Regal Roosts

This is the small [incredible] woodshop I worked with for over a year.  Still taking your custom orders, Regal Roosts is undergoing a slow but steady transition to Arizona. Here is their sparkling new website (via Seven Set Studios).  Specializing in handbuilt, Victorian style, meticulously hand-painted, beautifully distressed, seriously fine crafted birdhouses with ornate, aged copper roofs. These pieces last for years, indoors AND outdoors, (so as to be used properly by birds). Gorgeous garden additions, we also produced extraneous furniture pieces and garden items by request. There's even a shop dog.
Read about the Hursts in the Baltimore Sun, like their fb page, pass this info on to collectors, and remember what spectacular gifts these gems make.

We spent over a year fulfilling high volume orders of several styles for the Frontgate company; find only limited lines through Frontgate right now, but place an order directly through the Hursts, at regalroosts.com for endless color and style possibilities.

Cottage Collection (hanging) and the Diamond Lady series, front

Copper, detail

Hand-painted game table

Series of bottoms, and my all time favorite bottom

Everyone's favorite watermelon house

Faux rust

The Palermo, one of the first Frontgate orders

Custom painted and refinished antique garden cart

Hand-painted chest, turned urn

Doolittle

Custom Guitar Straps

Avocado Update

The original avocado tree is finally developing tree bark, and the leaves are bigger and better than ever! Four pits are in the germination jars ready to go.

Sugar Farm Productions

A few photos by my friend Alison Harbaugh: photographer, videographer and the girl behind Sugar Farm Productions and Freckle Photography. Her work is fantastic and worth checking on often to see what new things are coming out of that Sugar Farm. Recently Alison shot a short bio/intro film for Makeup artist Rachel Leight (Rachel McKnew) of DaintyArtistry (Redding, CA). As part of the trio, I had my makeup professionally done for a day, and we all got to bask in the beauty of this woodland pond, though it was deceptively cold out.

Avocado Tree (and Coney Island)

Previously I began germinating an avocado pit, and for the first time received actual results:

Several weeks in, the pit was ready for dirt. COMPLETELY UNRELATED- I sprinkled the dirt and my pit's new home with beach glass gathered from Coney Island. Featured on the glass is the Wonder Wheel, Tower Swing (to the right), and the creepy-wonderful 'Steeplechase Funny Place' face, each in black ink and then clear coated.

Gorgeous days make for new healthy leaves.

Old Summers

Cut from an old painting of some great houses on the old block that I don't live on anymore. Bay City summer time.

WWOOFers

Backyard last year.
Backyard this year.

Last year's garden left us very impressed with how little we actually went grocery shopping. In the beginning, that was the core of the plan anyway (as was pure experience) AND we made out like veggie bandits despite a lot of overwatering and stinkbugs. 550 sq ft. of trial and error, some reading, some firsthand resource farmer 's aid. Just longingly wishing for a round three, too bad this year's backyard is a business. And by too bad, I mean how wonderful it is that FORREST AND I JOINED WWOOF TODAY. Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms, you can go anywhere. Here is WWOOF-USA:

http://www.wwoofusa.org/index.aspx

So excited I could explode (into pea shoots).