Nature Contained

We had quite the busy day yesterday, with all those Blithewold touries popping in and out of the shop throughout the day. We made our first containers of the season and got to talk hort all day! Despite all the wonderful things in the shop, I still can’t shake the feeling of nakedness. I feel as though I just got out of the shower, my hair is in a towel, and I am running downstairs because the tea kettle is flipping out and needs some attention. I am sure this feeling will subside once the bulbs in the garden pop their little heads out. The garden is still in early-early spring mode and there is nothing any of us can do but wait. I guess it is up to the containers; our little samplings of spring.


Richard decided to plant up the bird bath with an assortment of bulb materials and herbs. Highbush blueberry is under planted with violas, muscari, hyacinth, sage and basil sprouts, which are fantastic to munch on!

I also took a photo of Richard’s cute little antique paper mache bunny. I thought he looked so precious among some of my favorite things; sweet pea and black pussywillow. Like the characters on HBO's, Six Feet Under, I tend to drift off into the imaginary world. Little things can trigger it, 40% of the time, it happens in show tune fashion. As the words “sweet pea” leaves my lips, the lights would dim and my little bit of magical realism would begin. Then, yes, you’ve guessed it; we’d all start dancing to Tommy Roe’s Sweet Pea. The flowers would all sway back and forth and Monsieur Lapin Papier Mache', he looks French to me, would belt the lyrics out loud. As much fun as that sounds, it would be best, if we danced to my mom's version of Sweet Pea. I prefer her rendition; she kind of infuses a Woody Guthrie style into it. It would be a bit trickier to dance to, but who really cares. Click on the link above and sing out loud!

Nature Contained, our little shop in Tiverton Four Corners, has reopened for spring.

Labels: Blithewold, Provender

Faux bois, from the French for false wood, refers to the process of creating furniture in a wood-like appearance out of cast stone, iron or cement. Faux bois pieces are so natural and rustic; they just feel very spring-like to me. Dormant wooden log, filled with sprouting bulb materials, pussy willows and moss; what a treat for the last slushy Saturday of winter.

Richard designed this planting for the 2004 This Old House Carlisle Show house.

Faux bois has become a bit of a joke between Richard and me. Richard was being filmed while creating the planter above and being the camera shy man he is, he stumbled through twenty-five takes turning three times redder than he already is. The part we love to act out is where Richard shows the resident landscape contractor, Roger Cook, the faux bois vessel. Roger asks Richard what material the planter is constructed of and on the director’s instruction Richard gets down on one knee, slaps the vessel two times and replies “FAUX BOIS” while gazing directly into the camera.

Being a bit foolish and sometimes silly from the insane hours we work in the hot sun, Richard and I find it amusing to gently slap random displays of false wood and call out “FAUX BOIS”. It must be somewhat contagious for I have heard David partake a few times as well.

Twenty-five takes!!! The best part of this all is that we have never seen the actual airing, This Old House, Program 2426. We have constructed this reenactment from memory of the taping and from our dear friend Julie’s animated impersonation.

It will be a magical night filled with drink and laughter when good ol’ Tivo captures this one! We will keep you posted if a re-airing is in the near future.

Yesterday I met up with one of our favorite people, Alyn Carlson, to take photos for the website. Alyn is one of those magical women who just lives, creates and probably sweats beauty. Our primary goal for the day was to shoot the chocolate eggs we are carrying in the shop for Easter. The eggs have been one of those labor of love projects; something I have been fixated on for a while and am just so excited to be seeing through to completion. Eggs, fertility, chocolate and spring; it looks like I have my inner pagan on.

My mom Rosie and I have been carefully drilling, dyeing, blowing out and sterilizing the eggs, which is no small task. The dried eggs are packed up into the Subaru and brought to Northampton to Jen Bates of jennybakes; who carefully fills them with wonderful organic Venezuelan chocolates. Jen is a southern NE native, in fact, as a child she had her family portraits taken in the building which is now Nature Contained. Ken, my fabulous husband who is responsible for all things beautiful on naturecontained.com, met Jen while she was the resident baker at Kabeyun http://www.kabeyun.com, a summer camp for boys in Alton Bay, NH, where he works as the assistant director. Campers will be sad to go a summer without Jen’s delightful confections; she is throwing herself into her business and if you are ever in Northampton and are in need for some decadent brownies stop in to one of the following purveyors and give them a try.

In addition to a minor cold I seem to have caught spring fever. Sore throat paired with the yearning to be outside planting leaves me feeling overwhelmed, anxious and fidgety. Alternating between Echinacea tea and plant catalogs, I search the pages looking for the fine balance of interesting new varieties and familiar old staples. My only worry is that I will forget to draft someone for the 2007 Nature Contained roster. What plants can I not forget this year?

I cannot wait to fill the boxes and lay out the garden with Richard and David. The shop just looks so nice when everything is green and verdant. Here's a photo from Nature Contained’s 2006 July Grand Opening. We have a lot to be proud of and a lot of work to do! Many thanks to those who supported us in our first year…Here’s to a great gardening season in 2007!