Latest Posts
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Banksy Meets The Gleaners
When I started this blog last year, I was hoping to give expression to the fascinating dramas I regularly witness among the plants, bugs, wildlife – and now chickens – that make their home in my backyard. I was familiar with the word “glean”, as defined in the Cambridge Dictionary: “to collect information in small… Continue reading
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Potato Gleanings
Potato plants make good role models. In fact, I wish I could be more like a potato. Potatoes grow steadily and purposefully under the ground until they are mature and ready to be used for good purposes. They are low-maintenance, easy to grow and offer a high return on investment. For every seedling you plant,… Continue reading
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The Rest of the Story*
You can’t plant an old tree. Trees earn their designation as “old” by growing in place over decades, accumulating rings of life and surviving unpredictable cycles of drought, flood, wind, freezing temperatures and heat. Old trees are irreplaceable. You can plant a new tree of the exact same species and variety, but it will never… Continue reading
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Afternoons with Sister Mercy
After a little bunny nibbled his way through our sweet potato crop last fall, I decided to try again with a different type of potato. I cleared the garden bed, raked in several loads of compost from our backyard bin and planted red potato seedlings in neat little rows in the dirt. As soon as… Continue reading
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Aloe There!
Something wasn’t right with Fluff. Our normally energetic and ever-curious young chicken was standing away from the others, not eating and lethargic. When I took a closer look, I noticed her comb had a grayish hue and it was drooping to one side. As I wrote in a previous post, Shelter from the Cold, a… Continue reading
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Being 6-7
Once again, it is a time of transitions in my backyard. My cold-weather-loving camellia bushes are still filled with late-season blooms, but most of their petals are starting to brown or just wilt and fall to the ground. A few months ago, the number of blossoms on those bushes were far outnumbered by nascent buds,… Continue reading
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Cold-Plunging Cows
What do cold-plunging cows, the Winter Olympics and National Parks have in common? You might be surprised. Last Saturday, I was on a group bike ride in Jefferson County, a rural community east of Tallahassee. It’s a great place to ride because there are fewer cars and beautiful stretches of farmland, orchards and sprawling pastures.… Continue reading
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Spring Matters
I normally take the transition from one season to the next in stride, making the traditional adjustments to accommodate changes in the weather (summer clothes out, winter clothes in, e.g.) and then moving forward with the regular routines of my life. It’s a fairly predictable cycle, year after year. But this year’s winter has seemed… Continue reading
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Return to “Best in Show”
I was happy to help set up for the American Camellia Society’s regional show in Tallahassee again this year (and secretly thankful I hadn’t been banned from volunteering after accidentally knocking over a few vases last year!) As I wrote in my blog post, “Best in Show”, I was blown away by my first exposure… Continue reading
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Shelter from the Cold
During the several-month period before our chickens began laying eggs, I started researching whether there were any telltale indicators I should be looking for to let me know it was time (yes, I was very impatient for eggs). One of the more interesting factoids I gleaned in the process is that a chicken’s comb and… Continue reading
Glean Daily 