In gardening, plants do both alive and dead/hibernating better than any Schrodinger's cat. We see it every winter before they come back in the spring. Or a pack of seeds. My favorite apple tree has been struggling the past two years from getting whacked by the yard guy’s weed eater on the trunk. It’s a fantastic tree so copsing it in hopes of seeing it regrow healthy from the root stock. A great book on this agricultural topic, Olives: The Life and Lore of a Noble Fruit by Mort Rosenblum is worth reading. Olive trees are basically immortal, beautiful, and delicious. The apple tree trunk is green and it’s a fighter. Time will tell. When one door closes, another opens. And plants often bounce back. Thanks neighbors for all the raised English flower beds for the backyard in the meantime. Assembly time. Planting cosmos, dahlias, and these beautiful teddy bear sunflowers. The mulch holding in the new soil in the rains we’ve been getting...
What a lovely week of gentle rain, the marigolds are coming up and all the Italian herbs are filling in their front bed. Thanks everyone who dropped off really great flowers and plants for the birthday. The neighborhood kids are out playing hide and seek while the rest of us are stuck on paperwork indoors. Child laughter and muddy puddles is a specific joy too many of us forget as we get older. Worth remembering for a day. Speaking of fun, we’re a couple weeks out from Pentecost, a delicious yeast bread festival. Practically, it’s a chance to grill out and eat sweet treats and cakes with coffee. Or go to Boulted Bread in downtown Raleigh. Yet another whole grain bread shop worth trying. Enjoy. Have a nice week all.
March is lovely right before Passover. Neighbors are busy building decks and cleaning outdoor grills. The shop will be closed for vacation from April 2nd-9th to spend time eating and enjoying loved ones company. Hopefully you will have fun this week too. Trying to nail down sales trends as propaganda doesn’t match reality. The local plant swap by North Carolina Master gardeners was great. Wake country is busy winning awards for their compost program and rolling out $55-60 compost bins if you’re interested for May. They also sell finished products for $8-30/yard if you prefer. So many flowers to plant and a tiny cute child who came with his father excitedly handing out luffa seeds. You simply can not turn...
This past weekend, the sky was perfect. The Duke basketball team is on a hot streak. Bars were full of drunk students and happy patrons cheering on their players. Luck of the Irish and Happy St. Patty’s Day mixing with sports glee. Went to a first seed swap which was delightful, if a little limited in heirloom selection so got to walk past tons of random laughter. Doesn’t nice weather bring out the best in people?
In a happy surprise, Food Lion has kiwi berries which is Southern chefs #1 fancy fruit for epic pastry desserts. Delicious. I’ve been sitting on this supernatural story as it doesn’t fit in a neat package, but let’s do something not, “Let’s start WW III in the Middle East.” Almost a decade ago, I was in a bad car wreck. The kind that leaves twenty plus broken bones, chronic pain, and since my ribs healed wrong, every breath for seven plus years felt like swallowing glass. You swallow that pain and learn to live with it. Two years ago, listening to a youtube scifi podcast by Rob Skiba and his guest Nathan Rynolds. Skiba was a well-known flat earther and...
