Preserving memories

Recently, we've had more squash and cucumbers from the garden than we could use. I've given some to the neighbors and put a little in the freezer. This reminded me of the gardens of my youth.

I grew up in town in a big house on a small lot, but that didn't stop my father from having huge gardens. He always had a friend in the country who would give him an acre or two to plant. And my father would use every inch of it. Corn and tomatoes got the most space, but there was room for many other vegetables. 

He spent most evenings in the garden after work. Sometimes, my sister and I would join him for weeding or picking, but mostly he saved us for the preserving--meaning the canning and freezing.* We would start our vegetable processing jobs in the evening after he came home, and it would last into the late night if it was something like peas or corn that needed to be processed immediately for the best flavor. The next morning, we would handle whatever else was waiting--usually something like beans or beets or cucumbers for pickles. And the cycle would go on.

Canning and freezing were common in the rural area I lived in. However, I felt like I had to do more of it than many other kids my age. Whether that is true or just my perception, I'm not sure. And I wondered if, over the years, I have magnified things so that they now seem harder than they were.

But I found something the other day that suggests I wasn't too far off. I found an inventory list my mother made of what we had in the freezer and on the canning shelves. I don't expect you to read it all, but I'm going to share the lists here. It should give you a sense of what I did in the summers. 

Canned foods: 

Fruits: applesauce, whole apples, crabapple juice, crabapple sauce, blackberries, white grape juice, wild grape juice, wild grape jelly, apple butter, grape butter, pears, yellow peaches, white peaches

Beans: brown beans, dry beans, green beans, pickled beans

Tomatoes: catsup, tomato juice, pizza sauce, whole tomatoes, tomato juice cocktail, V-5 juice, tomato sauce

Other vegetables: plain beets, pickled beets, carrots, corn, peas, green bean juice, vegetable soup, spinach, vegetable broth, saurkraut

Pickles and relish: corn relish, dill pickles, sour pickles, sweet pickles, 14-day pickles, relish, sandwich spread

Freezer foods:

Vegetables: green beans, lima beans, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, beets, carrots, celery, corn, peas, peppers, green tomatoes, tomatoes, pickles, squash, spinach, zucchini

Fruits: blackberries, blackberry jam, raspberries, cherries, strawberry jam, grapes, peaches

A few of those things were left over from previous years, but we did a good job of using most things up during the year.  The rewards of our hard work paid off with delicious food just about anytime we wanted it. 

I don't know many people who do things to that extent these days, except Granny Sue, who lives not far from where I grew up. She is always cooking or preserving something. 

Well, that's my bit of nostalgia for today. 

Until next time...

* Of course, my mother was a part of this but she was working long hours as a nurse, so the major responsibility was shared by my sister and me. 

Alaska, Tired yet?

The last eleven posts have been a travelogue about our recent trip to Alaska. Are you tired of them yet? Well, I am, so I'm going to take a little break before I finish up the last few days. However, the flowers you see in this post were from wildflowers we saw in AK. :)

The weather has been miserably hot here, so I am especially happy for a working AC because that's not what we came home to. The squash, zucchini, and cucumbers have been enjoying the heat and have been prolific recently. However, the bugs have joined the deer in using our vegetables for a tasty dinner, so I don't know how much longer before the plants succumb to the pests. The tomatoes have been suffering from deer munching for a while, but we'll soon have our first ripe tomato. I can't wait. The first ripe tomato is a highlight every summer. 

I am slowly getting back into exercising. I hope to soon be back at the fitness level I was before the trip, but I gotta tell you that some of the early classes I did after our trip were brutal. Keeping with my effort to hold myself accountable, below is my exercise report for the last week or so.

We were away for 15 days on vacation without any regular exercise. Some days on our trip, I reached 10,000 steps or more, but many days it was much less. I was a little hesitant about jumping back into classes, but it had to be done.

Thursday, July 3, 2025

Zumba: I haven't been to a Zumba class in a long time, but the last time I remember going to one, I found it exhausting. I didn't really want to start back with this class, but it was the only one that fit my schedule. It turns out that I found it both fun and tiring, but was able to recover from it fairly quickly. I will seek out this instructor again.

