I can’t seem to catch my breath. Weeds are taking over our humble acreage here on the Cutoff. This afternoon, I broke the weeder. Pushing too hard on the handle, it broke! We have some pretty tough weeds in our garden. Tomatoes, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, zucchini and peppers have needed tending in our plot in the Community Garden. I’m trying to finish up some projects and the upcoming Elmhurst Garden Walk and Faire has us all busy making final preparations. In-the-meantime, forceful storms rolled in right at suppertime, pounding the skies with thunder and pelting the windows with rain.
So, what do I do? I sit here, my mind wandering, thinking of Honeyman Farms in Homer Glen, where rows and rows of seed packets fill a horse barn. Every kind of seed from a bevy of distributors; heirloom, seed collectors, beans and zinnias and chinese cabbage. There were so many seeds I wanted to buy for the pure beauty of the graphics on the packages – rather like judging a book by its cover. I’m easily swayed.
We wandered around, me reading every seed packet, he exploring a hearty collection of garden tools.
There were golden jars of clover honey for sale and garden plants just out the door, just waiting to be slipped into soil.
Remnants of long ago horse breeding caught our eyes. Old barns have so much to say, don’t they, with their corners and eaves and places that seem especially made for new life?
We strolled around to the pond were bullfrogs reign, and past raspberry canes, the owner inviting us back mid-season to do our picking. Just sitting, thinking about our recent outing, feels good, this taking time to catch one’s breath. Feels real good.
It’s late, my friend. I think I’ll wander on up to bed, read a few pages from Barbara Kingsolver’s “Flight Behavior”, listen to the raindrops on the roof, and call it day.
Penny, I know the feeling. So much to be done and catching up seems impossible. But this is what happens when life is rich and varied. Sometimes these storms arrive just to force us to stop. How nice to have a good book all ready and waiting.
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Thank you for your words, Juliet. I need to remember that my life is “rich and varied” – and that is a gift to me. It is nice to have a book waiting. Books are always friends to me, waiting to tell me something.
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I think this is just the time when the mind wanders to seeds. The weather closes in, and it’s a hiatus, a time of enforced reflection, before plunging into the action again. And this year the community garden beckons as well as your own in the Cutoff! Hope when you wake up you are filled with energy and all the pieces slot into place as they should.
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I did awaken with energy, Kate, and the pieces filled in, some where they should, some where they shouldn’t, all just where they were meant to be.
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Wonderful to hear 🙂
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It sounds as though the rain has come at just the right time to give you this much-needed breathing space, Penny. Enjoy it and come back to your gardening work refreshed. Rain here too and storms further south. It’s odd how our weather is being mirrored on your side of the Atlantic.
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How right you are, Perpetua. The rain did come when I needed a break. Fortunately, the winds predicted and tornadoes feared did not materialize here. We do seem to be in similar weather patterns, don’t we. Tomorrow, more weeds, which were only encouraged by the rain.
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Spring is like that in Oregon too…my daughter sounded so much like you when I talked to her recently.
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Interesting, isn’t it, how the weather is mirrored across the many miles. I hope you are having good travel weather, Sallie.
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I heard about the storms you’re having, Penny! There was a word for them–a specific type of storm? Do you recall? I heard it on the news, and should have written it down. I think I’d be glad for the “natural interruption” in the weeding. LOL! Honeyman’s looks like a fabulous place to be inspired. I love seed packets, too, Penny. I’ve been known to get carried away with good intentions. I hope the storms have passed…the description I heard on the radio included a great deal of turbulence, and that gets really frightening, I’m sure! ox
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I’m not recalling a specific word at the moment, Debra, but, it will likely come to me – or be repeated on the weather report. Weather in these parts can change dramatically. We had a great deal of rain, thunder, lightening. Fortunately, the high winds avoided us, and no tornadoes, which was the biggest concern. There was enough concern that public transportation was halted, meetings cancelled, performances, etc. – though the hockey game was played. There is something about lightening, of course can’t remember-it puts something in the air that brings about delightful growth in plants. I’m not off to a good start today; can’t remember two things.
Honeyman’s is delightful to visit and I can’t wait to go back. I have those same good intentions – and dozens of unopened seed packets to prove it.
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I found the word, Penny! You’re probably familiar–derecho. I had never heard it before. Earlier this week I heard it used in reference to the weather/winds in the midwest and the meteorologist was quite animated in his description! It’s probably a very familiar term across the midwest, but I really had never heard it before…I googled Chicago and storms and it showed up quite frequently. 🙂 It’s been bothering me for a few days…I just had to look it up. LOL!
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I’ve had those times myself, Debra, where I just could not remember something that was right on the tip of my tongue. Derecho. I’m not recallying the word, but, looked it up and I will tell you that the local forecasters were using its definition, which I have heard before – straight line wind, which is not unheard of here, especially with the lakefront. I wonder if I’m hearing something more like Direct ???. Hopefully, we won’t be experiencing such storms for a long while, but, I will be listening more closely to the meteorologic terms.
PS – it was those straight line winds that we were having two summers ago when a tree fell on our house. Thank you, Debra, for coming back and telling me. I’ve had fun looking derecho up.
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Those seed packets look great…how hard to choose ! I have just made the decision that I am not going to buy any more plants… I am just going to learn about propagation…..and move things around within the garden . It could be interesting !
I do hope you are enjoying “Flight Behaviour”. Jx
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Good for you, Janice. It is rewarding to divide plants, move them around, see where else they might be comfortable in the garden. Many, most of the plants here on the Cutoff are divisions from friends. Our garden club has two members’ sales a year to boost our coffers and share. We sell them for a pittance and they grow and bring us joy. I love to walk around and see this one from Bev, that one from Dorothy, Rosalie’s rose cutting and Phyllis’ clematis. Oh, I do ramble . . .
I am! Hoping to have a sit-down today and put a good dent into it. Thank you, Janice.
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Gardening isn’t all about hard work, there have to be contemplative pockets too.
This is a wonderful kind of interruption, refresh the aching joints and collect new ideas for more. . . and more . . .
I’m having a day off myself, it’s raining.
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Good words from the gardener you are, Friko. It was a good interruption and yes, my aching bones joints needed it. A garden never stops growing, nor our minds, for that matter, and what to do next.
If memory serves me right, you wondered about American gardeners and that they seemed to plant more each year. Yes. We do, depending on where we live. Around here, nurseries and plant stands are bustling with plants to sell. I do buy some, mostly annuals to put into pots around our deck for color. Our true perennial garden color is just beginning in our gardens and reach their peak in July and August. Much of our perennials are generous devisions from others.
Now, we both need to get back to our gardens.
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Penny, I can so understand your fixation on seed packets and their beautiful images. I could collect them for that very reason and to think they make such wonderful food for our bellies. I love old barns, also. so much character in the wood and little corners. I hope everyone clicks on your images. They are so wonderful when enlarged – those little beaks peeking out…
I so enjoyed this post. Love your writing.
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Amazing that such little packets can bring so much nourishment. I wondered who would be the first to notice those beaks peeking out – should have know it would be you, Teresa. The nest was astonishingly close to some plants that were being sold.
Thank you, Teresa. That means a lot to me.
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Dear Penny, until I saw your photograph I’d forgotten the barn swallows that made their homes in our barn when I was growing up. Thank you. Peace.
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There is, I have heard, something very special about barn swallow in barns. They love to nestle into the old barns, don’t they, Dee? You are so very welcome.
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