The Proletarian Gardener

Like a Moth to a Flame

2011-09-03T07:50:00.003-04:00

It is that time again. The great Southern tragicomedy resumes. Corruption, cheating, sleaze, scandal, money. Pageantry and cheering crowds. Bands and BBQ. Institutions of higher learning and, well, you get the picture. Toe will meet leather. SEC football.

... and back South again.

2011-09-02T09:56:00.026-04:00

We packed our trusty minivan and steamed north through the heat wave towards Philly. Our first night's accommodations:

North Creek Campground in the Jefferson National Forest. A great view to awaken to.

The next night's campground just off Rittenhaus Square in Philly. Was 115 degree heat index that afternoon. No breeze.

All was redeemed by a drive through bucolic Valley Forge to Wharton Esherick' s house. Dreamy and inspiring.

We made it on to Blue Hill with a little detour through Woodstock and a stop in New Hampshire for lobster macaroni and cheese. Cruised out on the water to see a Maine mermaid.

Feasted on a few of the local water bugs. Just add a little boiling water and seaweed and ...

Enjoy! Man they were delicious.

Hiked Blue Hill again and revelled in the view and the temperature. You know you are in a good summertime vacation spot when the high temp for your location is lower than what you have your thermostat set on back home in the deep sweltering humid south.

Visited our favorite bookstore. Ran across a few fellow Athenians. The Cap Man & Terry .
Who all joined us at various times to cruise in the Armada.

Fortunately Terry overcame his gloom and doom to drive from Stonington to visit. Stonington is a happening place. We saw Jason Moran at the Stonington Opera House and visited the Deer Isle Hostel. And of course one can also catch the mail boat to Isle Au Haut to camp.

As we did for a little solitude and beach combing.

A good beach seat.

A little collection.

And a quintessential Maine coastal view. Required!
A week or so later, after depleting the local lobster population, reading as many books as possible by Paddy Leigh Fermor and having a poutine in Portland it was time to head home.

Getting gourmet in the Connecticut countryside near the Housatonic.

Cruising over scenic, sometimes, Mt Mitchell via the Blue Ridge Parkway after passing this beautiful spot on the New River.

And not too may hours later we were home. It was lush and cool here. But as we descended in elevation and rolled into the piedmont we came into a crispy southern fried drought. It was discouraging. But hope springs eternal with a gardener and a little watering, a little mulching, a little pruning and it will all get better. And you can always plan for next year.

Road Trippin'

2011-07-21T06:53:00.002-04:00

Gone Down East ...

First Figs of the Summer

2011-07-12T13:38:00.002-04:00

I spent three separate occasions this morning standing inside a fig tree eating. On the third pass I finally stopped to collect some for the rest of my family.

Reduce Reuse Recycle

2011-07-11T07:35:00.003-04:00

I've been pecking away at Lee HQ and of late this has meant ripping old dimensional framing lumber on a table saw (to 1/2" x 2" nominal) and then using my newly created lath (I realized whilst daydreaming the other day that I've disposed of many cubic yards of the same wood) to line the interior walls of my pout house and then using the drops to cover the ceiling. Hardly any waste! Hardly any cost! And it looks good too.

What Can I Say?

2011-07-02T07:44:00.004-04:00

It has been hot around here lately.

Snappy Leaves!

2011-06-27T21:10:00.007-04:00

Hey, I found this: Leaf Snap.
I decided to try it out. So I took a picture of a leaf.

It did not work! An improper id! Why? Because I did not follow the instructions. Ah ha. The instructions inform you to take your leaf snap on a white background. So...

Voila. And it worked. A sassafras.

So now I have been trying this one. Still no id. May be because of the shadows or the plant simply is not yet in the database. I understand that not all southeastern flora have been included at this point in time. This is some sort of yew and may be a torreya. Not sure and that information was from a conversation several hours into our last summer solstice party .

Eat a Peach!

2011-06-26T16:13:00.003-04:00

Grabbed from a couple of our trees this weekend.

Inside a Cloud, in a Boat, on the Water, Rambling

2011-06-21T06:33:00.009-04:00

So that morning, father's day, I lit out on this road for a ramble...

passed by these wonderful fungi ...

grabbed my canoe and went a-paddlin'

crossed this bridge...

passed these sentinels and took a moment to sit and think, alone in the woods, in a cloud.

Summer solstice today. I think 1:16 pm is the closest point to the sun our hemisphere will lean on this journey around the sun. We'll be in the garden with our friends and family beating the heat, one cool beverage at a time. Cheers.

