Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Mothers Day Market and the 11th hour


So we had our best market ever this past Saturday. There were flowers galore; all of our spring flowers peaked just in time for mother's day which is actually pretty miraculous considering I'm not a good enough grower yet to plan for such things. The grace of our garden's bounty is almost always a delightful surprise for us. We're continually shocked by how much produce and flowers can be harvested in a fairly small amount of space. Although to be honest our garden doesn't really feel so small anymore. And everything isn't always so graceful. We're embarassed to say we cannot grow a good beet as of yet, and our first planting of brassicas has been a waste of space (a large waste of space). Also, our potato plants are currently being devoured by colorado potato beetles. I'll have to take a picture of these monsters to show you because they really are disgusting. I've gotten to the point where I can kill them unabashedly, squishing their little larvae between my fingers, gleefully feeling them 'pop' and smatter orange fluid all over the plant and my hand. Gross, I know, but a reality.
After market, exhaustion set in and just today do we both feel semi-normal again after sleeping most of the day Sunday and taking it easy yesterday. I was up til 1:30 am Friday night bunching flowers, and Stuart was actually at a Radiohead show in Charlotte which he thoroughly enjoyed although I missed him being here with me.
On Sunday we watched the movie 'The 11th Hour'. Stuart initially didn't want to watch it, claiming we already knew about global warming and its devastating possibilities. However, recent storms here and across the globe have prompted me to feel not only frightened by the reality of global warming, but yearning for more things I can do to help. Thursday night Stuart and I had quite a scare with a tornado touching down only six miles from our home. And we live in a rackety old 1860s home, a home that just wouldn't hold up in a tornado. We watched the storm coming on our local news radar, and couldn't believe the size and scope of the storm. The flourescent pink areas that indicated hail and possible tornadoes were huge and coming our way. We even crawled under a desk downstairs for refuge at 1:30am, listening to the wind howl and feeling very unprotected and vulnerable. But back to the movie---it was fascinating and completely captivating, despite the cameo shots of Leo. Stuart and I said we would just watch some of it and then take a break to do some other things but we remained glued to the screen for the duration of the film. I recommend we all watch this movie as one of the most fundamental things that needs to happen here is awareness of the problems we face.

3 comments:

marko said...

Hey... nice blog! I was worried about you during that storm last week, but I knew that the army of potato beetles would push back the tornado in order to save their precious tubers.

Sarah Ryhanen said...

um Alice, lets be honest here; you meant to say it was captivating BECAUSE of Leo.

your flowers are AMAZING AND GORGEOUS. I can't believe those poppies...they look worth all the effort. AND FOXGLOVE is my favorite!!! This is my new favorite blog!!!!!!!!!!

Susan said...

Hi Stuart! Nice to meet you Alice! It's Sarah's mom. I just found your blog by reading your comment on Sarah's. I loved reading all about your farming. I am also a foxglove fan. It's spreading all over my perennial bed. But of course, not in flower up north here yet!