Celebrating Fall's Abundance

This week we've had a reprieve from the rain and heat.  It's been sunny, cool and windy.  The flood waters are receding and life is returning to normal.

As a community, we have work to do, cleaning up from the muddy mucky mess. Thankfully here we are high and dry, but many others are hosing down, assessing the damage, repairing and starting over.  My dear friend, Kamyar Enshayan is rightfully calling for a rethinking of our use of our resources and our relationship to our land and waters.

The last several years the monarchs floating in and around our gardens have been scarce.  The bees are dying in record numbers.  And no one really knows the answer to why though some scientists are pointing to the use of neonicotinoids, an insecticide.

This is the process of being human.  We change our environment, we learn the consequences of those changes and then modify our behaviours.

Last week a bald eagle kept us company as we played tennis.  When I was a kid growing up in the 1970's bald eagles were an endangered species.  I only saw them on TV.  Now living here so close to the river, I see them all the time.  There is hope, we can change how we live. We can live in harmony with our natural environment. This phenomenal recovery of the eagles points to the difference we can make with thoughtful conservation of our natural resources.

As the sun broke through the clouds this week, David Goering from Stella's Gardens called to see if I'd like to tour his production gardens. 

Pumpkin sticks, a relative of eggplant

 Would I? Oh yes, can I bring friends?!

So early Thursday morning, Marijo and I headed over to David's gardens.

David with the largest elephant ears I've ever seen.

The dew was still heavy on the garden.

Lupines, a spring flower

When we arrived David and his crew were busy making door swags to take to the Des Moines' Farmer's Market on Saturday.

Amaranth, bitter sweet,  hairy balls, sea oats, sweet Annie

I spotted this butterfly on the annual salvia.  

That's a big monarch, the kind that fly to Mexico, David said.   I knew that the monarchs that fly to Mexico and California lived longer, but I had no idea they were also larger.  These monarchs will live six to eight months, compared to their summer grandparents who live only two to six weeks.  David plants lots of native milkweed, Asclepias L. to feed the monarchs. This year David estimates he's seen 10 times the number of monarchs he saw last year.  A hopeful sign indeed.

I was surprised to learn that what I call hairy balls

is also in the milkweed family.

David and Marijo

David has almost three acres in flower production in this one garden.  He has two more gardens where he grows sunflowers and broom corn.

Ruby Mood Bean vine pods

The Ruby Mood Bean Vine

David showed Marijo and I how to prepare gladiolus (glads) for winter. 

 First he dug up the plants, tossing the bulbs aside and letting them start the drying process right in the garden.

After the bulbs have dried for a few days, he comes back and breaks off the smaller bottom part of the bulb.

By twisting it.

David throws away the smaller bottom bulb.  This was last year's bulb.  He peels the new larger bulb.

He leaves that outside to dry in the sun.  When it's good and dry, he boxes all of his glad bulbs up and puts them in a basement.  These days most of our basements aren't very cool, but David says that's OK, just get the bulb good and dry!

More of David's annuals:

Black Millet

Sea Oats

Red Celosia in foreground, yellow celosia in background

I believe we can live in the garden of eden right here, right now, if we chose to learn from our mistakes, take care of our own plot of earth and care for and about each other.