November Resurrections

Can I finally be on the razors edge 

Of figuring out

How to get back to my enthusiasm 

For being…? 

I may have heard a rumor 

That there’s a map

To the actual map

And at least that’s a thing…

Anyway 

As the allergies begin to fall away 

And the light increases as we lose the leaves

The humidity flees

And the clothes 

Oh the jackets, boots and hats!!!

Cozy hoodies and sweaters!!!

I feel my strength filling back in!!!

Did y’all have a Halloween?

Samhain?

Last harvest in the northern hemisphere?

Good time…?

We had a little time off, and relaxed

And built a thing, then it got crushed by a tree

Ate some sugar

Painted a wall

Both headlights burnt out on our car

Watched some old spooky movies 

Tried to get plants in the ground 

Got our wood stove serviced finally 

Put on makeups

Ate more sugar

Omg fully realized the potential of the faux Ivy 

Now we’ve put most of the Halloween away 

Even though I really want our full house decor theme

To now be inspired by 

The famed Highgate Cemetery in London 

Did you know that for under $20k you can buy a plot in that famous cemetery to have your final resting place…?

Well y’ can!

It’s a chilling prospect to aspire to…

And while we are thinking “chilling”…

I will set up our bird feeders today… 

Cuz it’s “chilling” out…

Frosty mornings are here.

Novembers icy bouquet 

Hangs on the goldenrod as

False blooms

Yet so beautiful 

You crave the image

With the overwhelming fury of 

HOW CAN THIS BE SO INSANELY PRETTY!?!

I just want to wrap my hands 

Around it and crush it!!!

Lol 

Speaking of plants …

I found a bin 

In our basement…

That wasn’t labeled… *gasp*

So I slowly

Released the latches of the stiff plastic lid

And peered inside 

Expecting, I thought 

To find that one missing bin of Halloween items 

The bin that might contain the special orange light bulbs 

That I had been having no luck finding 

And then I saw it

Pale green and languishing 

Stretched thin 

And covering the inside of the bin with perspiration 

Was a pot of Canna Lilies 

I thought they had died 

In a frost

Two years ago 

And there they sat

In the dark 

No light 

No water

Just waiting 

To be discovered 

And I will pot them in fresh soil

And take great care of them indoors for the winter 

And see what happens…

The power of plant energy 

Is fully amazing 

If I don’t forget again

That they’re down there…

Until they’ve taken over the basement

And start sending shoots up through the floorboards 

Eventually leading to their amassing an army

Of plant kind

Which eventually takes over the planet…

Or something like that

Ooooo then the whole world will look like the 

Cascading planty lushness of the 

Famous Highgate Cemetery 

In London

Love it 

Get your hats and gloves on darling 

Because we are heading to the graveyard for a walk…

Let’s go

No seriously …

See you there…

Obsessed.

Speaking of obsession 

Xmas is coming 

Do y’all get excited about decorating?

I’ve got a plethora of faux trees here already…

Maybe just putting them all up

With just lights on them…?

Clustered together…???

I’ve seen some fun colored ones… 

From Target 

I can picture just an all red tree 

With either all red ornaments 

Or all white ornaments like a candy cane…

Maybe just slap a Santa beard on it and belt 

With boots at the bottom… lol

Can you tell that the playful side 

Is trying to find its way back… 

Fingers crossed… 

Happy November Kids,

More poetry coming soon, the rest of “Flights” is waiting 

To meet you…

-J

Let’s Talk Gardening! Yarding 2021

 I never knew 

That I would love Gardening this much! 

I didn’t even think 

I would enjoy mowing a lawn-

Not that we have a lawn… anymore 

I could barely keep 

A houseplant alive!

That was then & this is now.

