One of my (many) weaknesses as a wanna-be farmer is the actual sewing of the seeds. My garden is not smooth and loamy. It’s more the consistency of a rock pile as the clods of red clay dominate. Therefore, it’s difficult to create that fine soil for planting that young seeds prefer. But I’ve found a way, a better way for me, anyway. I have been hoeing and chopping the garden as … [Read more...]

  In the Garden of Eden, I am confident there were no squirrels, deer, rabbits or groundhogs – otherwise Adam and Eve wouldn’t have had a garden to tend – only stubble. Or maybe the Lord arranged for a large cage surrounding the garden – like I have now. I am pleased to say that every pea I planted has sprouted and is still in place. Every stalk of lettuce, every squash leaf, every baby … [Read more...]

    I harvested my first crop from my new La Cage Mahal – the 50 x 10 foot, completely enclosed, wire cage I have installed to keep squirrels, rabbits, deer and groundhogs at bay. It was a picking of onions, from last year, actually. I had pulled about half on my spring onions last spring. but let the others go. They sprouted and grew, then shriveled away in summer’s heat. And … [Read more...]

I was having an e-mail discussion with fellow gardener, Sherman Shifflett, about squash. He said one of his favorite dishes was Squash, Potatoes and Onions, fried together. I have enjoyed Fried Squash and Onions and Fried Potatoes and Onions, but not all three together. I intend to try it soon Sherman also mentioned that his dad grew a small, white squash called Patty Pan Squash. My Dad did … [Read more...]

  Cage free eggs are all the rage these days. A kind and caring human wants to make sure all those little eggs are not under any stress and have been treated kindly. Otherwise, they might do a Humpty Dumpty and throw themselves off a wall or something. Most vegetables are also cage free – happy little vegetables grown in the wide open spaces – free to roam as they will. But not my … [Read more...]

I was ten years old and lived in Beckley, WV. Kids had subscriptions to comic books back then and on one splendid day in February, my monthly issue of Superman arrived. Quickly, I scanned the pages, then read and reread the magazine. In the back of the comic book, however, I noticed an ad to win special prizes. One of the prizes was a long bow, a paper target and three steel pointed arrows. I was … [Read more...]

  Snow can be a royal pain. It shuts down businesses, causes accidents on the highways and there was a time – when children were actually going to school - that school would be cancelled. But there is one place snow is good, and that’s on a garden Snow acts like a protective blanket against extreme temperatures. Roots of many perennials, as well as bulbs, ground cover plants and … [Read more...]

It was the last straw, the one that broke the camel’s back. As the first of my vine-ripened tomatoes was ready to pluck last August, a squirrel beat me to it, took one bite and dropped it on the ground. Then he bit into another. That did it. Somehow, we have managed to keep the deer at bay with a tall fence and the local groundhog must have met his match crossing the highway, but the squirrels … [Read more...]