Moving
I have moved this blog over to substack . Come join the conversation over on substack :
Laughing Ravens
Mutterings from the garden
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Latest posts
Where Are They Now?
Unless you’re just starting your first garden, we’ve all done it. On purpose, or accidentally. We’ve eyed the spanky new plant in bloom in the garden center or nursery, pried open our nearly empty wallet. Splurged on the new plant. Brought it home, planted it where we want to see it grow and bloom. And that summer, it grows a little, maybe struggles. The next spring… the promise of a bloom like we…
Names vs Un-Named
Back in 2020, we were driving through our little town of Trumansburg, on our way out of town, heading up the shallow hill from ‘downtown’… when Leto spied two boxes on the side of the road labelled: “Free Dahlias”. Car tires screeched as we spun the Subaru around and went back for a closer look. I have trust issues. It could have been full of car parts. It could have been a box full of moldy…
Moving to Substack
I have been curious to see if this blog would take off. It hasn't. That's okay, I guess. Feels a little like talking to myself in the shower. I've been trying to write something at least every other week, but with no real regularity. Everything I have read about Blogger is that it is a dead community. No one reads blogs. Well, explain Substack? Folks monetizing their blogs... gosh, I guess someone…
Growing irises from seed
Growing irises from seed... sounds like a pretty simple proposition, right? The first question I hear a lot of gardeners ask is will it work? Then someone will often ask: Where do I get iris seeds? Inevitably, the next question is: How soon will they bloom? And oftentimes, the last question, asked with some temerity is: Is it worth it? I'll answer the last question first: Absolutely YES! Growing…
Turning Point
Ever since I started growing Siberian irises, I have been captivated by the range and intensity of colors possible within the group. There are so many wild, rich, saturated colors available right now. (Ironically, there are fewer and fewer places to buy or even see, Siberian irises, but that is a topic for another post). Seedling from seed donated by Marty Schafer and Jan Sacks. But it wasn't…
Chasing Color
Color seems like a simple thing, right? A color is a color. Kids know what blue is. Blue is always blue. There's something very concrete about color. Until it isn't. As a little kid I learned that color is complex. First through paint, mixed with my fingers, where yellow and green made mucky brown. Then Playdoh taught me that yellow and blue didn't make green... but more of a vomit color. This was…
Distractions vs the Real path
I've often wondered if I have a collection of odd hobbies and interests or if I am simply distracting myself. Being ruthlessly curious has pros and cons. Knowing that my brain is wired differently is much the same. When I was a kid and would come home from school, it was: Grab a snack, deal with homework, then my time was my own. College messed with the format, but others around me still found…
Video vs Photos vs Words
Communicating is a complex thing. Talking is one thing. Dialogue is another. Writing and reading seem much the same; similar but different. You would think that video and photography would be the same sort of deal. Not yet, at least not for me. I've been taking photographs since I acquired my first little Instamatic that took 126 film cartridges, had no focus or shutter control. It was the epitome…
Walking Around the Garden - First Week of January
More than anything, this was just a chance to test out new gear and see how it felt to try to narrate and shoot at the same time. By and large, I am finding the videography part much harder than my usual photography. If I had to guess, I think my attention span is affecting a lot of the process. Part of what I was testing last week was the new wireless lav mic I picked up after Christmas... which…