Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Back to business


Lemon balm, alive.

I had my first beer in the garden yesterday.

This isn't a monumental announcement. I am not that big of a beer drinker, but I do like a bit of barley bev after construction projects or hot and sweaty garden projects. Yesterday didn't qualify as either, frankly. I merely weeded the herb garden and then sat and listened to the outdoor world.

Having spent entirely too much time indoors of late, it is redeeming to get outside and breathe the fresh air. I noticed the golden eagle again. S/he swirled around our property for a while, then the red-tailed chicken-killing hawk came around and yelled at it for a bit. I think the red-tailed hawk has taken up residence in the woods across the street. You can walk outside and hear its maniacal call: kind of like a pissed-off chimpanzee or something.

During my weeding (and oh, how that skill has gone unused; it's like riding a bike, though) I noticed that my lemon balm and rosemary have apparently made it through the winter. I mulched them. I had had the best intentions of pulling up the rosemary (as I had done with it the past 3 years or so) but somehow never got around to it. Hmm. Sometimes, things surprise you.

4 comments:

Crunchy Chicken said...

That's so cool. I love raptors. We get the occasional bald eagle and we live next to a blue heron sanctuary so those behemoths are always scooting around.

But no red-tailed hawks. My husband would drive us off the road if he spotted one of them :)

Robbyn said...

We've got the hawks, too, but no chickens...they must be red-tails, too, because they do make that repetitive wailing sound.

It's interesting about your lemon balm...mine overwintered well and is on steroids or something...the other mints are straggling to catch up :)

El said...

I used to love raptors, and even visited the Raptor Center at the U of Minn. a couple of times when I lived up there, but now? Better at a distance and NOT circling the homestead. They got two of our beloved pet chickens last year so now our girls are penned. Poor things. Damned hawks.

Ashleigh said...

Rosemary usually makes it through our mild winters. Before I had my allotment I had two huge bushes on my balcony. One started to die off from the one side so I thought I'd plant both out into the garden.

Alas, the die off continued.

I've cut it down to the ground now. I wonder if it will grow back? The other is flowering still - we get late winter blossom - but the needles are starting to yellow. Any ideas?