Martha's Bloomers

In the tiny town of Navasota, there is a nursery and café called Martha's Bloomers.  Interesting place filled with everything you can imagine for your garden (and even things you never knew you needed).  There are outdoor water gardens and ponds, all sorts of lawn ornaments and cute things you can stick into the ground in spots where nothing will grow.  The little shops inside the main store sell gardening books to help you design your flowerbeds, gifts for your home and garden (or someone else's), and even sparkling costume jewelry to wear when you're finished playing in the dirt.

You can walk around the outdoor nursery area and get ideas for planting and vegetable-growing, and the people who work there are more than happy to answer questions and make suggestions.  For the most part, you're free to just walk around and look at every growing thing and no one will bother you until you need help.

There are two huge cages filled with coo-ing white doves....... you can hear the doves as soon as you get to the outdoor garden space, but the birds are tucked into a quiet corner so you have to look for them.  The sound of the doves gives a peaceful music to the garden space, and they sell the doves in pairs. (Just one dove would be too lonely, I guess.)

There are two resident cats at Martha's..... a long-haired orange and white, and a beautifully colored fluffy gray and white 'Ragdoll' cat with blue eyes.  The cats walk around the indoor spaces and outdoor gardens, and at any given moment, be prepared for either cat to just sprawl out on the ground right in from of you for a nap.  Both of the cats are friendly and quiet, and they don't seem to bother the doves at all.

At the far corner of the outdoor nursery space, there is a little cottage-shaped building that houses the café.  Gorgeous little tea-room, yellow walls with white trim, pale yellow tablecloths and napkins... and an extremely interesting menu with recipes that don't scream "You're out in the country and all we've got is chicken-fried steak and pulled pork and canned vegetables."   This café has an inventive menu with delicious homemade soups and quiches and sandwiches... and all of their desserts are made right there in the kitchen.  The chef's menu is outstanding, the service is excellent, and the entire experience is like reaching a private little oasis in the middle of practically nowhere.

I had been to this tea-room a while back with my friend V, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  I kept telling my husband that we should go there for lunch one day, but when I said it was a tea-room, I think he was envisioning tiny little crust-free sandwiches and dainty salads.  I suggested he look at their web-site and then he realized that Martha's had a real honest-to-goodness man-worthy menu.

We've been going there every week..... it's become a ritual on a day when we have the time for the ride and the meal and the shop-browsing.  The drive along the back-roads is pretty and unhurried...... there's always something to look at in the pastures and properties along the way.....and at the end of the ride, there's Martha's Bloomers, with their giant two-story teapot sitting out in the field near the entrance to their grounds.