Wait, I thought the bulk of gardening was behind us for the season. Why these days of long, hard work?
Why indeed... in normal times, Ed and I never really get to many of our farmette projects. At some point, we forget about them and stay with the usual garden maintenance, which for me involves mostly weeding, watering and snipping. But of course, this year, everything is different. It's not that I have more time -- household stuff eats up many more minutes, what with all that food washing, and with no breaks for take-out food or easy peasy meals. But I do have more will to spend as much time outside as possible and given that hiking no longer lures me in the way it did before (too many people and, very soon, there will be too many bugs), getting to those projects and, too, being more careful with my gardening, is suddenly very appealing. Especially on these beautiful, sunny days.
Up early, with breakfast on the porch. We're a little distracted by a radio story on growing corn that gets most of its nutrients from air. (Fascinating! On NPR, in case you missed it!) So we take the little smart phone with us for the morning meal.
And then we work. The two mega projects for us today are the meadow and the lilac. Ed finishes edging the path in the new orchard with good soil and I sow more wildflower seeds. The goal is to eventually transform lawns (meaning the grassy areas that have required mowing in the past) into meadows with paths. We've firmed up our ideas on how to do this and we've made great progress this year.
The second project is to cut back and saw down about a third of the huge lilac by the farmhouse. We attack that today. Maybe I got carried away. Looks to me like I took away a tad more than a third. But it looks fine! Next year, we'll saw off another set of thick old branches.
(Branches, loaded onto the wagon... We'll haul them to the wood pile tomorrow...)
The rest of the day? Well, trimming, staking, planting, weeding. And feeding animals, though Dance, the matriarch and once-feral cat, has still been bringing home the field mice which may explain why the big cats aren't super hungry these days. The little kitties, as usual, are trying to avoid the big cats. I do worry about them, because each night I am awakened to a chorus of coyotes outside and Ed has reported that one study found that one fifth of a coyote diet is made of cats, but so far, everyone has stayed in their own orbit of safe spaces.
In the evening, the young family comes for dinner. (A predinner romp is de rigeur on a day like this!)
Dinner is out on the porch. Of course it is! There aren't many days as perfect as this one for a meal outside.
Do we talk about the tough topics of the day? Yes, to an extent. But we are more American than we are French in our dinner habits, in that the kids are not quiet little listeners at the table, but vocal participants in most of our conversations and so serious stuff fizzles and we relax in the way that kid antics force you to relax.
What's for dinner? Oh, one of the usuals -- shrimp tacos. With onions and peppers, smothered in a green mole, with some raw veggies and cheeses for those who like to pile it on.
(After, he shows them how ice cream bars are made...)
Late evening. Ed wants to work outside some more, but I'm spent. Popcorn time and a return to the usual viewing pleasures. He and I have talked a lot about what's happening in this country right now. In the late day, I need the distraction, the calm. We wish we could offer that same calm and hope, too, to those who need it badly right now.
With love.
Why indeed... in normal times, Ed and I never really get to many of our farmette projects. At some point, we forget about them and stay with the usual garden maintenance, which for me involves mostly weeding, watering and snipping. But of course, this year, everything is different. It's not that I have more time -- household stuff eats up many more minutes, what with all that food washing, and with no breaks for take-out food or easy peasy meals. But I do have more will to spend as much time outside as possible and given that hiking no longer lures me in the way it did before (too many people and, very soon, there will be too many bugs), getting to those projects and, too, being more careful with my gardening, is suddenly very appealing. Especially on these beautiful, sunny days.
Up early, with breakfast on the porch. We're a little distracted by a radio story on growing corn that gets most of its nutrients from air. (Fascinating! On NPR, in case you missed it!) So we take the little smart phone with us for the morning meal.
And then we work. The two mega projects for us today are the meadow and the lilac. Ed finishes edging the path in the new orchard with good soil and I sow more wildflower seeds. The goal is to eventually transform lawns (meaning the grassy areas that have required mowing in the past) into meadows with paths. We've firmed up our ideas on how to do this and we've made great progress this year.
The second project is to cut back and saw down about a third of the huge lilac by the farmhouse. We attack that today. Maybe I got carried away. Looks to me like I took away a tad more than a third. But it looks fine! Next year, we'll saw off another set of thick old branches.
(Branches, loaded onto the wagon... We'll haul them to the wood pile tomorrow...)
The rest of the day? Well, trimming, staking, planting, weeding. And feeding animals, though Dance, the matriarch and once-feral cat, has still been bringing home the field mice which may explain why the big cats aren't super hungry these days. The little kitties, as usual, are trying to avoid the big cats. I do worry about them, because each night I am awakened to a chorus of coyotes outside and Ed has reported that one study found that one fifth of a coyote diet is made of cats, but so far, everyone has stayed in their own orbit of safe spaces.
In the evening, the young family comes for dinner. (A predinner romp is de rigeur on a day like this!)
Dinner is out on the porch. Of course it is! There aren't many days as perfect as this one for a meal outside.
Do we talk about the tough topics of the day? Yes, to an extent. But we are more American than we are French in our dinner habits, in that the kids are not quiet little listeners at the table, but vocal participants in most of our conversations and so serious stuff fizzles and we relax in the way that kid antics force you to relax.
What's for dinner? Oh, one of the usuals -- shrimp tacos. With onions and peppers, smothered in a green mole, with some raw veggies and cheeses for those who like to pile it on.
(After, he shows them how ice cream bars are made...)
Late evening. Ed wants to work outside some more, but I'm spent. Popcorn time and a return to the usual viewing pleasures. He and I have talked a lot about what's happening in this country right now. In the late day, I need the distraction, the calm. We wish we could offer that same calm and hope, too, to those who need it badly right now.
With love.
