Today, October 22nd, is the 22nd birthday of my son, Walker. He’s a senior at Stanford, and I’d hoped to be up there, but the life of a college athlete is very busy, and he didn’t think he would even have time to dine with me. So, I am not going to see him in […]
Fig Beetle Grub. This year I discovered my first fig beetle grub, or larva. Also, known as a June Bug. Eggs are laid by the adults during the summer under pots or just under the soil surface and when the grubs hatch they burrow down and inch or two and spend the winter under the […]
Today I had Some Thoughts on Clay. This is my soil. Hard, almost hard as a rock, compacted clay. If I was a potter, or a brick maker, I would have a lifetime supply with which to work. It took a pick axe to separate this clod from the Earth. Last fall, my son Walker […]
Yesterday, I stopped into the Waldorf school, where one of my sons spent five years, to say hello to Farmer Jack, who was giving a biodynamic demonstration for the children. You will remember Farmer Jack from episode 7 of Late Bloomer. I hadn’t seen him in a while. The children were taking turns stirring water […]
Monarch caterpillars, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways: You are gentle, and stunningly beautiful; You don’t mind sharing a milkweed branch with a sibling; You can hang upside down, while shedding your skin; (See those smaller feet it has just shed? This rather blows my mind.) You are big! Your color […]
Green, Good Morn! Just as the sun was making it’s appearance, I observed what’s new in the garden. Everything’s green! I barely spotted this 3/4″ cabbage worm resting on a baby arugula leaf. Kale’s a’ comin’! My baby kale is sprouting in a pushed up hill in the middle of my white pot. It was […]
I thought it might be interesting to go out the morning after my “Evening Observations” post to see what I missed last night. Turns out, there were a few things, particularly this critter lounging on my red cabbage. That notch of missing leaf just beside it’s head was in its mouth. I call a lot […]
The days are definitely shortening. I took a break from the computer late yesterday afternoon to pull up a chair in the front garden and just sit and observe. Meditate on where I stand with things. As I sat staring at my tomatoes, an orange butterfly I am seeing more and more in my garden landed […]
Life on the Parkway, or, Second Thoughts about the Tree. Curbside gardening is an interesting prospect. Just when you think you have things under control and figured out, they change. If you have followed the Late Bloomer web series, you may remember how this whole gardening thing started for me. Our parkway Acacia tree died, […]
The queen that didn’t bloom last night is my Nightblooming Cereus, or Selenicereus grandiflorus. The cactus species blooms one night a year, or years, and withers within hours. For some reason, the bud didn’t open. The impossibly intricate, huge white blooms, are protected by long, pale salmon tubes, with sharp points. When the bloom looks […]
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