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July 16, 2024 by

A garden feeds the artist’s soul.

When in a slump of any kind, artistic or otherwise, how can we not be uplifted by a well-tended garden?

On a very scorching and humid Sunday morning in eastern Ontario, a friend and I went on a short road trip to a local farm to find inspiration for both our artistic souls.

Only about 40 minutes away from home, Garden Path Soap is a delightful area of peace and tranquility.

Daylily on Garden Path Soap farm
Dailily braves the heat.

Background of Vankleek Hill Garden Path Soap.

Started in 2009, this 5 acre heritage farm is in the vicinity of Vankleek Hill, Ontario. The founder of Garden Path Homemade Soap began making soap with natural ingredients produced in very small batches. The onsite shop now sells wonderfully scented soaps but has added a veriety of other products. For example, their  soy wax hand poured candles which are all paraben and phthalate-free. Delightful scents make it difficult to choose just one candle or soap. Some of the fragrances include:

Coconut lime – a memory of sitting on a tropical beach?

Spiced brandy – a favourite warm winter drink

Blue spruce – the forest brought inside your home

Black Raspberry Vanilla  -  and so many more!

 

Monarch butterflies.

We didn’t see any monarch butterflies nor did we see caterpillars but then, it was excessively hot and we didn’t linger too long in any sunny area. We much preferred shaded sections of this property.

However, the property is near hay fields that abound with fresh milkweed plants. The farm owner can find caterpillars in those fields that will someday become monarch butterflies. She and her children want to “help to increase the worldwide population of the beautiful butterfly! Only 1 in approximately 100 monarchs will survive to be a butterfly in the wild. By protecting them in our enclosure, we significantly raise this percentage.” (Garden Path Soap)

Monarchs at the farm are tagged with a serial numbered sticker on the lower wing before they are released. This is part of a program, Monarch Watch, out of the University of Kansas, USA to monitor, and save the monarchs.

Wandering the property.

As we sauntered around the property, we admired the apple orchard, the bees in their apiary (I stayed well away) but did take a photo.

The chickens came to greet us near their coop. Not far away was the potager with many healthy vegetables. My eyes were attracted to the vivid red monarda, the different daylilies as well as roses, dahlias, etc.

Finally, we walked to the pond where the shade was a cool respite from the heat of the open gardens.

This was our third visit to this charming garden. The entrance is free. All their products are sold on site including honey and eggs.

Garden Path Soap is well worth visiting for a third time. If you haven’t been and you are in the area, do stop in!

 

A painted flower garden of my own.

As I no longer have room in my yard for many flowers, I have, over time, painted some that you might remember from past posts. Lavender Fever, Glazed Tulips, A Jar Filled with Daisies are available for sale. Not all florals are painted on canvas and some, in fact, most of my paintings on paper are quite small.

Contact me if you have questions or would like to purchase or commission me to paint flowers for you.

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