Discovering the world around me.
Once when I was about eleven, my friend and I were walking to Mass at St. Mary’s Catholic Church when we realized we had forgotten our chapel veils. These circles of lace were mandatory as head coverings for girls at Mass. What to do? We spied some flowers growing next to the sidewalk and picked […]
Continue reading Protection Racket: Peonies
When I was a kid, we had a big lilac bush in the corner of the yard. You could crawl into that bush and hide. You could be just about guaranteed to get ticks in your hair if you did, though. Every spring around Mother’s Day, that bush would burst into purple booms that smelled […]
Continue reading The fragrance of Mother’s Day: Lilacs
We were out in the yard, inspecting the blossoms on the apple and cherry trees, when sprays of little lavender flowers caught our attention. A patch of Virginia waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum) was growing next to the shop. The plants were about a foot tall with long, deeply lobed leaves. Clusters of flowers hung at the […]
Continue reading Virginia Waterleaf
Just about my favorite breakfast is oatmeal. Steel-cut oats cooked on the stove with sorghum, raisins, black walnuts and maybe an apple mixed in. Add a pat of butter and a few sprinkles of salt for that little extra. I make up a batch on the weekend and then warm up servings throughout the week. […]
Continue reading Food for All: Oats
On a lovely Indian summer day in late October, we took a walk through the woods on Owl Acres. Most of the leaves had fallen from the trees, and the undergrowth was dry and crackly. Along with the boxelder trees, hackberries, wild cherry and walnut trees in the woods, some inch-thick woody vines climbed from […]
Continue reading River Grape
Several Jerusalem artichokes have taken root in our little prairie garden. They’re sharing the space with false sunflowers and other prairie plants. Blooming in August and September, their yellow flowers with yellow centers are buzzing with a whole constellation of critters. The story of the Jerusalem artichoke is that of an invasive that moved across […]
Continue reading Pillar of the Community: Jerusalem Artichoke
The weather these September days has been glorious. The air is dry, the temps in the 70s, the sun shining happily. Perfect weather for a bike ride on one of our favorite trails. Along the way we stopped a few times to inspect some of the foliage growing along the trail. Amid the various shades […]
Continue reading Pretty Flowers, Noxious Invaders: Bindweed
We’ve had plenty of rain this year, so while we were gone on vacation, the plants around the house continued to grow. One of them, the Asiatic dayflower, has been particularly busy. The plants have sprawled across the ground and climbed over their neighbors. Bryan pulled bales of it out. It’s another of the many […]
Continue reading Ephemeral Beauty: Asiatic Dayflower
About three years ago, we decided to plant a prairie garden. Bryan designed it as an elongated S. The goal was to make it easy to mow alongside it and also to make it easy to reach into the middle of it without stepping on the plants. We followed the prescribed process of tilling up […]
Continue reading Fireworks in the Garden: Wild Bergamot
There’s a lot of purple showing in the mid-summer landscape. On a bike ride along our favorite bike trail, we stopped to investigate. What are those beautiful blue to purple flowers growing along the side of the trail? My Picture This app says they are American bell flowers. Once we’ve identified them on the trail, […]
Continue reading American Bellflower