Growing my own vegetables has always seemed like a doable thing. In February I start looking at seed catalogs. I am wowed over the beautiful chards, striped tomatoes and unusual gourds. In March, I think about starting seeds but usually don't get them going til April.

This year, I decided to try out Four Square vegetable gardening. My garden looks so well organized. Is is a method of intensive gardening whereby each squarefoot holds a certain number of plants depending on what you're growing in that square. For example, one square foot for one tomato plant. One square foot can hold 4 lettuce or 6 pea plants. The lettuce seedlings I bought from the Tricycle Garden did so well and were delicious.The greenbeans, cucumbers,pepper plants and chard looked  lovely until last week.....

I find that I am not match for the critters. 

We have the groundhogs, Percy and Mazzie. This year they have not been quite so bold....yet.

 
 My biggest rival right now is a very rascally raccoon. The raccoon has remained unnamed unless you count what I call it under my breath. She (or he) not only deflated our fun inflatable pool but also  had a blast tearing apart the new $8 Slip and Slide. I know because she left prints everywhere. She woke me up three time this week rummaging through the recycling. Little creature really wanted to open the peanut butter container. Raccoon has also nibbled all the tender tendrils of my greenbeans and swiped several cucumbers. She made my pepper plants and ruby swiss chard disappear.

You can deter a groundhog to some extent but what can you do about a raccoon? Smart little badass.

All I know is I'm thankful these critters don't have a taste for butternut squash, granny plum melons, tomatoes or basil because I would cry.

photo by Kimmy Certa, Howdershi in his Catnip Pot , 2008

Chris: "Where are the kids?"
Kimmy: "In the garden catching fireflies as they should be."

Moments later I walk out onto the deck and see three children in a huddle.
They are catching fireflies and putting them in a white teacup. After catching the bug, they name it and let it go.

Crux:  "I caught one. I caught one! What's his name?"
Jacob: " Prince Caspian!"
Crux: "Ane, what this one's name?" He shouts with urgency.
Ane: "Teleffi!!"
Crux: "Teleffi? Okay, bye bye Teleffi." 

They run around the yard with tinkertoy wands catching, tea cupping, naming and releasing fireflies.
Their play is urgent, serious and joy centered.

"I named one daffodil and let it go," I hear my boy say.

Little snap shots. Big living.
I don't think I could be much happier right now. 

photo: Kimmy Certa, Butterfly Fairy. 2008 

We ate the bamboo but one can only eat so much bamboo. Mulberries, however, won't be a problem. I've got plans for these under appreciated berries. Today we made muffins. Tomorrow, mulberry wine !

You may also notice that some of the mulberries are white. For a few days I wondered why the mulberries on one tree in the alley weren't ripening and then I noticed that some of the berries were large and soft. I tasted one and it was sweet and ripe. Then, I recalled from my readings that there is such a thing as white mulberries. They taste just like the black ones to me.

"The best way to control bamboo is to eat it."

~David Fairchild, American Botanist and plant explorer 

In order to distract myself from my foul mood and temper, I decided yesterday that I was going to go with the flow. It was overcast and cool and I needed a day of nothing. It was urgent that I do so.

I sent the kids out into the yard to kick over bamboo shoots like I do every time this year. There is a huge stand of it in our neighbor's yard but every year it sends out more roots and shoots. They are impossible to destroy. The incredible growing grass was planted by the previous owners and now they are gone and know not what they did.  Every spring bamboo shoots emerge on our side of the fence. They grow with amazing speed, sometimes several inches in a day.  If we were to move out of our home there is no doubt in my mind that the bamboo and honeysuckle would take over the house in short order. Not only would these invasive plants bust through the foundation and cover the roof but I reckon Percy, the groundhog, and all the little songbirds would move in. It would be a lovely little ruin.

Each year as we kick over the shoots I tell the kids that you can eat bamboo shoots. Indeed, one of our neighbors used to come over and collect the shoots to cook in his outdoor kitchen. They have since moved from the neighborhood, but I was always fascinated by Fred because he could find Chanterelle mushrooms growing on stumps in the alley and make a gourmet meal in his backyard without heating up the house. He was a mountain man.

I'm an amateur mountain woman , except I fancy I'd live near the shore....

I've always been very interested in identifying plants and wildlife. Bugs , like the fluffy centipede crawling on the wall of the pizza shop on Friday, get me giddy. Finding a Ladyslipper is cause for celebration, and being able to make a meal from foraged plants is something I aspire to. So, when Ane said, "Let's cook the bamboo," I decided to go with the flow.

She collected a few shoots and I peeled all of the tough outer leaves off until I found the soft yellow/white center. I chopped it and boiled it for 20 minutes. I read that boiling it takes out the bitter. Then I made a bamboo gratin with milk a little butter and flour, garlic and bread crumbs. It was very tasty and Ane (4 years old) had three servings for dinner: little Panda Boo.

This week I will make a bamboo slaw with sesame and ginger dressing. 

Meanwhile, I'll try to cast off this foul and angry mood that April has bestowed upon me and try to make sense of it all through creative cooking and foraging.

We spent our Sunday talking about fertility symbols, what Easter is all about for Christians, eating chocolate eggs, and painting the front porch. I turned over a bed for my cilantro and and peas and sowed alyssum and snapdragon seeds. I gathered the hair from our brushes and put it out for the birds, rehung the purple birdhouse our son made and yelped quite loudly when I dug up a sleeping baby brown snake. The small people spent the day giggling and playing in that harmonious state of imaginary play that makes mamas and papas smile at each other with deep satisfaction. It was a great day.

Yep, life is clipping along and it feels good. We haven't spotted Percy the groundhog yet but I continue to fret over what to do about the voracious  rodent and her offspring. Last year, most of gardening endeavors were digested by Percy and the bunnies. The wild turkeys haven't appeared yet. I forgot to write down when we first saw mama turkey and babies last year. I won't forget this year!

This year, I am trying to be more tolerant of the wild black berries that took up residence in the middle of my herb garden. That area will hence forward be known as THE blackberry patch. Actually, we have two. One on either side of the house. They have also decided to intermingle with the grapevines that adorn  great lengths of our chain link fence.  I will tolerate the prickly canes for the sake of purple stained fingers and because the turkeys love them so.

Last week my son asked me why spring is the shortest season. I explained to him that all of the seasons are of equal length but he didn't believe me and neither did I. 

Perhaps it is because spring is fraught with anticipation, smells, hopes, dreams, life, color, dirty hands and warm shoulders and it is all just too intense to last any longer than it does.