I have never before checked the numbers to see which posts you all click on the most (shame on me for being a bad blogger!).  But now that I have, I am wondering if just because you click on it the most, does that mean that these are your favorites?

I love these, but some of my own favs are missing, so I think for tomorrow, I will make my own list of personal 2010 favorites….but here is what you said (by the numbers).

(note — much as I try to make the filter only see 2010 posts…some of these are 2009 — who has time to wrestle with google analytics? NOT ME, so I am going with it, regardless of date)

1.) All About Gabions : Cheap Retaining and Other Garden Features
(this post was hands down THE most popular — literally blowing away the competition by the thousands — who knew you all wanted to know about gabions!?!)

by cuckoofarmstudios

2.)  Daily Garden: Joshua Tree Stock Tank Pool Garden (yes, I have to agree, this might have been the coolest daily garden ever)

3.)  Reviving the Ancient Art of Pebble Mosaics – Seems you are into materials and methods more than I might have guessed. (I am learning a few things here)

4.)  Bridal Garden Ideas – Really? Hmmm…..when I wrote this I distinctly remember thinking it was a weak topic…I guess I was wrong, I’ll admit it.

5.)  Blog(s) of the week (Two Europeans for you) – I love that you all also loved being introduced to two of my favorite garden design bloggers. If only there were more like them…

6.)  Daily Garden : The Modernist Fence – I would have never guessed this to be the #2 daily garden….but it is a good one.

7.)   A path Paved with Copper? – Proof positive that taking inspiration from other design fields is a good (or at least an interesting) idea…..

8.)  Pear Terrarium – So, you DO like the little indoor garden gifty ideas after all? Yea!

9 .)  Cottage Garden Inspiration from Carmel-by-the-Sea - Such a sweet place – and great photography – I can’t wait to get there and check it out for myself!

10.)   Tree Cathedral in Italy -I could have guess this….

What do you think?  Are these really your favorites or was their another post that sticks out as a star for you….if I missed your most loved or memorable, let me know in the comments, I am so curious to hear what you really liked!

I am keeping a running list of New Year’s Resolutions. Are you?

On top of that, I have been spending lots of time this week setting myself up for resolution success. I have cleaned out lots of paper clutter, created a folder (that I intend to keep using) to hold all the things that have ‘to get done’, and my car is clean. Heck, I even got a new treadmill. I don’t always make resolutions, but this year it seems right, and the more I make, the more motivated I am becoming. I simply can’t wait to get started with some of the goals I have set for myself, I feel like I’ve been floating for the last few months and having made some career decisions, I am getting ready to move into an action phase.  I need to do the ground work first, but I am thankful that the new year is providing a nice launching point.

My life and my garden seem to be in some sort of phase sync. The last few years have been all about cleanup, re-organizing and fairly major ground works. Last year was the first season I could start adding plants and in my ebullience I just bought stuff I liked, with no plan. (Have I ever mentioned that I often struggle to follow my own advice?)

Lots of things were successful, but many more are a disorganized mess. So before things get too out of hand, I need to seriously consider drawing up a plan for myself….or at least a few inspiration boards (like a visual to do list) to organize all our thoughts.

I have created my 2011 Garden Inspiration project ‘To Do’ Boards….to go along with my list.

1) Plant: Climbing red roses, hops, grapes, allium, a variety of of colorful conifers, at least one fig tree, a ginko tree and a Weeping willow. Because I love them all– and they will start to create new structure.

2) Split my miscanthus giganteus and transplant some of it near the big barn as well as other ‘corners’ of the property — because I really like the look of softening ‘corners’ with big grasses.  Move my favorite, but poorly performing, Kirengeshoma palmata to a shady spot.  They really didn’t like having their shade tree removed.  They will welcome some respite from the heat.

3) Paint the lower barn orange….then fix the barn doors  — using interesting buckle strap hinges.

4) Paint the upper barn pale green and white.  Then create and install a huge 2 story mural to cover the garden side of that barn. Its the same side that faces my front windows….I am planning a beautiful piece of art. (and not like the mural in the picture…I have something different in mind)

5) Build a long rustic grape arbour and plant grape vines.  Connect it to the roof line of the house and replace  the mud room window with a dutch door….so I can walk out underneath the grape arbour, with my new circle patio from this year at the far end as a focal point.

6) Make plant lables for my veg garden….so that I am not the only one in my family who knows what I planted where… ( I love these simple rustic DIY versions)

7) Get a tripod cooker to complete phase 2 of my outdoor kitchen. (phase 1 was the big metal fireplace/grill and phase 3 will be the wood fired pizza oven)

8 ) Replace and beef up our lame outdoor house lighting.  Goose neck and industrial barn lights are the look I am going for.

9) Get a house # for the house AND for the end of the driveway. I’m tired of explaining about the lost tree that used to have our # on it….it’s annoying, I just need people to be able to find where I live without a dissertation.

10) Install a proper tree swing….hung from the oak trees in the back yard.

11) Grind out all the stumps. We have almost stopped noticing them….but they make things look a little like a war zone.  They need to go.

