Just above the old red chicken house , used to be a fenced in garden that during the summertime beamed with tall stately cornstalks, twisty twirling bean vines , leafy mounds of zucchini and squash plants and neatly staked rows of tomatoes galore.
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| Soon it will be time for hay. |
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| 2025 garden squash |
Papa tended to it quite diligently. In the evenings, he would go out and pick whatever was ripe and ready at the time. Nanny who by the end of the day had changed into her dress with a duster over it would go outside , sit on the porch and wait to see what Papa would bring in from the bountiful garden.
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| Summer Pasture is based on Papa's and Nanny's farm. |
Sometimes he would tote a bushel basket filled with green beans. Do you remember those baskets?
Nanny would sit on the porch with a large bowl in hand and would begin the process of stringing the beans and snapping them. Every now and then us 7 grandyoungin's would join in, but usually it was just the older 3 girls.
It would not be long before we would tire of "the stringing of beans", and the allure of the sound of a June Bug buzzing by would steer us away .
We promptly would jump up in search for a string in order to tie it to one of their teeny little legs- that is if we were so lucky to catch one. If we were successful in catching a June Bug, the hard part was tying the string. Oh, their little feet would just pinch and scratch our teeny hands. "Eeeek," we would squeal.
Once the string was attached the June Bug would buzz and buzz in circles around us. Our own little pet June Bug we would think.
After tiring of that we would , plop on the stone walkway and with our fingers twiddle the little roly poly bugs that meandered along the cracks and crevices of the stone slabs.
Oh what terrors , we young kids must have been to the insect world on the family farm. Please do not judge us too harshly, but we were young farm kids, and we tried not to hurt them. In fact we admired the little crawlies.
As the evening sun began to set, flickers of light would flutter in the sky. "Where are the jars? "we would frantically ask Nanny as she was busy snapping beans.
"Right here, Sweeties. " And she would spring up from the old metal chair and bring us old pickle jars that she had placed holes in in the lids. Once we took the jars, she went back to the task at hand - stringing and snapping, as we scampered around the yard in hopes of catching a lightning bug or two.
But let's get back to the garden. Shall we?
Once the tomatoes began to ripen, Papa would bring them into the country kitchen each evening and sit them on the table. Nanny had a small bowl that she would place them in. Ever so gently she would pick up each and every one and inspect them.
"Do you have to handle them all?" Dad would joke .
"Yes, I do," Nanny would laugh. They were always fondly pickin' at each other .
It would not be long before Nanny picked out the most perfect tomato, and it was promptly washed and sliced. Freshly picked cucumbers which were also sliced would soon join the tomato on the platter, and we all would indulge in the fruits of Papa's and Nanny's labor .
Aaaw such wonderful happy times . I do miss those days immensely. Nanny and Papa lived a hop, skip and a jump- just down the road from us so we were at their house every day .
This brings me to our next Summer Stamp #2 called Summer Harvest.
Anytime I think of summer , I think of spending time in the vegetable garden just like Nanny and Papa did. We still put out a garden to this very day on my Nanny's property though not at the original spot.
As many of you know, I am stitching each Summer Stamp twice- one made into a pin pillow and 2nd in a grouping of 9 stamps.
As I stitched Summer Harvest on the large sampler, I decided to make an ADDITION- using 1 strand of DMC 301 ( or your favorite orange) I added little lines in the carrot for detail.
I also used DMC 782 and made French knots for the berry seeds. You may want to do the same or just stitch some berry seeds in the strawberry.
Summer Harvest was stitched with the following DMC floss colors: 782, 815, 898, 921, 926, 930, 3052, 3345, and 3346.
Of course, if you decided to stitch, Summer Harvest you could use whatever floss colors that make your heart sing. 🤗
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If you are interested in stitching this piece, just grab , the images. For printing tips, refer to the post Tips for Printing which has loads of tips from my sweet friends.
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Summer Header, And The Garden Grows and Summer Harvest.
If you missed any of the previous posts in respect to the Summer Stamp SAL , below is a schedule with links back to the appropriate posts.
SUMMER STAMP SCHEDULE
April 2nd Summer Stamp Introduction
April 7th Stamp Stamp Border
April 14th Summer Stamp Header
April 21st Summer Stamp 1 "And the Garden Grows"
April 28th Summer Stamp 2
May 5th Summer Stamp 3
May 12th Summer Stamp 4
May 19th Summer Stamp 5
May 26th Summer Stamp 6
June 2nd Summer Stamp 7
June 9th Summer Stamp 8
June 16th Summer Stamp 9
June 23rd Bonus Summer Stamp 10
June 27th Final Reveal
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| More Spring decorating with Spring Pasture in my vintage flower vase. |
As Always...
Happy Stitching and Quilting, y'all
Melisa
"The glory of gardening :hands in the dirt , head in the sun, heart in nature. "- unknown
Hugs and Stitches!!!!🤗🧵❤
Other Posts That Might Strike Your Fancy!
The summer blocks are looking wonderful. Love the story of the vegetable garden(s). Nothing except cows, chickens and goats grown by my grandparents - yard was too hard and dry for anything else. If you have a minute or two pop in to visit my Instagram feed - I've been a busy girl. LOL Big Hugs, DarleneJ
ReplyDeleteI just started the Summer SAL on a piece of 16 count Aida called Sunshine. Sorry to copy but I love the yellow! The blocks are so neat! Love them. My grammie had a small garden but we never lived close enough to visit as often as I would have liked. We used to have one in IN. One year, dh was burning trash near the garden. We had gone in for dinner when a big wind blew open the back door and we smelled smoke - yep - the garden was on fire. Thankfully, we were able to save it though the corn had a good roasting ;-) Thanks for bringing back some great memories. Blessings!
