Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Hope In Green Form

Ms. Dickinson may think that hope is a thing with feathers but, in my book, it's a thing with tiny green shoots.

I'm pretty sure that verdant little tuft is a potato sprout, born from the spuds I left unharvested in my pot last fall. Wouldn't that be a kick?

The other green (lower right) is oxalis, which isn't bad in salads in small doses. Tangy to the max.

There's also a handsome green trailing of purslane* in the same pot, also destined for the salad bowl, one of these days.

And miner's lettuce growing along the roadsides in the shady spots.

They all are hope to me, for warmer days and homegrown dinners, fresh from the dark dirt of my diminutive garden.



*When I went back to verify the name of one of the plants above in the post I had written years ago about my botany teacher, Dr. Jean Bobear, I found in the zingers some comments from her family, written months and months after, telling me that she had passed away and that they had found my words extremely comforting.

I can't tell you how wondrous I find that - that she touched my life through her words and, magically, I touched her family's through mine.

Labels:

6 Comments:

Blogger Kinda Like a Chef said...

Yay for green happiness!! And that is lovely about your botany teacher.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011  
Blogger Zoomie said...

Kinda, yay is right! So glad to see it, even tho' it means the weeds won't be far behind!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011  
Blogger cookiecrumb said...

Dang, that was so great! I went and read it all through.
Jealous of your miner's lettuce. We left ours behind in mill valley.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011  
Blogger Zoomie said...

Cookiecrumb, you can always drive back to Mill Valley to harvest a little miner's lettuce... ;-) Yes, I was really touched by the comments from Dr. Bobear's family. The sweet power of the internet at work.

Thursday, April 14, 2011  
Blogger cookiecrumb said...

Oh, Zoomie, I don't think the people we sold our house to would be happy finding us tramping all over that hillside. (I know I can find it elsewhere, but it's always kind of uncertain just where.)

Thursday, April 14, 2011  
Blogger Zoomie said...

Cookiecrumb, I know what you mean - I returned to my favorite spot here in the Point but the harvest there was meager. Then, on a subsequent walk with Cora, I found a new place that is abundant this year. Go figure.

Thursday, April 14, 2011  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home