The Grandma Garden

We started the Grandma Garden even before my mother died. She helped plan it and we moved some of the plants from her garden here after my Dad sold their house. The backbone of the garden is formed by the concrete stepping stones, which my parents cast whenever grandkids were visiting. The stones bear the imprint of all the grandkids hands, feet, and initials. All else in the garden changes with the seasons and with the years, but the path remains.

When we started the garden, it was in a very sunny part of the yard. But the wax myrtles and other surrounding trees in the yard have gotten a lot bigger and provide some welcome shade. Lately, I've been putting in various kinds of ginger because they love the shade, they are beautiful and provide a nice scent when they bloom. I've got this white butterfly ginger and some blue, purple and red varieties that bloom at different times and have very different shapes and sizes.

One year, my brother Jack drew my name in the family Christmas lottery. His very inspired gift was a statue family with five children -- one for each of my parents' five kids. They are even the correct sex and relative age for our family. The little "Sudie" character possibly was supposed to be a boy, but since she was such a tomboy, it is appropriate.

The eagle represents Dad, the clan patriarch, who keeps a stern watch over the flock. The kazoo on his shoulder is ever ready for a quick tune or an organizing call.

The sign next to the Commander came from Christy and says:

The kiss of the sun for pardon
The song of the birds for mirth
One is nearer God's heart in the garden
Than anywhere else on earth

Erica got Oreo, the cat, a month after Mom died. And Oreo seemed to sense that there was a connection there. She spent many hours in the Grandma Garden, sleeping, playing and just hanging around. Whenever I worked in the garden, Oreo was sure to show up sooner or later to see what was happening. Once she got very sick and quit eating for a few days. She disappeared and we found her in the garden. I'm convinced that she went out there to die. We forced her to come inside and fed her some healing yogurt from our local dairy. She slowly got better. We eventually lost her to the deadly neurotoxin of a coral snake bite. She is the only cat that has had the privilege to be buried in the Grandma Garden.

Cranes on Payne's Prairie

Wendell and I went out to Payne's Prarie on New Year's Day morning. We had heard that there was a much larger than normal population of sandhill cranes. And, even better, there was a pair of whooping cranes that had broken off of from their ultralight-led group and decided to join the sandhills this winter. We thought it might be pretty cool, but we were unprepared for the sight and sounds of thousands of sandhill cranes amassed near the north side of the Prairie, along La Chua trail.

The sandhills were a real treat for us. We see them frequently, but rarely in these numbers and rarely so close. But an even bigger treat was the pair of whooping cranes. This is one of the most endangered species on earth. They are making a comeback after dwindling to about 20 individuals. Now they number about 300 total. And we had never seen any before. I think it may be the first time they have visited the prairie for decades.

The cranes are very large, very noisy birds. When they fly over our house during the spring and fall migration seasons, I can't resist the impulse to run outside and spot the flock. Sometimes I can hear them so clearly, but can't find them because they are so far up or hidden behind the trees in our neighborhood. But this time, we were just 200 feet or so from a huge flock of the birds foraging on the ground. And more birds were joining them as we watched, in small groups of 2 to 10. The new birds didn't seem to care if there was enough room for them -- they would land right in the middle of the flock.

The sound of the cranes is incredible, especially when you are in the middle of a flock of several thousand. I tried to record it, but this video does not capture it well.

Note: We found out later from a park ranger that the two whooping cranes are "newlyweds". Whooping cranes mate for life and these two just paired off this year. May they live long and prosper!

Garden Update

We have been harvesting lettuce and carrots! Until today, the carrots have not made it into the house because I eat them straight from the garden. But tonight we will have a salad with lettuce and carrots, just hours old.


The beans, of course, did not survive the first freeze. I should have known. But when it's 90 degrees out and I'm planting a garden in my bathing suit so I can cool off in the pool when it gets too hot, it's hard not to think of warm weather plants.


The lettuce, carrots and beets are doing great. We also have some spinach, chard, onions, broccoli and cabbage that look good, but are not ready for harvest yet. Since the last garden update, I have planted some more lettuce and carrot seeds. And I bought some chard seedlings and transplanted them. I also bought a cabbage seedling. That's been a while, and the plant looks great.


So far everything in the garden is organically grown. I am not morally opposed to using inorganic fertilizers, if needed. Nitrogen is nitrogen, as far as the plant is concerned. But the soil is healthier if it contains enough organic matter. And the right proportions of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus can supply all the nutrients necessary for growth.