Knowing what little I know now about plants

Soil

Trees

Carbon capture 

And now being in charge of a small plot of land

I want to be as responsible as possible 

As well as catering to my personal tastes 

And make something lush

And self sustaining for whoever 

Comes along to enjoy this wee corner 

Of the world next…

When we first moved here 

There weren’t any signs of animals 

Although the neighbors said there were

Deer 

Moose

Bears

Etc…

We weren’t being visited by anything 

I kept hoping for at least a squirrel 

The second year 

We started seeing squirrels 

And more 

As the years went

With help from our bird feeders

Then learning about pollinators and plants

I tried going to the garden center 

And with very little knowledge or guidance 

I picked out some pretty plants and popped them in the ground

Not knowing growing zones or the 

Ins and outs of

light requirements 

***

None of those plants survived 

And the first couple of years not much happened

Except for the bittersweet that was here

Which we are still battling 

***

Third year as I was watching as things were springing up 

We had a patch of daffodils 

Why after two years they came up 

I don’t know 

Maybe freeing up the space from bittersweet 

Helped somehow?

And so my research began 

I was looking up info 

About other bulb types plants

Like tulips

And stumbled across YouTube channels 

That were taking the mystery out of it all for me

It was all starting to make sense 

And then of course 

Beginning to learn about permaculture 

And essentially helping nature be abundant 

On its own

And be

Whatever it wants

While getting out of its way

And capture carbon while we’re at it

So…

Two years ago I brought in hundreds

 of different types of plants

And shrubs 

And a huge amount of them are actually still out there 

And thriving!

Progress!!!

And the generosity of friends 

Sharing plants that they’d divided

And gifted me like:

Bee Balm

Day Lilies 

Wisteria 

Persicaria Lance Corporal

Rose of Charon

Daisies 

Lilac 

Hostas

Solomon’s Seal

These

Have added to the lasting excitement 

And brought so much enjoyment 

And now we have an amazing array of volunteer plants: 

Wild Roses

Queen Anne’s Lace

Black Eyed Susans

Persicarias

Raspberries 

Meadowsweet 

Creeping Charlie 

Wild Violets 

Goldenrod 

Jewel Weed

Tall Phlox 

Milk Weed

Serviceberries 

Wild Cherry

To name a few lol

I try to just get out of the way

And let nature plant itself 

Of course taking out anything that’s 

Invasive or poisonous 

Since we stopped mowing our grass

Leaving only a path in the frontage and a small eating area

In the back

We’ve been slowly reseeding any thin patches with clover 

To hopefully eliminate the need for constant upkeep 

In the summer months 

And the clover is making the pollinators happy 

And helps balance 

Nitrogen levels in the soil…

The front path 

Has only been mowed twice this summer 

So happy that the once a week hour in the heat and bugs

Can now be used for enjoyment or other projects 

***

Speaking of other projects 

We had our friends from ArborClimb 

Come out to help us knock back our canopy 

By one notch… this ended up being 

72 trees 

And we seriously still have so many trees!

Some were sick and dead

Some were over 100 feet tall 

And within 25 feet from the house

And we still have 

More than we can count 

That are dead-standing 

60ft tall

That we will be chipping away at…

Until that’s done…

We now have enough sun 

That plants that had never bloomed 

Are now living their best life 

***

And I’m trying 

To get a good sunny spot for seed starting 

Should be much easier 

And I need easier because I’m still 

Very inexperienced 

As a gardener  

Any help I can get!

***

It was an easy choice 

To go with a tree removal company 

That would take the logs for lumber 

And

Leave us the wood chips

 To help get rid of 

The lumps and bumps 

In our landscape 

And 

Squelch out the bittersweet

 In enough depth to Keep it from thriving 

                                  Future garage idea… ???

I’m so thrilled 

That so many native plants have been moving in!

                                              Lookit!

                               So much Queen Anne’s Lace!

                                       Oh and Hello 👋 

Kk that’s it! Doing this all from my phone and now my eyes are super tired lol what’s growing in your garden? 

Plants, Plants, And More Plants!

Plants Everywhere!!!

At least that’s what it feels like…

And some of them are getting huge- 

The indoor planty friends 

Have been getting a nice re-potting moment-

Happy plants in the broken showah 

LoL

There’s some wildfire smoke skies at sunset 

Animal Crossing 

Monday mood

The oak leaf hydrangea is getting it pink hue on!

***

Play with all the boxes 

Take all the naps

The backyard that has been too rainy to hang out in…

New baby leaves…

Bc I had to rejuvenation prune the azalea 

Oh hai

I will definitely let this guy eat the leaves of my service berry!

Shhhh…. I’m hiding…

Me too kid, me too…