Yes. We. Did.

Thank you America and thank you Barack.

Land of Hope and Dreams

Grab your ticket and your suitcase
Thunder’s rolling down the tracks
You don’t know where you’re goin’
But you know you won’t be back
Darlin’ if you’re weary
Lay your head upon my chest
We’ll take what we can carry
And we’ll leave the rest

Big wheels rolling through fields
Where sunlight streams
Meet me in a land of hope and dreams

I will provide for you
And I’ll stand by your side
You’ll need a good companion for
This part of the ride
Leave behind your sorrows
Let this day be the last
Tomorrow there’ll be sunshine
And all this darkness past

Big wheels roll through fields
Where sunlight streams
Meet me in a land of hope and dreams

This train carries saints and sinners
This train carries losers and winners
This train carries whores and gamblers
This train carries lost souls

Dreams will not be thwarted
Faith will be rewarded
Hear the steel wheels singin’
Bells of freedom ringin’

This train carries broken-hearted,
Thieves and sweet souls departed
This train, carries fools and kings

All aboard

Land of Hope and Dreams lyrics by Bruce Springsteen

Photo courtesy of University of Houston/Dr. Harrell R. Rogers

Signs that might be omens

Dark and silent late last night
I think I might have heard the highway calling
Geese in flight and dogs that bite
Signs that might be omens say I’m going, going
Gone to Carolina in my mind

With a holy host of others standing ’round me
Still I’m on the dark side of the moon
And it seems like it goes on like this forever
You must forgive me
If I’m up and gone to Carolina in my mind

Hi everyone. I’m soon to be blogging from a new and improved growing zone. If there’s anybody alive out there, stay tuned.

Say nice things about me ’cause I’m gone southbound
Carry on without me

Lyrics by James Taylor. Photo courtesy of www.southeastroads.com.

The smartest man I ever knew

Bye Daddy.

Earl Triplett Brown
Earl Triplett Brown, 81, passed away at home on July 22, 2008, following a courageous fight against a long illness. He was born April 21, 1927, in Buncombe County, the youngest son of the late David Worth Brown and Mae Triplett Brown Cole. He was also preceded in death by his older brother, Douglas.

He served in the U.S. Navy, and has both a bachelors and doctoral degree from the School of Pharmacy of UNC-Chapel Hill. He taught at UNC and at Haile Selassie University in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he met and married his loving wife of 44 years, Marie Sophie Sequeira Brown. He was employed at Cabarrus Memorial Hospital for 25 years.

In addition to his wife, survivors include two daughters, Cynthia and husband, Joe, and Caroline and husband, Curt; two sons, Worth and wife, Kathleen, and Anthony; and an aunt, Sue. Survivors also include six grandchildren, D., A., K., G., K., and C. He will be greatly missed by numerous friends and colleagues.

A funeral mass will be said at 11 a.m. on Thursday July 24, at St. James the Great Catholic Church, officiated by Father Geiger. The family will receive friends following the service. The burial at St. James the Great Catholic Church Cemetery on Gold Hill Road will be held Friday July 25, at 11 a.m. Memorials may be made to St. James Catholic Church, 139 Manor Ave., Concord, NC 28025 or to Hospice & Palliative Care, 5003 Hospice Lane, Kannapolis, NC 28081.

More scenes from the July garden

Poppies! The one non-food item in my garden. I absolutely love them.

Random July garden images

Long time no blog…it’s summer after all. Garden updates abound. I usually hate photo-heavy posts. In fact I don’t recall making a post before with this many photos but in this case the pics are worth a whole bunch of words. First, a before/after view of my plot. Below taken June 20:

And from a different angle, taken today. For reference, see the poppies in the right upper corner of the garden? See if you can find them in the above picture. Two very small ones in the top left corner, towards the center.

Crazy how tall the tomatoes got huh? They’re totally out of control–they’ve busted out of their puny tomato cages and have moved out of the garden into the surrounding areas.  I harvested the first tomatoes today! a couple of grape-sized ones that were SO sweet, and a few of an early variety called Glacier that’s supposed to do well in the northeast. The tomatoes were good, not too sweet but so fresh tasting.

