The Suburbs: What I’ll Miss

There are many things I will love about living in Chicago again. But as I am preparing to leave Bolingbrook, I’m focusing on saying goodbye to the things I’ve loved about this place. What will I miss? Plenty of things. Wide open spaces – cornfields, soccer fields, parking lots, no buildings over 3 stories, vistas across […]

Mint is Impossible (The Mint Project, Part 3)

Mint is in the Bible twice! Who knew? I like to imagine King David, Peter, or Lydia enjoying it in their tabbouleh, but it’s only Jesus who mentions it, when he accuses Pharisees of being overzealous in the tithing of their crops: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have neglected […]

Garden Tour 2015

A few people have been asking me how the garden is this year. Here’s an abridged tour of the Vicar’s backyard from this past spring, and now summer. Last fall, I planted five (5!) different kinds of garlic – each with an obscure name. Here’s my very accurate and detailed planting map: Four of the five varieties produced beautiful, […]

A Minty Memorial Day Weekend

I have become obsessed with my backyard mint project.  Over the holiday weekend, I tried seven (7!) different mint recipes. Adam thinks I’m nuts. He has also had to empty our dishwasher (his job in our division of home labor) like, eight times in three days. I might have a problem. I will share the results with you, […]

The Mint Project

My bucolic suburban homestead is slowly being taken over by backyard mint. I admit, I opened myself to this invasion when I bought two plants four years ago – one “chocolate” mint, one spearmint – and planted them. Not in a pot. Not in two pots. Not in a window box. In naked, unprotected ground. I planted […]

The Suburban Life For Me

I’m going on sabbatical in two weeks (two weeks?!?). We’ll be visiting places like Rome, Jerusalem, and Seattle. It’s hard to promise that we won’t just stay in one of those places, right? Like, isn’t there an Episcopal Church in Rome? Do they have any openings? (Asking for a friend.) And the reason I feel […]

Spring Garden Tour

Beautiful “golden” sugar snap peas with purple flowers! They’ll grow to be six feet tall – whew! Not sure the peas we’ll harvest this summer will finally cover the cost of my sturdy “pea fence”. But maybe next year. Sheesh. Lovely little radishes. Delicata Squash seedlings peeking through their black plastic blanket! (Absorbs heat, which squash needs and keeps […]

House Diary: April Snow, Morning

From my friend and colleague, Matt Gunter (bishop-elect of Fond du Lac, WI): Like a lot of folk here, I was not excited when I woke up to snow on the ground on this mid-April morning. But, I want to suggest that snow on the ground is a great way to kick off Holy Week. […]

Subdivision Winter Wonderland

Ducks!   Rabbit and dog tracks in the yard, and lots of scattered bird seed. View from my church office window. (Cross-shaped w/ little cross prism on the ledge)  

Potatoes to Grow and Eat

I planted potatoes for the first time this year: purple, red, white, and gold. I’ve always felt sort of intimidated by growing potatoes, but this year I decided to give it a try because people kept telling me it was really very easy. Here’s where they were – a 5×5 plot in a raised bed. […]