July was all about food and travel. I made a divine fresh cherry pie from my tart 'Montmorency' cherry tree.  Stephen and Laurie from my daylily club finally convinced me to attend my first daylily regional. If you've ever wanted to see what happens when people are passionate (obsessed) about a flower, join a club and get yourself to a regional or national tour. I came home with lots of flowers, design ideas and plans for more even daylilies. Wherever will I put them? On to Buffalo where I got to see the most beautiful and creative, small, urban gardens and Niagara Falls. What a fair city, my friend Elizabeth from Gardening While Intoxicated and Garden Rant lives in. She and Jim from Art of Gardening worked very hard to make sure all of the bloggers had a wonderful time, and we did. Did you hear? This summer we're going...

It's been a year of changes at the Red Dirt Ranch. I am calling it a ranch these days because we have twenty-eight chickens, a bunny, three dogs and five cats (three in the garage and two in he house). We also sport field fencing and split rail, so it's a very small ranch. In the past, I've had horses and goats. My dream was once for a Jersey cow, but since I can't eat dairy, that's one dream which needs to blow blissfully away. Last year, for Christmas we had the blizzard everyone else in the country seems to be having this year. People still talk about those fourteen inches of the white stuff with a kind of awe. It is Oklahoma after all. January was much more quiet. I answered gardening questions from a reader moving to Oklahoma. To keep busy while it was cold, I forced bulbs,...

Christmas is nearly upon us. Do you have your shopping done? I hope so because the malls will be even bigger nightmares tomorrow. I tell you what, if you don't have a gift for that certain someone, buy them an online gift card and call it good. I would. Tonight we'll attend the annual Nash Christmas party which unites both sides of my husband's family along with their extended loved ones. I bet we'll have sixty to eighty people there. What to feed them? Roasted (insert your favorite meat here if you do indeed eat meat); Green bean casserole; Baked beans; Cheese platters; Cheese balls, crackers; Homemade candies like Grandma Bo used to make, i.e., divinity, Aunt Bill's Brown Candy (an Oklahoma tradition), fudge, peanut brittle ; and Loads of dips and chips and veggies. I'm bringing humus which I purchased at the newly-opened, local Mediterranean eatery, Simply Falafel. I...

Signs of the season Sometimes, Martha Stewart gets a bad rap. People snidely remark that they aren't Martha (as if that were a "good thing"), and we all know who they're talking about. No one is Martha, and that's okay. Or, they will despair they're unable to make things like those Martha and her band of merry men and women create so they don't try at all. Is that any way to be? Bear and I have been DVR-ing the Martha Stewart Show every morning, and we're really enjoying watching her as she and her guests make beautiful crafts and foods for Christmas. I must say the new live format isn't as much fun as the older shows, which were filmed at Turkey Hill Farm, but if you record them, you can zip through the boring parts. The Hallmark channel also broadcasts portions of the old shows. I miss the...