end of season for the veggies is a bittersweet time of year for me.  Hard to say goodbye to the warm crops like tomatoes, cilantro, and peppers.  Grateful for the fall crops like broccoli, kale, collards, lettuce, mustard, parsnips, etc. what I do not grow I buy from the local farmers market in Rochester.  the market is over 100 years old.

Busy  October so far. I am still standing up for what I believe in.  We had a successful Bans Off Our Bodies March & rally 10.2.21 these two brought their own banner for the March.  We must Keep Abortion Legal because it is

 MY BODY, MY CHOICE

 Our event was cosponsored by: Planned Parenthood of Western & Central NY, Indivisible Rochester, Rochester NOW,  Metro Justice, Senator Samra G. Brouk's Office and Webster Democratic Committee.

 BIG thank you to all who helped make this event a success.  

Black Lives Matter

Free the People ROC is the group in Rochester, NY.   FB page  Free the People ROC

Join me:

stand up, listen to others, be kind and to support our sisters and brothers.  

#bekind #blacklivesmatter 

#stopasianhate #standup

#listen

 

Being involved is more that attending a march, make phone calls, VOTE, talk about these rights we have,  help friends VOTE!

Shop Local

Support small business.  our goods are not stuck on cargo ships. 

My shop:  Panda Wear Website
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Why shop small?  For every $100 you spend at a local business,  $68 stay in the community.

Black Lives Matter George Floyd

Today is the anniversary of George Floyd's  murder by police.  My local PBS station has several programs
they are broadcasting to educate the public.  We need to change the corrupt racist system we have in this country.  It will not be a quick fix but we need to defund the police and fund community programs to help those whom need it. We all need to step up and help create a new system.    As an ally I try to speak up often. 

Regular readers of my blog will see me as a woman business owner,  feminist and more recently an activist. 

I joined a group before the March on Washington 1.21.17. Women's March. Please take time to read their mission and principles. 

Women's March

 #blacklivesmatter

#speakup 

 

#DefundThePolice

#DefendBlackLife

As I learned that day 4 years ago, one person can make a difference.  I was humbled by being there. 

 

 

Free the People ROC is the group in Rochester, NY.  FB page  Free the People ROC

I invite everyone to stand up, listen to others, be kind and be ready to support our sisters and brothers.  

#bekind

#blacklivesmatter 

#stopasianhate

#standup

#listen

 

 

Buy local from the Maker

My shop:  Panda Wear Website
Facebook:  PandaWire Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems  
Instagram: Instagram

Why shop small?  For every $100 you spend at a local business,  $68 stay in the community.

 

I have earrings and pendants with 50% of the each sale going to Free the People ROC and Woman's March.