Tiny Orchards

I'm still hopeful that my lemon tree will have some buds soon. Les assures me that he saw bees up in her lemon blossoms several times, so, fingers crossed, I hope I will soon be updating you with some lemon buds. But I haven't seen any yet.

As I reported a couple of weeks ago, my gardening successes have been a bit underwhelming so far. One green bean (now shriveled from the heat), one cherry tomato (still green) and a handful or so of surviving herbs. The green pepper plants are still chugging along, but so far no sign of fruiting.

So, I was getting a bit antsy about a "harvest". I decided that if I saw an established plant at that farmer's market that looked promising for a payoff, I would buy it.

And so, I lugged this beauty home last weekend:

A Fig Tree! Whoo-hoo! For $12!

With starter-figs on it! Just a few weeks to go, said the farmer, and these little nubbins would be ready to eat. And if you're asking yourself "Does she really eat enough figs to justify a whole tree?" the answer would be Yes. I love dried figs and I'm learning to love fresh figs. And they are not cheap. So, I thought that if I can 10 or 12 fresh figs from the tree this year, that would be a good start. Plus, it's just a pretty tree. Kind of swooping and sturdy and almost bonsai-ish.

But I am, in fact, trying to grow these guys in North Carolina. It is supposed to be 105 degrees today. And it almost hit 100 yesterday. I've been watering my new little tree every day, but it still looks a bit scorched and sizzled when I get home. Those plush figs in the photos are looking a little worse for wear in this nasty hot spell.

Oh well. They're trees, right? So if I can keep them alive we can try again next year. They are still young. They will live to see another figging. In the mean time, I can do more research about container orcharding.

10 Good Things About Today

1. I finally made the grain-free Coconut Chocolate cookies, and they were incredible. Good breakfast.

 2. We spotted "Not So Wee" Snapping Turtle at the lake on our walk. "Wee" and "Frickin' Huge" must have been somewhere in the deep end.

 3. Every single log in the grimy, slimy little lake looks like this on a warm day.

 4. The lake path itself is pretty if you don't look directly into the water.

 5. Ducklings!!

 6. It was a beautiful, sunny, warm and breezy day for a long walk. And this is what "our neighborhood" looks like.

 7. I made this omelet salad thing from my new French cookbook for lunch, and it was crazygood.

 8. The beans have finally sprouted!

 9. Some timid signs of life finally poking through in my Peony pots.

 10. It's still light enough in the evenings to take a late nap in the sunshine after a long day of cooking and outdoorsyness.

Laura Ingalls Does Laundry

Or, "Getting Greener By Default"

Our clothes dryer decided to retire unceremoniously in the middle of a load of clothes on Friday. Oh, and there as another wet ball of laundry in the washer waiting for its turn. Oh, AND we were going away for the rest of the weekend.

After a small panic and a gaze at the mid-day sun just beginning to slink downward, I grabbed my purse and announced that I was going to the hardware store to buy clothesline.

Blog Editor in Chief Auggie supervised the installation of the line anchors, and kept a lookout for any neighbors who may decide to report me for some sort of city ordinance violation.

I have to say, I felt pretty crunchy granola as I toted my basket of wet clothes down the line, pinning up shirts and dishtowels and soppy socks. I thought I heard the "Little House on the Prairie" theme song playing somewhere in the distance. I felt a bit nostalgic, too, remembering my mom hanging laundry in our yard on hot days, and how everything came inside a bit stiff, but smelling warm and clean and just like summer in the farmland. A happy smell.

We probably will have to replace our second-hand dryer, if for no other reason that because I'm not sure I can handle wearing clothes that have been blowing around in our pollen clouds all day, but I actually really REALLY liked using the clothes line. I like living in a place where we have enough sun, space, and anonymity to pull this off.

Why is it that so many old-school energy saving practices are so maligned? Rhetorical question. It's because they are associated with poverty and the have-nots. Obviously, anyone who could afford a dryer or a trip to the laundromat would opt to use electricity. Honestly, I would too if we had more than two people's laundry to do. But I hope that enviro-nerds like me can help change that stigma. Because there is a weird sort of satisfaction from letting the sun and the breeze do some housework. And a great inner smirk from watching your neighbors watch you clip your socks one by one to a piece of rope in your backyard. I highly recommend it.

Gonna be Good

Blog friends, I'm sorry for the long gap since my last post. Life has been pretty nutty! The move has gone really smoothly so far (our stuff still has to arrive on Friday, so we'll see how the "move" part of the transition really went once that is all done), and we're starting to dig in to life in the south. We don't have internet hooked up yet in our new digs, and I've been pretty crazed at work so far this week, so the Gray Hair Update and December Mission are on my "To Blog" list!
But as a preview, I'll say that it *has* been fun to get random "I love your hair!" comments from people. It's the south, so of course everyone is too polite to say "I love your crazy gray hair!", but I still appreciate it.

We are definitely going to like living here, though. We'll just have a big GREEN ADJUSTMENT to make, what with all the "no sidewalks, only driving" predicament. I wonder if tons of green space, abundance of gardening opportunities, a long local food growing season, and a greater awareness of water conservation can possibly make up for the YOU MUST DRIVE EVERYWHERE sadness? I'll do some research and let you know.