a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

  • Life Stages and the Origin of Celtic Art

    KaleRed

    Let your kale go through its full life stages, and you get these stunning, brilliant, red hues when the plant enters old age. Kale goes out, bursting in flame. With leaves ablaze, the flower stalks which reached up high to touch the sky, become too heavy with seed pods, and tumble to the ground. It doesn’t take much to establish a permanent bed of kale. In a month or two, a million baby kale plants will sprout and start the cycle all over again.

    KaleFallen

    The garlic are spinning themselves silly these days. I can see how maybe, perhaps, Celtic Art with all its circular designs, originated with gardeners inspired by garlic curls.

    GarlicCurls

  • Foxgloves

    FoxgloveA

    So beautiful, so deadly, the foxgloves are blooming. It’s not toxic to bees, which frequent it in droves. But it is deadly to humans and many other animals, so deadly that it is also called Deadmen’s Bells.

    FoxgloveB
    FoxgloveC

  • It’s a Dog’s Life

    SalmonBerryA

    Salmon berries are ripening. The much sweeter thimble berries aren’t far behind. I’ll nibble on a few salmon berries, but leave most for the birds. I’m spending hours in the garden every day, and the birds sing the entire time. If we picked all the berries, the birds might go elsewhere.

    SalmonBerryB
    SpiderWeb

    The cottonwood fluff is everywhere. A spider’s nightmare. With its web coated with cottonwood fluff, what’s a spider to do? It would probably be faster to spin a new web than to pick all the cottonwood fluff out of this one.

    EnaAndTakumaA

    Ena 枝那 and Takuma 拓真 were in the garden with me today. I was weeding, weeding, weeding. They were playing and napping, playing and napping. Sometimes, I think life would be better as a dog. They are getting the idea that chasing chickens is a big NO, but that chasing wild rabbits comes with a reward. It’s ten days since they arrived. They are settling in and enjoying their new home. No more relying on handouts. No more worrying about where their next meal is coming from. I could be a dog.

    EnaAndTakumaB

  • Food as Art, Art as Food

    CognagsEggA

    This may be a pinnacle egg. Cognac laid this masterpiece yesterday. Is it food? Is it art? I think I should sell it to a psychologist to use in place of Rorschach cards. “Connect the dots in any order. There is no right or wrong way, just a sane way and an insane way. Let’s see if you are sane.”

    CognagsEggB
    GarlicScapesA

    A month early, the garlic are having fun with curling garlic scapes. I’m wracking my brain thinking of an evolutionary reason as to why they curl. Is there a pollinator that loves sliding up and down the curls? If the curls went straight up, would they get too high? If so, why not just grow a shorter scape? Why go the trouble of making lovely curls?

    GarlicScapesB

    Maybe the whole purpose of the curls is to give cooks something to smile about. The purpose is to put art in the kitchen. It’s a mystery. Have a garden and some chickens, and mystery will find you every day.

    GarlicScapesC

  • Busy as a Bee

    BusyAsABee

    What could possibly be as busy as a bee? Two dogs helping me weed a bed to plant potatoes, that’s who.

    DogsDigging

    Takuma 拓真 and Ena 枝那 spent hours yesterday, and much of the morning today helping me prep a potato bed. What are they looking for? Gophers? Moles? I’m not sure. I did hear an occasional crunch when they found something worth eating. They don’t show any interest in the countless earthworms, but they are finding something to eat down there. Whatever it is, they aren’t sharing it with me.

    SvendaIntheBrush

    Svenda has better things to do than help me plant potatoes. She’s looking for that special herb, that striking bug, to give her eggs a flavor all their own. With late spring’s verdant foliage, there is no shortage of good things to eat.

    YellowIris