the wild life

Posted on Posted in food and garden, lace/shawls

look who’s back.
actually i dunno if this is the same bunny as before, except he does seem awfully comfortable with me (i don’t really know if it’s a he). see, there he is, looking at the garden, but not touching. content to pose for the camera instead. sure seems like the same blog ho bunny.

of course at first, he tried to throw me off by pretending to be a kangaroo (i didn’t fall for it).
i’ve actually seen quite a bit of wildlife in the yard this week. lots and lots of bees in the basil.
and this beauty

this gorgeous butterfly has been hanging out for about a week now, flitting all over the back yard. i wonder what attracts it? there are a couple of honeysuckle blooms and some hosta flowers out there, but it’s hard to believe that would captivate it all that time. and that one spot on the oak tree that’s oozing some kind of sticky stuff. i think it likes that best.

i’ve been plowing through paperwork for several days and, in an effort to be finally over the hump, i haven’t been knitting as much. just a little more on the lacewing shawl

the insects are emerging around the hem. now that the patterns are complete and in the hands of the test knitters, i can focus more on finishing mine. while i was taking photos this evening, the light from the setting sun settled on it and it looked so pretty that way

that’s the cool thing about knitting with natural fibers . . . they interact with their surrounding so well.

today of course was catch-up day in the garden (i so wanted to sleep a little later and knit all day instead!) as has become my habit for saturdays. i really did not intend to spend as much time out there as i have been—i thought it just needed watering and one bed cleaned out.
so out i went at 9:30.

i always pick stuff first, while the ground is dry. there was a nice little haul of tomatoes, peppers, and an eggplant. i pulled out all my red swiss chard (which hasn’t budged an inch in about 10 days)—might as well eat the stuff while it’s tender and sweet—to make room for the white chard that is growing bigger by leaps and bounds. i also pulled out all the mustard greens i planted a couple of weeks ago . . . i thought these were more of a salad green from the description on the packet, but when i tasted them—whoa—they were peppery. i mean, they are fiery-hot. so i took them young, washed them up and will use them in a curry tomorrow.

that left me some space, so i planted more chard (i just love the stuff, what can i say?). so now i have some that’s about 8 inches tall, some that’s 4 inches tall, some that’s seedling size, and these new ones that will germinate soon. while i worked there i thought over the state of the cucumber and squash plants that have been drying up and not producing. not worth coddling any more, i decided

and pulled those out too. i planted a couple of hills of summer squash just to see if they’ll grow . . . if they take i’ll be picking from them in september which gives them plenty of time to produce squash for the freezer. my other summer squashes are sluggish; they give me squash but only a few each week. maybe these extra ones will augment that.

i really owed some time to my asparagus bed; it was in dire need of weeding and the rock edging needed to be re-done. at the beginning of the summer i asked david to add a layer of soil to the top of that bed, and when i went out next to look he had (literally) added about 8 inches of dirt. um, thanks david.

the height is good actually, but the rock edging i put around it last year wouldn’t hold all that and watering caused the soil to wash down. so today i fixed it

i would like to mention here that all those rocks were harvested from our very own garden. yes, another crop you wouldn’t be able to grow just anywhere. i say grow because, even when we have carefully cleaned an area of all large stones and rocks, the next time we work there . . . we find more. they propagate here. we make piles at the sides and corners of the garden, then use them for jobs like this.

anyhow, there i was, weeding and rebuilding, and thinking about the asparagus, which did not all come back this year. last year we created this bed and planted all new crowns, which seemed to take off swimmingly, every single one. but this year only about half came back (and very nicely; see how full and bushy they are?).

by the time i realized the rest weren’t going to make a show, it was too late to buy enough new crowns to fill in. i got a few (you can see them in that photo, the skinny ones), but i still had some bare spots. i put a leftover winter squash plant in there, but the rest of the bed was going to weeds every few weeks.

lightbulb. suddenly during the week i had a norma moment. why wasn’t i putting that space to better use? i could put something very temporary there; then next spring i can fill in with more asparagus as planned.

