Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Country Life


I took a walk today and although I started to turn left outside my driveway and go down the sidewalk towards the county line, I changed my mind when I saw someone walking that way already, about what would be a block away if we had blocks which we do not, and I knew that I would overtake him if I walked in his direction because he was just taking a walk, not walking fast to get it over with the way I would be, and I don't like overtaking people on my walks because it's awkward, trying to alert them that you are there, behind them, and so I just turned right instead and went that way. I decided to go by the fally-down house because I have not done that in a long time and so I did. Its bones are crumbling, it is getting closer to the ground, its floors would no longer support a person trying to discover its secrets by stepping inside through one of its tilted, crooked doors. It is closing in on itself, hiding its secrets, its memories, what stories it may have to tell. Do you remember when I wrote about the fally-down house here? 

Over the years I've written more about this old place, taken its picture, charted its slow giving-in to gravity, to weather, to age, as the dirt itself is claiming it as its own, which one day it will be able to entirely do. 

Steve Reed came to visit me six years ago and he wanted to go by and see the house, to take its picture. Owen and Gibson were little boys then and they were here and we four walked down the road to see the old house. 


I took his picture as he took the house's picture. That's Owen back there, behind him. I feel certain that the entire time they were inside I was saying, "Y'all be careful now! Be careful!" 
Steve grabbed some of that wallpaper and made bookmarks for me and a few other bloggers. I cherish mine. What a very kind and thoughtful and meaningful gift. 
But that's Steve. 

In 2016 the house looked like this. 


Even through the trees and vines, you can see how much straighter it was then, how it was still holding out its arm-boards like a sentinel, for the most part, remembering, perhaps, its original intent to shelter those within. 

Well. 

It's already so hot that my walk, albeit a short one, wore me out. I swear- every summer I am growing less tolerant of the heat. Same thing with the insects. I was bit again by yellow flies today, this time mostly on the arms as I hung clothes although I did manage to murder one in mid-bite, and I am not ashamed to admit that I felt a little frisson of revengeful delight. The mosquitoes are not so bad yet because we haven't had the rain necessary for them to have a big hatch but once we get a good storm, they will return, hungry and desperate for our human blood. 

Yesterday Mr. Moon pulled all of the garlic and because we've never grown garlic before, we had to research how to dry and cure it. It has to go through that process for weeks in order for it to keep.


But for the meantime, my husband laid it on newspapers on the back porch next to the potatoes that we still haven't really done anything about other than cooking them when we want potatoes. 
Turns out you can dry your garlic on screens or in nets or you can braid it or tie it in bunches and hang it to dry. I was a bit disdainful of the whole braiding thing. 
"Do you know how to braid?" my husband asked. 
"Haha!" I said. It was funny because I've been braiding my own hair and our children's hair ever since me met me and long before. But braiding garlic did not sound as easy. 
Still, I decided to try it today and worked it out so that I braided three of the garlics together and when I had three of those, I braided them together, bound those braids with twine with a loop for hanging and then I hung them from hooks that we have on the back porch which I think may have once been some sort of attachments for shutters. 




We have fans trained on them and since each bunch has nine plants and I have five bunches hanging, that's about forty-five heads of garlic. Some of the heads are huge, some are smaller. Anyway, even though I use a LOT of garlic, I think we'll have some to share. 
I also picked another basket of green beans today. We've already had three meals from the ones I picked last week. 

*************
Well. We just had a dog in the yard. No big deal unless you have chickens free-ranging. I heard the chickens squawking and could see them from where I sit and they weren't running around or anything so I just thought they were having some sort of disagreement but then there was a more frantic sound and I looked up to see the dog. I jumped up and yelled at him and he took off. Mr. Moon and I have looked but there's no sign of the dog and although we did find quite a few white feathers, Dottie, the only white hen besides Darla who is safe in the baby coop, is alive and well. I think it was the same dog I saw a few days ago in a fenced-in yard a few houses down. A new dog. I saw it stretched up against the fence and thought, "I sure hope that fence can hold that dog."
Yeah. 
I hope the rest of my chooks are okay. 


