A Conversation about Kids and Gardening

A Conversation about Lawns and Meadows

A Conversation About Monarchs

A CONVERSATION ABOUT - What’s in a name?

A Conversation about …Revelations

By Jean ThomasMost of the green screen of foliage has dropped, finishing the summer. (The oaks resist the trend, keeping their leaves as long as they can into the winter weather. They're brown, not green, but they persist.) A colorful show on the trees precedes another floor show in the lawn and the forest floor,. followed by stripping almost all leaves. No longer adorned with decorative features, the naked deciduous trees reveal their structural beauty (or flaws). Dead branches of trees and shr...

A Conversation about … Murmurations

MC Escher Sky and Water                                    Murmuration and starling by Guy Edwardes and Mark RobinsonBy Jean ThomasAs a kid, I used to sit on a hill and watch the dark, swirling shapes made by thousands of birds. They chattered and their wings rustled as they  alternately swooped over harvested corn fields and clustered in the adjacent trees. They would suddenly all land on a tree and the sky would be empty. Then a few would lift off again, followed by...

A Conversation About: My Aching Back

By Jean Thomas It’s not just my back that’s aching. It’s my front and sides and all my corners. I managed to put in a five hour work session in my gardens the other day. Although I’ve been gradually increasing my daily exposure to what will become a normal garden workday, this one went lots farther. I am probably comical to watch while tending to my garden. I can be seen doing everything from tossing a bag of mulch over my shoulder and hiking across the lawn to sitting in the grass like a two-year-old and reaching to pull as many weeds as possible without relocating my backside. I also have a set of kneelers that I use on rotation, flipping the first one to follow the last in a relay to travel the longest distance without having to constantly repeat the torture of getting to my feet and then descending to my knees. I dig and plant and weed and carry and rake and hoe, seemingly without end. My mental process may be to blame here. While I make lists in good faith, once I go out the door all bets are off. In order to accomplish task number one, I must first move or clear or locate something. In achieving the preparation, the original task loses importance and I drift into a totally different direction. I have come to terms with this behavior by calling it Organic Drift. That sounds better than admitting to being a scatterbrain, much like this conversation. I started talking about aches, so let’s get back to the topic. I am well educated on the art and science of ergonomic gardening from talking with my friend Madeline Hooper. Madeline is a former dance instructor and currently hosts a show on PBS called “GardenFit”. She has made a career by using her body correctly and has much excellent advice. Posture is important, and there are correct ways to lift and bend. It turns out that my scattered approach to garden chores is actually a good idea. Madeline says that dividing gardening up into half-hour segments provides the chance to work different parts of the body more evenly. So when I dug the trench for the Hydrangeas and then wandered off to rake the perennial meadow for a while and then repotted a batch of seedlings and then drove the rider mower around the lawn , I was behaving in an ergonomically correct fashion. Take that, you who finish an entire project in a single session! You can hear Madeline at: https://ccecolumbiagreene.org/gardening/nature-calls-conversations-from-the-hudson-valley/episode-97-what-is-gardenfit . You can also find her travelog/ fitness show, called “GardenFit” on your local PBS station. There are two seasons available now. There is even a featured episode in the second season with a visit to a Greene County artist at her Athens home and studio. And, returning to my personal aches and pains; In retrospect, I should have realized that another factor was weighing in on my great big tiring day in the garden, namely that the temperature sneaked up to eighty degrees when I wasn’t looking. Good thing I hydrate a lot… and I have a secret gardening weapon. Don’t tell anyone, but it’s always a good habit to follow the shade when you work. It buys you a little more comfort, and it makes you look smart.

A Conversation About: Nest Building

By Jean Thomas I was doing my usual spring cleaning the other day. It was time to get the hedge trimmer and cut down the tall ornamental grasses. I had enjoyed them all winter and it was time to cut the old dry stems to make way for the new year of growth. The chore went smoothly until we got to the largest, the Zebra Grass. The electric edger buzzed along and we triumphantly admired the pile of trimmings. Then we saw it! There sat a beautiful nest with four speckled eggs inside. Somehow we had cut just above it without touching a thing. Panic almost ensued, but we did the only appropriate thing. We gathered bundles of the cut grass and build a protective tepee around the nest, tying it with garden twine. The picture we took helped us identify the eggs as belonging to Dark-Eyed Juncos. I call them the tuxedo birds when I see them around the feeders in the winter. Their winter coat is a dark grey with a white vest and white feathers outlining their tails. Oddly enough, my friend who was helping me garden is Eileen Goble, and she was a guest on episode 33 of the Nature Calls Podcast… https://ccecolumbiagreene.org/gardening/nature-calls-conversations-from-the-hudson-valley/episode-33-so-you-bought-a-house . We laughed about the differences in nest building between birds and people. Birds can rely on their instincts and somehow know how to find a safe site to build their homes. (Of course natural disasters like grass cutting giants for them and tornadoes for us can’t be predicted.) Their home is most often only needed for one season, and they build a new one the next year. Humans need to consider many more variables because they tend to nest, if they’re lucky, for many years in the same place. The problems are plentiful, as are the rewards. Eileen and I reminisced about her interview as a realtor. We talked about how important planning can be when buying or building a house. The episode was called, “So You Bought a House.” We didn’t get into interior decisions, but reviewed the decisions to be made outdoors. Gardening and landscaping are hugely important. Things like the quality of the soil can be researched easily with soil testing, but there are many other things going on in a home than we realize. Most often, we are buying a home from the previous inhabitant… a used nest, in a way. Rarely does a new homeowner receive a description of all the plants and animals they’ll be dealing with. Rarely do we get a list of what flowers are planted where or which areas may flood in the spring, or what wildlife we’ll be competing with for the tomato crop. Eileen and I both recommend this: hard as it may seem… wait a year before planting or making any big changes in the yard and gardens. This can save a lot of time and money. You’ll learn where the sunny and shady areas are, what areas tend to get too wet, and what perennials and bulbs have been snoozing under the soil. You’ll discover what wildlife regularly uses your property as a highway and be able to avoid planting snack bars for the four-legged ingrates. There are usually more pleasant surprises than unpleasant, but there will be surprises. So, instead of rearranging the landscape beyond basic cleanup, go to a local farmers’ market . Learn about your neighborhood while you learn about your new home. And be glad that you don’t have to build a new house every year with your beak.