it’s a spot that gets some nice morning sun, but sits in shade during the afternoon—perfect for greens. and, i just happen to have got a new batch of seeds in the mail. no spinach seeds though—that would be too perfect (in a bratty fit i gave up on spinach at the end of last week—i was through, i tell ya, just quit of the stuff entirely—but now i’m sorry. and seedless.) but i had other greens. and beets. so i put in some rapini, some more chard (have i mentioned i like chard?), and some beets. i have great hope for this venture.

david has always said he doesn’t like beets, but i’ve never cooked beets for him and he’s never eaten homegrown ones, so we’re going to try them again (i have an agenda—i love beets, but can’t justify fixing them often for just me, yet i’ve missed them . . .). i put in about two feet of seeds for these small, pretty, multi-color beets. and if he doesn’t like them, i’ll eat them all myself and never talk about them again.

david’s not terribly picky about food but there are a few things he doesn’t eat—mostly foods that a particular aunt forced on him as a child, which i suspect he might like if A) they were treated more creatively in the cooking and B) served to him by his wife, who may have an advantage over the aunt in a couple of ways. we’ve gotten past his aversion to celery by growing our own, so i have hope for beets. maybe even peas some day, though truthfully, i can take them or leave them myself.

ok, i’m running on, i know. i ended up spending the whole day out there—six hours—puttering. i completely lost track of time. but it’s so much fun, and then, i always think that right after i finish this one last little job, i’ll be done. hehe, but it’s never done, not really. kinda like knitting; as soon as you finish, and let your eye stray over some other yarn, you’re all set to cast on again.

(norma, this is my bay laurel, five years old.)

30 thoughts on “the wild life

  1. Now that you’ve waded through all that paper work, hopefully you can get back to some nice long stretches of knitting time.

    I bet most of us can relate to “just one more little thing to do here, and then I’ll be done”, but then it turns into twenty more things you’ve done six some odd hours later. Right lol 😉

  2. He is a cutie! We don’t see many rabbits here, but plenty of deer! The babies are starting to get big enough that their mamas are letting them come in to our yard for water and the salt lick. SO cute.

  3. Look at how well your garden is doing ! I have been away for a while but it is so nice to see what you have been up to meanwhile. And you have such a cute gardenfriend too 🙂
    The knitting is georgeous as ever, as is your new shawl that was released in Twist Collective !

  4. Now you’ve got me doing it too! Two containers that will eventually hang upside-down, with tomatoes, and another container of basil. Now all I need is a mozzarella tree, and I’ll be set for the summer. Not much knitting here yesterday, either.

  5. Hmm….seems as though David and I many have had that same aunt. Beets and tomatoes……….she would make me sit there and eat them until I thought I would be sick…aggh.

  6. As you know I always tell you how beautiful your
    garden looks. You know you have to watch out
    for bunnies. The proliferate so quickly. I can
    see bunnies out my back window, but I don’t have
    a garden so they have to eat elsewhere. I love
    your new shawl. Do you ever fringe your work?
    I haven’t looked at everything that you have produced.

  7. Anne, how do your cook your beets? I never liked them as a kid, but all we ever had was reheated canned beets. Bleah. I’ve been thinking lately maybe if I bought some fresh beets I might like them. But what do I do with them?

  8. You’ve been a busy girl! Love your shawl here and on Twist Collective. It was one of four patterns I bought the very day it debuted. Rest, now.

  9. Let’s put it this way, I am the only one in my house that eats beets! I make them and eat them, I figure they just don’t know what they are missing!! Enjoy them!

  10. I love seeing your garden. I grew up first in Barberton, then outside of Alliance, and seeing the gray soil makes me miss Ohio. My mother taught in the Canton high schools years ago. She always had Swiss chard in her garden. It was her favorite thing to plant and eat.

  11. Try serving small, young, tender beets to David. If that won’t do it, nothing will! I love beets with butter, or marinated beets in salads. If David likes vinagrette, then that might persuade him. (Generally I don’t care much for salad dressings, but I like marinated beets.) Too bad you don’t like peas–when English peas are available locally, I pay the price. Have you thought about snap peas, which are a cross (I think) between snow peas and English peas? They’re great for stir-fry.

  12. My mother did sinful things to veggies. It wasn’t until after college that I would voluntarily eat a fresh green bean because I finally figured out they could be cooked some other way that “boil until limp with bacon fat”.