Still only seven babies. Tomorrow the rest of the eggs are going. It's been too hot and she's not paying a bit of attention to the ones that haven't hatched. 

Lord, I'm tired. I feel like the fally-down house, ready to collapse. I hope I make it to bedtime. 

I finished listening to this book today.


I loved it. 

Love...Ms. Moon


34 comments:

  1. That is so neat that you got to meet Steve live and in person. I just ordered Mrs. Benson's Beetle. It will be here on Jun 1st. Thanks.

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    1. Oh, I hope you like it! I don't see how you couldn't but we're all different and have different tastes.

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  2. I can almost smell that garlic hanging. Yum. Potatoes are another matter. Perhaps Mr. Moon can dig a root cellar.

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  3. And here is another adventure to follow added to the mix - garlic. I love the different stories that string through your posts. Fally down house, baby chicks, all of the garden abundance, and so on and so on.

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    1. The Garlic Adventure: Tales of Braiding and Curing!
      Doesn't sound too exciting, does it?
      Yep. Well. I only have so many stories. I do have more but some of those I'm either not ready or never will tell.
      As do all of us.

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  4. I remember well when Steve visited and can hardly believe it has been 6 YEARS! Lordy. The fally down house....... in some ways sad to see, and in many ways......so natural for things to return to the earth from which they came. Garlic and potatoes......you are a lucky woman
    Susan M

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    1. Time is so weird to me you could have told me it was 12 years ago and I would believe it except that I know that Gibson and Owen were here.
      I AM a lucky woman.

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  5. I remember Steve's post of when he hung out with y'all- a fine post it was, too. Something like- you and Glenn being the most comfortable genuine lovely people on the planet. It was instant love, instant belonging.
    So glad that some of the wall paper was retrieved from the fall. Poor old house, it did its job, I guess. On Seattle news today An urban farmer was talking about chicks being sent through the post for well over forty years safely and dependably until...DeJoy, who slowed down everything and broke the USPS. All ordered chicks died and did not reach destination until , Ewww way too late. Anyway , chickens
    are a thing in Seattle , one house hold is allowed eight, no roosters EVER! And no more ordering them through the mail. I just googled reviews of the book- Sounds like I might enjoy that one for sure. Thank you.

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    1. Yes, meeting Steve was like, "Oh. There you are. I've been wondering where you'd gotten to." Instantly comfortable. And then remember he got to meet us in Cozumel for a day? That was amazing.
      Oh yeah, they always used to send chicks in the mail. That is how people got their chickens.
      Not any more.
      I think you'd like the book. I sure did.

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    2. And oh! He's actually been here twice. Last time I took him to one of our favorite restaurants with a lot of the kids and grands and then we went shopping at the Bad Girls Get Saved By Jesus Thriftstore!

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  6. This post is just SO RICH! I love all of it! And I still have Steve's bookmark.

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    1. Need some garlic?
      I seem to have a little around here.
      Steve making those bookmarks was the sweetest thing ever.

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  7. I just looked up " Miss Bensons Beetle" and discovered that it is by the same author who wrote " The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry "and the sister book about Queenie! I read them both a few years ago and loved them. I highly recommend the Harold Fry one.

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    1. Yes! I have read The Unlikely Pilgrimage and I loved it. Did not read Queenie. I'm reading another one of hers now though- "Perfect."

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    2. Oh, I'm glad to read your review, Frances because I ordered both of them as well!

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  8. Yes! I remember the fally-down house so well, and visiting it with you and Owen and Gibson. I remember being a little nervous and protective of them in the house, even though it felt very solid. (It doesn't look solid anymore!) I still have my wallpaper bookmarks too, and I love them. That was a great day.

    I'm impressed at your garlic-braiding skills!

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    1. Nope. Not solid any longer. Poor, tired old house.
      That was such a good day. I swear- Owen still remembers.
      It isn't really that hard to braid garlic.