Trotters

2011-06-12T20:31:00.003-04:00

Hmm hmm. This little piggy was good eating this weekend. Courtesy of these fellows. This was just about all that was left when the crowd tore into the splayed, smoked beast. Not too long after a massive thunderstorm rolled in, striking the ground and toppling trees and hailing and blowing rain. Almost biblical when one thinks about: blood letting, slitting a beast's throat, congregating, music, chanting and general caring on. The power went off too. The caring on continued.

Tis the Season

2011-06-04T15:06:00.003-04:00

For weddings that is. Have spent every weekend for the past month or so at bachelor parties, setting up for weddings, rehearsal dinners and weddings. I know the Epting's tent like the back of my hand. And so when the temps are furnace like and the weddings are outdoors how does one remain sartorially compliant and reasonably unencumbered? Why with seersucker and linen of course! Well, Maker's and ginger ale helps too. In any event, a seersucker suit with a linen shirt and a cotton bow tie is the absolute minimum amount of clothing one can wear and still satisfy the "coat and tie" requirement. And if I might dare say, I think seersucker suits look cool too. So, off to the Hill and then on to Tate and a dip in the cool mountain waters to beat these infernal temps.

100 degrees

2011-06-02T21:38:00.006-04:00

Boy it seems a little early for this silliness. 100 degree weather that is and still three weeks to go until it is officially summer! What is a brother to do? Well my brood saddled up the minivan and drove to the piney wilds of Oglethorpe county and down a dirt road and under a cable gate and over a red clay track to get here-an abandoned granite quarry. I know around here these are prime swimming holes with deep, cool, spring fed water. But who knows what secrets those green depths hold? These are better than a river and shoals I say. Look at those broad long shallow steps to lounge on and then the green ledge to drop off. A cool soothing plunge.

Theses huge jumbles of granite slabs abound all over this property. It is hard to believe that something that seems to have so much value would be left in piles deep in the woods. This pile was easily 15 feet tall and certainly was not the largest but it was close and meant I spent the minimum time out of the water.
Not sure if I could capture or describe the shimmer the heat put up yesterday. The granite deck around this quarry seemed to cast up reflected sun rays so as brighten everything from below.
Have been fortunate to go to a couple of quarries and a pond this year already - have yet to brave the chlorinated cement ponds in town. In fact I spent a good Saturday bobbing in Lake Mawaje in a life jacket, aimlessly drifting around the dock, kicking just enough to get out of the occasional upswell of cold bottom water. That was a day. Don't look for Mawaje on a map. It exist somewhere between Sparta, Jewell, Warrenton, Mayfield and my imagination. It can't be found. Hope to make it to Lake Sequoyah this weekend. Cool mountain water, rope swings and a diving tower. May fish a little too if it isn't too much work.

What do I have in common with an Afghan?

2011-05-25T15:43:00.001-04:00

We both grow poppies.

Isla Mujeres

2011-05-18T14:30:00.007-04:00

Spent a sleepless, long weekend in Isla Mujeres, Mexico this past weekend. The reason? A bachelor party. I'm too old for that stuff. I vow to never again be the oldest person on a trip like this. The chaos. Can't divulge much more. My lips are sealed. I can say that one could vacation on Isla Mujeres and have a quiet, laid back, indolent respite. Lounging on the beach, eating tacos al pastor and heaping piles of fresh fish on homemade tortillas with wonderful fresh salsas and the best ceviche I've ever tasted. Your plate would resemble this:
Mmmmm, that was good. Speared just a few hours before. And yes all washed down with many bottles of golden cervezas. Stayed away from the tequila. I watched it and Montezuma team up to crush one member of our party.

Ahh, the sunrise over the Mexican Caribbean. It looks so benign and welcoming doesn't it? Well that sun lashed us all like a pack of scurvy, mutinous deck hands later that day. And, at my age there is no excuse to not properly administer and maintain a total body coating of sunscreen. Alas, this I failed to do. My skin was seared into streaks and swirls but really only painful from the bottom of my calf down to my ankle. A critical place to apply sunscreen if one is to snorkel for four hours-the shallow reef water lapping over you, soothing your irradiated skin. Only later when flames lick your achilles tendon do you realize your mistake and feel as if you drifted into fire coral.
The photos above was taken from the Rocamar Hotel. I don't recommend it. It looks like a huge, soviet concrete boomerang perched on the seawall. The hotel was not bad but for the same price one could stay here:
Casa el Pio which I heartily recommend. A soothing, quiet, shady place. I shan't say more except go to this place and relax and be slothful. I did spend two nights here and I shuddered when it came time to leave each day and rejoin the bachelor party fray.
I was glad to go to Isla Mujeres and I was glad to go home. My chances for sleep are greater at home with two infants and the garden to take care of than the pack of maniacs I was with. I returned to find Athens a little dry, much cooler than I expected. The groundhogs paid my veggie garden a visit and wiped it clean. The wages of sin, perhaps? The oak leaf hydrangeas are blooming and I'm back where I understand what the sun is going to do to me.

