Growing Food here is not going to be reliable.
We are too close to the forest and the climate has changed to so wet, well, the balance has changed. Some creatures are happy though, so let it be. I hope only to live long enough to see how it may go. And learn to adjust. It will be a big year for nuts though, I see them forming. Huge.
I keep clearing and sorting and putting things away but the dining table always seems to look like this. Puzzle Pieces. Actually we have never eaten at this table. 🤣
I found some rain patterned cloth from an old friend and I think it might fit here. The valley here has become a bit of a rain forest.
The puzzle is always changing.
We cannot really grow sunflowers here. I love them. Critters love them too much. But then just one. Emerged on the deck planter, almost 3 feet tall. almost blooming. I think seed from the birdfeeder. And I thought ok. One. I was so excited. A squirrel chewed through the stem. I got angry and chased him. Then I forgave him and gave him a peanut. I rescued the flower and put it in water and placed it under the skylight on the porch. It seemed to be in a lifeless droop for a while. It perked up. It is opening. Yay! One this summer then, can be enough... I am so excited.
My father died April 1 this year. His favorite color is yellow and his favorite flower is the Sunflower.
We had several bouquets of sunflowers at the funeral, later laid on his grave. the deer ate them (he would have LOVED THAT)
a few days after his funeral, i noticed dozens of sunflowers popping out of the ground! i had no plans to plant sunflowers this season. I took them and planted them all over our property. they are everywhere. I think of him when I walk my gardens. We did not have a relationship and i was no contact with him for a year before he died. the sunflowers and healing our relationship. it’s a strange feeling to not be grieving him at all but enjoying a spirit of him that i had never experienced.
My mother told me a lone sunflower popped out of the ground under the bluebird house he had built.
I’ve had several “encounters” with sunflower all summer.
I love your sunflower.
sorry this is so long…
This was just so great. So many familar senses of the way it can be. The spirit of him, yes…
There is always hope; sometimes it is rewarded. Hot and dry here; dreaming of the rain forest. Without the humidity.
Ha, well, probably not possible!🙃
how the one becomes so much more. like the one deer. we focus ‘n our perspective shifts. the one squirrel. and then the one peanut! ha!
One becomes special.
Your connection with nature makes me cry. I can live through your sharing of beautiful posts like this one.
LOve.
I love it more and more.
That’s one gorgeous sunflower.
Even more so because it’s the only one.
Dining room tables make great worktables. Mine is now covered with a self-healing cutting mat and works great as a work table – conveniently in the house where it is cooler/dryer/weatherproof. Both husband and I love it. Much more fun than formal dinners – which we had only once in 16 years.
Weather here is hot, hot. breezy and dry. Monsoons taking their time arriving. Perhaps not this year?
I often have my tea or coffee among patches… process makes a home more alive.
I’d be really curious as to whether there is anyone here who does NOT have most of their dining room table covered with fabric scraps. Yes, tea among the patches, unless I’m on the porch.
Ha!
I get better sunflowers from dropped birdseed then from dedicated seed
I find that with a lot of things, some sort of natural order
Is that rain piece made from batik wax method?
beeswax resist. I did not make it, it was a gift, but I wat to try. Isn’t it great? The cloth is a bit stiff, but wax resist and clay too works better on tightly woven fabric.
“Joy is so simple.” Ain’t it the truth! 😉 Best place to look for it and be sure of finding it. Lovely sunflower!
yes, and we need it, need to let it in.
Love that rain print!!! ( Bleach?) And, ohhhh…yeah. Squirrels 😅 I had a GIANT sunflower next to the birdfeeder so definitely a self-so n, and right before the head/flower opened, a squirrel ATE it, oh I was SO Mad. So, a tall living stalk w big leaves for a time….yeesh.
I’m glad you could save the bloom! 🌻💛
We have turned into a rain forest, a swamp, I asked him by the other day: ” did we slide to the equator overnight!??!?” 😅😜
Getting too shady to grow much foodstuffs, eyeballing the neighbor’s open field of grass …🤔🤣
I’m still what iffing in my brain about “cloud forest” ideas 🤓🌧️🌳🧵🪡
The rain was done by an old friend, beeswax resist . Which I may try soon.
Oh cool!
I’ve got beeswax….I’ll have to add that to my list of “wanna try”… 🤓
Lists, ha! Got those.
Adjusting expectations is a big part of gardening I think…keeps it real. I thought I had only one prune on the prune tree, but there are two. 🙂 I’ve given up on the hazelnuts, can’t keep the squirrels out of them.
Yeah, there were many pear beginnings but the tree has some sort of black fungus, too wet.
I too get wild sunflowers… at least one or 2 each year, and probably from the bird seed. They are so spectacular that I really don’t need more. I hope you get through the rains without further mishap. We are waiting (not patiently!) for our Monsoons to come… had one brief downpour Monday, but now it’s hot again and the storm forecast keeps getting pushed further into the future. I am reminded: “The only constant in life is change”… so true!
Yes, change, which has a lot of potential!
I don’t live in a forested area and it’s usually really dry here. This year we have had rain upon rain and my yard is like a jungle. No hummingbirds, very few bees. I used to feed them sugar water and they covered the plate. I miss them. I’m 83, watching and wondering where this/we are going. Wishing you many sunflowers. Be safe, as always your needling is awesome!
I have to say there is no shortage of birds and bees, so that’s good enough 😀
the little things in life….. sometimes
turn out to be the biggest.
Sunflowers here do best when they just pop up wherever they choose. This year many on the walkway 😀
They pop up, but never seem to escape the deer and other visitors.
the immensity of one sunflower!
Joy is so simple.