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  9. Your writing about the Fally-Down House sent me down the rabbit hole about a old building not far me that has, like your old building, declined greatly since we moved here more than 25 years ago. The building is/was a one room schoolhouse for the tenant farmers that worked the tobacco fields--the most predominant crop in MD at one time. The building is pretty much collapsed now, but online I found an interesting farming/architectural history about the road where it is located (the main two lane road off my street)--something I had not read before--so thanks for sending me down the path. The history of the area dates back to before 1654 when the county was actually organized. It is one of the oldest counties in the US.

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    1. Wow! That's so cool. It's too bad that they could not somehow preserve the old school house- maybe move it to a local history museum or something. They've done that here. 1645 is really, really old for US history. I wonder when the schoolhouse was built?

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  10. it's been 6 years since Steve visited?! I remember that. and look at all that gorgeous garlic. did you plant single cloves?

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  11. Hanging the garlic up like that should keep the vampires away - you know, the ones that reside in the fally-down house!

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    1. Nope, vampires are not our problem at the present time.
      Or, ever.

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  12. I Love Old Ruins and taking pictures of them. This Year a lot of ours in the area have been torn down, including a 105 Year Old Hotel that an Investor had bought and intended to restore as a Haunted Attraction Hotel, which it's City could have used some Tourism draw, it's one of the Cities around here not thriving. Anyway, the City put an unrealistic time element on the Restoration Project and due to the Pandemic, of coarse the Investor couldn't meet the Deadline so the City razed it and now there's just another ugly vacant lot in a City already circling the drain... will serve them right if everyone moves out. I like that in your area they've allowed the old fally-down House to just Be... and Steven making some Bookmarks of the Wallpaper is Special. Old Wallpaper is like Art... I kept a swatch from my Historic Home when we moved out and Sold it. The new owner was going to Restore it but didn't want the peeling Wallpaper in the Old Carriage House so I wanted to keep some, it was Beautiful, I'm going to just Frame it.

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    1. Well, Lloyd doesn't have a whole lot of regulations. We're not even a town. And someone does own the property and as such, can let it just fall on its own if that's what he wants and I guess he does. No one seems to like him around here.
      I'm glad you got some of your wallpaper. That's very cool.

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  13. I've planted garlic this year for the first time ever and I'm so excited to see it growing - although it's nowhere near the stage that yours are at. If (WHEN?) I get my French citizenship I already have a "Frenchman" outfit planned for when I get together with my neighbours. Striped shirt, beret, baguette and a string of garlic round my neck! It should keep the vampires away and let the neighbours know I finally got my citizenship I reckon! Subtle ain't I!

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    1. Oh yes. That would be so very, very subtle. You should definitely do that!
      I hope your garlic grows for you.

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  14. Garlic time! We're eating fresh green garlic now, which is the before-bulbing stage (lots of volunteer garlic in the garden, which we eat till the main crop is ready in late June/early July). If you plan to grow garlic again next season, remember to set aside a few of the biggest, most beautiful bulbs for planting (cloves thereof, of course, not the entire bulb in one hole).

    Cheers,
    Chris from Boise

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    1. Yes. We're planning on saving some of the biggest bulbs for planting next year. I love that you get volunteer garlic that can keep you happy until your crop comes in.

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  15. Boy, time surely flies! It seems like yesterday that Steve visited. We planted potatoes and sweet potatoes for the first time this year, there wasn’t an abundance of potatoes but we planted pretty late. Sweet potatoes seem to be doing much better. Glad Darls is ok, hope that dog doesn’t become a problem. I feel so protective about those sweet bebes.
    Xoxo
    Barbara

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    1. Well, Steve did visit more recently than the time we went to the fally down house. So maybe you're remembering that. I planted sweet potatoes one year, didn't get much at all, and every year since I've gotten some volunteers, some of which have been very nice.
      Haven't seen the dog again but I'm keeping watch.

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  16. Wonderful to see the house and its progressive fally down. There is of course a huge metaphor in it.
    Braiding garlic is one of the highlights in my gardening year, i.e. one of things I am allowed to do when it comes to harvest, and my hands smell of it for the week after.

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  17. You are a local anthropologist, documenting that fally down house. It was fun to see Steve doing what Steve does inside it all those years ago. Glad the chickens are safe, and seven chicks!

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.