So...We go to the left...towards the house.

My first Fairy Garden.  It's a Fairy Farm, which cultivates mushrooms.

The Azalea was in full bloom.  Most years, in the past, the bush would bloom, and we would get a frost hard enough to make all of the blooms fall to the ground.  Not this year!

One of the FIRST flowers in the spring...

My Potting Bench.

Now we head between the house and garage.

 
That's the front door on the left...the garage door on the right...

That's a 52 gallon water barrel, which collects rainwater.  It's great!  It gets it's water from the downspouts.  It worked so well, I got another...and then decided to make myself four more to use for all my downspouts.

So...every rainfall...I can gather over 300 gallons of FREE water for the plants!  Nothing better than rain water!

So...that's the door to the outdoor shower.  It's my reward at the end of the day...Especially after a hard day of playing in the dirt!

And there's nothing quite like taking a shower in the rain...or during an early snowstorm...or by the light of the moon and under the stars!

Our Tomatoes.  Most of our yard is in the shade.  The only reason our tomatoes grow well there is because they get the reflected light bouncing off the garage walls.

So...walking around the shower toward the back now...heading to the fire pit.

Corn Shock Bottle Tree
covered with Morning Glories

Looking back at the house.

The Fire Pit
GREAT place for roasting marshmallows...or telling scary stories under the stars!  Sometimes the Owls will sit in the trees above and argue with each other.

That is a sweat lodge at the edge of the woods.

And...The fire pit is a Potawatomi Fire...their sacred ashes were mixed with ours. 
FYI...the Potawatomi Indians were a member of the "Council of the Fire" here in Wisconsin...and were chosen as the "Keepers of the Fire".  That is what Potawatomi means.  The Potawatomi fire upholds a tradition  that has been ongoing for thousands of years.

Made a new birdhouse...put it up and the Finches moved in that day!  I think they liked the Siberian Iris!

 
A view from the roof.

So...walking from the fire pit now...around the day lily garden...heading over toward the pond.

Walking back up toward the house again...the pond is on the right now.  That's the day lily garden on the left.  There were yellow pansies in the wash tubs then.

The Lilies are in full bloom.

The Kousa Dogwood was spectacular this year!

He's thinking about it..

.
Heading to the pond now...It was a nice rainy day then.
The plants loved it!

Our Herbs are always so happy.  All of them go inside the house over the Winter, so we have fresh herbs all year long.  But...they really thrive over the Summer!

These are photos of the pond over the years...

The fall colors around the pond.

The kiddies are getting big!  Some of them are over eight years old.
They all have names...and will eat out of my fingers.

Baby Ferns

Looks like that would be a comfy place to sit!

The Koi have been "frisky" lately...
and the pond has a lot of baby fishies to
prove that!

The pond has over 40 varieties of plants.

This Calla Lily just loves getting it's "feet" wet in the pond!

Each spring, I remove all the fish, frogs, and snails and pump all of the water out of the pond to clean it.  I then refill the pond, re-pot and re-arrange all of the pond plants (I have over 40 varieties) which survived the Winter, and put all of the fish, frogs, and snails back in the cleaned pond.  Although the pond is a lot to maintain...it's one of the best places in the garden to relax with a cool Sapphire and Tonic!

Happy Frogs!