Greenies Unite!

Leprechaun, Behind the deli counter in an Albuquerque Whole Foods, March 17, 2010, photo © 2010 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.

There once was a smiling leprechaun
with a golden beard and skin the color of fake lawn.
She worked at Whole Foods in a place called “The Deli”
and when laughed, she jiggled her belly.
She took our order then got her Green on.

HAPPY St. Patty’s Day!

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Life Of An American Green Tree Frog

American Green Tree Frog, Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 2009, photo © 2009 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Is green Envy’s hue?
Or simply bumps on the skin
of a scared tree frog.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Post Script:  Can’t seem to get moving this week. After we had to let Chaco go last Thursday, the only thing that seems to sooth me is Nature. Hence, the American Green Tree Frog. On Summer Solstice, Liz accidentally brushed this little guy off a glass table filled with blooming plants; she thought it was a leaf. When she screamed, he suddenly leaped off the tip of her palm and on to the deck. After the initial shock, I caught him in a glass coffee mug so I could safely let him go in the garden.

 

Eye To Frog Eye, Minneapolis, Minnesota,
June 2009, photo © 2009 by QuoinMonkey.
All rights reserved.

 
 

The Frog Moon came late on the heels of a dry Spring. I think Frog is one of Liz’s totems. I rarely see them in our yard or gardens. But Liz seems to bump into them everywhere. It turns out our little green friend may be with us for a while — the average lifespan of a frog is 4 to 15 years.

 You can listen to the American Green Tree Frog and read Weird Frog Facts at Frogland: All About Frogs.

 

-posted on red Ravine, Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

-related to posts: WRITING TOPIC – TOADS & FROGS, A Celebration Of GREEN On red Ravine…, What Is Your Totem Animal?, Cracking Envy (Or How I Learned To Stop Romancing A Deadly Sin), haiku 2 (one-a-day)

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The Ant & The Peony

The Ant & The Peony, a garden haiku, Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 2009, all photos © 2009 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

benevolent myth
growing in gardens worldwide
do ants open buds?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

When the peonies on the side of our house start to bud in June, lines of ants quickly follow. Until a moment ago, I believed that ants licked the sugar off the peonies, helping their transition from bud to bloom. Turns out that’s a myth. According to Robert F. Gabella at GardenOpus, the ants’ annual ritual of  “tickling of the buds” occurs because they are attracted to the sweet resin on the peonies; the buds would open regardless of the ants.

Of course, it’s more fun to bury my head in the compost and keep believing that the ant has a reciprocal and benevolent relationship to the peony, much like the mythology surrounding the ant and the grasshopper — (for more detail, see ybonesy’s post The Ant & The Grasshopper – Ann Patchett & Lucy Grealy). For me, the myth is more delicious than the truth; perhaps the ant wants to keep its little secret.

 
 

 
 

A few other Fun Facts about peonies:

 
 
 
 

• they may not flower until after the first season
• established peonies can be heavy feeders
• peonies are especially needy of potassium (essential for stem strength and disease resistance)
• herbaceous peonies are known to remain in the same position, undisturbed, for over a century
• after cutting, you can remove ants from peonies by using a mild soap spray or dish detergent (from The Old Farmer’s Almanac)
• ants do provide protection–they attack other bud-eating pests by stinging, biting, or spraying them with acid and tossing them off the plant (also from The Old Farmer’s Almanac)

 
 
If you are like me, you spend a lot of time digging in the dirt and constantly have questions about plants and gardening solutions. Do you know the names of your flowers? Maybe you have trouble with groundhogs or slugs, or need advice about seed starting, passion flowers, or orchids. You can read more tips from award-winning horticulturist, hybridist, photographer and author Robert F. Gabella at GardenOpus (also found on Twitter!)

 

-posted on red Ravine, Thursday, June 18th, 2009

-related to posts: haiku 2 (one-a-day), Ghost With A Green Thumb, PRACTICE: Digging in the Dirt – 10min

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A Celebration Of GREEN On red Ravine…

   



In honor of St. Patty’s Day…
a sampling of GREEN on red Ravine

_________________________________________________________________

GREEN Scene

   

Posts

• Green Is As Green Does
• Silent Green
• Gargantuan Green

_________________________________________________________________

GREEN Machine





Posts

• The Ten Secrets Of Green
• Gangrene Isn’t Green, Is It?
• Yo Mama’s Green

_________________________________________________________________

GREEN Queen


 


Posts

• Can You Believe I Wore This Jacket?
• Death Of A Short Green Sweater

_________________________________________________________________

GREEN Cuisine & Routine



 


