Nov 8, 2009

Drizzlin

One of those mornings that brings everything close in. I am loving how the "backyard" has changed from thirsty vegetation to new green life sprouting up every where.
A nice steady soft rain filters out the past and future to focus on present.
Suddenly the metal roof is pounding as rain is unleashed from the heavens in a downpour.
This is my idea of a life well-lived: to have the time to stop to listen to the rain, to saunter around through the landscape.
Since I collect wild herbs to add to the salad or stew pot, I can't bring myself to rid the area of chickweed, chenopodium, henbit, cleavers, or what some people call "weeds".
Rather I thin these plants from areas where they might choke out a purple salvia or entwine my struggling tagetes lucida, an herb I am cultivating to use like tarragon.

Though it may grow wild in the mountains of Oaxaca, it needs nurturing in my garden this year. "Yauhtli" in the Nahuatl language, it has a rich heritage in lore and is used to adorn the ofrendas for Dia De Los Muertos.

It cousin, Tagetes lemmonii, the Copper Canyon Daisy, does better in my unamended soil. Both are bright additions to the limestone landscape of my backyard.
I need to build a fence to keep the chickens out of the garden. I was set on getting my chickens this spring. I have sorely neglected my garden for past several years, since the drip irrigation line was torn up by puppy exuberance. We finally replaced the garden fence to keep dog paws out, but did not replace the water lines.
I had not tended my garden closely during the summer drought and was not prepared when the tomatoes perked up and began to be draped with tomatoes!
I collect the hen's eggs from the coop and they steal my tomatoes.
They think the exchange is fair. So do I for now. How many green tomatoes does a person need, after all?

Bulbine frutescens is a new addition of fall color to the rock wall.
It likes dry, hot weather! Who could ask for anything more?

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