Grow a lot of things and from time to time, nature will throw in a pleasant surprise. A few days ago I found a pair of fused squashes growing in one of the hoop houses. They’ll make an interesting dinner dish.
Category: How Things Grow
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Market Day
Yesterday was market day, time to take eggs and salad greens to Tweets Café in Edison. The morning sunlight dances across a sea of lettuce. The lettuce is almost too beautiful to pick.
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Apple Harvest
The woodpeckers and other birds are starting to feast on the apples. It’s time to harvest them.
I cut up the damaged apples for the chickens, and they came running, even Lucky and her chicks. So did BB, one of our ferocious guard dogs. He doesn’t really like apples, but since the chickens are gorging on them, he has to have some.
Sven, our Swedish Chicken rooster, is making the most of the gathering of hens. You can see him trying to court one in the background. See how he has lowered his wing? He is doing his love dance. A rooster’s love dance isn’t elaborate like a Bird of Paradise’s. It’s very simple. Basically they lower one wing and dance around a hen.
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Fall Harvest
This year, the Asian Pear tree is loaded with fruit. Peeled and sliced, I love how juicy and crunchy they are.
A fresh crop of Ruby Streaks are on their way. They love the cooler weather. The white Tennouji Kabura (turnips) are ready to be pulled. Left to overwinter, they will bloom in the spring.
Without soil, none of these wonderful foods would be possible. Every time I dig the soil, and harvesting potatoes requires digging, I encounter countless worms, bugs, spiders, and millions of organisms making a healthy soil possible. The complexity of life in the soil is amazing.
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Fall Mornings Start Misty
Fall mornings often start misty. These cool, damp mornings smell so fresh. I’m not the only one who enjoys the cool, moist air. The clover along the garden path soaks in the fresh water drops. The mist soothes the drying chive flower. And earthworms enjoy the dewy earth.
The afternoon sun evaporates the morning mist. Fall is in the air. It’s the last of the summer flowers. High above the canopy, the cottonwoods are turning golden. Growing up, I never considered cottonwoods to be among the tallest trees in the forest. I first became acquainted with cottonwoods in Kansas. There, due to the lack of rain, they are short, gnarled trees. Here, where there is no shortage of rain, they shoot up straight, spreading majestic branches high above most of the other trees. Odd how the same things grow so differently in different places.
