grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

in the early garden

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early morning in the garden / things the night owls miss

There’s a transparency in the early garden as fresh sunlight begins to filter down from Mount Sequoyah. Sweet air, clear thoughts, the dogs walk instead of sniff. O, the night-owls miss so much. I thank Daddy for my early-bird nature. And, Papa Creecy before him. Growing up in the Delta, I was surrounded by hard-working farmers who saw the sunrise every morning. It’s in my DNA. I bet if I do one of those ancestry tests, the early-bird farm girl slice of pie would be one of the largest pieces.Continue Reading

Amen to the Lusty Tomato

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the lusty tomatoOne of my favorite things about summer? TOMATOES! There’s nothing like a fresh from the garden, sun-warmed, salt-sprinkled, juice-dripping-down-your-chin tomato. Can I get an Amen? When you grow your own or make a beeline for the farmers market and/or roadside fruit stand each week, you’ll soon learn the mealy, flavorless, faded-to-pink tomatoes at the grocery store are a pathetic substitute for the lusty heirloom.

A “real deal” tomato stirs up all the memories for me: eating them straight off the vine, aunts who made wonderful tomato sauce, soup, and chow chow. Momma served a big slice on every supper plate. Continue Reading

mid-June Garden Shenanigans

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mid-June Garden Shenanigans

Since I returned from Iceland, I’ve been writing like a fiend. Between all the words, I garden. That’s pretty much it. Weeds, y’all. They are thriving. I know my garden as well as I know the manuscript I’m working on. Because when I say, I garden, what I mean is, I crawl around on my hands and knees looking between flowers, pulling weeds by hand, studying the landscape and what’s changed in my brief absence. (Much like scrubbing the lines of my writing, pulling weed words. See what I did there?) I’m here to announce there are some mid-June garden shenanigans at work in my flower beds.

For real.

It’s as though the tiny garden gnomes said, “Hey, she’s gone for two whole weeks! PAR-TEEEE.”

And they have been.Continue Reading

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