It is good to be home. Cheers.

Happy May Day

2011-05-07T09:58:00.008-04:00

I must say that May must be the month for weddings. We have been in full tizzy/mayhem getting our yard ready for a wedding party for Genevieve and Wellborn. The garden is looking mighty nice I must say. It is nice to have a reason to really get the yard right, tight and out of sight. Now this has been a little complicated by my steadfast refusal to cut the grass, so far, this year. My reasons are two fold, 1) I wanted to see how high the rye would really get and watch the paths the animals made through it, 2) allergies. Cutting the grass and weed eating this time of the year leaves me in a Pigpen-esque cloud of pollen that does follow me around all day, subsequently causing my sinuses to belch gallons of snot that require me to snort ounces of prescription nasal spray in order to function like a normal, albeit, heavily medicated human being. In any event the deed has been done, I'm still breathing and we are ready to use the word party as a verb. A few things I observed in the course of my labors yesterday.

A Pomegranate flower...

A sweet shrub seed pod...
An arum flower ...
My chopping block ...
& a Cherokee rose hip. Don't step on these!

A New Path

2011-04-14T13:40:00.002-04:00

As if we don't have enough paths around here! Dirt, concrete, cobblestone, gravel. Through grass, woods, over granite and across streams. Human and animal. Stepped, sloped, rarely level sometimes dangerously slippery. Almost all adorned with ferns. And so what do I decide we need? Another path of course. Weaving through the new ginkgoes where the hemlocks once grew crossing from the crescent to the cobbles curving down around the emerald. Or from the central garden to Lee HQ. Depends on one's perspective I suppose. Not yet finished, shall always be tinkered with.

Weeding wisteria

2011-04-12T19:32:00.002-04:00

So about every three days or so I weed out wisteria starts from underneath a crape myrtle in our courtyard. This tree is pretty stout and supports wisteria, trumpet vine, evergreen clematis and probably something else for all I know. The wisteria is a harbinger of spring and has already bloomed out. But, for two glorious weeks or so a massive pale purple cloud hovered above our courtyard and over the roof of our house and the sweet scent breezed down. Now dried petals snow down and the new tendrils whip out aloft. It is a fecund plant! And now all those seeds dropped from last year are pushing up. They'll keep growing and I'll keep weeding and we'll do the same dance next year.

Surprise!

2011-04-11T15:59:00.005-04:00

Time keeps on slipping. Have been gardening, joyfully, and taking care of two little boys, joyfully. However, that leaves little time for anything else! Found this surprise in the garden yesterday: a morel. It started to deteriorate today. Probably because of the heat. It is in the eighties as I write this. Little early for that nonsense!

Bread & Weather

2011-02-05T09:18:00.004-05:00

Bad weather has me inside, save for sporadic darts outside to cut back ferns and rake a little, so I'm baking bread. Fresh bread smothered in home grown honey is a pretty fine pick me up. The bread recipe I use is a combo: a tweak of Tassajara with Tartine technique. We are pretty happy with it.

Rose Doctor

2011-01-22T17:34:00.004-05:00

My wife calls me the rose doctor! Standing on the roof of the garage, pruning the cherokee rose whilst all the babies sleep. Another year I didn't fall through the roof! My hands were a little like a bloodied pin cushion after it was all cleaned up, but what is a little blood for beauty?

Where ever has the time gone?

2011-01-14T15:11:00.008-05:00

Not sure how I managed to let 3 months elapse before I made it back here but there you go. A few things did occur. Traveled to and fro London. Turned 40. Holidays. Expanded family by one boy on New Year's morning. Please see new family portrait...

I do have a few projects sporadically underway. The establishment and renovation of Lee HQ. Formally a paint storage shed that had accumulated 140 cans of paint, almost all of which had been stripped of their labels by a mad nest building squirrel.

Not getting that much work done really since we had 8 inches of snow last Sunday night and no temps above freezing since. So a lot of things have been on hold around these parts.

I'm a little tired of building fires at the moment. But I have plenty of wood to split! Greens seeds have been sown in the green house but the snow has prevented the sun from reaching them. Luckily we have provisioned well and the apple wine is just now ready-sun in a bottle!

Maine Adventure

2010-10-04T15:23:00.005-04:00

Where in blue blazes am I?

