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Showing posts from May, 2015

May Flowers...

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       ...May, glorious May, with all its flowers and bursting leafing of all the trees, and wonderful greening of all things grass.  It has finally gotten warm enough to open the windows to let in the heavenly perfume of the neighbor's lilacs.  All the gardens are coming alive.  Tulips are virtually exploding across the Barberton landscape.  Like a magician's trick, the flowers are appearing so fast that one can practically hear an accompanying sound of "sproing!" with each flower.     Another explosion is that of the bumper crop of dandelion blossoms everywhere.  I am convinced that in the event of an apocalyptic end to civilization as we know it, the only thins that will survive are cockroaches and dandelions.  At least dandelions are nutritious.   My great grandmother used t make a delightful summer wine from dandelion blossoms.  The leaves can be cooked like collard greens to give a boost to ones iron levels, after an anemic winter of less than fresh veget

Blustery Transition and the Quest for Herbs...

...April has finally come to Ohio.  The mountains of ice and snow have finally melted away leaving us with the roller coaster ride of temperatures ranging from the cold 30's to the balmy mid-60's.  And then there is the rain.  All the glorious potholes bequeathed to us from the icy grip of Old Man Winter have now become rain-filled coy ponds.  Or maybe even better, we could all begin stocking the with bass.  It would be easy pickings for a Memorial Day fish fry at the end of May. The winds have been quite blustery and more worthy of March, but the April rains have begun to green up the landscape already.      By the end of the winter I managed to only hold onto my only rosemary plant.  My apartment was too dry as I had expected.  I did not have the right conditions to be able to hang onto all the plants I brought in for winter protection.  As with all gardens, there comes a time to begin again.  That will be the big effort this year.  Even my last two lemon verbena plants gave