Posts by Jenks Farmer
Field Notes Fall Garden Work (on the Lily Farm)
A friend sent this text the other day, “can I be honest u need to write more about gardening n less about strolling w old guys.” Just like that; he didn’t wait for me to answer the can i be honest part….. But here goes. What I do in the dirt is a friggin’ lot…
Read MorePeople Who Show Us The World
In 1938 Buzzy’s second grade teacher made his class listen to Wagner and walk through gardens of neighborhood ladies and gentlemen. Some of the boys sneered. Buzzy, always sensitive , pretty much shocked me when he said, “Once or twice, on the playground, I found the boys who laughed and interrupted and I, (he whispers…
Read MoreEmphisis on Visiting
From the minute we knocked on her door, we laughed. I took a friend from up north to visit a friend in Georgia last week. Ostensibly, we went to see her garden. We knocked, she greeted. But since we were a few minutes early she said, “Walk around the front garden and I’ll be right…
Read MoreGreat Dixter Was the Bait
The lectures by Great Dixter gardener were colorful and almost sales-force energetic but the real fun of Grower Great Gardeners symposium was the concentration of cool people. My two favorite conversations of the day are below. For all the successes of this fundraiser (for Spartanburg Community College in SC and Great Dixter Garden in southern…
Read MoreSeeds Are Still Free — At the Moment
My donkey and I have been doing this week what men and donkeys have been doing for millennia. We’ve been planting seeds. In doing that, we carry on our backs (ok that’s an exaggeration and the pic is set up) one of the basic freedoms, the truths, rights and pillars of all civilization. That’s not…
Read MoreTithonia – An Old Fashion Flower You Only Buy Once
Henry Mitchell wrote about Tithonia; you can’t really see the flowers in the summer because it gets so tall but after autumn rains, after a hurricane wind, it falls over, lays on the ground and you can finally enjoy the flowers. I love him. Tithonia, in the picture below, seeds itself in every year, grows…
Read MoreDeep 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 MoreTerrace Fountain Doubles as a Table
It felt great to build a little fountain for his 12th floor terrace. He loves to garden but up there, floor space is for plants, two chairs and a small table. Walls can’t be pierced. Fountains are a challenge. I had to step way outside of my normal range of activities for this…
Read MoreHigh & Low; What Are the Components of a Joyful Garden Scene?
We made a giant seesaw in front of the chicken pen; the three neighbor children and I. From under the barn and in junk piles, we gathered stuff like a quarter of a creosote power pole, galvanized pipes and boards. That took weeks; it wasn’t a very focused effort. As we found one part, we’d…
Read MoreA Frank Conversation About Sustainability
If you still question whether people can change the earth and climate, then become a gardener. You’ll find out how quickly you can screw up a living system and how long it takes to put it back right. I love any book that stimulates me to think and write and question. I love this…
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