In all fairness, everyone’s gardens at Fox Pt. look fabulous:

Suck it, Whole Foods!

Er….the headline I really meant to write was “First Harvest.” But, sorry Whole Paycheck Foods, I will not be needing your services as much now that I am beginning to reap the bounty from my wonderful little community garden plot at Fox Point Community Garden, and now that the Downtown Providence Farmers’ Market where I pick up my community supported agriculture (CSA) box is open.

(Gratuitous cat photos below the fold!)

Today’s must-read: the social life of plants

Did you see this article in the NYT yesterday? (Warning-registration may be required.) Canadian researchers are examining the ability of plants to distinguish members of its own species from “outsiders.” Last summer scientists at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario published a study on the sea rocket (Cakile edentula), a native member of the mustard (Brassicacaea) family that grows above the high tide line on sandy beaches.

Yet scientists have found evidence that the sea rocket is able to do something that no other plant has ever been shown to do.

The sea rocket, researchers report, can distinguish between plants that are related to it and those that are not. And not only does this plant recognize its kin, but it also gives them preferential treatment.

Tree of the month: Red horse chestnut (Aesculus x carnea ‘Briotii’)

I’m way overdue for a tree of the month selection! This month I picked red horse chestnut, Aseculus x carnea ‘Briotti’. I actually haven’t seen this tree in bloom before and I think it’s quite exotic looking for New England. This is probably as close as we in the Northeast will be able to get to crape myrtles, the ubiquitous blossoming tree seen so often in street plantings and mall parking lots in the South.

Happy Memorial Day

I hope everyone is enjoying nature on this beautiful three day weekend!

Fox Point Community Garden

Here are a few more pictures of Fox Point Community Garden. You can see it’s a pretty funky little garden. This is a picture of the “garden shed”–a misnomer that conjures up images of small wooden shacks–when this is actually a big concrete building with plenty of storage space.

Update on plot 94!

Finally, I’m back home and able to blog. But not before going to the Southside Community Land Trust’s plant sale and loading up on organically grown vegetables to plant at my garden plot at Fox Point Community garden.

I was so excited to be back home, with beautiful weather that was perfect for plant shopping and planting. SCLT has a great, two-day annual plant sale and we saw lots of people we knew. It was a great feeling to be planting again.

Sorry for the blog inactivity

Sorry about being inactive in responding to comments and posting for the last couple of weeks….I had to make a last minute trip to visit family and haven’t had regular Internet access. I’ll be back in Rhode Island in the next couple of days and will make a longer post then.

May is not New England’s best month, so it’s a good time to be gone. I’m enjoying the sunny, 70-80 degree days, completely green trees, and flowers in full May bloom here in NC. (Although yesterday we had a uniquely Southern hailstorm and a tornado touched down 5 miles away!) When I’m back in Rhode Island I’ll start planting my new garden plot and write a longer update.

Take care all!!

Plot 94

I’m so excited because over the weekend I was offered a plot in a local community garden. I was waitlisted at three gardens and had pretty much given up hope of getting a plot this late in the game. But it turned out there were some openings at Foxpoint Community Garden, so I showed up this morning, plunked down $25 and claimed Plot 94, the most beautiful 8 ‘ x 4′ -ish patch of dirt that you ever did see.

Happy Earth Day, Mother Earth

Oh, mother earth,
With your fields of green
Once more laid down by the hungry hand
How long can you give and not receive
And feed this world ruled by greed

Oh, ball of fire
In the summer sky
Your healing light, your parade of days
Are they betrayed by the men of power
Who hold this world in their changing hands

Oh, freedom land
Can you let this go
Down to the streets where the numbers grow
Respect mother earth and her giving ways
Or trade away our children’s days

Credits

• Mother Earth (Natural Anthem), copyright Neil Young, 1990
  
• Image courtesy of NASA.

Native & invasive ornamental grasses

Landscaping and gardening with ornamental grasses is hot. Ornamental grasses provide home gardens with nesting sites, food, and cover for birds and other animals; pleasing and unusual texture and dimensionality; and garden interest in all four seasons. Some varieties can be used to plant lawns that require less mowing and water.