On this little island...

running down this path...

under this darkening sky...

being chased by the Maine state bird...

looking for some transportation...

to get to this wedding. Never made it. Back here fall has chilled in and I've been pruning a little, raking more and planting a few fruit trees and shrubs, collecting seeds and, as always, planning for the next go 'round. Off to London for two weeks then back home for bonfires, home made wine, honey collecting, log splitting and lots of leaves.

Homecoming

2010-09-29T15:32:00.007-04:00

Returned home form Maine to find a crispy fried parched garden. No surprise really. The Banana said that it was the third hottest summer on record for daytime and the hottest on record for nighttime. Can't catch a break like that. The equinox passed and so now the weather finally turned. Cool breezes, 70 degrees, falling leaves and a little rain. No insistently humming air conditioners! Noise pollution has suffered a temporary setback! So a few views of Maine:

The view from the meadow on Blue Hill. A few hundred feet to go up to the top. Some how, despite several trips up, I neglected to take a picture.

I believe there are one billion barnacles per square acre of Maine shore.

A little Maine humor...

The possible remnants of one of my many crustacean meals.

Summer Doldrums

2010-08-09T20:26:00.003-04:00

Several weeks of the heat index above 100 have brought my gardening activities to a standstill besides picking tomatoes and basil and occasionally cutting the grass. Seems like every living thing starts to flag and lag a little bit this time of the year...

luckily hiding out in the cool indoors causes one to undertake projects one should have undertaken in the winter or spring. Such as cleaning the closet of doom and discovering 14 pounds of honey forgotten in the bottom back corner but now being lovingly consumed as sweet bottled sunshine...

and doing a little observation. Looks like the charlottes are feasting this time of the year as all manner of insects seem to be a swarm in the yard.

A positive note and a little hope for cooler temps. Found some good luck down by the stream this winter. Gone to Maine until September. Waiting out the heat on Eggemoggin Reach. Shall report back as the equinox approaches. Good luck. And confusion to the enemy.

Fig Time

2010-08-02T07:09:00.003-04:00

A year's worth of rain and sunshine along with some good dirt have conspired to deliver the sweet jewels of the summer. Figs. We've been denuding the trees we've been eating them so fast. These are brown turkeys and we have several trees and now piles of figs.

A Practice Weekend

2010-07-26T07:13:00.003-04:00

Spent a lovely, slow weekend bobbing in Lake Sequoyah to beat the sweltering heat. In order to fuel all that swimming and paddling we carried a big pot of red sauce made from our Romas. Practicing for our impending vacation in Maine! Staying in the shade this week.

Surprise

2010-07-21T16:05:00.003-04:00

Surprise lilies popping up these days. Me thinks if we had a little more rain then we would have a little more surprise.

Where did the Time go?

2010-07-14T10:17:00.004-04:00

Whoops, a week jumped past. I've been busy eating peaches, tomatoes and basil. And wondering if there is such a thing as cumulative heat stroke. Weeks on end of heat indexes above 100 degrees will curb the most ardent gardener. At least for a little while.

Baby Buckeyes

2010-07-07T07:17:00.003-04:00

Saw these baby buckeyes dangling in the yard whilst taking a morning stroll the other day. Hope they are growing a bunch of luck. Spent a long holiday weekend up in the mountains drifting in a canoe across a lake. Occasionally I'd cast a line.

A Drift of Plumes

2010-07-03T09:06:00.004-04:00

Well a drift of plume poppies. These are behind a circle of boxwoods and add an ethereal spray behind the box. A lovely tall gangly plant that will get out of control if you let it!

Treasure from the Stream

2010-06-30T15:43:00.004-04:00

I enjoy scavenging, particularly when I don't have to leave my yard. A little stream runs through our property and downtown Athens is built over a portion of it. The stream has been contained in a culvert into which most of the storm sewers on this side of town dump. Plenty of buildings and lots sit above this little rivulet. However, come a rain and we have a raging torrent. I suppose the containment of water in the culvert, when loaded with the flash of runoff or a sustained downpour, pressurizes the water so the trickle out of the end of the culvert where the stream enters daylight and our property becomes a powerful columnar jet. Water will find its way. So after the rain I always walk the stream and I discover loads of freshly tumbled and washed antique bricks piled just past the mouth of the culvert. Where did they come from? Somewhere under downtown Athens I believe. So I stack them and eventually load them up the hill to my workshop from whence they are dispensed to my various projects.

