Reading & Books - grace grits and gardening

Seeds, glorious seeds! (Little Free Library update)

March 13, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner

Just a quick update on our Little Free Library! Yesterday morning I added seeds (glorious seeds) to the seed exchange box. If you’re like me, spring fever has arrived. Wednesday’s seventy degree afternoon pushed me over the edge. Plus, spring break is around the corner, so I deemed it time to break out the seeds for my Fayetteville friends who are planting cool weather veggies and planning their spring and summer gardens.

I owe a big thank you to my friend Debbie Arnold (Dining with Debbie) who shared several of her heirloom tomato varieties from her Little Rock garden. And there are a few seeds from Promise of Peace Community Garden in Dallas.

Sharing is the whole point. Sharing seeds and food and growing as a community.

Since we “opened” our Little Free Library, an interesting, varied selection of books has cycled in and out. Seeing people stop and look and take books or leave books is very cool. The books change daily, and I find myself reading more. The dogs like it too because they have more opportunity to bark. Winner, winner all around.

Today’s offerings. Little Free Library & Seed Exchange, Fayetteville, Ar

Happy planting, happy reading!

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]Take what you need. Seed exchange in our #LittleFreeLibrary! @LtlFreeLibrary @DiningwithDeb [/tweetthis]

For more information about the Little Free Library program, click HERE.

“Underground, pale seeds roll over in their sleep. Starting to get restless. Starting to dream green.”
― Laurie Halse Anderson

Musical Pairing:

Oliver! Food Glorious Food

searching for a Boo Radley tree

February 10, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner

I’ve been searching for the perfect Boo Radley tree. Know what I mean? A tree with a knothole in it, just the right height and size to leave trinkets inside. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Boo Radley hid treasures in a tree knothole for Scout and Jem.

I know you love the book as much as I, and if you don’t, well, what can I say? You might want to do some deep soul searching.

In case you need a refresher, here’s a list of the gifts left in the tree:

2 pieces of chewing gum (Wrigley’s Double Mint)

2 scrubbed and polished pennies (1906 and 1900 Indian-heads)

1 ball of gray twine

2 almost perfect miniatures of two children (Scout and Jem)

1 whole package of chewing gum

1 tarnished medal (Spelling Bee medal)

1 pocket watch that wouldn’t run, on a chain with an aluminum knife

With all the trees in our neighborhood, there must be a perfect Boo Radley tree. And I have plenty of opportunity to search. I walk Lucy and Annabelle several times a day so that at night they do this…

It works rather well. They pull on their leashes in different directions, bark at squirrels and people on bikes and mothers pushing baby strollers while I look at trees. I notice the bark more during the winter. Nature’s patterns are stunning, especially when there’s no hiding behind spring blossoms or autumn foliage.

Red berries truly pop.

Knotholes are noticeable. Boo Radley holes. I found a few contenders.

This one’s a little small. (Hard to tell in the picture.)

This is my favorite so far.

Now, what to put inside there?

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

“People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.”

― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Musical Pairing:

Horst Jankowski – A Walk in the Black Forest

Stephen King should help pay for our move.

September 13, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

What’s everyone doing this weekend?

I’ll be packing. I’ve been packing for two days, and I’m still packing books. How ridiculous. And yes, I’ve already driven a trunk load to Half-Price Books. Stephen King or John Grisham or some author whose work is filling our shelves should pitch in for the cost of our extremely HEAVY moving truck. Yes, we are book hoarders. Always have been. Always will be.

I read that you should only move books that are a) rare, b) have sentimental value, or c) will be read again. With these rules in mind, we still have enough books to lay end to end from Dallas to Fayetteville. That sentimental value rule gets me every time.

The process is sloooowwww because I find books that necessitate stopping, reading, studying. The old book pictured below came from the Keiser High School Library. Obviously I didn’t steal it because according to the due date card, the return date was “Never Ever” (mysteriously in my handwriting).

Do you remember the post “Things I Don’t Need More of Even If I Live To Be 104”? Add to the list Christmas Cards! I have discovered sacks and sacks of brand new cards stuck away in closets or cabinets. I snagged them at after-Christmas sales. A word of advice…buying something on sale never to be used is not a deal.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Smashing Pumpkins, Drown

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