Lazy W Marie

Carpeing all the diems in semi-rural Oklahoma...xoxo

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six months of garden class under our belts

I so desperately wanted to title this post “White Trash Wednesday” but today is actually Thursday. Oh well, haha. : )

Today is Thursday! That means, as it has meant most weeks since January, Gardening with Maddie. To celebrate six months together, half a year of exploring the wonderful world of plant science and creativity, we visited a very cool local snow cone shop called “Trailer Trash Treatz.” We indulged in tall styrofoam cups loaded with sweet, cold perfection. Her flavor of choice was Wedding Cake and mine was good ol’ Pina Colada. We ordered both “trashy,” which means they hide a small scoop of ice cream in the center of your extra syrupy shaved ice then wedge a square of cheesecake on top, plus of course some heaps of whipped cream and a fresh strawberry too. I mean obviously. All of the slushy goodness melds with the creaminess and it is quite heavenly. Both snow cones were works of art, and the bar for such a treat has been permanently raised. Wow. Not to mention the shop itself was a pleasure to visit, really. So colorful and quirky. So lighthearted. I feel like I could be good friends with the decorator of Trailer Trash Treatz. Behold:

TTT front porch

TTT menu

TTT wall art

TTT hipster cups

 

While we lingered over sugar and enjoyed the frosty air conditioning, Maddie and I discussed the learning work we have done so far as well as gardening goals and dreams and the related work ahead of us. We agreed that our first six months together flew by unbelievably fast! I am so proud of her enthusiasm, of her willingness to get dirty (literally!), of her ability to absorb lots of gritty information just in the course of long, casual conversations, of her overall penchant for plants. She has a deeply rooted appreciation for symbiosis in nature, and she is beginning to show signs of true passion for localvorism. (Tear rolls silently down my mud-flecked cheek.)

Maybe the best part is that this weekly effort is playing a small role in helping Maddie carry on gardening legacies from both sides of her family. Really cool. In fact today after snow cones she and I drove to both her Dad’s garden (the tomatoes!!) and her Nanny’s garden (hydrangeas!!). I was so moved to watch her point out the special parts of each space, the secret areas and childhood memories, why she loves little things. She named a few trees and shrubs and was able to rub the fuzzy grey-green leaves of sage between her fingers to correctly identify it.

Although in the latest weeks of winter we spent a fair amount of time planning a flower bed and brainstorming all sorts of eye candy, things shifted. One little hands-on project at a time revealed that she is more interested in growing edibles, specifically herbs. So we’ve focused our time and her budget on that so far, knowing that as summer winds down Oklahoma will invite us once again to that spectacular display of fall color. We will be working hard in her flower bed soon enough.

For the remainder of Summer 2016 our goals are in four parts:

  1. Maintain her container gardens, including herbs, veggies, and a few flowers.
  2. Harvest the edibles and host at least two family dinners using those items. So far we are thinking pizza (for all the basil, oregano, tomatoes, etc.) and ice cream (chocolate mint!)
  3. Visit nearby public gardens that we had previously visited just as spring was starting and monitor the changes since then. We also have a list of private gardens to visit, so she can see different design styles, work disciplines, etc.
  4. Do a handful of art projects related to the garden.

All of this should keep us plenty busy until September, especially with a week of vacation or camp thrown in here and there.

maddie at ttt

What a fun day. I love White Trash Wednesdays that are actually Thursdays with Maddie. And I love gardening. And I love friendships that grow in actual soil.

Over and out.

XOXOXOXO

 

gardening semester begins

Friends, I am so excited to announce the beginning of a brand new adventure here at the farm. I have the opportunity to do some very casual teaching, and because I am the luckiest girl alive, it’s a whole semester about gardening!! Probably the only everyday conversation I enjoy more than running, ha!

Our dear friends Brad & Meredith have trusted me with their teenaged daughter Maddie to learn as much as possible about plant sciences, and already she and I feel like a semester is just not enough. For a few weeks now we have been brainstorming, plotting, and planning all kinds of stuff. From edibles to herbs and wild, Tim-Burton-style flower gardens, ideas abound. (Maddie is a proficient make-up artist and loves the deep colors and high drama of this aesthetic. Think… Alice in Wonderland, translated to the Oklahoma landscape!)

daylilies gardening class sticker

 

Our current plan is to meet every Thursday for at least nine weeks, and in that time we have a long list of learning to accomplish plus quite a wish-list of projects to tackle.

Already in the first two Thursdays Maddie and I have dug up a soil sample from her prospective flower garden and delivered it for chemical evaluation at the County Extension office; we met her sweet gardening grandma for lunch and talked all about irises and much more then visited the Crystal Bridge in downtown OKC; and at home she has been tending a pot of mesclun seedlings (which she named David Bowie since they germinated right at his passing) as well as carrots growing in plastic soda bottles. Today we plotted her compost heap and discussed, among other wonderful things, plant folklore, Rose Rosette’s Disease, and the difference between annuals and perennials. It’s been a solid beginning, if perhaps slow compared to how busy we will be once the growing really starts.

maddie garden first 2 weeks

On a personal level, it’s been eye-opening to answer gardening questions here and there… Things that makes me pause to make sure I really know the answer and am not just guessing, and moments when I want to be encouraging of her ideas but also realistic. Sometimes we harbor little pockets of knowledge that feel automatic or are maybe difficult to articulate, you know? And you know how strongly I feel about positive thinking and belief. I would hate to dampen her enthusiasm on anything this early. The thing is, Oklahoma has her fair share of challenges. Maddie’s main gardening focus will be a curved flower bed on the south side of her family’s brick home, so she is about to find out how brutal Oklahoma growing can be, haha! Send her happy thoughts. : )

On an even deeper personal level, starting this little teaching adventure has been bittersweet because my own girls’ homeschooling has been so far removed from me. That’s a painful topic, but I can hardly overlook it. Sometimes life is circular in ways we could never predict.

Jeremiah 29: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, ad not of evil, to give you an expected end."

I will periodically share our learning-teaching-gardening adventure here and hope you’ll follow along. Maddie might even do a little writing of her own to share with you fine folks, beginning with a short story imitating Native American plant folklore. She really got hooked by that today. Thanks ahead of time for your encouragement and positive vibes!

In every gardener there is a child who believes in The Seed Fairy.
~Robert Brault
(and this is exactly where my throat tightens up so hard I can barely breathe.)
XOXOXOXO