 Friday, July 4, 2025

Stretch and Tone: This class sounded like just what I wanted. The description made it sound like a gentle combination of yoga and pilates. There was nothing gentle or easy about this class. While not high intensity, I was sweating the whole time doing the challenging exercises. I was not alone. Most in the class couldn't do everything, including Ward, who is very fit. I was so challenged that I felt sick by the end. I stayed the whole class, but just did the bare minimum at the end. I like the instructor, but I won't be trying this class again for a while.

Saturday, July 5, 2025

Free Day: I needed a recovery day after yesterday, so I didn't do much exercise-wise today. However, we spent a lovely afternoon at a baby shower for my niece.

Sunday, July 6, 2025

Free Day: I was just not feeling it for exercise today, so I didn't do anything extra physically. Instead, I puttered around the house and yard, catching up on things.

Monday, July 7, 2025

Zumba: I went to a class with the same instructor that I had on Thursday. I mostly kept up and enjoyed the class, which gave me a good aerobic workout. Unfortunately, this instructor has only been subbing for other instructors who are on vacation. Rumor has it that she teaches once a month at the gym. I'll have to find out when that is because I like her style.

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Line Dance: We were back at our regular Tuesday morning class. It was fun to be back, and we learned a couple of new dances. I got most of the steps and definitely had a good aerobic workout by the end.

Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Free Day: Even though it was only a couple of days ago, I can't remember what we did. But I do know that I didn't do any formal exercise. Wednesday doesn't have any classes I'm interested in.

Thursday, July 10, 2025

Beginner Line Dance: It was good to be back in this class. Several of the dances seemed new, but that just may be because I hadn't been to class for almost a month. Some of the dances went really fast, and I struggled to keep up. But I mostly did. I watched a bit of the advanced class, and someday I hope to be able to do those complicated dances, too. I had a good aerobic workout in this class, but it didn't wipe me out.

Friday, July 11, 2025:

Strong and Balanced: There was a sub today in this class, and she had us moving every minute. There seemed to be a lot of shoulder work that I got very tired from. But, I guess that means that it is an area that I need to work on. 

Until next time...

Seeds

I have been dabbling in vegetable and flower gardening throughout the years but have never been very successful with starting seeds. Years ago, I tried it a few times but couldn't keep the cats out of them, no matter what kind of barrier we put up. After a while, I just gave up. A few years ago, I tried some cold starts of cruciferous veggies outside in milk jugs. However, they never quite flourished in the garden.

One of my goals this year was to try my hand again at seed starting. One, because I like to watch the growing process, and two, I hope to save a little money on the plants we usually buy in the spring. I consider this a learning year and am not trying to do everything perfectly. However, I've read some and talked to Master Gardners from the extension service. I expect it to take a couple of years to figure out what works for me. Here is what I've done so far.

In February, I went to a seed exchange at the town hall. It was more like a seed giveaway than an exchange. I also got to talk with some master gardeners. I have way more seeds than I can use, including the seeds I've been saving over the years. I plan to share some of my bounty.

I started a combination of flowers and vegetables outside, including some tomatoes. Although tomatoes are not recommended for a cold start, one person said she does it every year, so I'm giving them a try. 

Inside, I have started 14 different vegetables and flowers. Most of the seeds I used were old, so I sowed liberally, and we'll see what happens. I purchased two heating mats off eBay for a good price and bought two grow lights to aid the process. Ward made stands for the lights and cleverly made them so they will break down and be stored easily. I wasn't sure where to set things up, but I decided on the living room. Since it is easily accessible, I check on the trays and move things around several times a day. I do not have enough lights or heating pads to leave everything in one place.

The basil was the first to sprout, but more are joining it every day. At least half of what I planted has sprouted. 

I know a lot has to happen between sowing a seed and getting a plant to grow outside, but I feel like I have a good start. My hope is that I will be successful and can share with others. And if not this year, maybe next. At the very least, this is a fun experiment.

Until next time...

Speed blogging. It rained!

My timer is on 13 minutes today from whatever I was timing previously. Let's see where my stream of consciousness takes me for the next 13 minutes. 

Not from my yard but from our early morning walk in Frederick last week.
The coneflowers in our yard are being eaten by some hungry insects as soon as they bloom.

