A Running Collection

 We had pouring rain. A small tornado pulled down some trees and stirred up a bit of chaos around town. We sat through our morning lessons as the rains gushed and the trees bent low. Hot tea and cookies kept us focused and settled. Down the street a friend wasn’t so settled.   Another family that schools at home sat in their living room as the storm brewed heavy. It grabbed two trees and smashed them down into their house. No one was hurt but it turned normal into a mess.  We collected two kiddos so that parents could begin the daunting process of a house rescue. For the next 48 hours, five children practiced the art of play.  It was Earth Day celebrating at its finest. In and out of the pool. Up and down out of the loft. In and out of the garden. Check on chickens. Weed. Collect eggs. Bring cucumbers to Mama. Make concoctions with beet juice and chop up this and cut down that. Make a teepee with bamboo. String up tomatoes. Jump back...

 The rains poured down and the weather cooled and everything green shot up or swelled or grew or became. We've got greens on greens on greens. And beets. My go to snack is usually a handful of raisins and nuts or an apple. That comes from the store and apples are not even in season and they taste bland and sandy. Those are winter foods. I brushed past the dill plant and the smell woke up the summer dill recipes tucked away. Today was the day to eat straight from the garden. First, I went and picked beets, cucumbers, dill, basil, cilantro, lettuce, kale, and greens. First I made Tzatziki. Greek yogurt, dill, garlic, cucumbers, delicious. The process for this recipe is a bit tedious, so I modify it slightly.  Elisha's Tzatziki Mix together the following. Let it sit for a bit for the flavors to mingle. Serve with pita chips or roll up in lettuce or eat plain. 1 1/2 cups plain yogurt 4 cucumbers from the garden finely chopped 1 tsp salt 2 tb...

To grow a garden. . . To grow a garden you will need good soil. Seeds. The right spacing and thinning. Watering. Watching. Always watching. Weeding. Working. Visiting. Vigilant against the bugs. Pick them off one by one if you have to. Send the beans up the string. Just direct them and they will ride up the line. Hold a baby. Drink some gatorade. Learn about the seeds and the plants and the weeds and the soil.  Know what comes next.  Be ready to cut, to hoe, to move dirt, to scoop manure, to weed. Always weed. Drink gatorade. That always helps. Absorb the colors and the life. Harvest and eat and sell and get ready to go again.  It's time for the next set of seeds and soil and weeds. We are working together to amend the soil. Amend the time the land sat still. To start a garden, you have to keep going. Figure out what grew right and where. What needs to be in this sun in this direction, in this space. The greens are getting greener. The fruit...

It was the picking crusty snot off of her button nose that suddenly grabbed my attention. I’d been pouting. Unable to see the light. I was unable to think of anything nice to say or do. I was pulled down by the need to get “things” done and never able to get them done. One of the crew had to run two laps around the house this morning to shake out of a jaw jutting pout. I should have joined in.  I feel like nothing is getting done and everything is more important than my non-existent plan. I didn’t brush my teeth until 5:30 p.m. yesterday. Showering was not an option. Hair brushed? Not even close. And today, there are still flecks of beet juice slapped across my leg from the juicing experiment that crashed to the floor at 7:00 a.m. this morning.   The truth is. Everything is happening and I was missing it with madness. I knew I needed to reset. Crusty snot pushed reset. A little girl has a cold and she needs me to take away her snot. She can’...

We needed a tractor. We were running into a few obstacles with the Subaru serving as our horse power. He did some research. He and his dad ping ponged ideas and plans. The 1964 John Deere 1010 would leave Aragon, Georgia and head to Tallahassee, Florida. George would be reunited with the first tractor he had ever seen. Now the tractor would work his land and George would be the one responsible to keep it greased and tuned and turning and working and -- greased. We lined up the transportation and we waited. It would arrive on Tuesday. Then Wednesday. The children watched the road and listened for Lucy’s bark. Waiting. Finally the tractor arrived. George’s smile told the story. It told about a four-year-old boy on his daddy’s lap mowing hay.   It told of hot summer hours cutting and baling. It spoke about repairs and safety and responsibility. He smiled land and fertile soil and life on a farm.  The children and George plowed a huge patch for more garden,...