Yes, our oldest, our Ichiban, Joshua, turned 39 yesterday! This is, of course, a wild concept for a parent; that one's child is 39 years old. It is my ritual, since the year of his blessed arrival, to begin my serious planting in the garden on Josh's birthday. The day before he was born, I gardened seriously for the first time with the help of a good friend, Peggy. She taught me a lot of things about gardening, things I remember and employ to this day. By day's end on May 19, 1975, I was in pain. Big pain! I thought it was gardening pain. (Every gardener knows gardening pain, especially in the early weeks of the season!) But I was so wrong. It was labor pain! And by 1:15 in the afternoon of Tuesday, May 20th, an adorable baby Josh was in my arms! Bliss! That summer, Joshua grew, along with the tomatoes and chiles, the cucumbers and the morning glories - heavenly blue! That was a wonderful, precious summer. Here is a photograph of Josh carrying on the gardening tradition with his beautiful young family while I was visiting them in North Carolina earlier this month. What fun! Happy 1st day of your 40th year Young Joshua!
It is mighty colorful right now at little Bird Farm! This is the moment when the gardener feels almost in control of things - a fleeting moment for sure! It will last about two days. We had a crazy storm yesterday, wind, thunder & lightening, rain and then hail - 1/2" sized balls of ice. Very unusual. A real boon to all of our growing things...and to the new crop of weeds that will be appearing any day now. Chick weed and bind weed, I expect, now that the mustard is done. Oh, and ragweed. And tumbleweeds. My dad tells me you can pick a young tumbleweed, steam it up, and eat it - "They are delicious!", he tells me. We will spend the Memorial Day weekend moving 6 tons of gravel into place here and there. It always feels (hurts) so good to get a new area of "the farm" cleaned up with plantings and gravel. Happy Memorial Day! Fly those American flags. And remember.
