Imagine:
Luelinda Rogers Fluornoy is shown here delivering the cake she made for Granny Wescomb’s 64th birthday party in Shidler, Oklahoma circa 1954. Leulinda’s boyfriend (and Daddy’s farmhand) Robert Ashcraft who chauffeured her here in her daddy’s truck, is off to the side as he didn’t feel he had come properly dressed for such a photo. He said he, ‘never dreamed they’d be a takin’ pictures and such…’
The Fluornoy’s ran a cattle ranch in Osage county for three generations. Luelinda was not keen on continuing her portion of the family ranching tradition but Robert and her daddy had been slowly making headway on her change of attitude. Her older brothers continued ranching on their parcels and eventually one took part time work at the Pawhuska Post office. It was a solid family but not close knit.
Though rites of passage have been around since the dawning of time, as a general theory of socialization the concept (and the term) was first formally coined by the French social scientist and anthropologist Arnold van Gennep.
These markers represent some of what is now planted in my summer garden.
Cleaning out the garden, the refrigerator, the cabinet, my neighbor’s garden…that’s what My Little Victory Garden life has been like for the past week. I’m starting to use up the cabbage in my garden which leaves space for…peppers, Cucuzzi squash and cucumbers. I’m starting to pull up and use my mature lettuce heads which will leave space for, well, more lettuce. And some late okra. And we finished the summer garden bed so I can clean out the plants in my garage that have been waiting for a nice home. I just need to hire an eco-friendly skip bin rental Adelaide for green waste removal services.
I’m incredibly pumped about the beautiful heirloom varieties I purchased in Guthrie. I’ve been waiting for a good time to swing by Terra Cotta Garden Center on Division (I can’t even find a phone number for them!) because they carry a nice variety of Red Dirt Plants. They’re large, strong and healthy and help me catch up on the growing time I missed.
Everyone goes through “cleaning out” periods in their kitchen’s, homes or gardens…so here’s what mine looked like on Sunday night when I started writing this post: 1) Hmmm, I think I’ve had that box of Green Chili Stew Mix since Christmas…2009; Continue reading My Little Victory Garden, Entry 12: Cleaning Out…Everything→
This little tool saves hours in the garden, so I can spend hours away from it.
It’s been said that the right tool makes every job easier. I say, that, my friend, is a fact.
I spent many hours on Mother’s Day relocating my last year’s garden. I discovered that mowing around it was a problem, so this year we decided to make a few adjustments. Creating a new garden is easy enough, however, filling in the former garden spot with grass (not weeds) can be tough. I had been working diligently relocating Bermuda grass when I remembered a garden tool I bought a couple of summers ago.
My husband calls this the “Weed Twister.” It was purchased because I refused to use weed killer in my yard. We had finally begun to see some grass growing on our property, but it was accompanied by a monster weed that was virtually impossible to dig up. I was spending ten or fifteen minutes digging up each weed. I was not getting very far. This tool helps get the job done. The key is the claw at the bottom. The claw is attached to a long pole so the gardener does not have to continuously bend over. Simply stand over the weed, pound the tool into the ground over the weed, and twist. Do it again. That should loosen it enough to get even the toughest weed out of the ground. Continue reading Meanwhile, Back at The Ranch: The Mother of All Garden Tools→
This wide angle shot is of my mother, my brother and I working in what appears to be a flower bed on the west side of our home, circa late 60s. Days like this probably encouraged me to like flowers. Thanks, mom. I do indeed like flowers.
This is my first born when she was four or five years old. When she was born (May 3, 1987), her bilirubin tests were showing very high results so we had to take her back to the hospital every day to get a blood test. I felt helpless as I held her screaming little body while they drew blood from her tiny foot. The first day we DIDN’T have to go to the hospital? Mother’s Day of that year. What a gift! I chose this photo because my eldest listens and watches everything, and when I look at this shot it encapsulates those observational and analytical qualities she has.