A Mess of Peas

2010-06-29T07:10:00.004-04:00

A mess of peas from the garden. Well maybe not a mess but a large bowl. I picked, shelled and ate these the other day. I actually sat on the front porch under a fan in a rocking chair to shell. They were delicious. I remember when I was a kid, box fan blowing from the kitchen screen door, running my fingers deep into the bowls of cool fresh shelled peas. It seemed as if I could have let peas dribble through my hands for hours. I mean it was the seventies.

Cardoon

2010-06-28T13:53:00.003-04:00

A nice prickly, dinosaur looking flower for the summer heat. We love these little monsters. I understand a mighty fine soup can be made form the stems.

Summer Time

2010-06-23T20:12:00.002-04:00

There are many wonderful things about summer time; swimming, more bike rides, watermelons, veggie gardens, long days, lightning bugs, well I could go on forever like this. But I would say one of the best things about early summer is plums!

Summer Solstice

2010-06-21T14:08:00.003-04:00

The longest day of the year. And a pretty damn hot one here. So today we will celebrate with a siesta and then a couple of torpedoes of fine local brew, maybe some bocce, and a lot of staying in the shade. To beat the heat me thinks the drink of choice this evening will be the Cyclist. Half a glass of lemonade, half a glass of cool refreshing ale. Enjoy!

Bocce Practice

2010-06-18T07:35:00.005-04:00

The temps dropped a little and I decided to round out my day with a beer and bocce practice. I must refine my toss! Certainly a pleasant way to sip through a bottle of beer, as if that wasn't pleasant enough itself. So as I was practicing I glanced to my left and this was my view...

a new bed of cosmos, zinnias, marigolds and whatever other seeds I could round up with beans running all over the garden fence (made from salvaged wood). All in front of the green house, again made from other people's trash, and then bald cypress standing up through the gap in the tree line, knees down in the little creek. If I were a photographer you could see the bald cypress better. Photographic merits aside, sometimes it is best to do nothing more in the yard than toss the balls around and enjoy the fruits of one's labor.

Toasty

2010-06-17T07:44:00.004-04:00

It has been a little toasty around these parts lately with the heat index lounging above 100 for several days. Life is like a sauna when the temps are like this. Still weeds need to be pulled and grass cut, limbs pruned and paths raked. The end of the day beer comes like a knock out punch though. So, staying on the shady side of the street the other day I took this photo of this porch. I've always like the tall simplicity up to the gable. Don't care much for the steeple as it seems like a busy add on. Has a nice garden around the right corner. Usually pass here on the daily stroll.

Basil!

2010-06-14T15:15:00.003-04:00

Who knew what loads of chicken poo could do!?! Look at that leaf! And all my plants look like that-and that is a man's hand I might add. The plants aren't tall or huge, but they are full of large leaves. And yes, the leaves are as tasty as they can be. I sure am glad I let those little dinosaurs peck, poop, and scratch their way through my veggie plot. Why go and buy fertilizer when you can have it delivered from inches away, constantly, and turned under almost immediately? A few eggs in the bargain too.

Waterspout

2010-06-11T12:36:00.003-04:00

This gentleman presides over the Great Wall of Lee. Or really he is a spout for ac condensation lines that are routed through pipes behind a retaining wall and a gutter downspout. The water spits out above his head, well usually dribbles out, and then falls into a sunken cluster of papyrus before hitting an underground pipe that delivers the water to our vegetable garden.

Now That is What I Call a Zucchini

2010-06-09T13:50:00.004-04:00

Who's got the 10 and a half? Actually this zucchini does. We're gonna cook this sucker up tonight. It's a wonder what a little chicken poo can do for a garden.

Down By the Creek

2010-06-07T15:35:00.003-04:00

Down by the creek 'round the rock we have an array of little shade lovers skittering, slowly in their own seasonal way, across the granite. These strawberry begonia are creeping out...

and this plant, selaginella, which rings the stream and spreads unobtrusively through out the yard. It seems to be a signature plant for the garden. We love it. Transplants well too.

Bay Buds

2010-06-04T07:50:00.005-04:00

A bag of bay magnolia buds. These smell wonderful! tried to make cologne out of them but it was a failure.

Architectural Strolling

2010-06-03T14:34:00.004-04:00

Walking down Hancock this morning with little man. I must have walked past this doorway a million times and only a few weeks ago I noticed it. Looks like it could be a London home, particularly with the iron gates around a front basement entrance.

And then further down the block a sidewalk reclaimed. I'd seen patches of this one sticking through so kudos to the city for taking the time to uncover and use what was there. Plus it looks better than concrete to me.

Mace

2010-06-02T07:32:00.003-04:00

Well this was one service berry I didn't eat. Not quite sure what is going on with it but it looks like a psychedelic mace to me.

