spring - grace grits and gardening

Sunday Letter: 03.20.22

March 20, 2022 By Talya Tate Boerner

Good morning, Sunday Letter friends and HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SPRING!

E x h a l e.

We survived Old Man Winter again. I gotta be honest—there were days I thought winter would never end. I’m exaggerating a bit, (but not really).

Nature teaches us so many lessons if only we would listen and see and learn.

All the daffodil and crocus bulbs buried in our flower beds, all the tree roots reaching deep into the soil, the robins and chickadees and Carolina wrens, the squirrels that are busy unburying walnuts hidden away during fall—they never doubted spring would come.Continue Reading

Sunday Letter: 05.23.2021

May 23, 2021 By Talya Tate Boerner

Dear Sunday Letter friends,

Even though last week was drizzly and gray, I managed to get a few hours of garden time in here and there. Our milkweed is really growing. This is a good thing since I found three monarch caterpillars already! Milkweed is the ONLY plant monarchs eat and the ONLY place they lay eggs. So—absolutely—milkweed is an essential plant for a butterfly garden.

Rain or shine, I go out and inspect our plants daily to see what’s happening. This is the best way I know to learn the needs of our trees and shrubs and blooming plants. Things can change overnight. We humans like to think we are in charge, but we are simply riding along with mother nature, doing what we can to nip problems and encourage the good.Continue Reading

Dear May,

May 1, 2020 By Talya Tate Boerner

Dear May,

I breathe in your pea green freshness. I crawl on my hands and knees looking for every tiny change in each plant pushing through the soil.

May is for feeling alive. (This May, in particular, we need you.)

I think of May Day and may poles and while I don’t know the history behind it all, I like the idea. Girls dressed in floaty, flouncy dresses wrapping Easter-colored ribbons around and around and under and over. Hair woven with flowers—clover and daisies and baby’s breath.