My Patch of Earth

I’ve always wanted to tend a piece of ground. I remember Sarah in The Secret Garden, who moves to her uncle’s estate and is sort of lost – a little girl in the vastness of a lonely house. She asks him: “Might I have a bit of earth?” “Earth!” he repeated. “What do you mean?” “To […]

Take 12, October

On the 12th of every month, I (try to) take pictures of the day, then choose 12 to post. It’s called Take 12. Here’s this month’s gallery: October isn’t a very pretty month in a garden. Here is my dead tomato/basil/pepper bed. Some marigolds still determined to hang on, but otherwise, everyone else is in […]

Farms I Have Loved

This is a farm right down the street from our house. Well, sort of. It’s a couple miles away. An island of agriculture in a sea of Naperville suburban boilerplate. The farm interns always seem to look appropriately scruffy and disinterested when I come to pick up my veggie share. There’s also a wind turbine, lots […]

Take 12 – August

Not all taken on August 12, but thereabouts… (“Take 12” is a project to take 12 pictures of your daily life on the twelfth of each month in 2012). My desk, with calendars, church directory, thank you notes, a Sunday bulletin, cup from Subway, to do list, and various:   The attendance count sheets we […]

“Take 12” for June

“Take 12” is a project to take 12 photos on the 12th of every month. I’ve been doing this all year (admittedly, sometimes on the 13th and 14th), and haven’t quite gotten around to posting here. So finally, 12 pictures from my life on the 12th of June, 2012: Nasturtiums in my garden. Bright orange […]

My Suburban Yard

There’s a lot of lawn in the suburbs. Not exactly eco-friendly. Here’s our backyard, and it’s mostly lawn. But it’s cheaper to buy a house with a yard here than in the city. There’s also a lot space to grow food, if you’re so inclined. We’re right down the street from industrial-size cornfields, but ironically, […]

Subdivision snowdrop