Gardening On The Coast of Maine

dorian — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 13:56:28 +0000

The cottage by the sea

One of the things we love about our little island in Maine is that seemingly nothing ever changes. And yet things do change– in subtle, positive ways. For instance it was always difficult to purchase good produce on the island because there is only one market and they tend to bring in produce that travels well, such as iceburg lettuce. This summer we enjoyed a floating farmers market, which motored into the boatyard every Saturday morning carrying fresh vegetables and berries, as well as seafood, meat and baked goods. It was heavenly.

Floating Farmers Market

Then there is also the Second Wind Farm, an organic farm that operates on the honor system. We picked a bunch of flowers out of their garden and dropped our money into a tin container.

Flowers picked at Second Wind Farm

Collecting Lupine seeds

Now that we have a greenhouse at home I am interested in seeds and seed collecting. The timing was right for plucking the seedheads of the lupine plants in the cottage garden in front of the house. I saved the seeds and will try propagating them this winter for planting out next spring. Here’s a link with more information about collecting lupine seeds: http://www.ehow.com/how_453678?5_save-lupine-seeds.html

Fresh seaweed in the garden

Seaweed in the garden– Every time we walked up from the beach we carried a few handfuls of seaweed for the garden beds. Seaweed grows so fast, and is considered a nuisance to people who like white sandy beaches (those people usually do not go to Maine for vacation), so nobody minds when you remove some seaweed from the beach. Seaweed can act like a mulch in that it helps the soil retain moisture and suppresses weed growth. But it also has nutrients and hormones which are very good for plants. Here is a link with more information on the subject: http://ventnorpermaculture?.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/?using-seaweed-in-the-garde?n/

My sister-in-law Monica is a gardener and wears Womanswork garden gloves and sun protection hats so well, so we organized a shoot in her front yard for the holiday catalog. She is wearing our raffia hat with brim down, and also a pair of our High Performance gloves in red (a new color available this holiday season).

Pruning cottage roses

For pruning the thorny cottage roses growing up the side of the house and trellises my mother put on a pair of Womanswork leather rose gauntlet gloves. They protected her hands well and they’re breathable so are not hot.

On the last day of our vacation we picked wild raspberries from bushes growing along the side of the road, and added other fruit from the fridge, such as peaches, pears and apples, and I made a fruit tart. The tart pan was purchased for $2 just days earlier at the island’s weekly flea market at the Island Grange. The tart was a delicious addition to our lobster dinner, and was a high note to leave the island on the next day.

High Performance gloves in red (a new color)

Wild Raspberries fresh picked

Here’s the recipe for my fruit tart. For the crust I found an old edition of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook and followed this recipe. Crust: 1 cup flour, 1/4 tspn salt, 6 tblsp cold butter cut into small pieces, 1 egg yolk, 1-1/2 tblsp sugar (optional).Mix flour, salt and sugar in bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender. Whisk egg yolk and 2 tblsp water together in another bowl. Add to flour mixture, blend until smooth. Form into ball. Wrap in foil or plastic and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes. Roll it out or press by hand into tart pan. Prick bottom and bake for 12 minutes at 425 degrees. After baking the crust I put it in the freezer for 20 minutes at my daughter Eve’s suggestion. (She is a talented baker).

For a 10-1/2" tart pan like this, I made the crust recipe twice and combined the two balls.

Filling: I put the fresh-picked raspberries in a bowl and added slices of other fruits from our fridge, including apples (thinly sliced), pears and a couple of peaches. I gently mixed in about 1/4 cup of sugar, a little salt and a tblsp of flour. I filled the prebaked tart with the fruit mixture and baked for about 35 minutes at 375 degrees (individual ovens may vary). It was delicious!

Womanswork at The New York International Gift Fair

dorian — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:49:54 +0000

We spent the last 6 days in New York at the Jacob Javits Center, along with thousands of other people (perhaps tens of thousands). We stayed at the W Hotel on Lexington Ave and 50th Street. How appropriate.

"W" is for W Hotel and for Womanswork

Eve was with me as we met with owners and representatives of retail stores across the country. They were all looking for new items and many of them seemed pleased to see us there with our colorful, well made garden gloves, sun hats and Garden Wheels. We also saw some media people including editors from Better Homes & Gardens magazine and our friend Madaline Sparks from Real Simple.

Dorian and Eve at the New York Gift Fair

Down the row from our booth was a fun collection of indoor/ outdoor containers and baskets. I purchased some of them at the end of the show, which I will use for planting bulbs next winter. One of the fringe benefits of these shows is you get to pick up items from other exhibitors who are happy to sell their samples. We sold a lot of our own gloves to other exhibitors in this way.

Pots being sold at another booth

womanswork.com » sun hats

Gardening On The Coast of Maine

Womanswork at The New York International Gift Fair