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i have fallen so far behind in writing that i have way too many things to report and photos to post. first up is a general shot of flowers! the garden is in bloom, with new flowers emerging every day. it is really exciting to go out and water in the morning because there are always some surprises. it feels great to see some results of our spring work — last year we started so late that things really didn’t flower before they got zapped by the heat. in this photo, the yellow flowers are evening primrose from last year, below them are nasturtiums in shades of orange, and there are purple nicotiana and cerinthe. in the lower left there are more nasturtiums — they seem to like it here.
we also ate our first artichoke from the garden a few days ago. the plants themselves are so great looking, it is almost too much that they give us food as well, but you know, i’m not complaining. i piled on lots of manure early in the spring and they responded by flowering! the artichokes that we eat are the flower buds — when they open, they are really spectacular flowers that look likel something a dinosaur might pick. i doubt that we will let any get that far, though.

one last picture before i have to run off again — i saw this cool bug in the garden this afternoon.

that’s our nascent meadow that you see under it — lots of camomile flowering now, and little johnny jump ups, nemophilia maculata, alyssum, and some cute little yellow flowers that close at night whose name i do not know.
more soon…