Category: From the Beginning

  • 129 The heat wave

    129 The heat wave

    Late August brought a heat wave that lasted for weeks with no water–but a lot of sunshine. The grass had burned–even before I’d trimmed it. But I was soaking up every ray of sunshine. My grass clippings were still wet but neighbors had donated some days earlier. Time to mulch the beans. I’d mulched the…

  • 128 A stormy garden day

    128 A stormy garden day

    On a stormy day, I visit the garden, ramble on about the garden year, and show you a few of my favorite plants in the garden. There is a lot of me talking to the camera in this one. I’ve got this one tomato with the teeniest, tiniest little fruit. And it’s so prolific for…

  • 127 Growing winter wheat

    127 Growing winter wheat

    Things change quickly in the garden. A recent festival and a few long talks also changed our plans for our future. Now, growing winter wheat is more than a pointless experiment. Winters were never part of the plan. Now, we might stick around. Permanently. A neighbor just wanted to dump the bedding from his rabbits…

  • 126 A good year for garden slugs

    126 A good year for garden slugs

    This year really had me feeling the effects of the climate crisis. El Nino gave us a preview of the years to come. Slugs have been the winners with a year perfectly to their liking: wet and overcast. On another rainy day, I check on the garden to make sure the slugs did not eat…

  • 125 Gardening with a disability

    125 Gardening with a disability

    Having two large gardens is a trial run to see if my body can handle it. So far, I haven’t missed a deadline. I adapt the techniques and tools to what my body can handle, but the most important lessons were on patience, pacing, and perfectionism. Good morning, it’s August and it’s so cold. It…

  • 124 This one is chaos.

    124 This one is chaos.

    I usually try to tell a cohesive story. Not this time. The GoPro didn’t record, so most of the footage is missing. I still wanted to share, so expect some chaos in this one. Note: The video version of this post gets released on Wednesday, September 04, 2024. The weather is doing whatever it wants…

  • 123 Weather extremes in the garden

    123 Weather extremes in the garden

    Weather extremes have been the default this year. From wet, chilly conditions with little sunshine to heat waves and drought… extremes have become the new normal. And yet, humanity is not getting their collective act together because individuals benefit from the social and climate crises. So, while I prune the tomatoes, let me talk about…

  • 122 Planting winter greens

    122 Planting winter greens

    With summer slowly fading away, it was time to start thinking about winter–no matter how much I don’t want to. At least, it meant more planting. It was time to turn the potato beds into brassica beds with kale, broccoli, and cauliflower for winter and through the hunger gap in spring. I’d been nurturing tiny…

  • 121 Water and maintenance

    121 Water and maintenance

    August meant most task were maintenance tasks, as spring planting was over, and fall not quite here. So, I cleaned up the greenhouse and dealt with water storage. Note: The video version of this post gets released on Tuesday, August 27, 2024. It’s a very windy day and even though it is very sunny, we’ve…