Mary Ellen Pyle | Allen's Blog - P. Allen Smith Garden Home

Hobby Farm Dreaming

I was delighted to receive a copy of Julia Rothman's book Farm Anatomy, The Curious Parts & Pieces of Country Life from Storey Publishing. You may be familiar with Julia's illustrations, wall papers, notecards and pattern designs. She has been featured on the blog Design Sponge (DesignSponge.com) and in magazines such as O At Home, ReadyMade, and Domino.

This book is right up my alley. Not only does the subject matter interest me, but it's a visual treat. Whether she's discussing plants to use for natural dye or how to plow a field, Julia relies on illustrations with just a bit of text to convey the information. This makes otherwise complicated topics pretty darn easy to understand. Makes me wonder why other books aren't written this way.

Of course, the clincher for me is the spread on heritage turkey breeds. How can I not love a book that includes heritage turkey breeds?

So how about a copy of Farm Anatomy for your library? Post a comment about what you would raise on a farm for a chance to win Farm Anatomy. I'll pick a winner Monday December 12, 2011.*

Check out more of Julia's illustrations online at
http://juliarothman.com/ & read her book blog at http://www.book-by-its-cover.com/

Girls Night Out!

Monday, June 27th, 2011 by Mary Ellen Pyle, 30 comments

I'm out of town this week so I asked my digital manager Mary Ellen Pyle to write this guest blog about a Girls Night Out at the Garden Home Retreat.

When Allen goes out of town everyone in the office breathes a collective sigh. Not that we don't love the guy, it's just nice to have him out of the way sometimes so we can get things done. Brilliant as he is, he's not one for detail work and there's a lot of that around here. Last week we shipped Allen off to Merry Olde England where he is visiting a few estate gardens in Norfolk and Suffolk. He's sure to return full of new ideas he wants to try out.

Before Allen left he set the ladies up with a Girls Night Out at the Garden Home Retreat. The theme was red wine and chocolate. He gave us some tips for dressing up the space without expending a lot of energy. After all, Girls Night Out is about having a good time without a whole lot of effort.

We set up our GNO in the west octagon building. Allen took his inspiration from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello when he designed these eight-sided pavilions.
We kept it simple inside with a red, brown and white color palette. The table cloth is made from fabric in the Tobi Fairley Home Collection. The pattern is 'Athens'. Allen made the chandelier with branches and Christmas lights.
Since it was HOT outside sangria seemed like a good way to enjoy red wine. We gave ours a lift with locally produced Mountain Valley Sparkling Water and Lombardi Limonata. The recipe is below.
Red roses and hypericum berries.
Red Gerber daisies with strawberries. Floral wire inserted into the strawberries keeps the fruit in place.
Allen suggested we use these La Rochere French Bee tumblers that he purchased at Sur la Table. Perfect for sipping sangria.
For a sugar buzz and a little sustenance we served chocolate raspberry mousse cake, pecan bars dipped in chocolate, fudge brownies and chocolate chip cookies. Yum!
Laughing it up in the kitchen before we headed out doors.
Luigi was the only boy at the party. He came with Mimi, Allen's COO. As you can see he was very excited to be one of the girls for the night.
Handsome Luigi.