Later

2010-06-01T13:52:00.004-04:00

As in 824 miles later. Three days, two campsites, 6000 feet in elevation and innumerable switchbacks, hairpins, ascents, descents, tunnels and long sweeping, leaning curves...

and hardly another soul in sight.

My traveling companion, the Big Nasty.

And me, about to head home from Crabtree Meadows campsite in the Pisgahs last Friday. I would like to happily recommend a trip up or down the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was fantastic to see this wonderful string of state and federal parks blanketing the top of these mountain ridges. And a road that exists not to cram as many cars as possible on the widest ribbon of concrete to go nowhere fast except to tedium, but to simply offer access to beauty and nature. The reward is in the meander, the vista, the silence of a mountain top; not a few minutes shaved, potentially, off a drive. Or simply the thrumming of an engine climbing a mountain (sometimes in 4th or 5th!) scattering turkeys and one bear, wind whistling through your helmet as you skim through tunnels of mountain laurel and rhododendron, no thought in your mind other that how to attack the next curve.

Rocinante

2010-05-25T20:50:00.004-04:00

Traversing the Blue Ridge. Away a few days.

Promising

2010-05-24T07:31:00.004-04:00

Our veggie garden a few weeks on. It is remarkable what a little sunshine, a little rain and a little chicken poo can do. We have had our first salads and pesto out of this garden last week.

Fruit Trees That We Love...

2010-05-23T20:16:00.004-04:00

Service berries, a native tree, that taste more than a little bit like blueberries. The entire year's output of these trees has now passed through our family's digestive tracts on pillows of yogurt.

Pomegranates, perhaps the original forbidden fruit? Forbidden to us anyway since ours has never set fruit. This year I sense change! That damn ice storm a year and a half ago has had more than its fair share of fringe benefits. More sun onto this tree will hopefully, seemingly equal more food in our bellies!

Promises, promises. Last year was a bad year for figs. We didn't get hardly any. Now this year looks to be different. There are a plethora of figs all over or trees, starting to swell.

Just About the Perfect Plant

2010-05-22T15:10:00.003-04:00

Oak leaf hydrangea. One of my favorite plants and a native here. Massive flowers now, huge green leaves which turn a rich red in the fall. Woody stems that make for an easy plant to propagate and it grows into huge banking masses. Quite sculptural in the winter with the twisty, skeletal shapes of stems.

Contemplation

2010-05-21T21:01:00.003-04:00

To me this is a pretty nice place to sit and think at the end of the day... or have a drink.

Pimm's

2010-05-15T06:51:00.004-04:00

It's getting a little warm here these days and a fine antidote to the weather is a Pimm's cup. And may I suggest a garnish of borage? I believe it was used before cucumber. Cheers.

Promise

2010-05-12T08:19:00.003-04:00

My new vegetable garden about two and a half weeks ago. Happily I can report that the greens have sprouted and the okra too. The tomatoes, basil, peppers and squash have taken hold and numerous beans and peas are climbing the fence. I also have already battled and intense infestation of amaranth; I must have pulled a million little purply plants. Lesson learned! Don't let amaranth go to seed in your yard!

Grancy Greybeard

2010-05-11T07:13:00.002-04:00

Grancy greybeard dancing in the wind. All bloomed out now.

Sweet Shrub

2010-05-08T20:31:00.004-04:00

Sweet shrub - perfume in the humidity.

'Til Next year

2010-05-07T08:30:00.003-04:00

Well, the snowballs have bloomed out-after a massive showing this year. Until next spring's viburnum ...

Why I Love My Neighborhood

2010-05-05T14:34:00.003-04:00

On a fence pillar this morning. Pulaski Street. Do it yourself!

A Secret Place

2010-04-30T14:41:00.005-04:00

Strolling through a sylvan glade one morning, picnic packed, we happened to jump a fence (we were off course of course!) and strolled across the granite rocks and shoals of little elfin plants...

which bloomed in masses far and wide in cedar lined rooms...

across the tops of caves where who knows what looms!

Spring Beauty

2010-04-22T11:07:00.003-04:00

a buckeye...

native azalea...

tree peony... all have come and gone this year & they were fantastic!

Lady Banks

2010-04-19T09:16:00.003-04:00

What a lovely rose. Little cream puffs flying all over the place. Hit their peak around here last week.

'pon Our Return

2010-04-14T08:33:00.004-04:00

A few of the delights in our yard as spring swings into full bloom.

