Posts Tagged ‘Examiner’

A few days ago I asked the question: Who are the most influential garden bloggers?

Thanks to everyone who commented here, by email and at my gardening column on Examiner.

The results are in. You can read them here.

Robin
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No sooner had I posted about the changing seasons in my backyard when we finally had the first snow of the season.

My feeling is that if it’s going to be unbearably cold, it might as well snow. So I was thrilled to finally have a snow day. Even at the age of *hummmm*, I can still enjoy an unscheduled snow day.

Not everyone here was happy though.

The chickens were quite put out and protested by spending the day indoors near their panel heaters. Once in a while one of the chickens would mosey up to their exit window to poke his or her head out before trying to get back in. Of course, chickens being chickens, all the other chickens had followed the leader up the ramp to also go and look out the window. All day long there were a series of collisions with one chicken trying desperately to get back into the the warm chicken coop and all the other chickens trying to see what was so interesting outside.

Snow always manages to stoke my cooking instincts as well. I get the urge to bake breads, make cakes and bake cookies. I used the threat of the possible loss of power to roast a chicken and make biscuits early in the day. Then I made more bread–just in case we needed sandwiches, you see.

Many of you who know me know that food is as much an important part of my life as gardening. In my mind they go hand-in-hand. The fresh vegetables, herbs and fruits are an important part of the table. And the garden serves as a beautiful backdrop for our family al fresco family meals in the summertime.

That’s one of the reasons I recently decided to take on writing as the Washington D.C. Fresh Foods Examiner in addition to my writing as the National Gardening Examiner.

In the coming months I’ll be writing not only about fresh food happenings and resources in the D.C. area, but also offering menus, recipes, tips and techniques for making meals as fresh and flavorful as possible.

Ciao!

Robin

Who do you consider the most influential garden bloggers?

I am writing a column for Examiner and need your input.

So what do I mean by influential? Well, you tell me. Perhaps it is someone whose blog you ALWAYS read. Perhaps it is someone who changes the way you think or practice about gardening.  Or maybe it’s someone who influenced you in just a single, major way.

Please let me know. And please pass along the request or include in your own blog, linking here.

You can email me at gardeningexaminer@gmail.com, comment here or use the comment form here on my blog. I need your input by Friday, January 30. My column will appear the following week with your comments and links to your own blogs.

So, who’s most influential among garden bloggers?

You can also visit here and leave your comment directly at Examiner.com.

Robin
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Right Now at Bumblebee

March 7th, 2010

It’s official. Dawn over at Owl Hollow News won the Grocery Gardening drawing.  Congratulations, Dawn. I hope you enjoy the book.

What’s on your plate today? The weather here is sunny and at least not frigid. I’ll continue my early spring garden cleanup and also clean and repair bird houses. The bluebirds have made their return and are already checking out the real estate. What a joy to watch over my Sunday morning coffee.

Robin

March 6th, 2010

I find this one of the most anxiety-producing times of the year in the garden.

As I head outside and begin the winter cleanup, the whole summer garden thing just seems incredibly overwhelming. There’s so much to do. And I’m just one person out there. Honestly, I felt like sitting down to have a good cry about mid-afternoon. But I managed to put one foot in front of the other and actually got a good amount of tidy-up work done. Tomorrow will be more of the same.

Thank you everyone who left a comment explaining how you approach reading and leaving comments on blog posts. The cumulative input has been extremely helpful. The overall consensus is that you’ll read comments if it’s an interesting discussion. You don’t usually subscribe to comments because it clogs up your email box. And you’ll only check back to see if the author has responded if you’ve left a question. That about sums it up.

On another note, I have selected by random number generator the winner of Grocery Gardening. She’s been notified. When she responds back, I’ll announce who she is.

Thank you everyone!

Robin Ripley

February 22nd, 2010

My lawn is a wreck.

I went outside to re-fill the bird feeders—AGAIN. The parts of my lawn that don’t look like the frozen tundra resemble a swamp. With every step I take my foot sinks down at least an inch. Walking to the feeders I can see my path in the mud.

I also see that we lost one small ornamental tree by the driveway as well as one of my rose trellises, which succumbed to the weight of the snow.

Spring better hurry up and get here. I have a lot of work to do.

Robin

February 17th, 2010

Are you sick of everyone talking about the weather? I am too, but here goes…

There is so much snow on the ground, I don’t know when it’ll all melt. On top of that, much of it has iced to the extent that moving it from one place to another requires a pick ax. Walking in the back yard to fill the bird feeders is like walking on a bumpy ice rink. There are trees and bushes that need a bit of first aid to remove partially broken branches, but I don’t dare risk skating across the ice with my pruners. Not yet anyway.

Still, there is hope. Although we’re expecting snow flurries today, the weather should warm up into the forties in the next few days, providing some melting relief.

But really, all this unrelieved WHITE is getting to me!

Robin

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