First, we took a trip down the street to the nursery.  River’s friend Alex came along for the ride.

It is great to see all the colors bursting forth in the spring.  River planted a few more strawberry plants in her garden.  She’s specializing this year!

We had slices of several varieties to sample the different flavors and textures.  We drank cider fresh from the press.  The King of the Pippins variety, shown above, was the base of the juicing operation.

The walled orchard and kitchen garden also hosted a story teller who told a variation on the story about how the apple got it’s star.  We enjoyed checking out all the scarecrows amongst the vegetables.

The gourds and pumpkins were particularly colorful.  These gourds were trellised over the pathway.

There were some incredible flowers still blooming.  Apparently, the walls were built around the garden to protect the plants from wind by providing a sheltered micro-climate.  I’d always assumed that they were deer protection, but maybe that’s just my New England background?  At any rate, it was very warm and sunny while we visited and the flowers seemed to be thriving.

The kids were inspired by the light and color and took quite a few pictures of the blooms.

We had a picnic lunch, ran into some friends, and played some silly games.

It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

We had a nice walk through the estate, hiding in the ferns,

and finally ending up back at the incredible tree that is so suited for climbing.

I found many wonderful flowers lingering among the garden beds.

I’m planning to return sometime to spent some more time inside the house and visit the demonstration flour mill nearby.

We’ve eaten lettuce out of the garden several times now. River decided we should put the marigold pot in the garden instead of on the wall by the driveway because she knows that many insects don’t like marigolds. She is hoping to repel them from the vegetables.

Beets are such pretty colors.

The carrots are coming along fine as well.

It’s great having a nursery just down the street. I stopped by today and brought home some tomatoes, cucumbers, and bean and sunflower seeds.

These folks also enjoyed the beautiful weather. Here are their summer term outfits for school. It’s starting to stay light until fairly late and tonight they brought their dolls out to enjoy the last rays before sunset.

The kids are back at school beginning this week. They were talking about which class they like best the other day and ended up listing them all as being in the positive column. When pressed if there was anything they didn’t like, they joked about having to go home at the end of the day.

We haven’t been able to spot them working on it yet, but they’ve been quite industrious. I wonder if I can persuade them to help with the housework?