I’ve been working on a project this week, in between baking and cleaning the kitchen…ad infinitum. I finally had to get out of the house and wander around the pollinator gardens to see what’s new out there. I grabbed my rain boots and a huge golf umbrella from the truck and took off, tromping through the wet fields.

I’m really pleased with most of the gardens. There are a couple that look kind of poorly…sparse grasses with no discernible wildflowers. My dear friend Aimee, who knows all things about the ground and what grows under, in, and on top. She says to leave it be. It’s still forage for critters and can harbor snakes and turtles, and field mice. There’s no such thing as a bad green space…unless all it has is invasive and noxious weeds.

The Lyreleaf Sage is nearing the end of its flowering. The little trumpet-shaped flowers at the top of the stems glow brightly in the mass of dark field grasses. The Bulbous Buttercup has opened its John Deere yellow flowers and is quite showy in the areas where they grow. The Wood Sorrel blossoms are doing their best to compete with the buttercups, but they are smaller and stay deeper in the grass.

Speaking of grass, we have mostly Kentucky Bluegrass, Bromes, Foxtail, Flax, and others. There are many other perennials like Dock, Red Sorrel, Sheep Sorrel, Ribwort Plantain, White Clover, and many others. Every time I’m out there, I find something new to document. It is quite a walk to go around all seventeen pollinator gardens. Just another healthy way to get my steps in.

Mr. FixIt went to town yesterday to buy the straw, manure, and topsoil for the raised bed. I know it’s an investment at the beginning, but hopefully it will pay off with table veggies in the summers to come. I’d like to build a cold frame at the end of the house to have lettuce, carrots, and onions through the winter. Another small step toward a less consumer-based lifestyle as we continue to live our best years walking side-by-side through our seventies.

I used the last of the cabbage and made Gail’s deconstructed cabbage rolls last night for supper. Mr. FixIt picked up some fresh ears of corn, and I have some asparagus that needs to be used up. It’s always a delight to anticipate a good, country meal for a chilly, rainy evening.

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“God called the dry ground “land” and the waters “seas.” And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.” And that is what happened. The land produced vegetation—all sorts of seed-bearing plants, and trees with seed-bearing fruit. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.”   ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1‬:‭10‬-‭12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

***Gratitude Journal***   
Today, I am grateful for the ground on which we live…the myriad flora and fauna that delight us daily. I’m grateful for two strong legs that carry me around, and for the image lookup function on Google!