It's a quiet Sunday morning. Ward is still sleeping, and I miss having fussy cats yelling about their breakfast being late - no matter what time it is. A peek out the window reveals puddles in the driveway. Glorious puddles! We finally had real rain last night - over an inch. Hurray! The thunder started to rumble at bedtime, but I didn't mind because along with it came a real downpour. With the heat and no rain, we've been watering, trying to help the plants cope. For the first time ever, we emptied our entire rain barrel. Now, they have gotten the deep drink they deserve.

Also, from our walk. Our Black-eyed Susans haven't bloomed yet.

More storms are predicted for the afternoon. I think it will be a good day to focus on things inside. We've been using early mornings to work in the yard. We're making good progress on the two-page list we have. Trees have been trimmed, flowers planted, beds edged, bushes trimmed, beds mulched, and plants watered. Despite attention, some plants, including the grass, look pretty stressed from the heat. The heat has turned much of it brown, and the twice-a-week mowing has turned into no mowing. That's one reason we have had time for some of the other yard chores. I have a feeling that last night's rain will change that. 

Another picture from our walk.

In the garden, I have pulled the broccoli and peas. Ward built a nice frame around the broccoli to keep the cabbage butterflies out. Didn't work. They found their way in anyway. Luckily, we got good heads off the plants before the caterpillars started feasting. The side shoots were not so lucky. Oh, well. It was getting too hot for the broccoli anyway. 

I also pulled the pea vines. We got a good crop of peas this year with a couple of meals, and I froze some. We have small zucchini forming and many green tomatoes. And true to form, the deer found the tomatoes and carefully pruned the top 1/3 of all the plants. If that's all they do, that's okay. I'm willing to share. Like I have a choice. :)

Well, there goes my timer.

Until next time...

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers and father figures.

I was looking through old Father's Day posts to see if there was something I wanted to use again, and I found this from last year. 

"Today is Father's Day. We're going to celebrate with my father-in-law and Ward's siblings. Yesterday, Ward, Wally, and Theo celebrated while I was at work. They spent the day cooking using the sous vide and the grill. Fun toys for them. I was at work all day but contributed a cherry pie that I made the night before. The carnivores enjoyed their time together."

Guess what? Today, we're going to visit my father-in-law, and Wally and Theo came over yesterday. Theo cooked dinner on the grill while Wally helped Ward with a project. The carnivores (Theo cooked chicken and sausages) enjoyed their time together. I had to work all day but made a cherry pie the night before for dessert. 

Boy, we are more predictable than I thought. 😁

While I was perusing, I found a post from 2013 about my father and his garden that I am rerunning today as I remember him on this Father's Day.

______________________________________________________

My Father's Garden

For most of my life, I watched my father garden, and I learned a lot about life as I observed him adjust to the ever-changing world surrounding him there. 

He usually had an acre or more of vegetables growing every year, and I watched as he spent hours and hours, days and days, and weeks and weeks planting the garden. He'd plant 20 rows of corn, and the crows would eat 20 rows of corn. He'd plant beans, and the rabbits would feast on the leaves. He'd plant tomatoes, and the groundhogs would take one bite out of each one. And the deer—they liked EVERYTHING in the garden. 

So he put up an electric fence. That worked except for the things that could go under it, like the rabbits. Then he put up a chicken wire fence inside the electric fence to keep those critters out. And that worked except for the creatures that burrowed under the fence like groundhogs. So, he buried fencing a foot underground, which worked for the digging critters. Now, all he had left were the flying creatures. So, he put up scarecrows and shiny streamers, and that sort of worked, except for the wild turkeys. And turkeys are like the deer in that they like EVERYTHING in the garden. Turkeys are really smart, and for several years, the turkeys did more damage to his garden than all the other animals combined.

But yet he kept on. He would plant and plant again. He would hoe a row, and he would weed a row. He would stake the tomatoes and build teepees for the beans. He would fertilize, and he would carry water. And along about the middle of summer, the first of the bounty would need to be picked and picked and picked. And my father was happy. 

As time passed and the kids moved away from home, my father planted his huge gardens. He gave away most of what he grew, but he was happy. My mother finally convinced him that maybe the two of them didn't need such a large garden. It was hard, but he cut back. He adjusted just as he had when the crows ate all of his corn. And then, because of failing health, he had to move to a nursing home, and he was not sure if there would be a place to plant a garden where he was. However, he adjusted, and he was happy.

