Hot, hot, hot

OK what do I do with buckets of hot banana peppers? All of the folks I know are on antacids with serious medical names like Omeprazole. I'm thinking I will make Christmas gifts for the younger folks who still have intact digestive systems. Hot Pepper Mustard sounds good. It can be found on the web and doesn't seem to require a degree in astrophysics to create.

Trite but True

I believe this. While part of me used to seek the geographical cure of a move to somewhere else, part of me knows I am here for a reason and I need to deal with it.I am planted in the former Cowford where mud bogging outsells the symphony and barbeque is the preferred cuisine. That's fine.This has been my home for over three decades and the city has provided me with a livlihood and a mental album of beautiful views.

I have never understood why the city hasn't grown except for its homeless core. The only reason I can give is that it is too spread out to have a serious sense of community. Auto dependence has made the burbs seem closeby. White flight rolled on rubber feet.

Bee Here Now

The bee plaza was created after the Frances/Jean flood in 1995. The bee tiles had been nearer the water, but huge waves destroyed the plaza. Michael reassembled them farther uphill and there they have remained.

I am always taken by Buckminster Fuller's statement, " Bumblebees can't fly. Their fuselage is too big for their gossamer wings, but they don't know this and so they fly." How many times in my life have I done something I couldn't do because I had to do it?

Water Gardens for Under a Dollar

The water gardens are flourishing when every thing else is dying of the drought. This picture is an example of a DIY garden. The grid is a fan frame. The pot a found item. The aqua pipe is a vacuum cleaner addition. The old clothesline wick was from the street. I plant in the top only and keep the reservoir full of water. The plant is watered from its feet not its head. They are happier that way.

Yesterday I learned to identify pests at Master Gardener. How on earth is anything alive? Tiny red dragons stalk their pencil point prey; ants farm aphids, the mantis has a one night stand and then snips off the head of her paramour. Petite morte has a new meaning. I was pleased to hear the instructors recommending chemicals as a last resort not a first choice. Things have changed.

Black Madonna, Alchemical Chamber, Womb

Yesterday, I spent four hours removing compost from the container. The compost was rich and black. There was no trace of the cotton gloves, dryer lint, coffee grounds that I had put in the container. I put some of the black gold on the lawn where the bare patches are. I put lots of it on the raised beds. Why am I so mesmerized by compost? It is magical to me. The metamorphosis of the materials still takes my breath away. Now I am learning about the insects that aid in the transformation. I have an army of millions at my suburban disposal. Amazing.

A Giant Emerald

The garden always surprises me. Just when I think everything has swooned with the heat, I find an edible. Today it was a giant, perfect bell pepper in the Pluto box. Most folks would call the container an Earth Box and it is certainly based on the EB model. It is actually an old lawn cart retrofitted with a water chamber and a drainage hole. I stuck a piece of plastic pipe in it for watering. I see there are many cherry tomatoes the size of marbles there also. I remember the wonderful Urban Feast of 07. There were peppers there also. Yum.

Tiny Purple Beans With Emerald Centers

In the 90 degrees plus heat, the garden keeps putting out sustenance. Tonight I harvested a handful of bright purple string beans, a handful of basil, two scallions and three cherry tomatoes, mixed in some feta balsamic dressing and yum. That is one of the virtues of the garden, the freshest of the world's food at my fingertips.

Seeing Michele Obama's garden on the South Lawn almost made me weep. It is small but it there, an outward and visible sign that food comes from the earth and not merely from styrofoam sleeves in the supermarket.