Earth Mother News

DIG, DIG, I DIG IT!    

     Lovely, cold and rainy weather we are having, right?

     I think it is just another continually warmer winter.   I am not worried one of these days it will swing to the other extreme.  I always tell non-Wisconsin persons that I live in the State of extremes and I mean not just the weather.

     The extremes happen in not only the four seasons, but sometimes it happens in other things too.  I listen to Wisconsin Public Radio while I am traveling for my property management job.  Wisconsin seems to have been rated number one in the number of person surveyed about drinking and driving.  I thought about that for a while and my conclusion is that Wisconsin people are extremely honest.  I am sure that people in other places were just not as honest and forthcoming. 

     We are extremely proud of so many things here in Wisconsin.  The Badger sports teams, the Green Bay Packers, our fine educational system, prize winning cheeses and other food, our location between three great bodies of water (Lake Michigan, Superior and the Mississippi river),  Harley Davidson motor cycles, General Motors trucks, and an endless list of things that are household names come to mind.  I can honestly say I am extremely proud to call Wisconsin my lifelong home.

     The title of my article is I dig it!  I mean, as a gardener, I really, really dig it.  As in dig up all 12 of my arbor vita evergreen bushes.  The result of all the heavy snow and hungry deer...yes, they munched them all to the trunk.  Now I have the task of digging them all out. 

     As I sat out on the deck trying to imagine what I might do to repair & replace the shrubs, I decided to dig holes for a clump of birch trees and flowering cherry that I bought.   I am going to go and look for some wooden trellis and not replace the shrubs.  I'll plant clematis vines and hollyhocks on and in front of the trellises to fill in the blanks left by the shrubs.  I have an assortment of little evergreens in my nursery garden, shuffle things about and wait to see what comes in the new nursery stock.  I was admiring some reddish orange leaves of a spirea bush in a local garden.  I have the seed catalogue beside me as I write and I need to get a order sent for a tree peony collection I want.  Dig it is what a gardener does and not only in the dirt!!!!  Pun intended.

     I'm sorry to say my tomato bread recipe was a wash.  I used a can of stewed Mexican tomatoes.  It might have been okay if I had followed the directions.  Also, I used my mini loaf pan and made small loaves. T he bigger bread pan might have yielded a product you could have toasted.  One needs to experiment with some new things new to keep life interesting.

     I  saw a friend at the grocery store the other day I had not seen for some time and she commented on how I always look the same.  What a sweetie.  I told her my secret is I just keep moving.
 
    I am hosting a birthday party for a member of my coffee group with Tapas and cocktails.   Formal, foo, foo garments required.  Tapas is Spanish for appetizer.  I have been having fun looking through my Mediterranean cookbooks looking for recipes.  I will provide a sampling of the menu next month. 

     Meanwhile, remember to be kind, speak the truth and eat good food. Yours truly the Aarde Moeder.

April 30, 2008
Rural Wisconsin