When I grow up, I want to be like my father and his gardens. I want to do things when they need to be done, just like my father did when he had to water his plants when they needed it, not just when he felt like it. I want to keep working on anything important until I get results, just like my father did when he had to plant his corn again and again. I want to adjust to changing situations just like my father did when he had to downsize his garden. And most of all, I want to find a way to be happy in any situation, just as my father did when he had to leave his garden and couldn't live at home any more.

Note: My father passed away two months after I wrote this.

Until next time...

This and That

The first bloom ever on this Christmas cactus!

 Winter weather has arrived with cold rain followed by freezing temperatures and wind. I am definitely a fair-weather outdoor person, so the cold weather has kept me indoors for the most part. However, earlier in the week, we did have an outdoor outing of sorts. We stopped at the Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Shine in Emmitsburg, MD, on the way back from a funeral.

Statue of Elizabeth Seton at Shrine

Among other things, Elizabeth Seton established the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph and a school for girls in the early 1800s. She was made a saint in 1975 and was the first native-born American to receive Roman Catholic sainthood. We only visited the outside grounds but found them peaceful even though I was cold. Maybe we'll visit in the spring and include the indoor parts of the shrine. I am not Catholic, but I appreciate the history of the site.

Last weekend, we had another outing to a concert in Virginia. Along with the Fairfax Band, four broadway performers sang various songs. Boy, you could tell those women were stage performers because they could really belt out a tune. While the show was enjoyable, the best part was hooking up with a childhood friend of Ward's who played in the band. By serendipity, we sat in the same row as his family and had a nice visit. 

Back at home, we were a little late, but we pulled everything left in the garden this week. I've spent the last couple of days processing the produce with most of it going into the freezer. More to go, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. Today, the four of us are going to have a Thanksgiving dinner. Theo got a turkey from work and wants to try a new way of cooking it. On Thanksgiving Day, we will go to my niece's house to spend it with Ward's family.

The first of four boxes of harvest. Three down and one more to go.

Otherwise, I've started to work on some Christmas projects and spent more time than I should with a cat on my lap. :)

Until next time...

It Happened So Fast

We have two raised bed garden areas that are small enough to keep up with but big enough to give a decent harvest. When I checked the garden yesterday, I saw a dramatic change from a couple of days before. The last time I looked, the radishes were maturing nicely. We had already harvested some, and I was waiting until we were ready to pull more. Now they were going to seed and getting woody. When I last checked on the beans, they were just starting to bloom. Now I was able to pick enough for supper. And the zucchini. Well, you know zucchini, whose main goal in life is to become the size of baseball bats. Well, several reached that status in a blink of an eye.

We roasted the radishes, which tasted good but were a bit chewy. (BTW, I've tried preparing the radish greens in different ways, but no one here likes them.) The beans are cleaned and ready to cook tonight with some leftover corn. I have frozen some of the zucchini, roasted some in the oven for supper, and made a cake with one for tonight's book club. I hope to put more in the freezer tomorrow before I go to work. Or maybe I will get up in the wee hours of the morning and leave them on the neighbors' doorsteps. Because there's a whole other crop of baseball bats forming. I know I should have been harvesting them sooner, but it all happened fast. :)

Until next time...

E is for Eggplant

 

I don't have any pictures of eggplant, so I'm showing the pictures
 of what's blooming in yard right now starting with this lone crocus.
It has colors of purple and white the colors of eggplants. How's that for a stretch?

The first thing that popped into my head for E was eggplant. Eggplant is not something I regularly cook or eat so I don't know much about it. I do know that it's a member of the nightshade family (Solanaceae) and I like the purple color of the fruit. It wasn't until recently that I knew that one of the varieties was white and shaped like an egg, thus the name. 

This forsythia likes bright sun just like eggplant. 

I also know that eggplant likes to grow in hot weather, and we tried growing it once when we lived in Houston. From our experiences before in New Orleans, we knew that gardening in the south was very different than the gardening we were familiar with further north. New Orleans and Houston, both, had long, HOT summers that turned out to be stressful to many vegetables we were familiar with.

Nevertheless, when Wally and Theo were little, we decided to try some vegetable gardening as a fun and educational activity for the family. Ward built a raised bed for square foot gardening in the backyard that we filled with a load of garden soil from a local landscaping company. We planted okra, tomatoes, and eggplant - all vegetables that like hot weather. Everything came up, but nothing thrived. While things grew, most things were stunted and funny colors taking on various shades of purple. We weren't sure what was going on, so we had the soil tested. It turns out that the soil was too nutrient rich--enough so that it was harming the plants and the only thing to do was to keeping planting things in the beds until the excess nutrients were used up. We tired that for a few years with little to show for it and eventually gave up. However, all was not lost on the gardening front. Wally still talks about the prolific cantaloupe plant that grew from the compost pile one year.

