grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Zebra Plant Love

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Zebra Plant + Vintage Planter

Even the blackest of thumbs can successfully grow a zebra plant! These small succulents are very forgiving and rarely complain about anything. Several years ago, I planted one tiny zebra baby in my vintage ceramic planter. Look at her now. She’s bloomed several times and has all but outgrown her container.

A few days ago when it was pouring rain and I couldn’t do any yard work, I scratched my gardening itch by showing my zebra plant a little love.

But first, a story about these ceramic planters. Popular in the 60s and 70s, they were often filled with flowers and delivered to hospitals upon the birth of babies.

My mother received this scottie dog planter when I was born. I often wonder what sort of flowers were inside? Probably carnations, if I had to guess. (And maybe if I searched through my baby book, I could figure it out because Momma saved those little It’s a Girl! cards.) The important thing to note is that somehow Scottie has been in our family for over half a century (gulp), and now he’s one of my favorite pieces of gardening decor.

If I had to evacuate due to fire or flood or famine, I would grab him!Continue Reading

Sunday Letter from Spring Break

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Sunday Letter

Dear Sunday Letter friends,

Today’s writing is really a What I Did On My Spring Break letter.

Remember writing that specific “what I did” essay in school? As if going back to school wasn’t bad enough, the teachers made us write about our summer vacations during the first week of school. For me (and for Gracie Lee), that essay served one purpose. It was a depressing reminder that barefoot lake days were over. For the foreseeable future I would be spending a bunch of hours sitting at my school desk looking at the back of Timmy Stone’s head.

Nothing against Timmy Stone. We were good friends. It’s just that we sat in alphabetical order, you know.

As we fast forward from elementary school to last week, I hope you enjoyed your first few official days of spring!Continue Reading

How to be a good Literary Citizen

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How to be a good literary citizen

Literary Citizenship?

Lately I’ve been thinking about the topic of literary citizenship. I learned of this concept from author, Kathleen Rooney. When Kathleen spoke about it at a writer conference, she credited Cathy Day who teaches a class on the idea. Kathleen’s talk on literary citizenship was a light bulb moment for me. I’d been working to be a good literary citizen without knowing there was an official term for it. But I realized there was more I could do in that department. There’s always more we can do, right?

No, this isn’t anything new. Anyone who tries to follow the golden rule will likely do many of these things already. But putting a title on the concept expanded the idea for me and gave me a clear pathway to follow.

So what does it mean to be a literary citizen?

Literary citizenship is about supporting the literary community, whether you are a writer or a reader, a storyteller of any sort. That’s all of us! Continue Reading

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!