Tear into some lettuce

by | Jun 12, 2014 | Talk Dirt to Me

Garrison Keillor famously claimed that July and August are the only times people in Lake Wobegon lock their cars at church; this keeps the other parishioners from sneaking bags of zucchini into their backseats. Voracious stem borers keep this from happening to me. I...

Duckling

by | Jun 18, 2014 | Talk Dirt to Me

I went to high school in Athens Greece because my parents lived there and they were unable to lose me during the move. We lived on a quiet street near some open fields and scrub (Greece is full of scrub), but mostly the area was suburban. Domestic animals are not...

Snow Peas

by | Jun 25, 2014 | Talk Dirt to Me

I brought in the first snow peas to feed to the ravening boarders. The youngest loves snow peas though he insists on dissecting them first. He removes the tiny immature peas to eat then tears into the crunchy flesh. Watching him unsettles me a bit. He clearly...

Spittlebugs

by | Jun 5, 2014 | Talk Dirt to Me

I’ve happened upon an insect I haven’t see in a while: a spittle bug. I found several of the offending loogis along the stem of a newly planted sage. The “spittle” is actually repurposed plant phloem. “Repurposed” in this case means...