Putting in the Seed

You come to fetch me from my work to-night
When supper's on the table, and we'll see
If I can leave off burying the white
Soft petals fallen from the apple tree.
(Soft petals, yes, but not so barren quite,
Mingled with these, smooth bean and wrinkled pea;)
And go along with you ere you lose sight
Of what you came for and become like me,
Slave to a springtime passion for the earth.
How Love burns through the Putting in the Seed
On through the watching for that early birth
When, just as the soil tarnishes with weed,
The sturdy seedling with arched body comes
Shouldering its way and shedding the earth crumbs.

-Robert Frost

Beets, Carrots and Radishes

Scallions

Sugar Snap Peas

Leggo My Gecko

For the past several weeks, I have had a few extra visitors around the house. Some big, some small and some missing a tail after I got through with him (sorry about that). Anyway, the geckos have come to visit - more specifically, the Mediterranean geckos. I let my mom know when I see one and she scoops them up and takes them back outside.

This one was just a wee baby. My mom doesn't mind them because they eat insects and spiders. But she would prefer not to see them in the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Progress!

Last night, my mom noticed something unusual in our new raised bed gardens...and I had nothing to do with it! Check it out:

The seeds she planted for arugula, mesclun mix and radishes are starting to sprout.

A fall feast is on its way!

Afternoon Delight

The weather is starting to cool down just a titch here in Savannah -- from hellishly hot to just plain hot -- so we thought it would be a perfect day to take the Fiat into town.


Not to mention, she is the perfect size for that teeny-tiny parking spot that the gas-guzzlers from out of town could never wedge into.

We headed over to Broughton to Papillote for a lovely lunch of roasted fig & prosciutto salad (for her) and a La Parisien sandwich (for him). Dessert today was the novel nutella macarons....yum!

Trust me, they are indeed as good as they look.

Bon appetit!

A Not-So-Secret Garden

"The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies." -Gertrude Jekyll

Yesterday was a busy day in our household. I was outside most of the day helping my mom put in our fall garden. First, my pa made a frame for a raised bed garden and filled it with a mixture of topsoil, mulch and mushroom compost:

My mom went to Sandfly to her favorite nurseries and picked up seeds and seedlings:

She bought butterleaf and Romaine lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, arugula (or what my pa calls 'rocket'), Mesclun, beets, carrots, radishes and onions. She also got some new herbs to supplement her herb garden:

Here are the spinach plants going into their new bed:

And here are the lettuce plants enjoying the view of Atlantic Avenue:

I'm going to do my best to keep an eye on the garden and keep squirrels out. I will definitely NOT dig in this dirt and take a cool nap.

Here's to a bountiful fall!

Christmas in September

This afternoon, I heard something outside that sounded faintly like the UPS truck. I'm very good with sounds. Sure enough, a deliveryman brought us a big box, and my mom said it was an early Christmas present for yours truly.

If you've been reading my blog, you know sleeping is one of my favorite activities, right up there with chasing squirrels and eating S-U-P-P-E-R. So I know I am going to enjoy my cushy new sofa.

Coming separately: a bone-shaped monogrammed pillow!

Sage, Wyoming Style

So a friend of mine, Leah Yetter, has a wonderful blog called Uprooted Magnolia. I highly recommend it. The other day I was reading about her latest adventure in Wheatland, Wyoming, at the Wheatland Farmers Market, where she bought some herbs. She also described an interesting sounding delicacy -- fried sage.

A lightbulb went off. I have an abundance of sage. I mean, sage is practically coming out of my ears.

I picked about 1/100th of this and rinsed it and patted it dry:

Threw it into a frying pan with some olive oil, salt and pepper (per Miss Leah's instructions):

And ended up with this tastiness:

Next time, I think I will cook it until it is all good and crispy. I ended up eating some of this as is and chopping up some to go into a marinara sauce.

Does anyone have any interesting uses or recipes for sage?