a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

Category: How Things Grow

Great Expectations

The garlic cloves don’t look like much, and yet as I plow through the baskets of garlic bulbs to peel and break apart, I have great expectations. Many are in the ground already, and the last of the planting will soon be over. There are machines that will do this for you. Dump a pile of garlic bulbs in one end and get garlic cloves out the other. But what is the fun in that? Pulling the bulbs apart by hand, you get to see each clove and decide if it’s one worth planting, or if it’s one you should eat this winter. At times, it seems as if the intent of automation isn’t to make life easier, it’s to separate us from a lot of good things to do and experience.

This is what approximately 800 garlic cloves look like. Next June they will look like the lovely scapes below. Amazing how a little clove turns into a two to three foot tall stalk, and a whole bulb of fresh garlic. There are very few things you can buy, that if you stick in the ground, will become something even more wonderful. Stick an iPhone in the ground this fall, and let me know if you end up with five to eight better iPhones next summer.

November 5, 2014
It is what it is and it isn’t what it ain’t

The Wood Brothers have a song Who the Devil. There are these lines in the song:

Who the devil spins the world around
Well it is what it is and it isn’t what it ain’t
Doesn’t matter what it was cause you know it’s gonna keep on
Keep on changin’

Change is the operative word when describing the universe. The hydrangea covered fence I pass by on the way home from the post office, was in bloom in June. Now it is worn and tired. Soon it will bare of leaves.

Every day, hour, minute, and second we find ourselves in a changed world. And there is no going back to where we were. It’s futile trying to cling to what was. All we can do is enjoy what comes.

November 3, 2014
The Claws of Fall

The Japanese maples are turning brilliant. I find them most beautiful when there are still some green leaves mixed in with the orange ones. As the leaves color, their tongues curl and become claws. It’s like their leaves are reaching up and clawing the sky, coaxing winter to come and cover them with a blanket of snow. Or they are trying to catch the wind to blow away to someplace warm.

November 3, 2014
November Colors

November is as colorful as May. There aren’t as many flowers, but the leaves are as brilliant as any flower beds. The roosters won’t be outdone, either.

Even the Ruby Streaks are brilliant. These are all headed to Tweets Café in the morning, along with arugula and lettuce. I was weeding them this afternoon, so that when I cut them in the morning, I won’t have to worry about any unwelcome leaves showing up. If you have lunch at Tweets tomorrow, you can enjoy salad greens picked that morning.

November 1, 2014
On the 4th Day

On Japanese news today, the weather reporter pointed out that in the fall, mountains are said to get all dressed up, referring to the forests on the mountains turning brilliant with fall colors. In the winter they are said to go to sleep, when they are covered with snow.

On the fourth day of her chicks hatching, Peach leads them out into the wild blue yonder, at least it must feel like that to the tiny chicks. They’ve traveled 125 feet from their nest. For a chick of just a few inches, it’s a long, long way. In human terms, that is like a half mile, quite a feat for a four day old chick.

October 31, 2014