Sunday, April 24, 2022

The Actual Sunday


Here we have my filthy porch wall with my hand carved and painted...wooden... things that I got at the Bad Girls Who Got Saved By Jesus thrift store a long time ago when they had actual treasures. But that's not what I came here to show you. I braided up the garlic I pulled the other day and hung it on a string to let it continue drying because that is how you preserve garlic. There is something quite satisfying about braiding garlic stems together. Not sure why but it is. For me, at least. All sorts of food preserving feel satisfying although I have to admit that freezing things does not give me that same feeling. I suppose it's not an old enough method of preserving to be in our genes whereas braiding garlic has probably been done for eons. Canning is also relatively new but there is no denying the way I feel when I line jars of canned foods on the kitchen counter and hear those lids pop. It's a very fine feeling. 

I worked out front for awhile again this afternoon, pulling crocosmia and rice paper plants. The chickens, alas, did not come to keep me company. Earlier, when I was looking for a hanging basket on the swing porch, I spied this growing in front of the front porch.


You cannot turn your back to bamboo! That stalk is taller than me. It was cleverly hiding in the sago palms until it grew too tall for them to camouflage it. Mr. Moon had to get that one with a machete. As you can see my front porch is in dire need of pressure washing and painting too. I am not unaware of the state of things around here as concerns such issues. Trust me. But there is a long story attached to the issues and they ARE issues and a lot of it boils down to the fact that two very stubborn, both in their own ways, people have control of this situation, or rather obviously do NOT have control of this situation. 
Sigh. 

Mr. Moon planted some pinto beans for me today. Pintos are probably my favorite beans and I have never eaten fresh ones, only dried. I am curious to see what they taste like. He's planting field peas as we speak. I have to say that since he's taken over much of the gardening, things there look better than they ever have and are more productive, too. The tomatoes are leaping up and need staking already, the beans are continuing to thrust themselves up to climb the fence, and the potatoes are looking promising. Of course, with potatoes, as with garlic, one cannot see what sort of crop is developing as the vegetables themselves are growing underground. The peppers and cucumbers do not, however, look as if they are trying very hard. I don't know what's going on there. 

When we moved here, there were two roses planted on the north side of the old pump house. They are a small, white climbing variety and since they are underneath the bountiful limbs of the magnolia AND a young live oak, they do not bloom very much although every year I clear out their bed and prune them back and mulch them with chicken-shit hay. Their leaves and branches grow beautifully, but not the blooms. Today I saw two deep, deep red simple roses, probably part of the root stock, growing from one of the plants. 


It's even better in real life. How I wish the whole plants made those blossoms. 

I talked to my across-the-street neighbor. She is an FSU professor with a PhD in something that I can't remember but obviously she is quite intelligent and she spent some time today doing research on various issues pertaining to the FDG. She is the president of the Lloyd Historic Preservation Society whose land borders on the FDG site lot. She was not notified by the Land Planning committee when they sent out the other notifications to residents living within 500 feet of the lot. When I talked to the woman at the planning committee last week, I told her that the Historic Preservation had not been notified and she said, "I don't know anything about that." 
I am not surprised. 
There are rules that do apply in this situation and we shall see if they are being followed. 

Perhaps, as some of you suggested, I got my Sunday blues out of the way yesterday and indeed have felt better today. Or at least after I'd been up for a few hours and some of my morning angst had drained away. It truly is good for me to get down on my knees in the dirt and dig and pull unwanted plants. Even the sight of small progress is at least some progress. And as with the braiding of garlic, the canning of food from the garden, the making of a meal from what we've grown, it is satisfying and ultimately soothing. 

I saw No Man Lord (whose name is actually definitely Harvey) go by on a tractor as I was working in the yard. He has transportation! Of a sort. I waved but he kept his eyes straight ahead and did not indicate that he saw me. 
I was neither surprised or offended. 

Love...Ms. Moon


27 comments:

  1. I like the root-stock rose - such a rich color. How soon will your garlic be ready? Glad you didn't have two Sundays back-to-back!

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    1. Isn't that the most magnificent color? Oh, the garlic is fine to eat now. It just needs to dry to be preserved.