Fruits of the Sea

2010-04-12T07:58:00.002-04:00

Well probably not. This little booger was puffing up in the sun when I stumbled across him. What an odd little fish. But I'm sure he would look at me and think, "What an odd little human." And so ends our trip to South Cackalacky, the "Edge of America." I noticed how South Carolina's flag looks suspiciously Islamic or Arabic. A little ironic for a red state. Personally as a Georgian I've always been happy that South Carolina, Mississippi and Alabama existed because they always beat Georgia in the conservative's race to the bottom.

Oh the Folly

2010-04-10T08:38:00.004-04:00

Old sea worn piling on Folly beach. I think part of an old barrier to stop the beach moving down the island. Now thoroughly destroyed by Mother Nature.

Sand dunes-that actually protect the island-

-because of the massive root systems of sea oats so don't walk all over the dunes!

This little creature's lair was at my feet just as this little orb popped up...

... to start a brand new day. Folly is a fine beach, with a quite a few little shacks nestled near the dunes. Nevertheless the march of architectural folly continues as more massive suburban American eclectic fortresses of hideosity hulk over the beach. Downtown Charleston is only fifteen minutes away if the traffic isn't piled up. Seeing all of the old homes makes me itch to move an old house again. Nothing like a project. All in all a fine trip with many sea creatures consumed, books read, naps taken and children buried in sand.

View from Our Window

2010-04-02T08:41:00.002-04:00

April Fool's Day morning view. Dogwood, redbud, japanese magnolia and carolina jessamine. Headed to Folly for the week...

Getting Ready

2010-03-31T20:08:00.002-04:00

Here is our greenhouse about a week ago. Cuttings taking root and seeds sprouting. We are past our frost date; I mean it was 80 here today. The trees seem to be going mad with blooms. Star and japanese magnolias are raining petals and all manner of shoots are arising. The dogwoods are beginning to bloom so the crappy are biting and more fiddleheads are unfurling. Tomorrow: seeds to sow and plants to move.

?

2010-03-28T11:22:00.002-04:00

For some reason this always strikes me as funny and triumphant for the tree! I suppose I run across chains, cables, nails, horse shoes and rocks being consumed by trees because I garden in an old part of town. I once ran across the remnants of an old wire fence way up in a tree. There is an old bed springs being enveloped in the way back. Mother nature always wins in the end.

Dramatis Clematis

2010-03-24T20:28:00.003-04:00

Rambling across the top of our courtyard wall ... spring is so nice.

Update

2010-03-21T13:53:00.003-04:00

Spent Friday cutting in new flower beds and listening to Big Star... last frost date is March 28... incomplete totally unscientific bloom census: daphne, narcissus, hellebores, forsythia, weeping cherry, spirea, camelia, red bud, peach, star magnolia, japanese magnolia, snow drops, evergreen clematis, quince, mahonia, dandelions ... a few determined fiddleheads ... killed a copperhead ... a veritable songbird symphony

dente de lion

2010-03-16T19:56:00.002-04:00

Fermentation under way. A pile of freshly picked dandelion flowers in the crock yesterday. A week or so of fermentation then into the bottles until March 2011.

A Few Patterns

2010-03-15T20:51:00.002-04:00

a carpet of late winter weeds

cryptomeria bark

new cobbles

salvaged pine gate

old crape myrtle

A Little Spade Work

2010-03-01T10:50:00.003-05:00

It is really remarkable what you can discover and reveal with a little exploratory spade work. In every case the primary culprit was liriope root masses.

Ah, Much Better

2010-02-24T14:41:00.002-05:00

Weather in the 60s and all of a sudden you have a carpet of crocus and hot hellebore action!

The Snow Melt

2010-02-15T16:53:00.004-05:00

The snow was beauty - all the more so because it did no damage. So instead of franticly cutting and cleaning as I did last year, we could simply wander around and enjoy. With all the precipitation we are having, we should have a floriferous spring! All the ferns are cut back and a few hellebores & crocus are blooming. Large, undulating flocks of songbirds are arcing through, surely a harbinger of spring! Hopefully an early one. Happy Lundi Gras.

Winter Wet

2010-02-04T14:41:00.001-05:00

Not much gardening going on around here as the weather has remained cold and wet. I have begun, sporadically, the fern cutback and am about 150 gallons in.

Peony Emerging

2010-01-26T09:09:00.001-05:00

Sort of looks like a moray eel.

One Determined Root

2010-01-24T20:34:00.002-05:00

Leaf Skeleton

2010-01-23T20:14:00.003-05:00

Mushroom & Forsythia

2010-01-20T06:37:00.002-05:00

Mushrooms hanging out under a forsythia hedge.

Shelf 'shrooms

2010-01-19T10:28:00.002-05:00

Shelf mushrooms on a huge downed tree up at Tate.

