peas

Squash Wars: A New Hope

Squash Wars: A New Hope

I first noticed the little white-and-brown bugs on my squash in the middle of August. “Stink bugs,” I said. “Oh, well. They’re not that bad, just stinky.” I ignored them  …
Baseball is Gardening is Baseball

Baseball is Gardening is Baseball

It occurred to me several years ago that two of my three passions were so intertwined that they followed the same season. Pinball, of course, has no season and was  …
The Summer the Animals Came Close

The Summer the Animals Came Close

For 25 years, my husband and I have gardened, composted, and planted natives on a quarter acre in our small Oregon city. We shaped the yard into zones, raising veggies,  …
A Gardening Poem That Feels Like Summer

A Gardening Poem That Feels Like Summer

When George Gershwin wrote “Summertime” back in 1934, he’d never live long enough to know that it would become one of the most covered songs in history (over 25,000  …
Home Groan

Home Groan

I suppose there are one or two people out there somewhere who are so perfectly organized that they actually keep all their gardening equipment in one easy-to-reach spot.  …
Buried Treasure

Buried Treasure

Is anybody—other than me, that is—a fan of the BBC series “Dectorists”? The show centers around the adventures of Lance and Andy (Toby Jones and Mackenzie Crook) of Britain’s (wholly  …
How to Farm With Children

How to Farm With Children

Pregnancy—Keep working outside every day. When feeling nauseated in the Spring, slowly pick and munch on raw kale buds while working and hope it’s nutrition your body needs. When it  …
Sharing with Sheldon

Sharing with Sheldon

I will never forget the day that I came home from work to find my husband Kim puttering around with a new glass terrarium. A terrarium? Kim? What was going  …
Picking Flowers

Picking Flowers

I have always been captivated by picking flowers. When I was a little girl, I picked the sweet blue henbit, the Winter weed that shimmers azure in early Spring as  …