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  2. I like the idea of braiding garlic, and onions. It's one of those domestic skills to preserve.

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    1. Indeed! We never get enough onions to bulb to make drying necessary for them. I do not know why.

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  3. that rose from white rootstock? is lovely. I never in a million years would have thought Mr No Man Lord's true name to be Harvey. I always thought of him as Elmer, or Emery, or Elwood....don't ask me why....just my thoughts. Have a good evening and I am so surprise that one bamboo got away from you the way it did!
    Susan M

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    1. It's funny. I know another Harvey and he absolutely seems like a Harvey to me. I found another four- foot bamboo today in the front of the house. And Glen was out there yesterday too! They're sort of magical or something.

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    2. PS..... hearing you speak of No Man Lord on a tractor reminded me of an older movie called *The Straight Story*. Have you ever seen it? Lawnmower instead of tractor....but pretty good film

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  4. I didn't realize it is Sunday. Time rolls into itself these days.

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  5. It's like a TV drama, the building of the Lloyd Dollar Tree store. Who got paid off? Who's corrupt? I've been watching "Reacher" on Prime, so I think everyone is corrupt right now:)

    I can't get over that bamboo. That could do some serious damage.

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    1. I don't know that anyone got paid off but I would not be surprised. The more I think about this situation, the more pissed off I get.
      Maybe I should just go plant a bunch of bamboo down there on the site.

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  6. I love the carved and painted wall panels. The deep red rose looks very much like one I brought with me from a previous home and planted somewhere out front, where it promptly got stolen. oh well, just one of many things stolen. But that seems to have stopped now, nothing has been stolen for years now. That's a very sturdy bamboo shoot, there might be more hiding under that greenery. I quite enjoy the slicing, blanching and freezing of vegetables, canning isn't an option for me.

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    1. Lloyd used to have a crime problem back during the worst of the crack days but I rarely hear of anything even getting stolen around here. Everybody knows everybody, at least by sight.
      I'm glad you enjoying the freezing method of preserving!

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  7. Regarding the cleaning and painting of your porch, the two stubborn people you referred to may need an intermediary to help them reach an acceptable agreement. I wonder if Antony Blinken is available any time soon.

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  8. I'm curious: how do you stake your tomatoes? I'm trying to figure out how to stake the tomatoes I'm about to plant in my raised bed. Last year some of the indeterminate types I planted got well over 6 feet tall! Advice would be much appreciated! :)

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    1. Glen has taken over staking the tomatoes and sometimes he uses cages, sometimes he uses bamboo stakes, and I noticed this morning that he has a row of them loosely tied to a fence that's about a foot and a half away. So- not one method but several!
      You'd about need a ladder to stake tomatoes that are six feet tall!

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    2. Best method I know is to have the stake/s in place when planting the tomatoes, then just support then as they grow up it.

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  9. Sounds like you had a good day. April has flown by for me!
    I have to get out and do more weeding too... maybe later today...

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    1. April has indeed flown by. It is essentially gone. I should have done more weeding today but I did not.

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  10. I'm glad the actual Sunday was better than the ghost one, helped no doubt by all your engagement with the natural world. That red of that simple rose is astounding.

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    1. I just can't get over the color of that rose. We need velvet gowns in that color!

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  11. That bamboo is crazy! I'm glad your real Sunday was better than your perceived Sunday. :) We have a rose in our garden that I think is from root stock, too -- and yet its blooms are always beautiful so we let it grow. Why not?

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  12. I've always been kinda afraid of canning/preserving (in case I poison somebody) but I'm going to give it a shot this year so if you have any fail-safe recipes they would be welcome. And that bamboo is SCARY!

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    1. Well, I only can things that can be done in a boiling water bath, and have not done any pressure canning but I might learn this year if my green beans go crazy. If you use a regular canner and good jars, lids, and bands and only can things that are acidic, have a lot of salt, or have a lot of sugar, you'll be okay. There is lots of information online.

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  13. The fact that you are harvesting things from your garden is a bit amazing to me. I know you're south of me and all, but I don't even have my garden planted. I've got elephant garlic this year. Hoping for miracles because I do love garlic.

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