Posts

• WRITING TOPIC — OLIVES
• WRITING TOPIC — TOADS & FROGS
• WRITING TOPIC — GREENING

_________________________________________________________________


Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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hail to spring haiku trilogy

Hail To Spring, hail storm on the last day of May, 2008, Minneapolis, Minnesota, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.

rising heat currents
confusing mixed messages
5 in the bathtub

weather radio
candles, pillows, and matches
Kiev runs away

hail rips off shingles
angry green kicks and sputters
two-faced blue Sunday

 

            

-posted on red Ravine, Thursday, June 5th, 2008

-related to post, haiku (one-a-day)

 

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The Ten Secrets Of Green

1. Green frijoles don’t cause gas
2. Toads and frogs are cousins to insects
3. Everything I know about green I learned from a diaper
4. The NM state question–do you know what it is?
5. If you like it both ways, it’s called Christmas
6. If U.S. paper money were pink or orange like in other countries, we might not be so greedy
7. Green’s not a good camouflage in the desert (ask a horned toad)
8. My mother taught me that when your nose slime goes from yellow to green, it’s because your virus has turned bacterial (and it’s time to go on antibiotics)
9. Dad is the green thumb of the family; Mom has toe thumbs
10. I’m not as green as I’d like; it’s hard being green

-from Topic post, Greening

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Gangrene Isn’t Green, Is It?

I remember taking a workshop in Taos with Rob Wilder. He took us in groups into the log cabin at Mabel Dodge Luhan House and had us write down everything we could think of related to certain adjectives. He stood at the front of the room like an army sergeant monitoring our progress. “Don’t stop,” he barked now and then. For the word “yellow,” I wrote lemon, sour, pee, urine, yellow snow, yellow fur, fox fur, yellow mellow, yellow polka dot bikini…and so on. When yellow was done he threw out another word.

I’ve been painting these past three weeks, mixing colors with my Pelikan 12-color paint set. Colors are like words. Maybe there are finite shades of green, but I’ll never know all of them in my lifetime. I used Paint to make a collage of the various greens I’ve dreamed up of late with my real paints. I’m green when it comes to green, I realized.

Olive green and army green, sage and the color of money. Quinces and pears, Granny Smith apples, celery, cucumber skin, canvas (tents and sleeping bags), seafoam green, emeralds. Lime green, Kelly green, yellow-green snot.

I’m not anywhere done with green, but I figured I’d better get started.

-from Topic post, Greening.

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Green Is As Green Does

Guardian Green Frog of Indria, Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 7th, 2006, photo © 2006-2008 by Skywire. All rights reserved.

Green is as green does. I wouldn’t be nearly as green without Liz pushing me along. Now that I live in a house rather than an apartment, I see things in a new light – it’s luscious green. I didn’t have many choices in apartment living. I recycled into a bag under the sink and carted it out to the brown plastic bin once a week. The rest was decided by the landlord who happened to be a realty company. I didn’t have a lot of maintenance. Things have changed.

On Earth Day, the local news told me our carbon footprints are sinking into a quagmire. We emit 30% more carbon in the last 15 years. And out of planes and boats and trains, forget miles to the gallon; we are talking gallons to the mile. For a family of 3 to fly to London requires 50% more carbon than driving your car for a whole year.

But enough stats. Here’s what Liz helps me to do around our house to stay green:

• Paperless billing – no brainer.
• Pay bills online – another no brainer.
• Compost – we put a composter together a few years ago. The hardest part was finding a spot out of nose length of the neighbors. The city offered the bins to people at a discounted rate as a green promotion. Once a week, in go all the egg shells, carrot tops, French Roast coffee grounds, brown biodegradable filters, yard leaves, and vegetable skins. In the spring, out comes the fertilizer for the gardens. Slick system.
• Electricity from wind – Liz says she made the choice to pay a little more for our electricity to be generated completely from wind sources. I think that’s kind of cool. I didn’t know I had the option.
• Compact fluorescents – we’ve started switching over to compact fluorescent light bulbs. I don’t usually like the cool light. But they are starting to make them with warmer tones. You can save a bundle on electricity.
• Motorcycles – we own two motorcycles.  This has to be the most efficient way to travel with only a few bucks to fill the tank. The only problem in Minnesota is that springs and summers are short-lived. You have to have a thick, cool weather skin.

That’s all I can think of for now. Liz said we should add a 7th – start collecting the shedding winter fur of Kiev, Mr. Stripeypants, and Chaco and make a pair of long underwear for next season. I don’t know if I’m quite that desperate. But we’ll see.

Tuesday, April 24th, 2007

-from Topic post, WRITING TOPIC – GREENING

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