Monday, June 3, 2013

Peasant Homes and Gardens

Peasant Cottage at Skansen Wygielzowie in Poland

Zakopane house and garden

Skansen window

Skansen garden

This post is a little collection of some inspiring pictures of peasant cottages and their gardens. I can't get over the simple use of color around the the windows and between the logs of the cottage in the first photo.  Turquoise and cobalt blue is one of my favorite color combinations.

All but the first photo here were taken by me two summers ago while I was in Poland. There are a number of lovely Skansens (outdoor and living history museums) in Poland that preserve folk, wooden architecture. Some towns are known for their existing homes exhibiting and/or preserving old architectural styles, Zakopane being one of them.

The old peasant homes breathe with life. A thatched roof, dirt floor and wooden walls, all organic and natural materials, allow the home to literally breathe. This makes me think of Hundertwasser and his manifesto where he proclaims that the space we inhabit, the architecture of our dwellings, is like another layer of skin. Our architecture is a layer outside our physical layer of skin surrounding our bodies and the layer of clothes we wear. Soon I will write more about old folk architecture, what I know and learned from my travels and reading.

For now...

There is a lot of work to do at home in my garden this time of year. I'm am feeling particularly busy, grounded and centered around the home with all that needs to get done. I haven't been able to sit at my computer to write much. But, gardening is an excellent activity for gathering one's thoughts! The writing will come.

The weeds grow fast next to the seedlings that are just sprouting. Then there is the thinning that needs to get done so that the seedlings coming up do not crowd one another. Some vegetable beds still need to be made and planted with beans, carrots and beets at the community garden plot down the street. At home, I'm going to make a hay bale raised bed in which to plant the delicata and spaghetti squash so they can grow down the hill towards the woods, out of the way of our other garden beds. Radishes, potatoes, garlic, cilantro, arugula, lettuces, horseradish and spinach are up. Some basil and tomatoes are in. Today I'm going to a flower nursery to buy some annuals to put in pots and hanging baskets around the house. Soon I will be caught up, ahead of the weeds and enjoying watching the summer growing of all the plants, flowers and food on the land.

Photos of my garden taken this morning...







5 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. You are most welcome Danusha! I'm glad you enjoyed the photos and gardens. I think about trying to get you up here for a visit. I wonder if we can make that happen sometime? All the lilacs just finished blooming and they made me think of you.

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  2. Enjoyed this post very much and the pictures!!!! The picture of the small trees in the field with daisies, reminds me so much of my childhood in Oregon. We had a field that was full of daisies and a couple of pear trees at the bottom of the field. Great memories brought to mind. Thank you.

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    1. Hi Karla, thank you for commenting. Nice to hear from you... Every year I have a small field of wildflowers that I can't bring myself to mow. I mow it once a year in the fall before winter sets in because it is so beautiful to watch the wildflowers bloom different blooms all summer long. I have apple and peach trees planted there. Glad the photo triggered some good memories for you:-)!

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  3. nothing more satisfying than to watch a garden grow, the wildflower field looks lovely, me too i don't mow or weed every wild flower,for sure they are as beautiful as the cultivated ones,

    Hundertwasser has a point, doesn't he,
    all so interesting Kimberly and beautiful, x

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