Mariann
Online Now:
Mariann Fessenden
About

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives

Search
Notes from the Garden
Note from our
landscape designer,
garden decor
and your favorite
photos
Coming Soon
Welcome to Our
blog. Find out,
what's new here
in Aurora
Coming Soon
Preview of
new products
and notes on
MacKenzie-Childs
style.

Notes from the Garden

The Lambs are Here!

Last fall, I made the decision to shoot for a later lambing season than we had in 2011. Additionally, I felt since our lamb opperation is more about cuteness than production, I really only wanted to have Libby and Annick have lambs this year. Our 2011 lamb ewes, technically, could have had lambs but I [...]

A Rainy Thursday

We had some lovely rain last week; it gave us some time to get out there and take pictures before all the bulbs were finished blooming. Enjoy the slideshow by clicking on the image to move through the pictures. Check back later this week for lambing news and pictures!      

Summer in March!

Such strange weather we have had this year. I kept waiting and waiting for winter; it never really came. Last week we had  70° and even 80° (!) days, in March, when the ground is normally still frozen. Corinne, Ellie, and I are working in flower beds, pulling weeds and flufing compost, in March. Doug [...]

Simon Laid an Egg!!!

  Stop the presses- Simon has laid an egg. Faithful blog readers will remember that we discovered with 99% surety that Simon was a girl. Now we have proof positive. This morning Corinne and I discovered Simon’s lovely first egg in the nest box we had constructed for her pen.     While I do [...]

We are In Love

    It’s Valentine’s Day; it seemed entirely appropriate to reveal to the world that Simon has a boyfriend.  On nicer days Simon accompanies us when we visit the sheep. She hangs out on the sheep side of the fence while we scratch Aiden and all his girlfriends in the places they like to be [...]

Beekeeping Plans

The unnaturally warm weather earlier this week gave Kirk and me a chance to check our hives. So far the news is pretty good. We lost one hive but the other was roiling with activity. I am thinking of it as “we are batting 500” which is really, really good (yes, I had to look [...]

2012 Plans II

In 2012 I will continue to refine my designs in some of the larger gardens at MacKenzie-Childs. A gardener will tell you that a plan is never finished; a living garden continues to grow and evolve as the gardener becomes enchanted with new plants, falls out of love with other plants, finds that a plant [...]

2012 Plans

  Plans or resolutions, I have great intentions for 2012. Last year went by at such a breakneck pace; it felt like we were at a dead run much of the time. In 2011 we tried out so many new things that it seamed like we were constantly climbing the learning curve. I am really [...]

Decorating for the Holidays

  We have been using every day-lit, non rainy moment in the last six weeks to cut down gardens, plant bulbs, and most importantly, decorate for the winter holidays. As I mentioned previously, Corinne and Ellie worked four weeks putting lights in the deciduous trees in the Courtly Check Courtyard and in two trees in [...]

Garden Clean-up and Lots of Simon

You may not know this but in my heart, I promised to try to blog at least once a week. I have failed, repeatedly and dismally. You see, for me, writing does not come easily nor does it come as elegantly as I would like. While I am working in the gardens I am filled [...]