HIGH BUTTON SHOE

May 2005

.....I knew when we got that great warm weather in early April for two weeks, VERY untypical of Michigan April weather, we would pay for it in May.  We are. From frost, to down right snow on the ground, high winds, rain and cold, we aren't getting many sunny days. You know my energy levels come from sunshine, coffee, chocolate, and red licorice.  So without sunshine, I am left with the other three, and it is apparent when I look in the mirror that I have indulged in the last two a few too many times. Normal springs, we have evidence on the ground of the large wild turkey 'herd' that roams around our farm. While wild, they know there is food here for them, and they get pretty used to us. We can sit on the porch and they will be just out a few yards in the yard with us. The downside to their frequent visits each day, is that they are not 'yard' trained. They deposit their droppings wherever. One year, I swear I didn't own a pair of shoes that didn't have some evidence of turkey poop on them. And as I rarely wear shoes in months that don't have snow, it was not uncommon to have to wash that evidence off my feet too. I know. Many of you are thinking " "oouuuuuwwwww!"  But you have to remember that I love walking in warm summer mud puddles barefooted and letting the mud squish between my toes, so turkey poop isn't much different.  You still have to wash your feet. And the feel of plush grass on your feet is a must for me. Of course, my feet are always in need of washing.

In addition to the turkey fertilizer, we add several hundred pounds of commercial fertilizer. And have learned through the years to spread it when it is raining. Not when the weatherman says it is going to rain, but in the actual rain. Otherwise it won't rain. And there you are. With a burned up lawn. So this past week, I loaded up the spreader and in a rain, started walking the lawn behind the spreader, conjuring up this plush glorious green lawn that will be my reward . Ronnie (the farmer and knowledgeable one of the farm), who knows the amounts, said  to buy 4 - 50# bags and this should do our entire lawn, which is large, front, back and both sides. I, the not,  instead bought, 6 bags, and commenced to use THREE of those bags on just the front yard, before I was worn to a frazzle and half drowned. It is quite apparent to me, aside from the fact that I have been raking and doing yard work for weeks, that I have indulged in those licorice twizzlers about 10 bags too many times! And it is too cold to plant flowers, so I still have all that work ahead of me. So with 1/2 of my fertilizer spread on 1/4 of the lawn, I now expect that I will have a jungle in the front yard. But it will be GREEN. and wishful thinking, it won't have stripes.

 Minor little annoyance also related to my fertilizing. It became apparent to me, when I looked for 15 minutes all over in the house, in every conceivable place, and some very illogical ones, that I had taken my shoes off on the front porch, and left them there for 3 days, when I tried to find them to go to Mattie's grandparents day, at his school yesterday. NOT wanting to be the only grandmother there with NO shoes on, I tried to remember the last time I had shoes on and where I had been. It is quite difficult to look presentable in a driving rain, high wind, and no shoes. And the only umbrella I own, as I usually just wear a baseball cap in the rain, has a big part of it missing. Which probably would have not gone unrecognized, had I gone barefooted, the baseball cap, and the umbrella. As I would have stood in the audience waving wildly at Mattie so he knew I was there, he perhaps would NOT have acknowledged Grandma! But then he is used to me that way, so perhaps thinks nothing of it.  I must keep better track of my shoes. Did I tell you that once, I was going to a doctor appointment, in the summer, and realized when I was 1/2 way there, I didn't have any shoes on?

I have been planning my garden. My herb garden.  If I can keep the varmints out, and the sun shines, and it rains, and the bees come, I plan on having more herbs, lots of sweet annie, sunflowers, and pumpkins. Ronnie is preparing the soil for me today. After he finished fertilizing the rest of the yard with the little fertilizer we had  left! I am attempting the pumpkins, remembering all the problems of the past, and hoping the bees will come. I saw a thing on TV about how the US has lost 1/2 of its bees, due to something that is killing them off, and how bad this is for pollination. Drats! I suppose that will mean that all fruits and veggies can automatically raise prices drastically after they tell us that.   Just when I get myself all envisioning my gardens, I suppose I won't get a bee 1, and it won't work. I will keep you posted. I know. You can't wait.... On that same vein, I have bought several rosemary plants again. After keeping my solitary rosemary plant alive all winter..not doing great, but still alive, I have managed to kill it off by forgetting it and left it on the porch one cold night when I had been "sunning" it one day. The new ones, of course, are healthy. But then I have only had them a week or so.

BrunieMae has pictures posted of her house tour.  www.saltboxfarm.com and click on residence. It takes a while to upload. Be patient. It is well worth the wait. I couldn't get away last week when she entertained The Old Granary shop owner, JoAnn, and her good friend Robbi, at the shop and her house, and for lunch! Days like that are so special. But we MUST do it again. I always love seeing what other people do in their homes. Mine is going to be decidedly less.  I am putting some of my own collections on the July 9 & 10 Market here at the farm. I have been looking around here with a