Musings

We emerged from raininess to a world of thriving plants, like this lilac. I’m hoping the blooms open before we must leave for me to bury my nose in and inhale deeply.

All that moisture meant today was perfect for re-creating the ringfort. Today I groomed the top (having weeded the mound earlier) and planted basil seeds around the perimeter and a mixed greens selection in the central (aka habitation (in the real ringworld)) area. Now, careful watering begins to nurture the hopefully swelling incipient botanical wonders.

Posted at 6:37 PM | Comments Off on Post-precip

I read the prediction yesterday—a 24-hour rain—and wondered if it would materialize, as the last rain prediction we had yielded no precip whatsoever. Rain is what came (and what makes the odd haziness in this image from this morning), and what is still falling hours later. Along with major branches from this ancient apple tree, but that happened last winter/spring when there came a big load of heavy, wet snow. The winter-white is all gone now, leaving downed floral proxy evidence scattered about. [The pile on the right is our accumulated discarded Shrubberies, getting bigger everyday as we do spring yard cleanup.]

Posted at 4:44 PM | Comments Off on Never-ending (slight exaggeration)

I’ve been snipping chives into our salads; they do perk the flavor up. Today I discovered that one stem even has a bloom head already! That’s early!

Posted at 7:12 PM | Comments Off on Chives thrive

We had our first hyper-local produce today, as in, food from plants from the property. We added our mint and our chives to the (supermarket) salad.

Interesting striated cloud at the top of the photo. Plenty of sun despite the partial cloud cover; our sun porch reached a pleasant low 70s in the afternoon. Rain and mid-40s expected overnight, which is warmer than last night, which was clear and down in the low 30s. Well into the 90s down south, so we’re Very Happy to be here.

Posted at 7:24 PM | Comments Off on Tasty and temperate

Today was a lot of removing and moving. Removing sprouting weeds, with weeds meaning The Botanist’s definition: a plant growing where you don’t want it to be, and moving pruned branches to the (potential) burn pile over by Our Field. Otherwise the pruned branches are In The Way, and that cannot be tolerated. 😎

Late in the afternoon when I was winding down with chores, I went across the street to visit with Lady Wonderful Neighbor, and we were chatting, and she gently leaned over and picked a strolling tick Off My Cheek. Yikes. Only good thing about that was it was still strolling. So, subsequently: major, serious tick-checking primate behavior. The count remains at one.

So the first paragraph story relates to the second in that some of the removing and moving involved getting into The Long Grass, which is not yet actually long because the spring is not advanced, yet: deer roam here; there may be mice/chipmunks, and thus a tick-supporting ecosystem. You get the picture.

Posted at 9:25 PM | Comments Off on So far

We were both too tired to get up and watch the eclipse, but, boy o boy, when the moon was out later, I sure noticed the bright light right in my eyes.

I was glad to see these trilliums survived last autumn’s tree cutting. The tree had to be removed; too broken and mostly rotten. This leaves our west façade very exposed to both winter winds out of the arctic and the setting summer sun. After clean up (presently underway), I will begin transplanting new buffer plants; however, they’re so very slow-growing here, it’ll take a while for them to grow and fill in.

Posted at 7:25 PM | Comments Off on Cycle of life

Today was open-the-cottage day, known in some quarters as open-the-cabin day. Invasive varmint count was zero. A big yay, truthfully unprecedented, that zero. Rhubarb that I tentatively resettled is doing terrific. Another big yay. So warm and pleasant out (providing there’s enough breeze to discourage the blackflies—yes, they’re early) that I cleaned up from cleaning up and opening by bathing in the lake. Not too cold in the shallows, really. And here’s the rhubarb that didn’t get transplanted; it’s also improving.

Posted at 10:32 PM | Comments Off on Settling in

A pretty (yet out-of-focus in this capture) welcome center vetch, cousin to peas, lentils, and Old World beans (not green beans).

Posted at 6:28 PM | Comments Off on Unintentionally mixed bed

An abhorrent southern gardening practice is to over-trim, as in brutally butcher, lowly and fast-growing crepe myrtles. This ruthless, vile, and harsh custom annoys me to no end. Or greatly. Your choice.

Posted at 7:36 PM | Comments Off on Cul-chah

Yesterday, I managed to skip the most demanding…topic…that I keep in mind when I walk: inhale through nose ONLY. ONLY. It is not instinctive; it is not easy to maintain. And yet: very important (to not tickle your vagus nerve…better to keep it quiescent).

Often, I post photos of organic subjects. Not always. Like today. Pure material culture. Functional, manufactured objects. Features. Parts of larger systems. Vroom. Whoosh.

Posted at 7:03 PM | Comments Off on Mental?