  13. I love seeing pictures of your garden. It makes me wish I had one of my own. I was going to plant a Rubbermaid garden out on the front porch this year, but didn’t get around to it on time, and now it’s much too late… Maybe next year.

    Peas are one of my favourite vegetables. I’ll eat them cooked, but my favourite way is just eating them straight out of the pod. I have an unfortunate tendency to eat more than I shell and save when I do that, though. :p

  14. You know, if you run out of garden to play with out there you are welcome to visit here. Just sayin’…

    Yours is so beautiful. I love that butterfly! What gorgeous coloring.

  15. That butterfly is beatiful! And so is your garden, actually, so no wonder why the butterfly stays around (and the bunny comes back)!

  16. We eat a lot of beets and beet greens in this house. My husband roasts the beets and put them in the fridge and just adds them to anything when he wants. I’ve also had really good cold beet salads. THe greens are a lot like chard, so I imagine you’ll like them!

  17. I think your bunny got a little bigger? I don’t know much about rabbits but could you put out bunny food for him/her so it won’t go after your garden? I can’t wait to see your finished new shawl!!! It is on my wishlist. Since I have limited space for my tiny garden I purchased those big storage tubs w/lids…hubby drilled holes in the bottom for drainage…easy to move, replant, etc., so I can start the seeds and use the tops to keep in the moisture. They do take a lot of clean dirt but it was worth it. I rather enjoy seeing the root system as it progresses. Go figure….can’t wait for the unveiling of your shawl!!! 🙂 Thank you for such a delightful blog!!!

  18. I adore fresh beets. Send any leftovers my way. 🙂 My mom used to make a cold beet salad with chopped onions and homemade Greek vinegar and oil dressing (my mom’s recipe). Yum-o!! It is so enjoyable to read your posts and enjoy the nature surrounding all of us. The shawl is gorgeous! Thanks for sharing!

  19. In a word, it’s all — inspirational!

    The colors on the butterfly should somehow be translated into knitting. It’s exquisite. Just keep the little bunny away from the eggplants. One ate ours, and the zinnias in back. The shawl is looking beautiful.

  20. Anne,
    don’t feel bad about your asparagus !
    It takes depending on the climate, the soil, the growing zone and the type of plant two to three years to get established.
    You are not supposed to get any asparagus in the first year after planting and might not have much next year…..but then you should be OK.

    Slightly envious greetings, the beets make my mouth water just reading about them ( I boil and eat them with nothing added )

    Angelika

  21. Umm, I’m guessing that you won’t be able to persuade David to eat beets the way we persuaded our girls (remind me to tell you about it sometime; it’s probably not appropriate for a blog comment)! I love your bay tree — we use ours a lot, especially for one of my all-time favorites in the summer: summer squash of all sorts sauteed over high heat in olive oil with a few fresh bay leaves. Mmmm…

  22. It’s been a bad year for squash here in Georgia, too. I’ve been thinking about putting in some plants for fall and your plans are very inspirational. I might even try some chard! 🙂

  23. *pouting* My rocks never multiply! I recenlty had to PURCHASE a ton of rock so I could place them around my flower beds.

  24. You have such a beautiful garden. I heart your garden 😎

    Do you know anything about growing blackberries or raspberries? Where I moved, my husband and I found what we think are blackberry vines. We found all sorts of food that were covered with weeds and dyeing.
    We cleared out the weeds and were just amazed with what we found, blackberries, onions, rosemary, lavendar, & aloe. I don’t know how to care for these, & am not too sure they are ok to eat??? I think what I’ll do is bring in some large pots or have my husband make me a box bed and start planting in that rather then in the soil. Not to sure. You really give me inspiration!

  25. Sorry to add this comment so late (more computer problems!) but I couldn’t resist mentioning that I’m not too crazy about celery beets, or peas, either; on the other hand, I adore most greens…Too bad we live so far away!

  26. My beet-hating husband loves roasted beets in salads. I roast them in foil (washed and unpeeled) with olive oil, salt & pepper and sometimes a little garlic. I check them after about an hour at 425. With little beets it wouldn’t take that long. You peel them once they’ve cooled. Yummy!

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