GARDENING BABETTE'S MEAL

PECAN ORCHARD has lived across the globe for decades. Now, she's home. In a Georgia pecan orchard, below.Returning home, PECAN ORCHARD made a lifestyle choice. Nature.

Utilizing land & outbuildings for: family, friends, honey bees, dogs, cats, chickens, goats, horses, ponds, potagere, hay, pecans, fruitery, pleasure walk, birding, sports, & more.

PECAN ORCHARD wants to do it herself. Using little outside help.

Her petite muck boots are outside most doors.

Century old outbuildings are being refurbished.

Friends are sharing in her bounty.

And me? Sitting at my folding table/chair en plein aire I drew a concept plan for PECAN ORCHARD. Decades of study, travel, books, designing, contracting, paying attention, being present, successes, failures, joys, tears, stress, serenity, went into PECAN ORCHARD'S garden.

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Drawing the concept plan, hours felt like seconds.

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Uncovering her garden, seeing what was already there.

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Leaving PECAN ORCHARD I felt, surely as Babette did, above, serving her meal.

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Magic lies in letting go.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Top, pic from PECAN ORCHARD'S home/garden this week. All other pics from the movie, Babbette's Feast.

PRAY, LOVE, GARDEN

Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert was fascinating. A page turner to the end. Reading was what I imagine watching a slow motion train wreck to look like. 1995 had me Gardening & Praying, fiercely, for 2 dear friends & a mother-in-law with cancer. 1996, all 3 gone. A humbling way to learn to pray for God's will, too.
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Christmas 1999, discovery of COLLEGE BOY's choices. Choices made without my knowledge. Choices draining every dime I ever earned or invested. Almost losing my house/garden.
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Into my garden I went. Already friend it became confidant, nurturer, comedian, storyteller, peacemaker, mirror, shaman, shock absorber, grief counselor, career coach, home & more.
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Oh my, the women I've connected with the past decade because of my garden. Women who have faced a violent husband/boyfriend, the murder of a child, an alcoholic spouse/child, solitude of raising children & more. They too turned to their gardens. What I love most about these friendships? We LAUGH.
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Talk about troubles? Ridiculous. We talk books, food, movies, gardens, design, careers, travel, and silly stuff from shoes to men.
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It's amazing how many find a path from survival to thriving in their garden.
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I travel local/national/international for work but I TRAVEL FARTHEST IN MY GARDEN.
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Eat, Pray, Love gave me awareness of a trinity in my life. PRAY, LOVE, GARDEN.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pic from my front garden. Decided to move Christmas lights to the gate, they look fab, and keep them there all year. Fine, I'm hearing the lyric, "Like my girls a little on the tacky side." too!

LANDSCAPE AWAKENING

Augusta, Georgia, 1968, summer, the home & garden of the late author of adventure novels, Edison Marshall. A pair of Indian tigers he shot, flanking a fireplace, did attract my eye. Lunch, served by 'staff' did too. A tour of the house included a true ghost story.

In the garden a pair of huge Galapagos turtles Mr. Marshall brought home from an adventure. Fountains, paths, meadow, urns, statues, fragrance, heat, humidity, butterflies. Never had I seen such a place. I awoke.
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It is said we try to recreate the rooms that first awakened us.
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In Mr. Marshall's garden I learned my parents were not to be taken seriously. Afterward, they spoke only of the house, staff, antiques. If they were 'real' people they would have spoken of the garden. Those moments, circa 1968, in the garden made my blood fizz.

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Still fizzing.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Pic, garden circa 1910, from Smithsonian Archive.

A FREE HOUSE

Knowing he replaced windows Susanne Hudson deduced the old windows were going someplace, shall we say, unpleasant, in these 'sustainable' times? With Susanne's brilliance, instead of ending their life at a, literal, DUMP his windows are becoming GARDEN HOUSES, metaphorically, free.

#89 granite gravel creates crunchy delicious floors.

With rescued objects (aka free) and an exquisite eye for junking Susanne's GARDEN HOUSE is a statement in INTERIOR DESIGN too.

