Updating: Our Garden Pipke's Little World.

  

Reminiscing the good times

                                  

Some time ago I went to check the contents of my blog. 

I went to dig back into the posts I've published over the years and reread some of them. 

I wanted to cherish the good times which I've experienced when Pipke was still alive. 

So I came to the post: Our Garden …. Pipke's Little World. (Published on August 9, 2009).


To read this original post click on the link above.

You can see there how it all started at the end of October 1994. At that time the garden even didn't exist: it was still unprocessed soil. There you can see Pipke's parents and ancestors visiting our mud puddle. I describe there the construction of our garden and how it has evolved after more than fourteen years.  

While rereading that particular post that I've mentioned above, I discovered that the slide show that I've installed at that time was now no longer available.

I really found this a pity because – it means so much to me.

It shows the place where Pipke has lived her whole life. There I've spend the happiest time of my life so – the images belong to this blog.

Therefore – for those who are interested and/or haven't seen it yet before: I want to share it with you. So I've installed a new version of the photo-album/slide show on that original post.

If you're not interested to read the original post and just want to see the photo-album/slideshow, just click on this link to watch the new version updated on March 1, 2025.

The pictures you can see there were taken on August 6, 2009.

I hope you will enjoy it.

You must know folks: I had to leave the place where Pipke was born.

I live there anymore. 

It wasn't at all my choice to leave this place. It were the circumstances – “what happened” – that made it inevitable I had to go with much pain in my heart.

And - although I live there anymore - in my thoughts

I still walk every day through the garden and sit on the bench together with Pipke.

Her memory is still the handhold in my life! 

She still brightens up my days!

Thanks for your visit.

Our Garden ... Pipke's Little World

The layout of our garden and the birth of Pipke: they both took place approximately around the same time. In fact: we can't imagine ourselves our garden without Pipke.

Our garden is her little world although, she has experienced the great big world !

Yes, once she lived a whole month in the woodland, she has tasted freedom and it was a real adventure for her and us! (I will tell you that story later. In fact, that's a part of her story that I have not told in Jen's blog.)

Since then our garden has changed and evolved enormously.

You can see how it started on this picture at the end of October 1994 when the parents and ancestors of Pipke came to visit us.

.

and this is the view from my living room window now!

If you want to see how it grew in the mean time then I invite you to watch the photo album.

Click on the link to view *Our garden Pipke's little world August 2009. 

*Attention:

I had to adjust this post, because the link above was no longer available. 

Therefore I made a shortened new version of it on Youtube on March 1, 2025. 

This shows the result of 14,5 years labor. We constructed the fence and our garden path ourselves. We also laid out the lawn with grass mats* and we even built our little pavilion (or garden house) ourselves, I was my husbands assistant bricklayer. 

I sat on my knees in cement to lay and to flatten the screed of the gardenhouse while my husband prepared the specie with the mill. 
Believe me this was hard work but, I did it with much pleasure.
I can tell you, during those 14,5 years, every year... there went something wrong with the vegetation. In fact it has always been (and still is) a struggle against plant diseases and insects and that's not easy without the use of insecticides. Here in Belgium they use insecticides for everything, we stand even on the top on that level (we overuse insecticides). But ... we don't use them, it's not good for the environment and of course also for the most important thing: Pipke's health!

Have you seen her pen? Since the end of last January she wants to go there no longer, she wants to stay in her dogs nest beside our back door. Therefore we made a special cubby-hole (or veranda) for her with a warmth lamp on that spot so that she can stay warm and dry. Of course this is not an ideal situation, but as you can see on this picture taken on August 8, 2009, the situation of her feathers is even at this moment very poor and they are also not at all water proof.

Now her pen and her little pond are a very empty place and when we go there, we have always such mixed feelings.

Once ... she jumped in and out that pond with so much joy, she even dived in that little pool of water. Now ... she's so helpless! She only wants to go there “together” with us because she can't get out her pond without help.

Now she's a real “old little lady” and therefore we pamper her as well as we can and we try to make the best of it.

I am still working on her story, there is so much to tell about her. I had to shift and insert the text already many times because I forgot something.

I want this to become a really "good" post!

Anyhow: This was only a general overview, I will go more in detail in an other post about the works we did and the problems we had (and still have) in our garden. I will give you also more details about the plant varieties.

We tried to make our garden not “too artificial”, but I find this not so easy. In fact ... gardening is a kind of manipulation of nature and some people can make beautiful creations by doing that. Of course it depends also a little on the environment where you live if you can keep your garden natural or not. Here in my region we have a kind of moorland soil and that's not an easy soil for gardening but we try to make the best of it.

I like to finish this post with a picture (taken on August 6, 2009) of the most beautiful thing in our garden, the thing that makes our garden and our life "complete"... our living "ornament": 

PIPKE

I hope that you've enjoyed the walk in Pipke's little world!

Till next time.

PS: *I don't know if this is the correct translation or description, maybe “sod” is a better word in this case.