After a Morning Rain

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Overnight thunderstorms and a morning shower gave the daisies a refreshing shower. What is it about lingering raindrops on flower petals and leaves that make us smile? What about the chickens? When they look up and see raindrops dripping off the flowers and leaves, do they feel anything? Hard to imagine that most chickens never even see a flower let alone a raindrop. How did we get to this point to think that chickens don’t need to see flowers or see raindrops?

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Never Too Many Babies

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The vegetable beds are full of babies: baby corn, baby pumpkins, not so baby radishes, baby chard, baby kale. Baby vegetables grow up faster than human children so you have less time to enjoy them. Fortunately, you can plant many, many, many more baby vegetables. And, unlike human children, you can eat baby vegetables. Baby humans you can just hug, kiss, and tickle.

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Summer Blues Bring Happiness

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It’s impossible to be sad when the summer blues are here. Even on cloudy days, you can see blue skies in these hydrangea flowers. Their centers look like baby suns, beaming happiness no matter what the weather; their white veins, wispy cirrus clouds, floating weightlessly across endless blue sky petals.

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Tangerine Goes Ballistic

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Raising chickens requires a PhD in psychology and conflict resolution. Hens have a tendency to believe that it’s all about them and that everything is theirs. Mine! Mine! Mine! That’s what they seem to be saying much of the time. It’s what Tangerine shrieks when she sees Special laying an egg in the nest she wants to use. Never mind that there are two empty nests right next to the one Special is using. Tangerine wants to use that one.

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A Bowl of Cherries

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How many are lucky enough to start their morning with a bowl of freshly picked cherries? What a great way to start the day.

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Potato Pride

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Do flowers have emotions? Do plants express their personality through their blossoms? Who knows? These potato flowers shout out, “I’m here! I have no fear! I’m here! I have no fear! Pollinate me!” They stand up as tall as they can, up on their tippy toes, reaching as high as possible for the blue sky. What bee could possibly resist such tempting blossoms?

The next time you enjoy a potato, close your eyes and imagine how proud it was when it bloomed, waving its flowers high above its lush leaves.

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Samara Morning

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This was a pleasant morning surprise. I was out in the woods working on fencing when I came face to face with vine maple samara. They look ready to flap their wings and take off. Another surprise is all the magentaspreen which seeded last fall and is growing nicely. The purple tinged leaves look stunning in a salad. I’ll be selling bunches of magentaspreen at Bow Little Market July 2.

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Out of the Garden Today – June 21, 2015

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Fresh out of the garden for lunch today, purple potatoes, ruby streaks, and chard. New potatoes shout summer. Instead of digging up the potato plants, you can carefully dig under the potato plants, feel for new potatoes, and pull them out. The potato plant is free to keep developing more potatoes.

Morning Fresh

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The morning is fresh today after a gentle overnight rain. What do the dogwood petals think of raindrops? Do they tickle when they land and bounce and drip? Do they sting? Do they quench their thirst? Do they wait for a stiff breeze to blow the drops away? Or do they lament when the sun dries out the soft drops?

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It’s OK to be Crazy

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It’s OK to be crazy. When I’m giving people change at Bow Little Market, I don’t want to be handing out dirty money. Paper money is easy to wash, dry, and iron, so why not wash it and hand out lemony-fresh change? Be crazy. Make the world a happier, zanier place.

Each week, I’ll wash the change with a different soap. No one will ever notice, but hey, I will. This week it’s lemon, next week lavender, the week after grapefruit. Maybe the store you visit washes their money. You never know. The world is full of crazy people.

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