Did you know there are a ton of skipper butterflies? I sat down yesterday to try to identify this one flitting about on this anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) the other afternoon and and I came up empty handed on an identification. There are a couple that look similar, and man, I lost patience pretty quickly with it, wishing I was flipping through a book instead of the internet. We have a butterfly book for Florida, Butterflies Through Binoculars, and it is helpful sometimes but the different region definitely makes it difficult to figure out solely from that book sometimes. I really love the anise hyssop for the sole fact it…

Tomatoes have started slowing down in production, which frankly—and I can’t believe I’m saying this—I’m glad about. The hustle of getting food processed over a few short weeks when everything is in abundance can be tiring. Especially tomatoes. That said, we are still rolling in blackberries and green beans are still giving us a good amount to stash and freeze once a week. We should have more beans over the coming month or two as I recently planted Dragon Tongue, Painted Lady, and Royal Burgundy. In addition, I should have Big Red Ripper cowpeas coming eventually, too. A crazy canning and food preservation day a few weeks back. Earlier in…

The patches of tropical milkweed have been blooming profusely the last few months and have now made it all the way into seed setting stage, with their fluff floating seeds about the garden, ready to start more milkweed wherever it pleases. Last year I moved a couple of plants that had sprouted next to our driveway about 30 feet away from the garden. I went ahead and sowed some seeds on the potting bench in an effort to get more milkweed germinated ahead of the August/September return monarch migration in hopes of having some plants in containers by then. I have three I also dug up from the compost that…

Being a photo heavy blogger has lent itself to being more difficult these last few months. The interest in processing large quantities of photos waned and I found myself wanting to spend a lot less time on the computer during the evenings and weekends. When I did process photos, I then could never find the time, rather, prioritize the time, to sit down and write a blog. What would I write about? This is blooming, that is blooming, we’re harvesting this and this and that. Sometimes it all seems rather monotonous to keep sharing but I know that I definitely regret when I look back at particular points in this…

Taking photos of the harvest on a consistent basis started when I stopped one day to put some of our pickings on the slab of rock on the pathway to the house. I took a few photos and Forest and I went inside. The next time we were out I wasn’t planning on taking photos but as we approached the path Forest began getting excited and talking about taking photos and wanting to arrange the harvest himself. Well, I couldn’t say no, so I started trying to make an effort to take photos each time. Then I remembered the leaf and vegetable portraits I did a few years back on…

Forest and I pulled onions about two weeks ago. I’m trying to remember the last time we had a really great harvest, maybe this one 5 years ago? I think we’ve had one or two since then but I know for sure last year did not give us much of anything due to you know, floods. Forest had been itching to pull them for weeks because they were already starting to become ready to pull, easily liftable from the dirt. So when I told him one evening we were going to pull onions he was ecstatic. I barely had to pull them because he was lifting them out by the…

Nine years ago my mom and I were in a hotel breakfast room in Longview, Texas when we smelled something glorious. It wasn’t the waffles on the iron or the coffee brewing but something wafting from another guest nearby. After mom and I were done falling over ourselves at the smell, we asked the woman what she was wearing and she replied that it was Estée Lauder’s Tuberose Gardenia. Mom bought a bottle not long after that and a few years later I was gifted a bottle for Christmas. Every time I walk by our gardenia in May I’m reminded of that perfume and that time. Ah, 9 years ago—we…

I can’t remember when I last mentioned the monarchs in the garden, maybe back in late March or early April? I think I said that I’d just seen a few monarchs flitting about the yard but hadn’t seen any caterpillars yet—of course a few days later I found several caterpillars crawling all over the tropical milkweed. Keeping up with where they are has been a challenge, mostly because I think the birds might be eating a lot of them. Which is fine, that is nature’s duty, but I do feel like we really should consider the butterfly tents to raise them. Chris was concerned about having enough milkweed in pots…