Category Archives: gardening

Rocking the farm

April 24, 2021crafts, Family, fun, gardeningsusanmanzke

Rebecca has a thing for farm rocks. She uses them as a base for her copper trees and she also uses them to decorate her yard.

When she had a day off of work, daughter Rebecca came to the farm and used her energy to collect rocks.

I lifted a few rocks, but mostly I kept a lookout for rocks worth choosing.

Rebecca finds a few choice field rocks

Unloading the cart is also work

I only mashed my fingers once.

The video below is different and I don’t know what I did to get the special effects.

This was an ‘oops’ and I’d love to do it again some time. If you know how, email me at sunnybook@aol.com

Winter gardening?

February 7, 2021Columns, gardening, winter, Wisconsinsusanmanzke

Are you yearning for growing green things? If so, you might want to listen to this column about my March garden.

I hope you have a few plants in your home to lift your spirts. Artificial flowers might help too, especially if you happen to kill house plants.

Join me in looking forward to spring.

Come for a little ride

September 16, 2020gardening, Sunnybook Farm, worksusanmanzke

A tiny video of mowing around the shed.

I held the camera between my knees to try to keep it steady.

Something different to post on my blog today.

Phlox at sunset

August 16, 2020gardeningsusanmanzke

Colors change in the landscape when the sky turns orange. You can see the reflection of the sky on the siding of my white house.

These phlox are a light lavender.

The scent of the phlox is the strongest in the morning. I breathe it in deeply to start my day.

There’s only one thing wrong with this flower. Its spelling!!!!

I forget how to spell Phlox. I want it to be Flocks. It’s a good thing when I googled it that the internet understood my poor spelling and led me to the correct flower. (Mom had a lot of this kind of flower growing in her yard, but she had their name all wrong. She called them Sweet Williams.)

Phlox, no matter how they are spelled, add to the beauty of our world.

Hollyhocks

August 13, 2020gardeningsusanmanzke

I do love holly hocks. I didn’t expect to have any this year.

Lucky for me this is another flower that surprised me and grew.

I’ve tried to grow them many times before, but they never seem to take.

Last year I had none that I remember, but I guess one hid out and then blossomed this year. They are biennials, flowering every their second year of growth.

They could be found growing almost like a weed on some farms, but I couldn’t keep mine going.

I was jealous when they just seemed to pop up along buildings without anyone tending to them.

Happily I have a few blooming yellow hollyhocks this year.

Another gift that will keep me going.

Susan Manzke

Writer, Speaker, All-Around Good Person