English Peas

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Benjamin

English Peas

For many of us, English Peas, Snow Peas and Sugar Snap Peas are the sweet, sweet taste of spring. Planted as soon as the ground can be worked, these little beauties grow like mad and taste so good they barely survive the trip from garden to kitchen. My daughter and I pick them together and eat more straight from the vines than we ever bring inside.

It gets hot quickly here in the Kentucky part of the Ohio River Valley, though, so the season is way too short for our liking–we must make the proverbial hay while the sun shines.

Oh, and the tender pea shoots are great to eat, too, and help make waiting for the peas themselves just a little easier…

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C’mon, Spring, c’mon!

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Benjamin

C'mon, Spring, c'mon!

Sunny, mild days are making our hands itch to get out in the garden but a little snowstorm heading toward the Ohio River Valley reminds us that it’s still March. Still, we take the opportunity to prune a little here and there, cut back the ornamental grass and generally do a little cleanup. It feels good to be out in the dirt.

Jonquils are getting ready to bloom, the hyacinths and crocus, too. I hope the snow isn’t too rough on their poor little noggins. With any amount of luck, this’ll be Ol’ Man Winter’s last gasp and spring will be with us for good.

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First Day of Spring

Posted on March 20, 2014 by Benjamin

First Day of Spring

The Vernal Equinox has finally arrived so today the amount of daylight is equal to the amount of darkness…or something like that. More importantly, it means spring is here. We may still have some cold temperatures and perhaps even snow to deal with but there’s no going back to winter at this point.

Soon enough, English peas and spinach, beets and broccoli, carrots and kale and all the other early spring veggies can be planted. Get a little loam under the fingernails. Watch the birds build their nests. Smell the good spring air on our Swiftly Tilting Planet. Welcome, Spring-you’re looking quite fetching!

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Snowy Cardinal

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Benjamin

Snowy Cardinal

It’s been an interesting winter here in the Ohio River Valley. Interesting. Lots of snow. And lots of snow shoveling. Multiple days of sub-zero temperatures. More ice on the Ohio River than we’ve seen since the late 70′s. And did I mention lots of snow. Of course, by Buffalo standards or Duluth standards or Green Bay standards, it was probably just a piddling. But I live in Kentucky, arguably considered the South (or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof.)

However, I love winter, so I’ll take it. Our sled got used this year. A lot. And we built snow people. And had snow days. It was lovely. But I think people are growing weary of snow. And cold. And wool and tweed and treacherous roads and maybe even hot chocolate with mini-marshmallows.

And I think the birds are weary, too. This little cardinal was perched in our backyard near our feeder and, perhaps I was projecting curmudgeonly thoughts into her little red head but I swear she looked like she was saying, “Enough. Enough.”

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Springtime in Kandahar

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Benjamin

Springtime in Kandahar

Spring in the Kandahar region of Afghanistan. Ultra blue skies. Mountains stabbing up from the desert floor like the jagged bones of some ancient behemoth. Soon enough the waterways will slow to a trickle and a layer of talcum-like dust will coat every surface.

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Pileated Woodpecker ha-ha-ha-HA-ha

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Benjamin

Pileated Woodpecker

This little guy (okay, not so little–he must’ve been been a foot and a half tall) stopped by our backyard a couple of weeks ago.

A few days earlier I remarked to my wife that we had seen redheaded woodpeckers and downy woodpeckers but that I really wanted to see a pileated woodpecker.

When one showed up, we couldn’t believe our luck! Of course, it helps that we have a couple of large, standing, dead (or at least dying) trees in our backyard which have been on my to-do list to remove since I returned from Afghanistan. And he leaves the most interesting holes in the trees–almost rectangular in shape, about 2×3 inches, and really deep into the tree — 5-6 inches in some spots!

So now I’m loathe to take the trees down and remove the reason our visitor stops by–Perhaps, when spring arrives–if there’s anything of the trees left.

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Sunrise

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Benjamin

Sunrise

All sunrises are good. But some are spectacular.

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The Mighty Ohio in Winter

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Benjamin

The Mighty Ohio in Winter

“There’s a certain Slant of light,
Winter Afternoons —
That oppresses, like the Heft
Of Cathedral Tunes”

—Emily Dickinson

 

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Winter Barn

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Benjamin

Winter Barn

Andrew Wyeth said, “I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape – the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show.”

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Ready for spring?

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Benjamin

At the risk of alienating friends, family, co-workers, fellow drivers in the carpool line and the little old lady across the street, I will admit something:  I’m not tired of winter yet. There, I said it out loud. Here in Northern Kentucky,we’ve had a pretty crackerjack winter. Lots of snow. Cold. Schools closing. Freezing Rain. And I’m a fan. My wife and I look at the masses forming on the weather channel’s Uber-super-ultra-doppler radar with as much enthusiasm as our 10-year-old. Our winters are generally pretty mild if you come at it from a Minnesota or Wisconsin perspective, so any chance to break out the sled or empty half a bag of marshmallows onto a mug of hot chocolate gets our hearts to thumpin’.

Don’t get me wrong, I love spring. Love it! I love the seed catalogs the mailman (er, letter carrier) brings me. I love those first soft golden days of 60 degree temperatures. I love planning the garden and getting out in the yard and seeing the first little green shoots of a crocus poking up through the earth. The buds on my forsythia bush are already starting to swell and that makes me happy, too. There may be no finer harbinger of spring than the forsythia — one of my grandmother’s favorites for that very reason. And because it was one of her favorites, it has become one of mine, too. Those sunny yellow branches never fail to remind me of her.

But I wouldn’t dread another good snow. Or two. I’m not ready to stow away the wool sweaters and flannel pjs just yet.

(Side note to anyone with a forsythia. Do not attempt to trim into any kind of geometric shape…this is a plant that needs to flow freely. Seriously. I see some people (Phil!) trying to turn this hippy of a plant into a conformist box hedge and it’s…well, it’s rather beastly.)

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