This afternoon I met Dominic and Ethan, two cool cyclers who stopped by the garden...unfortunately they were not able to cull much from the garden...Ethan found a couple of 'green' strawberries...sad - there have been quite a few people by for strawberries and so there are not many left...Ethan and I are pretty sure that Cameron and Spencer have been by and they are big strawberry pickers : D
Ethan did get a bit of mint and gave it to Dominic to 'smell'...cycle aroma therapy I say. So...Ethan lives in Lethbridge - Cameron told him about the Boulevarden and he brought Dominic...Dominic now lives in Red Deer - a city about the same size as Lethbridge. I asked if they had recommendations for planting next spring - any plants that they would like on the go.
Dominic said raspberries would be awesome - he was telling me about his grandma's which started out as a small plant and have multiplied like crazy - so we discussed the downside of raspberry bushes on the Boulevarden...Dominic also though that maybe carrots and onions (to which Ethan said, "onions?!...no way - you wouldn't eat onions as you were going by!" Dominic replied "yes I would...if there was salt!"). We discussed the idea of a condiment bar in the Boulevarden...this discussion evolved into the idea a full kitchen option in order to be able to cook things - as a cheese burger would also be good).
Ethan thought that peas, cukes, peppermint and honeysuckle would be good - he suggested a fence for the honeysuckle to grow up - he told me that 'you can take the flowers and suck the one end and get 'honey'".
...it was cool to meet them...
It was a nice visit...
Last night I sat out on the deck for a wine and visit with my Mom...long over due. As we were talking a Mom and her four kids came by the garden and spent about 1/2 hour looking for strawberries and tomatoes and shaking sunflower 'trees'...they also went over to Richard and Marlene's (the next door neighbours) garden and found some nice tomatoes to eat as they played and discovered the gardens. They were very cute and it was nice to see them in the garden.
Then just as I was walking my Mom to her car a friend of ours Pat was driving by, she stopped and we ended up having another glass of wine with her - and a lovely chat. I have not been out on the deck much lately and last night reminded me how important it was and how much it makes my heart smile.
It was so nice to see you...
This afternoon when I got home Spencer and Cameron where here and introduced me to their friend Samantha. Cameron said they had told her about the garden and got her to come by. They found some strawberries and some ripe tomatoes from our neighbours Richard and Marlene's Boulevarden. Richard and Marlene have tonnes of tomatoes. The kids were eating the cherry tomatoes right off the vine and pocketing some Romas for dinner.
It is always nice to see them, and it was great to meet Samantha. Samantha said her brother came too, but was not into it so left for home. It is really cool that Cameron and Spencer are so into the garden they are bringing friends - thanks guys...see ya soon.
My sister Sara noticed and took me to this guerilla garden (pictured above). It is a garden spot in the park by the tennis courts on North Parkside Drive. The bed is planted with ever greens - someone added sunflower seeds and now there are dozens of sunny flowers growing there.
The above sunflower garden is in a back alley a few blocks from my place...
Today was great for several reasons - one being Cameron and Spencer dropped by the Boulevarden (I am sorry Cameron if I have been calling you Campbell - for some reason that was the name I had in my head but I see looking at the note I made when you stopped by before I wrote Cameron...oops). I have talked about Cameron and Spencer before - they are neighbourhood boys you visit the garden all most daily I learned today. They have been watching the tomatoes and waiting for them to be perfect...which would have been today - they came and they were gone. Sad. But we (actually they) found some cherry tomatoes, strawberries and a zucchini to take with them. Spencer found a 'funny tiny one' pictured below
Cameron had dropped off a Shamrock for me...the 'seed' is a corm I think he calls it - he says 'it looks like a pineapple'...which it does - see the picture below of him holding the 'corm'. We decided to dig it up and I would plant it inside.
In another post I will add in the instructions Cameron has for the care and SHARING of a Shamrock plant. Cameron was very precise...while Cameron was giving me instructions and tips, Spencer was crouched down eating the flat leave parsley...seriously cute! I gave Cameron a cutting off my Jade plant.One of the times they were here in the last bit, Cameron, Spencer and Rhonda their mom were by to take some of the plant volunteers in the garden (some Phlox, Chinese Lanterns, and Black Eyed Susans), but they didn't transplant so well so we are going to have a go again. Fall is better for transplanting those anyway.
Spencer wanted a sunflower - he chose one that was 10' tall...it was a beaut I have to say, but I told him that it would not transplant well at this time of year - he is going to take a smaller one in the upper garden another time.
Rhonda came by after a busy day of work and musings of missing their first day of school because she had to work...she was working at a school and she said it was a busy busy zoo. As I scurried off in a hurry to go get Paul, Rhonda asked the kids if they wanted a ride home or wanted to walk - they opted to walk. As I drove off I watched them...as they walked down the street they looked at around, said hi to a woman who walks a one legged dog in our neighbourhood, and generally just seemed to enjoy themselves. These two precocious boys are lovely...they want to be part of a community - they foster their community - they are community.
Thanks Cameron and Spencer for making my day.
Perhaps this is all a bit dramatic...
...but
I have been wanting to complain to you
or maybe it is just a desire
to share my thoughts with you
on this summer
so far
...or as it ends.
I found this summer
different
from the last
the first
...and it has left me slightly melancholy.
...and I can't figure out why...this summer has been a great year for Guerilla Gardening in Lethbridge, and I have been a catalyst and part of many of the efforts. We did the Coyote Garden, seed bombs, the Boulevarden, small weeding/actions here and there...I traveled and visited with women around the Lethbridge area who offered and shared with me their stories and plants. Several of the press have been to the garden again this year. When we had a gg table at the Amnesty concert at the beginning of this month person after person come up to me to applaud my efforts, and to tell me that my actions have inspired them to make small/important guerilla efforts of their own (I say this not out of ego...but people have been really positive, encouraging and impassioned about guerilla gardening this summer...word has gotten out and people are excited about it - and I do know I have played a part in that).
which brings me to the dramatic part...
I feel a bit detached
from the garden this year. I think part of it is because I am disappointed that it has not done as well...plant wise. As I have said before the tomatoes were more than disappointing, the Basil died...and Zucchini barely grew! Those three items were what people mostly harvested from the garden.We had no plums this year...last year kids on bikes and would stop, grab a plum and ride off with a wave. We have not had much to share. Which has made me sad...as that was the point, right? or at least one of the points...I loved/thrived on the gift aspect of the Boulevarden as much if not more than the community part of it, well I guess the gift part is community,but...I'm sorry, I am talking in elipses...
Don't get me wrong...the garden looks wonderful...all of the flowers and perennial herbs have grown very well, and people have still been by to see and share the garden (and its tiny bounty...smile)...
But I worry me as my detachment has caused me to not be in the garden...or out front as often, I am not interacting with the community as often. Last summer I did a performance a day in the garden. This year when I go out I feel self conscious and have only done half a dozen or so. Although as I peer through my screened window at people in the Boulevarden (which I sometimes do) I feel I am in performance...I feel like another...I feel sneaky, closed, open..I have begun to wonder if they see me and have started to think of me as the strange woman who spies on them...if they feel self conscious...
So I don't know what
to do with this...
is just indulgent?
moaning and g(r)ow(n)ing?
I don't know...
but my heart is very still
very committed
to guerilla/community/performance gardening
...but it feels a bit like a small strawberry presently.
But then perhaps this is all just a bit dramatic...
