Inspired by the French street artist Space Invader, these are what’s left of a series featuring a character from a children’s book I wrote in college. It’s a Taoist story of “Murky,” a raindrop afraid of the ultimate splash. The tale consists of 16 haiku poems, with simple illustrations.
Mr. Carrot (confined to a kitchen wall) never meets murky.
From short, anxious runners wrangled from the edges of a 3×5 ft raised bed back in May, to scores of tenacious tendrils gripping a homemade bamboo trellis, one flower that took to paintbrush IVF turned out delicious. Continue reading
Introduction to the mantid neighbors is the same as last year’s. More…
The melon above sat on the ground just long enough for something to bore a pencil sized hole into the outer rind. Now suspended, hopefully that’ll be the last visitor until havest. More hammocks…
Capsicum under tender Piperaceae skin dries slowly so Gemini, Leo, and Cancer friends and family get lasting garden gifts. Keep reading and see the finalized gift…
Back from a week surfing, the honeydew now commandeer back door steps and hand rails. More orbs…
The okra is delicious, but after three inches it becomes woody and loses that unmistakable viscosity. Take a photo walk around the bed…
This is the Trellis Summer. Sun gold tomatoes at home and in our classroom bed find bambooed support culled from an invasion in the school’s wildlife habitat fit for a family of pandas. Ladders of hemp twine scale vertical bamboo cuts, which (so far) supply enough structure for the bite-sized alkaline orbs. But it’s the honeydew I’m worried about. More about my first go at honeydew…
Hopefully one of these guys pollinated the honeydew plants this morning.
To see more photos of this plant taken a year ago, click here.
She’s likely making up for months spent in our classroom with little available protein.
Summer on the porch offers a variety of delicacies.
…best warm, right off the vine.
My grandfather was the greatest baseball fan ever, and played minor league ball in Detroit during the Depression. U.S. Rubber offered him a job because they wanted him to play for their company team. The male cousins were expected to become professional golfers or baseball players. He signed me up for private golf lessons in High Point, North Carolina, and I played little league for Tangi Finance in Ponchatoula, Louisiana. More paternal tales and a DIY succulent planter…
A second grade teacher from across the hall enjoys giving me a hard time for being vegan with multiple carnivorous plants in the classroom. He also has a venus flytrap, so we decided to do a little pollinating. See how it turns out…
Our classroom aloe introduces medicinal plants. “The Medicine Plant,” as they call it, saves many a trip to the clinic for minor scrapes. The cool, curious gel from a plant in the window cures instantly. Continue reading
Pedagogy of the Plants 
