Sharing

I tend to walk around in a bubble thinking if I know “this about that,” it is common knowledge. Ever so often I am reminded that I may know something that not everyone else does. It is always shocking to me. The other day a dear friend of mine reminded me of this. We were on a hike, exploring, and discussing what was springing up. I was getting so excited and sharing everything I knew about what was around us. She has always been fun to share with, as she really seems interested in what I am telling her. We’ve been doing this for over 30 years and regardless of the time that passes between each hike, it simply flows. It’s a beautiful thing. At one point, I started talking about life cycles and how many people see one plant or critter at one stage and know what it is, but at another stage, they don’t recognize that it is the same plant or critter. My example was the dandelion. Most people recognize the yellow flower sprouting up all over their lawns as a dandelion but once it goes to seed, some people do not make the connection that it is the same plant. Well, my friend admitted that she never made the connection. She then went on to explain how although she loves the outdoors, she relies on me to tell her what’s what because it was my thing to study, not hers. She even mentioned that there are moments when she needs me to explain something to her when I am not there. I have to admit, it really made me feel very special when she told me that. Because, plain and simple, I really do love to share and sometimes forget that people really enjoy to hear what I have to say, I guess that is what this blog is all about. Sharing things I take for granted and helping others with making day-to-day stuff easier or perhaps making their lives healthier or brighter in some way, because really this is what it is all about; trying to make a positive difference. I found this wonderful time-lapse dandelion flower to seed head video (don’t you just love the internet) and just had to share.

It is too early to start mowing

As I was sitting outside soaking in the magical spring weather, I heard the sound of a lawnmower. The first thing came to my mind was, “Shit, not already!” I surveyed our lawn, already a beautiful lush green, and decided that it wasn’t that high yet. What is wrong with these people! It is only the first week in May and still cold in the evening. It can wait.

A week later, I heard the lawnmower again. The sound makes me very anxious, because once I start mowing; my life is committed to mowing 3 hours a week, every week until the fall (we have a rather large lawn, unfortunately). That’s a lot of time and fossil fuels (we have too much lawn for a push-reel mower) committed to keeping the lawn shorter than 4 inches tall. So of course, I start thinking of reasons why I should and can put mowing off. The first reason that came to mind seemed very reasonable. Mike did not check out the mower to make sure it is in good working condition. Therefore, it really didn’t make sense for me to start it up, because I couldn’t fix it, if it needed fixing. Heaven forbid if it broke while I was mowing.

A couple of days later, I heard the same lawnmower again. This time I noticed the buds on the Redbud tree, they were hardly visible. Then I surveyed the lawn for violet ~ none. Well, that was a no brainer and my best excuse for not mowing. There is no reason to mow a lawn until after the violets have been harvested from the lawn for at least five or more salads. Sure, I can go into the woods to harvest them, but nothing is better than harvesting flowers and herbs from your lawn. And you cannot harvest flowers and herbs after you have mowed over them, yuck! So folks, I have the best reason (besides using fossil fuels) for not mowing our lawn for a couple of more weeks. I need to harvest my “lawn” first. It’s good to be a forager!

A salad made last spring ~ now that's the perfect reason to not mow the lawn.

A salad made last spring ~ now that’s the perfect reason to not mow the lawn.