ReplyDeleteGood morning dear Melisa ☀️ Thank you for the story time, I enjoy reading about your childhood and farm so much! 💕 And your summer stamps are just the sweetest. 😍 Have a wonderful day!
ReplyDelete-Alex (Maine)
My sister and I used to tie strings to June bugs and fly them too. What fun!
ReplyDeleteLove the block and love the memories. Thank you for sharing them.
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking us down memory lane. I enjoy hearing your stories, Melisa. I can relate to quite a few of your experiences as I grew up in south Alabama. My Big Mama and Papa also kept a garden and we always had fresh vegetables to eat in the summer. I'm going to enjoy stitching Summer Harvest.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post, I called my sister. We shared stories and laughed about our families' gardens. Thanks for sharing your memories. I love the vegetable garden stamp. This Summer SAL is so fun. Have a great day. Alicia
ReplyDeletegood morning lovely Melisa.
ReplyDeletei loved your post this morning. i am enamored by your awesome childhood. it amazes me the quiet life you led. i know it was extremely busy, but "family together, stays together". it took lots of hands to get the garden planted, veggies processed, etc. i love it. sounds like an awesome childhood - lots of family togetherness!!! in my case there was no togetherness. my childhood was not worth remembering and i don't. my dad was a horrible, horrible man. my mom was my go-to. she was a doll as i grew up and still is. we just celebrated her 93rd birthday yesterday. she is still going strong. there has been so many times that were touch-n-go, but she's a tough nut to crack.
your nanny sounds like an amazing lady. teaching all the children how to gather veggies from the crops. i love it - love, love, love it. i wish i would have had times such as these. i bet so much was learned about life. oh well. i'll keep reading Melisa's blog posts and i can experience her childhood which sounds fantastic. lots of work, but always well loved.
have you gotten your garden planted? i need to get some soil and tomato plants so i can begin the process. i got delayed a little bit with my surgery and recovery. i am doing a wonderful job with my exercises and moving about. my dr told me when i had my post-op appt that i will never have osteoarthritis in my right knee again. i told him i was very thankful and could he do his magic on my back. he laughed and said he'd have his back done, too. live and learn.
thank you for the second stamp of veggies. i have it printed and everything is clipped together for easy access of grabbing them and starting my header and border first. i'll be back this afternoon when you have your post on dying cross stitch fabric. can i ask where i get rit dye? i have never bought any dye so i would need to be pointed in the direction of where the dye is in walmart. i just may dye a piece of my fabric. it sounds like the way to go to get the color i hope to achieve.
well Melisa i guess i better get a move on. can i ask you one question please? were you and Mr. Pinker high school sweethearts? you sound like a very loving couple who have known each other for a very long time. my husband and i were high school sweethearts and my now sister-in-law was my best friend growing up. actually i don't know how my husband and i came to be, but we are going strong with an anniversary of 54 years in November. we have had many, many ups and downs, but we have made it through. also, i didn't want to train a new partner (hee hee).
have a wonderful, blessed day Melisa. you are such an amazing woman.
blessings and love are coming your way. a great big squeezy hug is coming, too.
Debra Broyles
I always enjoy your stories of growing up on the farm, Melisa! My great-grandmother was an amazing gardener - when we would visit her in Iowa in the summers there was always something ready to pick. I love Stamp #2 - looking forward to stitching it!
ReplyDeleteYou have such great memories! We loved going to the garden to "forage!" I think I like raw green beans as much as the cooked ones! Fresh always tasted great. Your stamp captures your memories! --TerryK@OnGoingProjects
ReplyDeleteSuch lovely garden memories, Melisa; happy times;))) Love the garden stories...
ReplyDeleteYour little garden stamps are just so pretty --nice work on these...hugs,julierose
Oh my your granny and papa were busy bees with their garden produce and sounds you follow right along in their footsteps. A very appropriate stamp stitchin' today.
ReplyDeleteI love your garden memories with your parents. Sounds like a wonderful childhood. I think so often of my happy childhood and wonder why I didn't appreciate it at the time - too busy playing! Melisa I don't judge your childhood bug torment - lol! In fact until just a few years ago I tried to kill every bug I saw near or in our house - just fear I guess. That all changed and now I gently capture every one and place it in a nice spot outside. If I can't capture it, I just let it be. And miraculously, we aren't overrun with bugs!
ReplyDeleteYou grew up like I did. Oh, the bounty our huge garden gave. Enough to last us most of the winter for canned vegies. We used to catch dragon flies and tie them up by their tails in our toy barns. Little did we know that they would break the tails and fly away. Luckily we didn''t catch many. We, too, were young farm kids and hard on insects. Those were wonderful days. I do want to take a minute to thank you for all the freebies. I have collected the houses and love each and every one of them, also lots of stamps and others. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteSuch wonderful memories, Melisa. Yes, I do remember those bushel baskets! I used to pretend they were drums with the lids on them! LOL Thanks for sharing! Hugs, B
ReplyDeleteYou have done a beautiful tribute with the Summer Pasture Stamp, is lovely! I also love Stamp number 2, I'm trying to catch up, as I'm behind but I will try to hurry, I'm so excited about this SAL.
ReplyDeleteHugs
What a sweet stitch. Thank you. Loved the stories of your gr'parents and their gardening.
ReplyDelete