Garden book give-away!

Tags

Anne Leuck Feldhaus, Books, contests, free books, gardening

There was a wonderful surprise in my email inbox last night: a message from amazing Chicago artist Anne Leuck Feldhaus. No one on the planet paints a dog quite the way Anne does. Her vividly colored canines leap and fly across the canvas, a kaleidoscope of paws and ears and wagging tails. I dare you to look at her artwork without smiling.

Not long ago, Anne asked for feedback on her web site. She entered all the commenters in a give-away drawing for a signed black poodle print, and to my delight (it’s a beautiful print) and complete amazement (I never win ANYTHING) my comment won. Thank you, Anne!

Now I’m inspired to have my own give-away. Here’s the deal:

1.  Leave a comment at the end of this post. (If you have a favorite garden-related book to recommend, I’d love to know about it.)

2.  One week from today, on Nov. 21, I’ll use random.org to select the winner.

3.  The give-away goodies include The 20-Minute Gardener by Tom Christopher and Marty Asher; a Garden Days Journal by Karen Strohbeen and Bill Luchsinger; and a handbound blank book I made. (It has cream-colored writing paper inside, and is covered in fabric purchased several years ago in San Francisco’s Chinatown. I have written and drawn some inspirations on one page of the blank book … and to round out the whole package, I’m also including a raku kitty cat ornament from the clay studio.)

 You can never have too many books.           Good luck!

If only you could smell this watercolor…

…then you would discover that it isn’t watercolor at all, but is painted with strong black coffee. Yum! I love the rich, warm tones it creates on the journal page. Blends from different regions of the world make different shades of brown: a shade-grown Costa Rican brew is rusty red, while organic Hawaiian is a shiny sepia. And when the painting session is over, the coffee grounds go into the compost pile.

Pimientos

I bought them by accident, thinking the baby plants were bell peppers, but instead they produced sweet red pimiento peppers. They are destined to become that southern comfort food, toasted pimiento cheese sandwiches. Mmmmmm.

Only two things that money can’t buy

Homegrown tomatoes

Homegrown tomatoes

What would life be without homegrown tomatoes?

There’s only two things that money can’t buy

And that’s true love and homegrown tomatoes

— Guy Clark

Tasty pear-shaped romas, like other paste tomatoes, have more flesh, less water and fewer seeds than their more spherical cousins. On the stovetop, they quickly form a good, thick sauce perfect for pasta. Pesky garden bugs don’t seem to like the plants, but just to safe I’ve been ripening most of them on the studio’s wide windowsill.

Midsummer sampler

Only the most rugged, heat-loving veggies are still producing in the sizzling midsummer heat. A storm blew down one of the big cucumber trellises last week, and invading hordes of spotted beetles devoured the rest of the cukes. On a more positive note, we’ve been giving away surplus canteloupe, tomatoes and bell peppers.

Big plans

Big expansion plans for the fall garden are taking shape. And a box turtle has taken up residence near the shed…

Rescued Plants

“Help us!” they whisper in parched voices, marooned in their bone-dry plastic pots. I always feel sorry for neglected plants at the local garden center. Whenever I can, I dig them out from the back of the clearance rack at the local garden center or pick them from the trash pile behind the feed store. Here are some of the survivors, as recorded in my sketchbook, in watercolor with Prismacolor pencil.