The Sierra Club, not to be outdone by The Nature Conservancy, plunked this keeper at my door today…
Thank You Nature Conservancy
So many virtuous things you do but my favorite today is this one. New gardening tool bag for new donors. Yes! It’s good to give.
Blinded by Your Irises
Evidence of my neighbors’ green-thumbing…
Green (Eyed) Stroll
Everybody’s yard is pretty but mine. Not to get caught in a cliche but I do not know how anyone finds the time. I walk by yards that are beautifully tilled and mulched, filled with bursts of bright green beautifulness, as I battle my wild onions. At least I have some healing stew.
Guess What I Did This Morning?
A favorite writer/chef/mentor/friend of mine is known for saying that “nothing is wasted on the writer.” I think the same can be said of the gardener.
Last year when I saw that my front yard was infested with onions gone wild, I began inquiring whether I was the only one whose yard they’d decided to conquer. Turns out they had taken over much of Brooklyn and reportedly had begun to storm other boroughs as well. I decided to get rid of them. I spent the better part of a week or more trying to rid my front plot of these pesky veggies.
This year, I decided to forego paying neighbor kids for the bunches they could uproot. I would not throw them out (this, to avoid them taking root in the compost). I would take them on, instead, by eating them.
Luckily for me, a friend happened to mention that her acupuncturist just recommended strong onion soup as this season’s cure to her hay fever. Luckily for her, the cure is on its way.
After the Rain
You never know what you’ll find..
Or someone who happened to be passing by, saw me taking the picture of the record, and admitted she had just taken a photo of some random thing at the other end of the block.
Earlier today, I said good-bye to neighbors who are leaving the city after more than ten years living very near me. We just met, in their preparations to leave. They invited me to dig up a ginger plant I’d admired to transplant before they leave. I did this earlier today, and noted I was expanding the neighborhood. I met a poet and artist on the street tonight, several hours later. She watched me photographing the record. We laughed that we have probably taken pictures of the same things on various days. We exchanged our digital data, then walked a half-block together in the rain-wet street.
My neighborhood is growing.
How Gardening Is Like Giving Birth
It’s been said that women who give birth without the use of medications or medical intervention, months later do not recall the physical pain as being significant. Compared to women who are medically treated during the course of labor, these women seem to forget the physical pain because the experience it foreshadows overcomes it.
I was looking at my yard a couple weeks ago (before I started to till), and felt completely overwhelmed. The task ahead seemed so daunting. And I felt like a real failure for having such a mess of a yard. It really surprised me because I’m not that kind of a gardener. I don’t build a garden to impress the people that walk by. I don’t build a garden to be able to call myself a gardener. I have gone years with my front yard utterly neglected, and last year with a gray container smack dab in the middle so that container would get the best sun. It’s really not about winning any prize roses for me. But I have started to think differently about an aesthetic community. I’m starting to appreciate more the little things people do with their yards or gardens or planter containers to give the eye, a stranger’s eye, a little diversion. So I was feeling pretty glum looking out at this quite unsightly front plot of mine.
Then I started to dig. Digging in the dirt is like kneading dough. You put your whole body into it, in a way, and some part of you goes into the dirt, goes into the dough. Then there’s release. The earth is a great place to put your anxieties and insecurities. It can take it. Likewise, a lot of doughs just get better the more you put into it. Bread, when it’s done and done right, can be divine. A garden, with just a little bit of effort and release, is unparalleled beauty. I have a lot of labor ahead of me, but I think I’m already past the pain.
NOTE: Try to take before and after pictures. Often, it can seem daunting. When you really feel like whatever you’re working with is never going to be good enough for an “after” picture, is precisely when you will most appreciate that you took the time to take the “before” picture. Trust me, it’ll be worth it.
QUESTION: What are the most dramatic before/after experiences you recall? Go ahead … gimme the dirt!
