"Two wrongs may not make a right but a thousand wrongs make a writer.”

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Garden Thunder

Thunder rumbles in the distance and circles around, seeming to come from all directions. Thunder helps the corn grow, or is that lightning? I believe that is true, what the old folks say. The interaction between the atmosphere and the soil is an important connection, the feeding of the sod under our feet, the fungi and organisms that nourish the grass that nourishes the animals that trod the earth and enrich our lives.

The corn grows at night, you can hear it if you sit by a field when the wind is still. The tomatoes are trellised and we had our first BLT last night. The cucumbers sprawl across the ground and tangle with the summer squash: the patty pans and crooknecks. The pie pumpkins are rambling into the sweet corn which is growing as I write, now that it's warmer and now that it's raining. No, it's pouring. God bless this piece of Earth, this good ground and clean soil.

One of our CSA members has a food blog ,which I just discovered, and she's been posting pictures of our boxes along with recipes. This is one of them from about 5 weeks ago when the French Breakfast radishes were at their peak and the lavender was perfect.


I thought you might like to know what I've been doing this summer. You can check out Nicole Dula's blog here, with more pictures of our vegetables and some ridiculously delicious recipes.

So, what's your weather been like this summer? Obscenely hot? Desert dry? Flooding with unusual amounts of rainfall like they've had in Calgary and the Dakotas? The jet stream is jacked out of shape, or so I've heard the expert experters say. Here in the Great Lakes basin we are bordering on boring normal. And that's good.

Today is my dad's 93rd birthday! I'm going to make him a jam cake, an old recipe from my grandmother who was a cake hound. She always made our birthday cakes when we were growing up. She would buy the big colored marshmallows and cut them into the shape of flower petals and decorate our cakes with them. I miss her.

Have a fruitful August. Believe me when I say I've missed writing for my blog and reading yours and posting what I hope are welcome, helpful comments. Summer is so busy, so full, bulging at the seams like the garden, sprawling into the driveway and crowding the flowerbeds. Summer.

11 comments:

Anne Gallagher said...

Happy Birthday to your Dad!

I love the pics of the veg. I wanted to plant a garden this year. I actually say this every year but I never do it. I tend to keep flowers instead.

The weather this summer has, well, sucked if you want the truth. Tornados, hot, then rain for a month straight, then hot again, and now rain again. Hopefully September will bring some nice weather and I can get my weeds under control. The rain is killing me.

Yvonne Osborne said...

Hi Anne!
So nice to hear from you. I hope your weather improves. Maybe September will be gangbuster beautiful. About those weeds....we can never win.

Jemi Fraser said...

Happy birthday to your dad! Enjoy the cake too :)

We've had a mixed bag of weather this summer - a couple of weeks of beyond hot & humid, a couple more of cool and then incredible rains. Not too many 'perfect' days, but I hope those are to come too.

Glad you're enjoying your garden and your summer!

Steven J. Wangsness said...

I have always wanted to hear corn grow!

Yvonne Osborne said...

Jemi,
Very few "perfect" days but maybe August and September.... Thanks!

Steven,
Ha! It's sort of a rustling sound...a whisper, a breath. A mystery.

Other Mary said...

Wow, sounds like you've had a wonderful and productive summer! (bad pun - I know). I garden too, but in a very small way. This year our sweet corn didn't amount to much, even the racoons went hungry. It was so nice to see your smiling face, and comment, again on my blog! I'm glad you're having such a great summer, glad you're back and happy birthday to your dad! :o)

G-Man said...

Your absence is the only drawback to a Michigan Summer.
Miss you Yvonne...G

Vanessa Victoria Kilmer said...

Happy Birthday to your Daddy.

We've had some of everything weather wise this summer. It's been very odd to have beautiful August days instead of humid hot ones.

J.B. Chicoine said...

Is it really true that you can hear the corn growing at night? Our house is literally surrounded by corn fields--now I'll be obsessing over every little eek and zip in the night as I lay awake--or will it sound more like floorboard creaking? ... only one way to find out!

Tricia J. O'Brien said...

What a haunting sensory detail for you to use--hearing the corn grow. I suppose you have woven that into a story, but if not, you must!
I love to read about your abundant summer. Mine's been hectic since we decided to put the family home on the market. I'll be moving again and, this time, I'm not sure where. But whereever it is, things will grow.

Al said...

Summer is our wet time down this way.
I hope it brings some rain, because it is frighteningly dry.