Our First Daffodil

We have our first daffodil! Very cool. When we moved onto our property back in 2000 we had daffodils blooming all over. Since then they have multiplied in clumped bunches to a point where they just don't bloom as much anymore. Bruce and I have been wanting to divide the clumps for a few years now. We started yesterday, digging up the clumps of daffodils and spreading them around. We have our work cut out for us and I am sure it won't all get done this year, but one has to start somewhere. Not sure if this will set them back from blooming this year, but this is an investment into next years bloom.

There is a touching story in the Weeders Digest which comes free with a subscription to Green Prints called "Love and Daffodils Forever, A husband's final gift". I won't spoil the tale or even hint at what it is. If you subscribe to Green Prints it comes as part of a bonus gift. Green Prints is a gardening magazine that shares stories about the humanside of gardening: the joy, humor, frustrations, and heart of gardening in fine prose and fine art.

Catapillar and Ant

This is an ant on the flower head of our parsley. I love the colors. I find the insect world amazing and thrilling to observe. Now that the days are getting warmer and the garden is active with life, the insects are busy and abundant. These close ups will be inspiration for my next series of drawings. I will soon be working on glazing porcelain wall hangings for our upcoming pottery sale with Michael Kline, "Cousins in Clay", on June 6 and 7. Today Michael is on the road delivering his beautiful art pottery to his solo exhibition at the Ferrin Gallery.



The colors of these caterpillars are incredibly rich and vibrant, and the two of them were busily working away on the parsley as well. This caterpillar will become a Black Swallowtail Butterfly.

This is an adolescent caterpillar.
These guys can strip a plant in no time, and seem particularly fond of dill, and fennel, as well as parsley.

Help Starworks Garden with Spring Planter Fund Raising Event

Angela, Eddie and Phil of Wet Dog Glass helping Adam put up the greenhouse

Where: Starworks, Star, North Carolina

When: February 20th and 27th 4:30pm-7:00pm

Dear everyone,

Central Park NC is planning to have a fund raising for Starworks Garden in this spring, and it's going to be "planter/ flower pot sale" event.

In order to have enough planters, STARworks Ceramics want you all to come join Planter/Flower Pot Workshop in our clay studio and make pots together. We offer studio space, lots of cone 6 clay (Brownstone by Highwater Clays), bisque&cone 6 firings by electric kiln. You can do hand building and wheel throwing. Let's make pots as many as possible. If you don't have much/any experience for making pots, we give you instruction and demonstration. Children will welcome.

Workshop date will be on Feb 20(Fri) and 27(Fri), 4:30pm to 7pm. Drinks and snack will be prepared, but it would be great if you bring food for friends. We will let you know glazing day later on. Firing will be scheduled sometime in March. Pots will be sold at the event in this spring and all profit will be used for Central Park NC program fund. Pot sale event details will be announced soon.

We hope you to join it and thank you for supporting Central park NC fund raising.

Thank you,

Hitomi Shibata

STARworks Ceramics

Anne in the new StarGarden Greenhouse

A little Bit of This and That at Bulldog Studios

As I finished my jars and pitchers Bruce was asking me questions and trying to get me to remember something that I did 10 years ago.  I walked into the other room and found him sitting and sorting through an old bag of clay tests that I did during my years at Alfred University.   I shared the work with a woman named Sandy Lance. She made the tests up and I added the water and made them into little buttons (one set for her and one set for us) and then she fired them.    The clay below bloated.  Pretty darn cool.  Bruce fantasized how it could be possibly used in future work.  
He asks me what does B mean?  A?  Where is the formula? What type of firing?  Yikes, well I hope I have the info somewhere.

Below are the jars and pitchers that I had under wraps this past week.  They were waiting to be finished, while we had shifted gears to work on our Yunomis for the upcoming show at AKAR.
These are medium sized pitchers.   This size would work well for bringing a little juice or water to the table.

I found Gloria out in garden getting the ground ready for early spring planting.  She is planning on planting some beets, spinach, peas, and lettuce.  

Ed and Gloria are wanting to put in asparagus.  I am not sure if it will happen this year.  We don't know where we want to put it.  Maybe on the lower side of our house.   We are so jealous of Jennie and Wes's asparagus beds.  Aren't they beautiful?!