Yeah, Yeah, Yeah….It’s July 7th and I am just finishing this post intended for the end of last month….it’s high summer…and it’s 100 degrees outside…my plants are begging for mercy and so am I.   But here is what I am into blog-wise lately:

New Dress A day — Out of work Marisa is spending a dollar a day for the year on vintage clothing…and transforming some insanely hideous craziness into beautiful clothes worthy of an anthropologie shop.  It’s 365 transformations for $365: wow.  I know how to sew – quite well in fact – and she is inspiring the heck out of me to put my machines to good use…..

Grow Harvest Cook is a beautifully photographed aussie site created by a team of talented women who make individual posts about growing, harvesting and cooking a single fruit or vegetable.

Susannah Conway is an inspiring photographer that has been offering photography lessons via e-course that promise to help you view your  world in a new way –  taking time to appreciate the beauty around you.  It is a class that I have been considering for a while but just haven’t yet fit in….but I love the idea of going on a photo safari  into my own life to reconnect with myself,  where I’ve been, and where I want to go next.

Knives out or Hedge Liberation… I am not sure which is a better name for this quirky, but not often updated site about carving hedges.  A recent post promises updates and new content soon and I am looking forward to it.

Joseph comes from a long line of Kentucky based Horticulturists and Gardeners.  He has a great site where calls the industry and trends as he sees them and I thoroughly enjoy every visit.

I have had alot of history on my mind given one of my current projects.  I had never really considered the study of garden history too much until recently, but now I can see the appeal and interest that Garden History Girl has in getting her masters degree in the subject…I am seriously disappointed that there are no local schools offering a program (even in university capitol Massachusetts!!) that would allow me to dabble…the closest and only school even in this county to offer the subject is the the Bard College in NYC…. It all has me thinking about a return to the UK.

As summer harvesting has gone into full gear my kids are once again fully engaged in the garden.  I have canned, already, 10 jars of Black raspberry jam, and made a beautiful mixed berry (wild and cultivated black raspberry, blueberry, and red raspberry) pie for the 4th.  And the bushes are all only just getting started. My little people both love the picking part and my son can literally spend hours pottering around the vegetable patch — partly picking things (that shouldn’t be picked), partly in his own little imaginary garden land.   I love sharing my passion with them and there are two sites that I really enjoy for reading about how other mothers are engaging their kids in the garden.  Deb over at Carrots and Kids shares lots of wisdom, insight and inspiration.

And my friend Dawn at  Little Green Fingers is a great resource for ideas and commentary about gardening with children as well as charming tales of her three kids and their adventures in garden discovery.  (BTW – The first of hers came to be right about the same time as the first of mine — I think there must have been something in the water at our design school).

Stephen Orr’s What were the Skies Like , is always interesting and fresh.  Currently I am completely enjoying his summer grass inspired playlists…

And finally, A Tasteful Garden is a new find for me…Allison has created a pretty (read: great photography always grabs my eye)  and engaging site where she shares her gardening life and inspiration in Maine.

What are you reading lately? — feel free to share any great new blog finds that you have discovered.