grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

10 Easy Ways to Celebrate Earth Day!

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10 Easy Ways to Celebrate Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!

Today we celebrate this planet we call home. Think about it. No matter our differences in beliefs, food preference, hair color, languages spoken, whatever—we all have Earth in common.  Everyone we’ve ever known, everyone we’ve read about, every ancestor who came before us, every poet and teacher, every couple in love, every villain, every knight in shining armor, every painful and joyful experience, every pet cherished and lost, every youthful dream, every discouraging notion, every seed planted, every battle won and lost—all of it came from this place. Our home. Planet Earth.

And so today fellow Earthlings, I have 10 Easy Ways to Celebrate Earth Day. Choose one or two and get your party on. These are simple, inexpensive, most are as free as the wind. Continue Reading

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

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What's blooming at Headquarters House

Where have all the flowers gone?

I can always find flowers at the historic Headquarters House in Fayetteville. The girls and I walk through the gardens almost daily. Only two blocks from our headquarters, we consider the grounds to be our personal secret garden. I’ve written about the period gardens and the house HERE, and I won’t repeat myself other than to say the place it holds in Fayetteville / Civil War / American history fascinates me. No matter what’s going on in the world (or in Arkansas), the Headquarters House is a peaceful place, a calm reminder of the vastness of life—the good and the ugly. It’s a spot that fills me with calm and restores balance.Continue Reading

Spring Porch Pizzazz: a happy thing.

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Porch Pizzazz

I’ve been working to add a little spring pizzazz to our porches. In Northwest Arkansas, the weather has warmed enough to mix annuals into containers. My empty containers have been patiently waiting for warm temperatures. Empty containers are sad, sad things.

Totally pizzazz-less.

Empty! Ready for Monrovia plants!

I planted a few of my favorites including salvia, petunia, calibrochoa, asparagus fern, and lobelia. The large containers look sparse now, but within only a few weeks, we’ll have a stunning display leading to our front porch. Plants need room to grow. I know this. Even so, I had to resist the urge to overfill. And if it’s left up to my husband, we’ll over-plant right off.Continue Reading

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!