The Wanton Gardener, Confessions of a Plant Whore

July on the (back yard) Homestead

2009-07-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

July brings on Summer's true heat. The days are long, life is lush.
I feel sexy this time of year because July is a sensual month.
The air is warm and gives my skin a taut, healthy glow.
Cool breezes are welcomed, wicking away a fine sheen of moisture from my face and dancing playfully with my hair.
The colors of the garden are varied and vibrant.
If I sit so still...I can hear each bee visit every flower.
I go barefoot - or nearly barefoot - as often as possible
and crush freshly picked sprigs of peppermint between my finger tips.

Summer is ruled by youth, abundance and fertility - the mascot of which is the raspberry.
Plumped fat and juicy by the sun's warmth yet so delicate and fragile that it could not survive the capricious volatility of any other season...and...best eaten (or gobbled up) all at once.

June on the (backyard) Homestead

2009-07-02T19:49:00.001-07:00

Ok, so its July. Summer has just begun and its already July...but let's not go there yet. Instead, let's go back for a moment to the happy memories of June.

June, here on the (backyard) homestead was all about Strawberries! And it could not have been better timed. With the easing of winter's cold, barren landscape, we welcome Spring's new, green growth. Even the tiniest green shoot brings on waves of joy. But its June's wild burst of hot red strawberries that lures us seductively, blissfully into summer (as if we needed any coaxing).

I love food - probably more than I should - and I love feeding people. I love offering and providing food to guests. So, growing food is just a natural extension of this; I consider it the prequel, if you will, to the full dining feature.

But its more than that. There's something sensual and kinesthetically fulfilling in the experience of walking out your back (or front) door, picking something out of the garden and putting it right into your mouth. Its so immediately gratifying. Freud's theories of oral fixation aside, it seems to me that in a world where most of us crave - whether we admit it or not - instant gratification, growing your own food is instantly gratifying. (And don't even get me started on the wide variety of edible and delicious weeds! You don't even have to plant & cultivate them; they just show up ready to be eaten! But I'll save that for a different posting)

So June was about Strawberries out my front door, at my finger tips, by the mounded bowl full. We had so many that we couldn't eat them all ourselves! We had so many the bugs couldn't eat them all themselves! Even the birds and squirrels ate on our strawberries, and still there was an overflowing abundance of beautiful bright red strawberries!

June has been, of course, about other things too - lest the sexy strawberry garner all the attention. Peas (snap & shelling) lettuce, kale, chard, sorrel, and a variety of medicinal & culinary herbs have majestically graced our gardens (and our plates) so far this summer.

So, if you want a taste of satisfaction to you core, grow some food.

Happy Litha Everyone!

2009-06-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

I spent Litha on the beach in a meditation of writing page after page of what I experienced. Here's a little blog-length suited piece I penciled out:

To the beach they come
alone or in groups
with their families and their little scout troupes.
They come to break free of the mold
with large bright kites they hold.
They come to the beach.

To the beach they come
in pink boots, pig-tails, tiaras and sundresses
with fresh skin and not yet sun-kissed tresses.
They build drift wood pirate ships seeking treasures to behold
finding adventures in exotic lands untold.
They come to the beach.

To the beach they come
and they run with their dogs
no matter the weather: sun, rain or fog.
They walk the rocky shore line
to contemplate their life so sublime.
They just can't help but come to the beach.

Won't you come to the beach?
Experience this wondrous piece
of heaven that takes you away!
Be what you wish; go where you will,
just come to the beach for the day!

Deconstructing My Whorish Behavior

2009-06-19T17:38:00.000-07:00

Dictionary.com has multiple definitions for whore, whorish, whored, whoring, etc...which, obvious sexual implications aside, include: to corrupt, debauch (a personal favorite, along with the term "strumpet," but that's for another day), to be considered as having compromised principles for personal gain, to compromise one's principles for personal gain, and to worship false and impure gods and addicted to unlawful pleasures.

Ok, great; now we're getting somewhere! Now we have some raw material to sink our teeth into.

As usual, context is everything.

In the wonderful world of gardening, there are rules to follow, colors to match, borders to maintain, expensive cultivars to acquire, and "undesirables" to root-out!

So, where does the gardener fit in who likes her wild weeds mixed in with her nursery plants? One who salvages Daisy seedlings, Lady's Mantle and Love-In-A-Mist (all wonderfully promiscuous plants), just for the pure joy of watching them run amok in her garden?!

Oh, the corruption and debauchery! The compromised principles.

And to think, I actually cultivate dandelions (false & true), shot weed and sheep sorrel!! I would even go so far as to say that I worship them. I was recently so happy to find some sheep sorrel growing under one of my Gaura plants that I actually danced a happy little jig right in the middle of my driveway.

Surely that qualifies as an unlawful pleasure...one to which I am absolutely addicted!

So, what is the personal gain that comes of this lewd gardening behavior?

A fabulously wild & wanton garden.

In The Beginning...there was a plant whore

2009-06-16T16:58:00.000-07:00

The nickname "Plant Whore" was given to me by friends and co-workers (I'm a gardener by profession) because of my near obsessive love of plants...and plant salvage. This, of course, has no direct correlation with whorish behavior, but rather involves the use of slang terminology. For example, someone might say, I would take a bullet for him" or "I would die for you;" likewise, I would say, "I would whore myself out for that!" Its a figure of speech, and yet, honestly, it pretty much sums up how I feel about plants (and animals, but I won't go there right now). That is to say that I would go to extreme lengths to rescue and care for discarded, abandoned or abused forms of all life. Specific to the garden, if someone is throwing away a perfectly good plant, in my presence, I'll take it every time. I just can't say no. That plant is a living entity and, as such, ought to have a shot at self-actualization.

Being a native-Texan raised in Upstate New York and now living in Seattle, I'm a bit of a cultural complexity, but my native-Texan Mom taught me to speak my mind...and she raised me surrounded by strong, female role models. To quote one of her (and my) favorites, "I believe in practicing prudence at least once every two or three years." - Molly Ivins.

I agree. Thus begins the Plant Whore's blog.