When we moved to Maryland, we tried our hand at family gardening with more success, but that's a story for another time that does not involve eggplants.  

Eggplant would not grow well under the shade of this ornamental plum

These daffodil will be long gone before any eggplant will ripen here.

So will this one.

White eggplant, like the color of these blossoms on this Bradford pear,
is less bitter and smaller than purple eggplant.

Three Quotes

Out in blog land, some bloggers are taking the three quote challenge where they share three of their favorite quotes. Lois at TheEcoGrandma has shared hers and tagged me to do the same. It's not as easy as it sounds. As we all know if you have access to the internet, you also have access to endless numbers of meaningful, humorous, or helpful quotes.  So picking just three was next to impossible. However I "tried not to sweat the small stuff" and pick three that I have gone back to then and again over the years.

1. Everything you've ever wanted is one step out of your comfort zone. - Anonymous -

I am a cautions person by nature. I like to have things planned and predictable. My sisters say that I like to have control over things and I think they're right. That's how my cautious personality feels the most comfortable. And most of the time, planning is a very good thing. I find I waste fewer things including time and money when I have a plan. However, I think I miss out on somethings when I am always trying to be in control. 

One of the views from our spur of the moment hike.

So while I wouldn't exactly call me spontaneous or a risk taker, I am trying to get out of my comfort zone more often these days. For example, one time while driving the long drive back from my mother's house, I suggested we stop at one of the parks along the way for a hike. Usually the only stops are bathroom stops because we "have" to get back and do our laundry and whatnot to get ready for work the next day. Well, we did stop and had a lovely hike that took us to a great view. And we didn't really use up that much time. Now this is a favorite stop of ours. That was a small step out of my comfort zone, but one that had a big payoff.

When I thought about the quote more, I realized that I have more examples to share where I have stepped out of my comfort zone that have really made a difference for me, but it's time to move onto the next quote. I'll share those another time.

2. Despite the gardener's best intentions, Nature will improvise.  ~Michael P. Garafalo,  gardendigest.com

Anyone who has tried to grow anything can relate to this one.  No matter how hard you try to plan (see quote #1), you have to realize that you can't control everything--especially Mother Nature. It might rain too much or it might rain too little. Storms may blow down branches (or whole trees) or hail may pelt your plants into oblivion. The bugs, birds, deer, rabbits, groundhogs, etc. may eat your whole garden one morning for breakfast. I've had all of these things happen to my gardening attempts--many times. When these things happen if "I didn't laugh, I'd cry."

The rabbits eat more than their fair share of what I don't want them to, but they sure are cute to watch.

So how do I deal with it? Sometimes not very well, at first, but then I remember Nature is a much bigger force than man/woman will ever be able to control and and you'll drive yourself crazy if you think you can. Then I try to shift my attention away from my garden to other parts of nature. How do thunderstorms form? Where are the rabbits' nests? What kind of bug is that? How many eggs did that bird lay? And I find that I get such enjoyment out of learning about those things that I forget about when my gardening doesn't work out the way I wanted. Well, I really don't forget about how all of my hard work was "changed" by Mother Nature, but I do try to "make lemonade out of lemons." That has been the whole purpose of my Second Looks. :)

(By the way, does anyone remember the Chiffon Margarine commercial from the 1970's with the quote, "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature!" That is what has been playing in my head since I started writing about the gardening quote.)

3. He who laughs.....lasts. Erma Bombeck

Erma Bombeck had a great sense of humor especially about every day things and she was a great role model for us all. I try to channel my inner Erma and when I'm not in the best of moods, I try to remember that "Laughter is the best medicine" and do something to have a good laugh. It might be watching an old Andy Griffith show or a funny video on YouTube. Or I may just take a trip down memory lane and remember some of the silly things Wally and Theo used to say. Or maybe I'll check an Erma Bombeck book out of the library to read. 

Now for our laugh of the day, take a look at the titles of some of Erma's books.

