Blood, Sweat and Tears Food for Thought Life in the Country: cut weeds deer sleeping fed the birds flora and fauna giant cedar bush harvest wild garlic heirlooms Kama midwestern countryside raked hay red grass save seed screen shed snake hulls Tai Chi tomato worms watered the garden willow cuttings willow trees woody stems Yukon potatoes
by Alice
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Flora and Fauna of the Midwestern Countryside
We went outside to do a couple of jobs and ended up doing about three hours worth of work. Weeks ago, we stuck the leftover willow cuttings in a ditch in the garden, sure they weren’t viable. Except they lived! We planted more willow trees from them in various spots around the yard. We’re slowly screening ourselves in from traffic and the neighbor. The willows were actually growing up into the garden. Yikes. Don’t want that.
J used his Kama to cut weeds and I cut weed trees. I moved more hostas to the front of the porch. We trimmed back some of our bushes. We weeded and searched for tomato worms, then watered the garden. I fed the birds. J raked some of the hay of weeds and I picked up sticks while he managed my tree pile.
The terrible tomato worm. We're picking them while they're small.
Then we walked down the road to harvest wild garlic. If you happen to pass down a lane and see these graceful bobbing heads looking back at you from along the roadside, they are not a flock of exotic birds, but wild garlic.
We were worried. A tractor came by and mowed and we feared the patch would be impossible to locate, but the woody stems just bent over and many were still standing untouched. We gathered a huge armful and then J dug me a clump of beautiful red grass, which joined our other clusters of fancy grass near the Tai Chi field.
Back in the garden, the garlic went right in where J just dug some of our Yukon potatoes. The potatoes were fluffy and soft, tender and delicious when we had them for dinner a couple of nights ago.
The birds are learning to trust we’re not going to eat their children, so they don’t always flee the nest when we pass. The nest over the garage has three tiny eggs. We have to be careful, as when the garage door closes, it slams and I fear we’ll topple the nest. Look at that construction!!
Exploring over the past days, we’ve found that deer are sleeping in our side yard and snakes have a favorite giant cedar bush where they’re going to shed their skins. The bush is now decorated with papery snake hulls.
Shh...They're sleeping...
Our pool turned green, but with liberal application of bleach it was fine in a day. The weather has changed from the sopping wetness we experienced for months. Finally the yard is dry enough to walk in without a squish issuing from underfoot. We had to water the garden! Unheard of!
The zucchini is beginning to produce. The tomatoes are scaring me. There are A LOT out there, all threatening to be ready in one day. I will do my best to eat every single one. We’re already thinking ahead to next year and maybe selling at one of the farmer’s markets because we’ve done so well this year. We can even save seed and save money because we used heirlooms for most of our crops!
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