GARDEN PARTY REMINISCING

Remember your first garden party when you invited people over to the house to see what you planted, what you’ve grown?

It’s a touching moment to behold after years of planning.

You build a raised bed like the picture here, and buy plants you just know will grow.

And they did.

If you had a young kid in the house you shared the miracle of life, and plucked a few tomatoes each time you pass by them.

Mmm, Mmm good.

Since it’s the first time out you buy eleven different vegetables and watch them go wild over the summer months.

 

 

They are on the outside, the inside, and all over.

 

 

One nice surprise are the flowers before the veggies.

 

 

People say they’d like a few tomatoes and cucumbers and zucchinis, which is good because you over-planted.

It happens the first time out.

 

 

What’s That White Crust

The over-spray:

I’m calling out a baby boomer, a self-assured, do anything, ‘I’m smarter than you,’ baby boomer who exemplifies the need for communication and public watch dogs.

This entitled man knows his rights and stands his ground and waves his flag with the best of them.

He also sprayed a chemical on his property that drifted onto his neighbor’s gardens.

No head’s up, no notification, just a lingering stink in the air that lasted for days.

Neighbors asked about it, learned about it, and everyone was so sorry it happened.

Now they have to throw all of the ripe vegetables away, along with a foot of dirt, as per manufacturer’s recommendation.

Oooopsie.

I’m masking up and getting in there so the young people with their lives in front of them don’t learn about the contaminants down the road.

I’m already down the road, but can still plow the land up, and I will. Giddyup.

Look for images in the near future, just none showing homegrown lettuce and tomatoes and cucumbers in the freshest salads this side of the Garden of Eden.

 

 

The Last Garden Party Of The Year

No garden, no party, but oh the memories of what could have been.

 

 

When people get fired up enough to plant a garden for the first time the enthusiasm is contagious.

When the neighbor sprays their roof with toxic shit that lands on food you’d planned on eating?

The stupidity is contagious in a ‘fuck them kids’ way.

 

 

People who agree to live in society, but adjust the rules to fit their needs, have little problem except when called out to be more responsible.

Is there a price to pay for neglect? For time and effort and water and soil and beauty and wonder?

Not for them.

Did I pull the plants and throw them over the fence? Noooo.

Did I knock on their door to explain why they earned having it dumped over the fence? Noooo.

Don’t do that.

Instead I took a picture of a chalk drawing of a plant that didn’t get hosed.

 

 

PS:

Did I talk about Agent Orange and how the effects were denied for decades while Vietnam and Korean vets slowly, and not so slowly, waste away?

 

PSS:

Did I talk about crop insurance?

I pulled plants, shoveled off a layer of contaminated dirt, and rolled two yard debris containers away.

What happens next time? What would you do?