Come sit a while…

It is a season for sitting and watching. The bustle of summer is history. My work of harvesting and preserving is done…Cycling is winding down with cool and rain more days than not.  And my body needs a break evidently.  This week sciatic pain reduced me to a poky hobble and the sun shone one morning so invitingly…I thought I may as well just sit a while and feel it’s precious warmth on my face…

…and watch this hungry acrobat glean the last of the sunflower seeds.

 

I would have missed his visit had I not taken time to sit a while and be still….

The ground beneath my feet is littered now with the first of the willow’s leaves

Above my head her gangly-arms stretch waiting to drop their load for raking and raking and raking…

But for now, I’ll just sit a while and treasure the opportunity to rest.

--LS

Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!
Ps.46:10

Where do Sesame Seeds come from?

I know where poppy seeds come from,

and sunflower seeds too.  These flourish in my garden:

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In past years I’ve planted flax seeds and seen them flower both blue and red…

but as I was falling asleep one night I wondered… 

Where do Sesame Seeds come from?

I’ve never grown these.

So, I looked it up. On the Internet, of course. (Why do I keep that World Book set anyway?)

And now I know. 

According to Wikipedia, they come from a flowering plant in the genus Sesamum! (would you believe!) “Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cultivated for its edible seeds, which grow in pods.”

I read on to find that  the sesame seed has been domesticated for at least 3000 years and there’s evidence that it was once a major crop in the Middle East.  It’s drought tolerant and oil-rich, making it a favorite in places where nothing else will grow.  India exports the most sesame seeds and Japan imports the most.  And that’s the bare bones of where sesame seeds come from. Just in case you ever wondered…

And if you want to know just a little more…look here.

[Shutterstock photo]

If your curiosity knows no bounds, you’ll enjoy this lovely little blog post featuring eleven foods that grow in unexpected ways. The cashew takes the prize for The Surprising-est!

And with that foray into things unknown, I will return to my own familiar garden and the seeds growing there today!

 

 

--LS

And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth."

And it was so.  The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind.

And God saw that it was good. Gen.1:11,12     Amen! and Amen!

All creation sings His praise!

There are poppies and there are POPPIES…

We were going away and still they hadn’t opened…

Now I’ve seen poppies bloom before…lots of red ones generally.  These are blooming in my garden now: 

Some more exotic than others…

My old neighbor used to shake her head and wonder why I wanted to grow weeds.  Poppies were the undesirables back in the farm fields of Italy.

I have always loved them…They’re so delicate, like tissue wrapping paper and every year a fresh set volunteer…

But this year an extra jumbo plant arose in the hot west-facing tomato bed and grew like Jack’s beanstalk!  I hadn’t planted it, at least not intentionally, but there it was, with the biggest buds ever, just waiting to burst.

And we had to leave on our trip before she delivered… (sigh) I was afraid I’d miss all her blooms before we got back to see…

A wedding intervened, and a 5th birthday for Grandson #1 and 3,000 kilometers of highway (more on that next time) before we could get home again to have a look…

First thing in the morning I scampered out with my camera to see how the garden had fared.

The roses were lovely

The Cranesbill Geranium blooms profuse

But the Poppies were outrageous!

Extravagant tousle-headed beauties still blooming in profusion.

Now those are POPPIES!  I love it!

--LS

On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. Ps.145:5

To Water or to Dig…

I went strolling out for my morning garden tour with no particular mission in mind.  But when I got to the potato patch I wondered… shall I water these sad looking plants--some yellowing, some clearly dead, others chipper and green and trying to thrive despite their want of regular watering--or shall I dig…

Bracing myself for disappointment I grabbed a hand rake and scritched at the surface of some of the withered lifeless vines…when what should appear but a lovely dusty potato!!! YIPEE!

I scritched and scratched some more, and more potatoes--whites ones and red ones, even one JUMBO one (there’s always one fellow that taps into the water just right and busts his buttons outgrowing the rest).  And soon I was hunting down the pitchfork and digging deeper to turn up buried treasure.

Wonderful hot sweaty work it was in the morning sun.  But I turned about a square yard of that bed and I have potatoes for many potato salads to come!

The moral of the story is, don’t judge a garden or a life by its surface.  Fruit may not be visible but that doesn’t mean it’s not there.  Dig a little.  Get to know what’s beneath the surface of that foliage, that face, that lifestyle….You may be in  for a surprise! 

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In other news this week…

• We watched rampaging Redcoats (aka the RCMP Musical Ride)

• motored across the lake for a swim…

• beheld my Japanese Anemone in bloom  (I love it!  Thanks Nola!)

• Walked the neighborhood admiring neighbor’s dahlias
  

 

• and documented the wonder of being together…

for just a little longer…

while this bedazzlingly warm and dry summer fleets sweetly away…but not without notice!

--LS

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven…” Eccl. 3:1

Heat, Blessed Heat!

It brings the garden to life.  Nasturtiums tumble over themselves in  spontaneous flaming festoons…

a palette of warm colors

glorying in morning sun….

 

This variation, a peachy cream, was a surprise!

Potatoes rush to bloom…

And the zucchini is outgrowing our ability to consume it!  No sooner does one become a delicious meal of ‘Zucchini Wonder’, then another two are ready the next morning…We’ve got a backlog already and they’ve only just begun!  (If you live in the vicinity, don’t hesitate to come by and pick up a zucchini for dinner!)

[And if you don’t live nearby, please share a recipe!!!]

All because of blessed heat!  Oh, I love it, when I can shed wool socks and sweaters and leave doors and windows wide, and dare to dip in water!

These gi-normous bullfrog tadpoles love it too!  And they know where to find the warmest water.  So naturally, we had a swim together yesterday in a sheltered cove on Powell Lake.

My sympathies to those of you who must endure searing steering wheels and cannot relate to heat being a blessed thing.  I was there once…  But for this season of life, I just can’t get enough of summer’s blessed heat and all the good things it brings!

--LS