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Who knew junking & rescuing could be so GORGEOUS!!

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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Took pics in Susanne's GARDEN HOUSE.

TRAILING DRESS, GARDEN, HOWARD'S END

"Why did we settle that their house would be all gables and wiggles, and their garden all gamboge-colored paths?" Won't tell you what 'gamboge' is. Why take away a pleasure? A great day when a dictionary is needed. "Trail, trail, went her long dress over the sopping grass, and she came back with her hands full of the hay that was cut yesterday..." Mrs. Wilcox walking in her garden peering into her house, Howard's End. This scene from Howard's End so enchanted me I had to buy the book. Not imagined by the movie director, I discovered, but written into the story.

You must understand, walking about my garden, and peering into my house, calms & fills me with energy. A private, sublime, pleasure. Why would I share it with anyone, these thoughts? Then discovering my private joy was written about by E.M.Forster in 1910.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics via Hooked on Houses from the movie, Howard's End

FRONT PORCH

Wreaths on doors are difficult. Scale, color, quality. Oh no, The 'Cute' Factor. CUTE KILLS. Ha, another Tara rule. Wit, whimsy, humor. YES. Last week BOOK GIRL's door had it right.

Looking to the right of the door, above. Reality garden photography, I styled nothing.

Looking to the left of the front door, above, more reality garden photography. Nothing styled for the pics. BOOK GIRL does her own decorating.

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Landscapes should be designed and decorated for the impromptu photo shoot.

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Think of your landscape as it is, this moment, can I meander and take several shots to steal your heart?

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When you look out the windows of your home, at your garden (Vanishing Threshold), does it steal your heart?

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When your garden melts your heart you've got an endless stream of energy, joy, beauty, wit, serenity, peace to draw from for daily living.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

GREENHOUSE OF OLD DOORS

Rescued doors (aka free) + cacti bought on sale at big box stores, below, in Hogansville, GA. No, the doors don't match. Why should they?

Cobbled together with more rescued bits this greenhouse is instantly charming.

Testament to a woman's growing love, fascination, passion for cacti.

Inside, above, refrigerator shelving + old windows creating a roof.

Attached to the house the greenhouse only needs 3 sides. Above, one side.

Above, the other side. A free greenhouse !! Not your style? Paint it.

Inside. Aaaaaaaaaaaaah. Something about greenhouses does it for me. Neat, messy, empty, full, being in a greenhouse has always melted my heart. Each one, no matter its condition, a life force. Telling me stories. And the smell. Oh my, the smell of a greenhouse. I would buy the perfumes.

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Shopping at Born Again Antiques, spottedsheep@hotmail.com, 304 East Main Street, Hogansville, GA 30230, 404-422-8504, last week for my garden, Allan Boyer, co-owner, said his wife, BJ Boyer, filled the front window with her cacti during winter. A come-on line if I ever heard one. Within 15 minutes I was walking with BJ, & her newest dog, into her garden. BJ makes new antiques by cobbling together broken antiques. The woman has got an eye. (This is not an ad for them, I am simply passing along a very interesting, fun place. Maybe you can go?)

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

TRIP TO DOUGLASVILLE

Wed. & Thurs. were spent with Susanne Hudson, Le Jardin Blanc, Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival , & more, in Douglasville, GA. Her business & private garden have graced international TV & magazines.
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Her home was begun in 1875 with an addition in 1915. She began the garden when she moved in less than a decade ago. The woman moves fast. And wisely.
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I lived a happy month in those 2 days and will share with you sporadically thru the next many weeks.
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Before bed, late, we talked books-gardeners-gardens-interiors-ideas in her library, below. She pruned the climbing rose, below, in my room. It had grown inside the room to the canopy bed. Why? I would have loved the rose as bunting.

Sunlight on the original plaster ceiling yesterday morning, thru my iron canopy & chandelier.

How did she have time to put roses by my bed? Again the original plaster walls. Delight.

Susanne's chandelier, below, was a bit larger than mine. Hmm.