Icing On The Cake
Like the butter cake recipe below, this is my version (barely modified) of a frosting recipe I found online at http://www.joyofbaking.com. Yesterday, I added a natural food coloring to bring the icing to a light lemon yellow color. Today, I am adding 1/2 c. cocoa powder in place of 1/2 c. of the confectioners’ sugar (which is the same as powdered sugar and is defined by the addition of corn starch to sugar).
Tools
Med. to large sized mixing bowl
Sifter or wire mesh strainer
Measuring cups (1 c. and 1/2 c.)
Stand mixer
Measuring cup or large spoon (for spooning in sifted powdered sugar)
Spatula
Zester (if doing citrus fruit zest)
Ingredients
1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temp.
1 8 oz. package cream cheese, room temp.
2 1/2 c. (or less) powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
Lemon or orange for zesting (optional)
Cream the butter and cream cheese together in a stand mixer until smooth with no lumps. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract. Add the powdered sugar a bit at a time, scraping down the sides. If you want to include zest, add the zest. Beat on high speed until the frosting is light and fluffy.
On this cake, the middle layer is heavy cream (unmeasured – I did it by sight) whipped with about 1/3 c. sugar into a whipped cream, with a sprinkling of mini chocolate morsels. When I put the cakes in the freezer to prep for frosting, I took out some fresh strawberries, washed them well, sliced them then put them in a lidded container with about a tablespoon of sugar to let them macerate. When it came time to frost the cake, I put the strawberries down in circles covering the entire first layer. I then topped that with a generous layer of whipped cream. After putting on the second layer cake, I frosted the entire thing with the cream cheese and cocoa frosting. And, voila..
Rain, Rain, Go Away
But until it does, let’s think about how to make it greener. These tips from Daily Dose of Fiber are a good start:
Eco-Friendly Rain Tips:
1. Collect rain water in a barrel and use this water to water your garden and grass!
2. Buy an eco-friendly rain coat (check out Patagonia).
3. Buy an eco-friendly umbrella for two.
4. Turn off your sprinklers when its raining.
From my own experience, I’ve found that indoor plants especially appreciate water imported from the great outdoors. Granted those of us in NYC may have rainwater that picks up pollution, but my informal research has found no indication that it’s enough to do any harm.
QUESTION: What ways have you found to incorporate green uses to springtime’s abundant rainfall? Go ahead … gimme the dirt!
Finding My Marbles
Something so therapeutic about gardening — for me, that means digging in the dirt, specifically, today — that I can’t even put it into words. Every year, there’s a small improvement to the process. This year, I discovered that if I wear my headphones, I am completely and fully immersed in my own world. It just rounds out the experience for me. Last year, my mother guessed that people garden because they are looking to get away from everything else just for a little while. I suspected she may be right because I found myself frequently annoyed when I was interrupted by someone passing by, looking to talk about what I was doing. It’s like talking about sex while you’re having sex. There’s simply something better to be doing at the moment than talking about it. Although there are exceptions … but, I digress. This newest addition of headphones has me very happy. It allows for the full immersion/meditation in the experience. With headphones, I do not feel the obligation to listen for someone talking to me. It’s an excuse, yes, but a very good one. I think that sometimes we disconnect too much from the experience of being wherever we’re being, but gardening is different than walking down the street, or riding on the subway, or an elevator. It does not impose any obligation to get out of the way if someone is walking quickly behind you. It does not require that you jump out of the way if someone needs to pass by or sit down. It is your own world, uninterrupted. The confirmation and meditation for me today came in two things: one visual, and one auditory. As I was digging away in the front yard, exposing and expelling the onions, and contemplating the soul/body/mind-cleansing process of doing this (and thinking too it just might be feeding some OCD element in me since it really is such an impossible but rewarding task at the same time), I found two shining globes in the earth. I found my marbles. Or someone’s marbles. But they’re mine now, so I found my marbles today. And enjoyed this song…
Sorry not sure how to make it appear. I’ll work on that. And found these…
revelgardener 