Glorious Day

2010-01-18T19:48:00.004-05:00

The sun finally broke through and warmed us up on this holiday Monday. Here is a gardenia pod basking in the afternoon sun on this fantastic day.

Storm Debris

2010-01-15T07:52:00.002-05:00

Still talking about last March's snow storm! Many of our crape myrtles were hit especially hard last year - looking like giant tan mushrooms after the snow and ice. I set aside many of the long limbs and they cluttered my tool shed for 10 months. Voila! Inspiration struck! Rinne needed a rail for her studio porch and here we are. One rail built, some clutter cleaned and debris used for a functional purpose.

Inglaciated

2010-01-12T08:45:00.003-05:00

Not a lot of gardening going on 'round these parts lately. Just a deep long freeze for us. The above pictures are the ice sheet creeping over the rock down by the stream. Ground water not snow or sleet. A heat wave is coming though, highs in the 50s tomorrow! And this will return to a trickle.

Limb v. Truck(s)

2010-01-07T09:38:00.005-05:00

Street trees have a hard life. Sandwiched betwixt curb and sidewalk. Under constant assault by drunken football fans, car doors, pet urine, and delivery trucks. But these crape myrtles seem to be able to with stand anything - and their limbs bear the scars.

The weatherman says that snow is on the way. Hopefully not a repeat of last year's storm!

beauty everyday

2010-01-05T22:40:00.002-05:00

posting over here for the next few weeks.

i may pipe in over here some, but for now, lee will take the reins...

enjoy!

More Moore's Branch Treasure

2010-01-05T08:11:00.002-05:00

Quite a lighter, no? Couldn't resuscitate. Too much time underwater.

Little Chilly Around These Parts

2010-01-04T11:13:00.003-05:00

Ice on Tate Mountain Lake. A little unusual to me. Happily the temps were all the way up in the 30s in Athens!

Happy 2010

2010-01-03T19:58:00.002-05:00

An early arrival. Cheers to a short winter & a happy, prosperous new year.

Flotsam & Jetsam

2009-12-31T09:57:00.002-05:00

Treasure from Moore's branch

Knees

2009-12-30T21:34:00.003-05:00

Spent part of the morning cleaning trash from Moore's branch-and from around these bald cypress knees.

Moore's Branch Beach

2009-12-29T08:52:00.003-05:00

Moore's Branch gravel beach, down by the rock in our back yard. The branch flows down to the Oconee, which mates with the Ocmulgee to spawn the Altamaha which spills into the Atlantic or maybe flows on into the Sargasso Sea. So one distant day, this gravel, eroded to sand, will form the shifting beaches of the barrier islands down on the coast.

2010 Firewood

2009-12-28T10:31:00.005-05:00

A little sliver of the pile of wood left from the great snow storm of March '09. Destined for our fireplace, soon.

Hydrangea

2009-12-26T08:37:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T18:14:00.001-05:00

A Wintersweet Xmas Eve

2009-12-24T09:04:00.002-05:00

Fatsia

2009-12-23T09:11:00.002-05:00

Onwards to Spring

2009-12-22T15:17:00.002-05:00

Little bit of a delay as we travelled to North Cackalacky, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, and California. Didn't expect it to be quite this long though between posts. Winter Solstice passed yesterday so things can only get better, or at least sunnier.

away

2009-08-19T08:31:00.002-04:00

we are away for a bit...

we will probably post some, but for now, we are walking in the forest.

farm outing

2009-07-22T21:40:00.006-04:00

last week, this lady came to visit.

she had one request- to go out to full moon farm.

so early on a friday we went. we met up with olivia and her dog atticus and rambled through the fields on a tour. we viewed their pigs and piglets, then walked to the cultivated area and walked the rows and took photos. then we leaned down and started helping pick beans. these beans were off the the restaurant or to the farm's CSA.

eventhough i have been to this farm many times, i never cease to feel the beauty of it, or this way of life.

carry on, farmers!

happiness is...

2009-07-21T17:23:00.006-04:00

...pretty peas.

we are really loving our heirloom peas.

they are so beautiful.

homemade breakfast

2009-07-21T17:15:00.002-04:00

it is unseasonably cool here, at least in the mornings. i think we may have set a record even, this morning. i ate on the porch and had an all homemade/homegrown breakfast of lee's bread, banana butter, lee's yogurt, blackberries, and honey.

mmm, mmm!

photo shoot by-product

2009-07-01T16:49:00.002-04:00

often when i am photographing, objects on the periphery of the shoot end up being some of my favorite images from the day. here, heirloom radishes sit in wait for use in a salad for a photo for r.wood.