A girl has to bathe during a work trip doesn't she?

Wish you could smell the soap, and feel the towels.

Oops, I slept late, 8am. Coffee was wafting up the stairs as I was turning the landing, below.

Can you believe the garden view from her landing?

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More of these 2 days will be sprinkled in the weeks ahead.

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Susanne's garden, ideas, and even pics of one of her client's house/garden. And, if I'm devious enough, some of the nitty gritty conversation.

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

FEEDING THE MUSE

Designing landscapes is science & poetry. After college I thought science would be enough. Ha. Science is easy. It's the poetry I'm after. When the Muse is not fed what remains is science.
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Feeding the Muse? Books, music, travel, pets, movies, friends, collage, gardening, spirit & serendipity.
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A shortcut, 3-4 seconds by car. This stern building, below, variously abandoned or occupied thru the years, feeds the Muse. Building, meadow, trees, all delight. Its current incarnation redolent of its caretakers.

Many years pass with debris & unkempt trees/bushes. Not now. The motivation is a belief in God.

The delight, in a city of millions, of trees-mosses-broomsedge-more caressing the side of my car at road's edge. This is the extent of the woodland & road.

Taking me back to Europe, each time I travel the road, of the many church's I've seen maintained with sweat equity vs. money.

There are no graves at the Flat Rock Primitive Baptist Church, what a name, but there are sacraments in the ground, below. Perfect atonement of roots-soil-moss-lichens-more.

Taking these pictures and seeing for the 1st time lace curtains. Hung with love.

Someone keeps the grounds clear as has been done in Europe for centuries. Seeing human spirit, not lack of landscape or architecture. Its very lack creating richness.

Seeing, above, in this side of the church another church and its side, below.

Flat Rock Primitive Baptist Church hasn't the provenance of the church, above, but it does.

At its base, a crown of lichens. Atonement: building-man-earth-spirit.

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Exactly the job of a landscape design, atonement of home-garden-earth-life.

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Garden & Be Well, XO T

KITCHEN COUNTER BLOCKING FENG SHUI OF LANDSCAPE

For my landscape ( & sanity) the Feng Shui of the kitchen must change. Kitchen counters form an 'L' blocking easy access to the backdoor & garden. Disliked, strongly, for years it's now unbearable. Changing the kitchen will change my life. Bold? No. Energy must flow easily, vanishing threshold.
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The stupid kitchen counter can't block me from my garden anymore. How's that for a mission statement?
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It's ridiculous what's involved removing 4.5' of kitchen counter:
* Replacing the floor
* Replacing old appliances
* New counter tops
* New sink (I like the one above)
* Reconfiguring the ceiling
* Painting
* New light fixtures
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Timeline for action is winter. I've begun getting quotes & sourcing materials.
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Garden clubs, occasionally, meet in my garden for a lecture, tour & box lunch. But I haven't sought greater numbers. Why? The ridiculous kitchen.
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It's time to live my vanishing threshold; house, garden, life.
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Sink, above, from House Beautiful magazine, I think.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

LANDSCAPE DESIGN with CARL JUNG & BILL BLASS

Carl Jung said, Our lives are about getting the outside to match the inside.
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Can you describe the landscape in your imagination? Good, you've begun.
Until yesterday I wasn't aware the world offered lace shoes. Before the year is out I will picnic with girlfriends, all wearing lace shoes, upon soft meadow & moss.

The languor, and joys, of summers in Milledgeville, GA circa 60's are in my DNA. Those summers are in my landscape now.

Did you know stone & gravel mirror back the stars & moon? You can read a book of poetry without electric or candle light upon a stone terrace past midnight in your garden.

Using the toughest pass along & native plants brings birds, butterflies & honeybees. Creating gardens surviving on rainwater. And no fertilizer.

Be who you are. Oddly, you'll have to be brave to be who you are, even for your garden.

Bill Blass said, A woman with a closet full of clothes but nothing to wear doesn't know herself very well.

Soon my closet will have a tutu & lace shoes.

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Pics from Julia and aren't they fabulous?

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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara