Stories About Gardening
Deep Rooted in a Tiny New Orleans Garden
It’s probably true for something you do in your life, some hobby or task: little things, intricate things take more time to plan and are harder to get right than big things. In planning little gardens, every piece has to fit perfectly. Nature’s complexity is less forgiving and more visible in miniature. A plant that…
Read MoreNo Longer a Tool of My Tool
It wasn’t sitting well with me, getting paid to write and blog by a huge chemical company. I rationalized it for a while. Basically, I needed the money. But I’m no longer blogging for PlantersPlace.com (which is owned and run by Scotts) It’s tough to get paid to write blog; there just are not many…
Read MoreA Few Pictures from the ‘Permaculture’ Barn
Just because we made it with dirt and building materials that Daddy collected over 45 years, we call it a per maculture building. Some people might call it ‘thrown together’ or ‘high tech redneck.’ 1. bathroom. 2 ‘office’ 3 bottle window in adobe wall. 4. (center) bar. 5. view
Read MoreUnwritten Plant History
I get to hang out with a lot of old guys. I love them; they teach me. But they also remind me that there’s a whole lost generation of men in between us, who should have been my mentors too. My imagination and awe for the WWII guys has been overstimulated this week. I’m stunned…
Read MoreRed Stuff & Radio Interview
DeSoto’s Silver
Tommac Garret is local, well, recently returned to Beech Island, potter who told me this “When Desoto came up the river, he saw white in the cliffs along the Carolina side and thought it was silver — that’s why the area is called Silver Bluff.” He also told me all this other amazing history of…
Read MoreSharing The Soul of the Place
We had our last Crinum Field Party this past weekend. Now, the place can get a little messy and we’ll focus on production crinum to ship next summer. We get to put our hands in the rich dirt, to pull up some of those deep rooted plants and strengthen our own roots too. And…
Read MoreMorning Break? Is Re-shooting Photos a Break?
For a number of days of the last ten, I’ve been sequestered inside. Re writing. The editor at Timber Press sent back my manuscript for a final edit. Well, 32 pages and about 40 hours of edits. Done. Great edits. He said, ‘I’m trying to help you say what you want to say, more clearly.’ …
Read MoreWe Built a Barn with Daddy’s Wood
Daddy left barns full of wood. Last night, I slept on the screen porch, totally surround by him. The barns are a source of frustration for me. Messy, sliding, tumbling, old boards might have been stacked one day. Now they’re an inefficiently, stored reminder that he’s not here for them and that I can’t do…
Read MoreThe Mechanics of Life
There’s a term I remember from the putty-green workrooms of Clemson’s agricultural building. I overheard from the hall, a professor, teaching floral design say something like, ‘You get it right with wire and tape and picks and then you hide those things, you hide the mechanics of flower arranging. He should have used a different…
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