• Just Wait Until You Have Children of Your Own, Doubleday, 1971. Written with Bil Keane.
• I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression, Doubleday, 1974.
• The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank, McGraw-Hill, 1976.
• If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?, McGraw-Hill, 1978.
• Motherhood: The Second Oldest Profession, 1983.
• When You Look Like Your Passport Photo, It's Time to Go Home, 1991.
• A Marriage Made in Heaven ... or Too Tired For an Affair, 1993
• All I Know About Animal Behavior I learned in Loehmann's Dressing Room, ISBN 0060177888 HarperCollins 1995

My Father's Garden

Most of my life I watched my father garden, and I learned a lot about life as I observed him adjust to the ever changing world that surrounded him there. He usually had an acre or more of vegetables growing every year and I watched as he spent hours and hours, days and days, and weeks and weeks planting the garden. He'd plant 20 rows of corn and the crows would eat 20 rows of corn. He'd plant beans and the rabbits would feast on the leaves. He'd plant tomatoes and the groundhogs would take one bite out of each one. And the deer—they liked EVERYTHING in the garden. So he put up an electric fence. That worked except for the things that could go under it like the rabbits. Then he put up a chicken wire fence inside the electric fence to keep those critters out. And that worked except for the creatures that burrowed under the fence like groundhogs. So, he buried fencing a foot underground and that worked for the digging critters. Now all he had left were the flying creatures. So, he put up scarecrows and shiny streamers and that sort of worked, except for the wild turkeys. And turkeys are like the deer, in that they like EVERYTHING in the garden. Turkey's are really smart and several years the turkeys did more damage to his garden that all of the other animals combined.

But yet he kept on. He would plant and plant again. He would hoe a row and he would weed a row. He would stake the tomatoes and build teepees for the beans. He would fertilize and he would carry water. And along about the middle of summer, the first of the bounty would need to picked and picked and picked. And my father was happy. That's where my main part, along with my sisters, would come in. Our job was to can and freeze all of the produce that was ripening. We had many all night sessions getting the peas or corn into the freezer before their natural sugars would change to starch. And although I complained at the time about how I had to do more work than my friends, I never complained when I got to eat the wonderful food from our garden.

As time went on and the kids moved away from home, my father still planted his huge gardens. He gave away most of what he grew, but he was happy. My mother finally convinced him that maybe the two of them didn't need such a large garden. It was hard, but he cut back. He adjusted just as he had when the crows ate all of his corn. And now, because of failing health, he doesn't live at home and he's not sure if there is a place to plant a garden where he is. However, he has adjusted and he is happy.

When I grow up, I want to be like my father and his gardens. I want to do things when they need to be done, just like my father did when he had to water his plants when they needed it, not just when he felt like it. I want to keep working on anything important until I get results, just like my father did when he had to plant his corn again and again. I want to adjust to changing situations just like my father did when he had to downsize his garden. And most of all, I want to find a way to be happy in any situation, just as my father did when he had to leave his garden and couldn't live at home any more.

Soil Knife

Ward's new soil knife

I have a new favorite garden tool.  It cuts, it digs, it measures, it saws, it makes coffee. Well, actually I'm not sure about the coffee part, but it might. What is it? A soil knife also known as a hori hori knife.  The miracle tool is the shape of narrow trowel with a sharp knife edge on one side and a saw-tooth edge on the other. The one we have is also marked off in inches for measuring.

Apparently, it's been around for a long time. It was first implemented in Japan to dig mountain vegetables. (Thus the original name of hori hori which means "to dig" in Japanese.) However, I only heard of it recently when Aunt Martha suggested that Ward might like one for his birthday. I got it for him, but I kind of felt like when I was a kid and for my sister's birthday bought what I really wanted. Ward has gotten to use it a few times, but I have had it out almost every day.

Each time I use it, I find another thing it does better than any tool I've used before. It makes digging very easy. Its sharp blade cuts into hard soil almost effortlessly. And if you run into roots while you're digging--no problem. You can saw right through them. You can measure the depth of your hole when you are planting, and it cuts better than any razor blade I've ever used when opening a bag of mulch. I love it. The only problem is that Theodore has discovered it too. Maybe Ward needs another one for Father's Day.

Harvest with Miss Landers

Miss Landers has a vegetable garden in the local community garden, and we went harvesting with her.  See some pictures of our outing below.