11) And finally — resolve ‘The Hillside Issue’. What was meant to be a pastoral meadow has become a warren of wild raspberries mixed with poison ivy.  Goats? Icelandic Sheep? Llamas? buy a tractor? make new friends that can field mow at a reasonable and sustainable price?  There hasn’t been an obvious answer to our dilemma…..All cards are on the table….suggestions are welcome.

Now, I must get back to getting my career organized….;)

Will you be resolving anything in 2011? Are you making to-do lists, or flying by the seat of your pants? Whichever, I would love to hear what you have planned.

Here in the early morning quietness and beauty of a blowing snow storm, I am distracted by one thing. The bright blue contractors tarp that I threw over my wood pile that sits between two trees just beyond the grass of my front yard. I only capture glimpses of it as it moves in the wind and as the trees and shrubs blow but it wrecks my perfect view. And it NEEDS to be remedied if I am to fully enjoy the winter garden.

Earlier this summer, I looked into buying some sheet metal with which to fashion a roof for the pile, but found nothing easy enough to come by (I am still shocked by that — seems like something like corrugated metal should be inexpensive and relatively simple to find).   So with that strike-out, I am happily on to and even better idea.  One which I plan to start, even before the winter ends (but after the current snow melts).

I am re-stacking my firewood to create a Holz Miete (that is German for timber rent).  It was only a few weeks ago that my husband and I spent the better part of a day splitting the wood of the giant oak tree that spontaneously split in half and fell down over the course of a a couple rainy days in August.  I am quite sure we have the nearly 6 cords of wood required to make a full sized (10 ft diameter) version, but I think for usability sake I am going to take it down to 7 ft.

The construction seems simple enough — there are english directions here ….and some additional insights can be gleaned here…(with the use of google translate to get from german to whatever language you use).

Some claim that this construction helps, through a chimney airflow effect, to season the wood faster.  I will let you know if that claim turns to be true, but for my sake, I am simply desiring a more attractive way to store wood that doesn’t require the support of two trees that are in a less than desirable winter time access spot.

It is a new years resolution of mine to better photograph and document all the projects that I am constantly doing.  I feel as if I have wasted so many opportunities to perhaps help you out and share and write about some interesting things.  So I will let you know how this project goes….and also create a trial and error tutorial of my own.

I am going to probably sign off for a couple days (I say probably, because if I get too overwhelmed with the family Christmas, I might have to sneak away to here for a little reprieve post).

image by heavenly~flower

I am off to take mini mince pies out of the oven, start organizing my list of food for a big Christmas eve dinner tomorrow and some final wrapping of last presents.

I hope your holidays are similarly filled with the cozy warmth of home and the happiness of being surrounded by loved ones.

Not last night but the night before….I enjoyed a little something new (to me).  I attended a Winter Solstice celebration in the garden of some friends and neighbors.  Over this past summer they built a medicine wheel in their garden and this was one of the first events that they held there.

Besides the striking beauty of the celebration, I was impressed by how great the Medicine Wheel is as a garden feature.  This summer, I hope to be able to share more of the Old Frog Pond Garden in the daylight because it is truly an extraordinary place.  But for now, I will whet your appetite with some pictures that my friend Alexa Pappas took of our evening inside their recently completed sacred space.

Aligned with the north star, this medicine wheel is composed of eight great stones that were harvested from a quarry in western Massachusetts.  The stones are each unique in their shape, cut and size, but all stand upright.  At easily 10 ft tall, they tower over people but create a sense of intimacy in the wide open space.  Blase Provitola, one of the artist-owners of Old Frog Pond Farm, created this place earlier this year and I think he did an extraordinary job of choosing materials, and creating a space with the right scale and feel for the site.

Prior to the evening, I really had no idea what a medicine wheel is. The Shaman that helped conduct the ceremonies of the evening explained how with a circle, everyone around it is equal, that the attention is focused at the center, but more significantly, it symbolically illustrates how each person at the circle has a different point of view as they come together as a community. (i.e. as they look across the circle each sees a different slice of the circle). It also reminds how when someone is one season of their life, others maybe in a different and that with everyone, no season remains; the wheel always turns.

There are many meanings and uses for medicine wheels, but most land-based spiritual paths have something similar. Stonehenge is a version of a medicine wheel as is the Bighorn Medicine wheel in Montana (which I remember visiting as a child).
Whether of Native American, European, or other origin, there is generally an orientation, spiritually, to the “Six Powers” (the four Cardinal Directions, Earth, and Sky).

Image – Bighorn medicine wheel in Montana found via Go West USA.

What I am excited about is that Blase and Linda have invited our community to use their medicine wheel whenever anyone needs.  They insist that it is a place that for healing, contemplation, meditation, reflection, or whatever.  It certainly is beautiful and I plan to visit, if for no other reason than to enjoy the beauty of their garden and this amazing feature.

Click through to the gallery to see more of Alexa’s beautiful images, (including the fire dancer) as well as another idea for a garden medicine wheel.

I finally finished my outside front porch holiday garden containers. They are not perfect, but I am happy with them…and I have decided that while I am already looking forward to next year’s design, I actually really like orange and red together for Christmas.  (and the dash of dark purple seems to spice it up too).

What do you think? And be honest. I’m not emotionally attached – I can take it.