A new garden

Sometimes we need a diversion from wars and swampy reflecting pools and pointless fights over who is properly progressive and who is not.

Building a new garden. Metaphor? New diversion? Opportunity for change?

I started last summer and fall with my compost pile. Good soil is the foundation for a good garden. Our pile is just three cedar logs in a “u” shape. We had spoiled straw and added grass clippings and vegetable scraps. We cheated a bit by adding existing compost from our old pile filled with alpaca and goat poo. I turn the pile every week or so with a broad fork or my tractor.

Another metaphor?

Easier not to start from scratch. Pay attention to what you’re building with.

Our garlic is just starting to produce scapes that will become pesto to eat on roasted veggie sandwiches. We have our first tiny zucchini, one tomato plant is starting to flower.

The sun isn’t ideal, the soil left a lot to be desired but its a start.

Also started an upside down tomato plant. I already had the bucket with a hole in the bottom from an unfortunate episode with some ash from the sugaring stove. Planted basil seeds in the top.

Who knows if it will produce? It’s ok if it doesn’t. The upside down tomato plant gave me the opportunity to talk with our grandkids about it being ok to be a little different.

We planted a nice rectangle of Blazing Star liatris that will have purple flowers to attract Monarch butterflies in the fall, some blueberry bushes that will hopefully feed more than birds and a potato tower that uses more of the spoiled straw to grow potatoes vertically. The shoots and leaves from the first set of spuds are showing and I added a second layer. Again, another experiment. We’ll see if it works. Even if it doesn’t, I learned something.

Amy started a lot of basil for pesto and eggplant sandwiches. She also spread lots of lupine seeds channeling her inner Miss Rumphius (look it up). Our grandson helped her rehabilitate an overgrown patch of wildflowers.

Back to more law and public policy discussions next week. Grandkids, Juneteenth and Father’s Day took up a lot of my writing time.

I also needed a break.

I did not produce a recorded version of this post.

A few photos for you to enjoy.

Best,

Andru