Friday, April 23, 2021

Outside Endeavors


The prayer flag washing got hung on the line today in the sweet, cool air and although there is nothing at all special about this photo, the sight of it makes me smile. 

I was determined today to get something done. And I did. I've been wanting to get to the little piece of yard behind the old kitchen. It looks wild and that's fine when the wildness is a great abundance of the phlox that grows so well there that I transplanted from the last house we lived in. But there was also bamboo and the Gee Dee glory bowers as well as dewberry vines coming up everywhere. The whole place used to be filled with betony, or rattlesnake plant but I've mostly gotten that under control over the years. Still, I've been meaning to get in there and pull and weed and chop out what I don't want and today was the day. 


That's part of what I was looking at. The thing that was hardest and most time-consuming was getting rid of bamboo. The stuff has a sneaky intelligence, coming up and being invisible until it reaches a height of about ten feet and I tried to find each and every stalk, mature or not, and get it out of there. At first, I did not have the tool I really needed which was a pair of loppers, and struggled with a shovel (Oh, Levon! Where were you?) my pruners, and a limb saw. After Mr. Moon found the loppers for me, things went much easier but that wasn't until I'd probably chopped, sawed, dug, and cut well over half of it. I pulled all the glory bower I could find, a small amount of betony, the dewberry. I tidied up the area where our beloved old dog Pearl is buried, along with Hank and Rachel's sweet old cat, Johnny Karate. 
I also picked up fallen limbs and made many trips to the burn pile with all the detritus. 
And that about wore me out. 
I'd show you an after picture but you would be able to tell much of a difference. I can, though. 
As I worked, Maurice would suddenly appear from underneath the low-lying branches of the Japanese magnolia or under a clump of phlox. Here she is, taking the sun, looking at me toil through slitted eyelids. 


That cat has been sleeping with us almost every night and it has been days, DAYS, I TELL YOU! since she has drawn blood. 

And then I picked mulberries. I tried to snip the stems as I picked with my thumbnail which is why my hands look like this. 


Actually a rather nice color, I think. 
Mr. Moon helped me for a little while. We picked this many.


Jam soon. 

He has spent most of the day in the garden which is truly a thing of beauty. A few more pictures. 


A man and his garden. 


Rattlesnake beans. 


The celery in question. 


Rainbow chard. 


Tomatoes coming along. 

And finally this, which has nothing to do with our garden.


What chickens will do with watermelon. 

I think I may be a little sore tomorrow. That's okay. It's supposed to rain and I'll have a good excuse to stay inside. But I'm mighty glad I got outside today and used my body and created a small bit of order in a large area of chaos. 
I think I will sleep well on those line-dried sheets tonight. 
The church folks are gathering next door. 

Time for a martini. 

Happy Friday, y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon


21 comments:

  1. drying on the line in the sunshine photo, is absolutely perfect- lyrical!, Your garden so nurturing , just like your whole fam! Beautiful day in your little plot of land. Cat looking well contented, And your chickens made a helmet- clever little birds.

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    1. They did make a helmet, didn't they? I love the little peck marks.

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  2. That chard is outrageous! When will you pick and eat it?

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    1. We've been eating it right along. I've got some in my soup tonight.

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  3. I have never had mulberries. What do they taste like? Blackberries? ( brambles you might call them?) Raspberries?
    Strange to see your tomatoes so big. I have only just sowed some tomato seeds a few days ago!... and some runner beans...not sure what you would call them?

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    1. Mulberries taste sweeter than blackberries, I think. Not as tart. When you cook with them they need a little vinegar or lemon juice. A very nice flavor though.
      I think what you call runner beans we would just call green beans although after looking them up, they may be a specific variety. Our beans also "run" on the fence. We also have bush beans which don't climb.

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  5. I grew celery from the bases of old bunches, and it grew liked that. The stalks were hard as rock and inedible!

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    1. Oh dear. Your comment made me think maybe I should pull the celery after all. I need to check it for tenderness.

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  6. It's hard to imagine tomatoes 'coming along' at this point. Your picture made me sigh with envy. My tomatoes are growing well on a table to my right. It snowed for the last two days, and it will be another few weeks before we dare to put them in the garden.

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    1. Well, by the time you have tomatoes, the bugs will have destroyed all of ours. So there is that...

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  7. I can't believe how advanced your garden is. I'm still not allowed to put my plants in the ground till mid-May because of frost! And I can't believe Hank had a cat called Johnny Karate - that is just fabulous!!

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    1. No more frosts here, I'm afraid. Just the heat to look forward to. Or not, in my case.
      Yes. Johnny Karate. He was a bit of a strange cat but he was Hank's familiar for sure.

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  8. Well, you two certainly seem to know what you are doing as everything is growing and blooming and looking good! Too early to plant here - not that I plant anything really. I have chive seeds to plant this year. We'll see how I do with that! :)

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  9. You've got to admire how thorough those chickens are with their watermelon! The garden is looking terrific. And bravo for tackling all that clearing. I'm sure that was a job.

    I believe Maurice has gained weight. Do you think so? Not in a bad way.

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    1. Chickens know exactly how to eat a watermelon. No fooling around for them. Doesn't the garden look gorgeous? Mr. Moon is a fabulous gardener.
      I think that Maurice has gained a little weight too. She seems to be calming down slightly. By the time she's ancient she'll be a nice, fat, peaceful cat.
      Maybe.

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  10. I was definitely sore yesterday after trimming the ditch. that little trimmer only weighs about 9 pounds but 9 pounds is still a lot. that's a beautiful garden. I'm determined to get mine going this year, aiming for fall. I did put in one tomato plant, late, and it has one tiny tomato forming. I'm in the market for new sheets. looking at bamboo. what are your new sheets again?

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    1. Nine pounds is heavy after you carry it around for a while! No wonder you're sore.
      My sheets are cotton. I forget what kind. I got them from Garnet Hill and they weren't cheap so they better last forever. I got sateen this time. I like them.

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  11. That laundry photo is just gorgeous, and those huckleberries look amazing, as does the rest of your bounty from the garden!

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  12. How I love that washing line prayer flag photo, so much poetry in it. And woman, what a day you had, good hard honest labor, I hope you slept well. After the Friday night cocktails of course.

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