October Walkabout

I’ve been feeling bum most of the day, but a glance out my bedroom window and I knew it was time for a walkabout, aching bones be damned. The alluring slant of sunlight through the woods pulled me right out the back door with my camera in hand.

I passed the duke-it-out perennial bed, where vinca, garlic chives, quaking grass, and native buckbrush are doing their best to annihilate each other. It’s hard to say who is winning, although the garlic chives and quaking grass have claimed a lot of vinca territory.

At the west end of our yard I visited the memorial and noted that the old locust stump is still holding together.

Heading back toward our house I stopped to admire a tree stump that has been slowly rotting away during the 38 years we have lived here. The detritus, which I call stump rot, will soon be decayed enough to harvest. After sifting out the chunks I will use it as seed-starting medium.

I love the way the base of that old tree embraced and lifted a stone as it grew.

Every walkabout includes a tour of our vegetable garden. Today I was pleased to see that the Egyptian onions I started last spring are reproducing as expected. Instead of blooming, these onions produce a cluster of babies atop a tall stalk. When the stalk dries it falls over and the bulblets take root. That’s why they are called “walking onions.” They also multiply by dividing – where I planted one, there now are two. These onions are perennial and provide fresh green onions early each spring.

The walkabout ended with a bit of foraging, the gathering of dandelion greens. I’m using a new harvest method. Instead of using a dandelion digger to take the whole plant, I used scissors to cut only the part of each leaf that I will cook. Preparation will be much easier and faster this way. Now that I’ve discovered how delicious their leaves are I don’t want to eradiate even one dandelion. Here's my harvest, ready to chop and saute. The greens will supplement the left-over pot roast for supper tonight.

If you’re feeling bum, I strongly recommend a walkabout. A little bending and stretching doesn’t hurt either.

Copyright 2013 by Shirley Domer