Musings

Amazingly, more rain.

And, for a non-sequitur, loved Tuesday’s Colbert.

…there is a Daft Punk.

Posted at 9:44 PM | 1 Comment »

I could have waited, hoping the rain would abate, but I went out and picked the Thai basil anyway. And got oh so wet….

I was in the mood to feel the rain. And I did!

Oh, and dinner was yummy, too!

Posted at 9:32 PM | Comments Off on I got soaked

Rain again. This means it’s time to weed.

Posted at 10:32 PM | Comments Off on Cause and effect

Agriculture is an integrated biological production system, in which several crops are grown in combination (variously called polyculture, intercropping, or associated cropping), in succession (crop rotation), or in a combination of both approaches.*

That phrase, “integrated biological production system,” caught my eye. What if it’s just a few plants, like I have? Is that agriculture or some version of horticultural dilettantism?

The first sentence of a 2009 article by M. Kwak, J.A. Kami, and P. Gepts, titled “The Putative Mesoamerican Domestication Center of Phaseolus vulgaris Is Located in the Lerma–Santiago Basin of Mexico”, and published in the journal Crop Science (49:554–563). And, yeah, I realize that Phaseolus vulgaris is the bean, and the photo is maize—you work with what you have….

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on IBPS = agriculture

Today was the Fourth of July party of our year. We raided the five rhubarb plants that Dad planted years ago for these skinny stems, which K extended with a few frozen strawberries and fresh (domestic) blueberries—creating what we decided should be called a Patriotic Crumble.

Later, I consulted with D and C about rejuvenating the rhubarb plants. Conclusion—they need more light (cherry tree and shrubs encroach above), less competition (they’re overrun with tall grasses), and more nutrients (I’m to find aged horse, cattle, something manure…). I can see that my autumn has a new chore….

Still, we were so very happy we could make at least a small harvest, and share it!

Posted at 10:22 PM | 3 Comments »

I’ve been thinking about subtle color groups that I find together in nature. In the sky, I saw greys melding into blues and vice versa, or so it seemed to me. In this cluster, I loved the beige to off-white shadings of the young to aging mushrooms….

Posted at 10:14 PM | 2 Comments »

I have not heard that the pesticides, weather, mites, whatever the toxic soup of factors is that’s been battering the honeybee population has been affecting the bumblers*. We had several visiting our bee balm today.

* Maybe not, but habitat problems have to be in play, at minimum….

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Gimme pollen

The fennel is hanging in there, as leggy as always. The Thai basil successfully reseeded itself. The pear tomatoes—I haven’t found a-one. Either the conditions weren’t right (I doubt it), or they just had two years of self-seeding in them…. I’ll miss them.

Posted at 10:22 AM | Comments Off on Haphazard gardening

The rain gods checked in for a bit this morning.

So far, we are lucky, and the water level in Lake Lanier is holding its own. We can bathe up until the late-year rains arrive, I think.

Posted at 9:43 PM | Comments Off on Surface tension rocks

Fencerows are interesting microenvironments. Say the land is cleared, good for pasture or row crops, and the necessity for fencing is at once apparent, either to keep critters in or out.

So, across this open area is now the perfect perch for meadow birds and others that will tolerate the newly opened area, lacking the original biodiversity, including, most likely, trees.

So, foraging birds perch now and then on the fence. And do what birds do. Look around. Make noise. Excrete.

Seeds collect here and there, some germinate, some live longer, and a microenvironment develops along the fence line. Where these roses came from, I’m not sure, but they are striving on this old fenceline (the fence is now gone)….

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Fencerow story