Beneath The Wire

The one and only reason there is any full sun in this forest is because of the big gash that was cut through it for the utility lines.

That sun allows for two very distinct sets of growing conditions on our mountain top.

The Tall Flower Meadow is a direct result of gardening the land beneath the wire. The good thing is it is only a double strand, the literal end of the line, and not a major high voltage line.

Part of gardening a utility easement is keeping the trees from coming back. If we do it, the utility company is less likely to come in and use more lethal methods.

Where there is sun, Bulbarella plants her daylilies. I don't have to plant daylilies. She plants enough for ten people. Granted, we have ten times as much land as most people and the gardening appetites to match.

Where there is sun and a blessed piece of flat ground, there is a place to grow fine produce and maybe some ironweed I didn't have the heart to dig out. I thinned them. I figure I can get one more year of bloom from the others. I would transplant them, but every attempt at that has failed. Scattering the seed works much better.

The roadside vegetable garden used to be a pull off on the side of the road. My parents claimed it and fenced it off long ago. Eight years later I have turned hard packed rock filled ground into some of the prettiest dirt you can imagine with wood chips and dung.

The pole in the vegetable garden has guy wires. They were kind enough to add the pretty yellow plastic safety covers. I bought the matching tomato cages.

We plant. I edit. This is what happens in a wild cultivated garden.

Miss Dinah followed me home after supper. She can't seem to find her way back when she follows me here. When she visits on her own, she always goes home. I'll have to walk her home in the morning. Button will harass her in the mean time.

A small house is perched on the edge of the wire. The driveway runs through it. That took out some trees and made more sun in the forest. The Tall Flower Meadow grew right up and engulfed it. I let it. You might even say I encouraged it.