The Homegrown Stuff
I’ve been in the gardens as much as weather permits this week. I’m reasonably caught up on weeding now. I bought a few plants to fill in gaps here and there and planted them all. Now I’m doing bulb orders for fall planting.
Woody set up the dehydrator for me. The first thing I’ll do is dry catnip. I buy commercial catnip sometimes, but our homegrown stuff is stronger. Sometimes I wait too long till it has flowered and is less potent. This is a perfect time to get on it for maximum strength.
A poet from a few years ago’s intensive poetry workshop came by with her husband on Thursday afternoon. Anastasia Vassos’s first poetry book was just published –Nike Tying her Sandal. Woody is off today at town meeting but since it’s outside where the mosquitoes can be fed and will last forever, I am staying home to rest as much as I can after a strenuous week of catching up inside and outside and beginning with friends.
The pollinator garden in full bloom is finally attracting bees. I cooked the last of our spring broccoli Thursday for supper. I’m an excellent vegetable chef because I don’t overcook them. Two and a half minutes for broccoli. We’re still getting good lettuce for salad, but the thrill this week was the first zucchini. I have many ways of cooking it, but Woody’s favorite is Zuke Melange. I cook it all summer and it’s never the same twice. Made with ground lamb, ground beef or healthy sausage, onions, garlic, oregano and basil and some form of tomatoes. When pattypans and/or yellow summer squash is ready, they get added. When eggplants come in, they go into it. Sometimes I use our tomato sauce, sometimes paste tomatoes few canned last year; sometimes I use fresh tomatoes from the garden after I skin them.
A couple of poems this week and fall bulb orders this weekend. I love bulbs. There’s something magical about sticking them in the ground like dried onions and then in spring, color, sometimes fragrance – after the chiaroscuro of winter, the yellows, blues, reds, oranges, purples are all exciting. The Japanese dogwood outside the bedroom is in full magnificent blossom. The rhododendrons’ in that side of the house bloomed very early this year and are done already.
The cats have adjusted to our going out for various lengths of time and have quit sulking about it. The one who minded least was Mingus, as he is 14 and lived many years with us going off for readings, workshops, speeches, an occasional two or three day vacation, over to people’s houses. I haven’t been to a restaurant yet, but am hoping to finally get to one next week.
It was great to finally see Melenie face to face and be able to talk and cook together for the workshop party. She is one of those people who can fit in with any group at a dinner or a party. We still talk every weekend and email often during the week, but nothing replaces being together. Now that the workshop is over, I’m hoping to go back to seeing women friends one at a time during a mid-week afternoon. The workshop limited seeing friends for at least the last 4 weeks. I just wish the gorgeous dry and warm but not hot days had lasted longer. It was like a shot of adrenalin.