The real color starting to pop!! Yellow, yellow, yellow everywhere. The yellow “brick” road paving the way west.
June 2021
May 2021
The start of the color! Some of the flowers began to bloom a few weeks ago. The trees and grass are are very green to start off summer.
2020 June
Some of our first color of the season came up the first week of June!!
By June 17th the yellow Coreopsis began to come into bloom. Along with the Gaillardia.
Some strong color to finish off the month of June!
Spring 2020 Wildflowers
We’re starting to prep for new wildflowers in the spring of 2020, and I thought I’d give a rundown of the dates and steps we’ve been taking.
March:
We had a warmer than average March and were able to get out, enjoy the weather, and mow down the existing growth of the wildflowers we left standing over the winter. We also started a few of our annuals indoors for the front flower beds, mainly some purple zinnias. We really enjoyed them last year, and decided to add them to the front flowers to complement the purple coneflowers. Here’s what they looked like in August 2019.
April brought some colder temperatures again, which slowed down our outdoor activities. By early May, we were nearly back on track for normal weather. After a late season snowstorm in early May, the weather finally broke around May 15. While it was cold, we took the time to separate our seeds that we had collected last fall. We’ll be posting videos with details of that later, but here’s a look at how they were stored in the garage through the winter to dry. I like to store them in paper bags to keep them from molding.
Here’s a look at the yard and wildflowers in early April, just after mowing the stalks in. Very minimal growth starting, except in the dog spots!
Finally, on May 19 I got around to spraying some new areas of the meadow with Roundup to kill the grass. I get the generic 41% concentrated glyphosate at Tractor Supply for ~$10/quart, then dilute into the hand sprayer. It covers plenty of area for 1 year for my size meadow. I’ve found that I like to kill off the existing grass and wait about 2 weeks before planting the new seeds. I should be able to get some new areas started in early June. Stay tuned!
Winter Beauty
Most of our focus has been on the wildflowers and summertime life, but I just had to snap a picture today of the beautiful winter beauty. We really do love Michigan in all seasons, and winter is no exception.
It’s nice to enjoy this white canvas as we plan to add even more color to it in the spring.
July 2019 Wildflowers
Some people say that the best camera is the one you have with you, which is why most of the pictures on this site come from a cell phone camera. It’s decent, but every once in a while you want to grab a real camera and capture the beauty, so enjoy these pictures taken with my 10 year old Nikon D3100. I still love this camera!
Mom to mom sale summer part 3
Well here I am yet again! Doing my THIRD Mom to Mom sale! (Mom to Mom Sale (MY FIRST ONE) I thought I was going to have to skip this one, I wasn’t sure if I’d have enough stuff to justify paying the entrance fee of $20. This one is going to be a bit different though….I called my neighbor who was interested in doing one together; sure enough she was! So we split the fee and we’re going to split my rack and table. The cool thing about doing this with my neighbor is she has two boys… there’s no competition! We each can draw customers who are interested in either boy or girl clothes!
I’ve done some revamping to my price tags, AGAIN! Also in this post I’ll be sharing about the “How to” about the organizing and prep for the sales. For instance: once the clothes are hung up the way I have separated them is by using a paper file folder, opened up, and with the sizes printed on the edges. Then hung with a pants hanger. Customers looking on either side of my rack can see the sizes.
For the NEW and IMPROVED price tags: I used the same method as I talked about in my Mom to Mom Winter Sale. I did use neater hand-writing! Along with more details about the outfit(s).
Another tip that I have come across is how to hang outfits together by using large safety pins and adult size hangers. Open the large safety pin; push through the top layer of material; hook the hanger; push through the second item’s material; close safety pin. Follow pictures to see how this is done.
I will update this post once the sale has completed.
Wildflower Gallery 2018 & 2019
Spreading the seed 
Clearing and planting small areas 
Areas cleared with roundup for wildflower planting
Mom to mom winter sale part 2
Well, some will say that I was crazy enough to do another Mom to mom sale. This one was held in October and mostly selling winter items and holiday special outfits. I did bring a few toys this time around -which sold like hot cakes! I didn’t have as many outfits as I did for the spring sale, but still plenty to sell (you can read about the my first Mom to Mom sale here). This sale was held at the same event as the spring sale. I really enjoy this event since the hosts do not charge for using a rack. Others have an extra fee to use any type of rack. I really hope they don’t start the up charge since it is so much more efficient for both sellers and buyers.
I did some new things for this sale for pricing. I created price tags that went over each hanger, so that each item would be priced individually. I cut a slit in a small note sized tag and slipped it over the hanger. I also included what the item was for example if it was a name-brand item or if it included more than one top/bottom.
The rack was still used this year. I just love how everyone can see all the items on it. I also used the accent rack in the front of my space for eye-catching items and specialty items. This year I had a few pairs of winter boots on the rack, hats and mittens, winter gear, and holiday dresses.
Another great idea I used from my previous sale that seemed to open my space up more, was I used a shelf on my table that I had bought. I used two milk crates to support a long board to create a shelf. By doing this I was able to add more space and again making it easier for customers to see all my items quickly and organized. Another marketing technique to make customers see my area, even from across the room, was to hang a few extra nice pieces on the wall behind my table area.
I brought the same amount of change for this sale as I did for the spring sale. I didn’t have any issues. I feel that it was a good amount. I used an apron to keep my money organized and quick to make change. As I got larger bills I put them into my purse that I had secured under my table.
It was another decent sale. I made $16 more than the spring sale! My prices were $1 higher this time since it was all winter stuff and winter clothes are a bit more expensive even new. Some of the popular items were the winter boots, snow pants, warm pajamas, and the larger size outfits. Just as the spring sale, outfits under 24 months didn’t sell well. Same as last sale I advertised using the community Facebook page and my Facebook page as well. It was the fastest and most convenient way to get the sale information accessible. All in all I was able to make some cash and unload some clothes. I still feel it was worth while doing the M2M sale. I currently don’t have quite enough to do the next sale. My plan is for the items that didn’t sell there I may list on Ebay or keep posting to my local Facebook page for others as they are gearing up for the winter. I may also take some items to a nearby re-sale shop.
2019 Wildflowers, part 3 August – November
August 2019
August continued with color. This particular orange cosmos, my five year old daughter was thankful for during our yoga session together.
A sunflower attracts many pollinators. This particular sunflower was from one of our seed packets we started in our basement in March 2019.
September 2019
As September rolls in, the height of the sunflowers reminded us that summer is coming to an end and the kids are going back to school. Soaking up the warm colors as the sunflowers dance in the breeze of the meadow.
We are still greeted with a splash of color throughout the month. Knowing all too well the white snow is right around the corner.
The sea of yellow is starting to disappear. They held on since June.
From a distance the color is gone. The flowers are preparing for the end of season. As we prepare for the next.
October 2019
As the seasons begin to change, frost comes again. Now we appreciate the fall colors knowing the bright colors of summer will return after months of gathering seeds and preparing our indoor space once again where we come together to cheer on spring.
November 2019
At last, the flowers have their winter blanket covering them as yet another season comes to visit. In just a few weeks time from the first frost to the first snow fall. We look forward to what this winter has to offer – sledding, family gatherings, and getting ready for a new year, a new decade, and new growth of wildflowers!
