Fallen Tree and Garden Photos

Today started with some family work in our backyard, filling in dirt near the newly-built fence that our construction people re-built on Friday.  Boy, what a difference does even just that make!  Post-fallen tree, our backyard looked like our own personal FEMA site for the last month and now, with the fence back together (even though nothing else has been done on the house), it just looks so much nicer!  Up until now, all of our gardening has had to be in the front yard, because the back was so shaded.  But, after our century-plus water oak ripped itself out of the ground last month, we've got tons of sun and are now contemplating experimenting with a fall garden, and maybe some rose and bulb planting back there soon.  I really loved that old tree and will miss it, but these new plans are fun, too.

The main point of this post, though, is just to share with you some photos of the fallen tree, our new backyard, our existing front-yard garden, and the huge pile of mulch we have finally gotten distributed all over our property and shared with our neighbors. It took us three weeks, though, so we are also now trying to grow grass in a circle about 15' in diameter--let me know if you have any tips!

Enjoy the photos and I will check in around the end of the week to give you a report on how our three baby watermelons are doing!

The fallen giant--probably a century old--it's canopy covered our whole backyard, plus a good chunk of the neighbor's.

Our house after the tarp went on. 

The view from our kitchen post-fallen tree, pre-tree service.

Mira having fun on all that mulch!

Mira & Peter arrange the "stumps" (really just portions of its branches) from the tree for a fire-pit.

The new fence + a prospective triangle-shaped garden!

Our front-yard garden in its end-of-summer glory

The biggest of the baby melons!

Baby melon with baby hand

My gardening partner

Yellow pear tomato

Late-blooming hydrangea

Two more cukes on the way!

Not ready yet!

Okra plant, not okra yet, though!

Thank goodness for the bees!  Hard at work, as usual.

Decked out for fall!

Hanging begonia and view of our quiet Sunday street.

New Year, New Blog

Tomorrow is the start of Rosh Hashanah, which although I'm not Jewish, I have always felt makes sense as the start of a new year.  Being with Peter, who is Jewish and observes the high holidays, has only sharpened this sensibility for me.  Perhaps it's because I've spent so much time in school generally in my life, that the fall seems like a new beginning.  Or, maybe it's because my birthday is in the fall, so it is actually my own personal new year.  Or, maybe it's because when you live in the south, the first few crisp mornings after months of unrelenting heat, truly feel like a renewal of the world.  Add to this the recent damage to our house by a fallen tree and the rebirth we're experiencing as construction gets started to complete the sense of starting things afresh. Well, whatever it is, I am fully embracing it and declaring a new year.  Right now!

I have been particularly excited for the fall this year, and Mira and I have already started putting up some pumpkin decorations, which make me so happy. Tomorrow, I am starting a meditation class in an effort to combat some of the stress of juggling my job & family, and that also feels like the kind of thing one might undertake at the beginning of a new year.

In any case, all of this is to say that I am going to be playing in the next few months with the format of this blog. This blog is now almost 5 years old and has shifted from a travel log detailing Peter's and my adventures all over the globe and then as we settled in Georgia, to one sporadically recounting our experiences as new parents. I have been inspired by a few friends, most notably Emily Lieberman of Seattle, whose excellent cooking blog  http://emmycooks.com/ , is both a fun read with lots of good recipe ideas, and a nice way to hear the voice of a friend from a distance. I would like to have a reliable outlet for creative-ish writing that does not always depend on sharing what is going on in my personal life, but still allows our friends and family some way to connect with what our lives are like.

I have considered a cooking blog, and you may see some recipes here from time to time, but there are already so many good ones out there (another favorite is my friend Indu Chugani's:  Fresh. Simple. Good., found at :   http://freshsimplegood.blogspot.com/.)  I do love to cook and will no doubt continue experimenting in the kitchen, but I think I'd like to devote this space to writing about my attempts to garden, which have been so inspiring to me, even though one would hardly call me a successful gardener at this point. In addition, it is something that Mira and I have really enjoyed together and I love the way it has allowed me to be in tune with the seasons and nature, even in the midst of our very chaotic lives.  It is also something that I will be working on quite a bit in the next year, I imagine, as the fallen tree has completely reconfigured our yard, and given us a lot of sun in the backyard, which used to be totally shaded. I thought it might be fun to record my muddling here, along with pictures of our progress and (of course) adorable Mira. I also hope that you will also share your tips and stories of muddling in your garden (or even with potted plants) with me!