A Moveable Garden

Weekly recap of my ritual of existence in this liminal space called life. (See here for more info.)

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• Weather

A tad cool for late July, I’d say, with only one day reaching 80°F. The average high temperature this week was 76.4°F, ranging from 81°F to 68.5°F. The average low temp was 52.8°F, with a narrow range from 50.2°F to 57.4°F. We received a little more than a 1/2 inch of rain, all of it on Tuesday. Still, we’re not in any kind of drought at the moment, not even “abnormally dry” (as of Tuesday). Tell that to my topsoil, which is dust.

• Beginnings/Firsts

As of this week, our local farmstand is selling the corn on the cob it grows, with “Temptress” being the first of several varieties they’ll offer.

• Wild Things (Flora, Fauna, Fungi) in addition to others elsewhere in this post

• Wandering 

I walked in town every day this week. We also walked at a farm tour on Tuesday evening, for a half-hour at The Fells before a raptor event on Wed., and at the bog on Sunday. My husband drove a few towns away to fish on Monday.

in town pics

Fells pics

bog pics

• Curiosity & Discoveries

I found that my single-stem Rose of Sharon (bought last year from the conservation district folks) has created an offspring! I have a friend who wants it, which is perfect.

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We attended a few events this week, including the raptor event at The Fells (mentioned above), which was presented by VINS (Vermont Institute of Natural Science) and featured a broad-winged hawk (who was found as a chick with a fractured shoulder joint), a barn owl (who had been bred in captivity in Aurora, NY, and became an ambassador for VINS), and a kestrel. We attended one of these programs years ago at VINS and they’re always well done, the information accessible and engaging for kids and adults alike. VINS does a lot of work in bird rehab and education.

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We also took the farm tour at a local farm/farmstand, on Tuesday evening, which we try to do every time it’s offered and we still always learn something new or notice something we hadn’t before, and we often see friends and neighbours there (as we did this year). The local foods and drinks are great, too.

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My husband helped put on a show at the local museum featuring one-cylinder machines and tractors on Saturday. I attended for a while (they had Brothers donuts!) and talked with the owner of a 1957 John Deere bulldozer, which he spent three years restoring. I was surprised to learn that the parts for it are still available and don’t have to be specially fabricated. (I was having some photography challenges with the sun!)

• Creating

I had no real way of knowing when I planted the seedlings in the raised bed but I think I’ve actually created a pretty viable garden in there, with the tall things (tomatoes) on the north side so they don’t block the sun, the lettuce in the shadier section, the vining things (tomatoes and cucumbers) supported well enough with cages and trellises, and ample space for the basil, dill, rosemary, tarragon, calendula, and whatever else is in there to get light and air. It’s working! And so far, the netting cover my husband created is also keeping out not only deer but even slugs while bees are still doing their thing to pollinate.

• Repairing and Maintaining the human(s), the cat, and the cars

Human: I worked out three times (3 hours) this week, with weights, stretching, dancing (Body Electric streaming program). I walked more than 11,000 steps each day, more than 14,000 steps on five days, with a high of 18.381 steps on Thursday. I meditated each evening, totalling 4 hours 35 mins. I got a haircut on Thursday.

• Nesting

Cleaning/Maintenance: We did two loads of clothes laundry, one on Tuesday and the other on Friday. I vacuumed and cleaned the sunroom (1 hour) and vacuumed and tidied the kitchen on Friday, prior to hosting Salon. We did the dump/recycling run on Sunday. I cleaned toilets, counters, the usual, as well.

Financial/Admin: I called Amtrak on Monday to sort out the changes mentioned in an email to my Sept. trip booking.

Supplies: Biggish supply week. The Amazon S&S was delivered on Wednesday (almonds, shampoo, tea, Vit C throat drops, vitamins, a few cat treats). Our autoship Chewy order (more cat treats) was delivered on Thursday. On Tuesday I placed (and have already received) a Nuts.com order with free shipping (English walnuts, raw Brazil nuts, healthy trail mix, and peanut butter-filled pretzels). Thursday I ordered two pairs of socks from Darn Tough (free shipping). We also picked up some free plastic hangers, coffee filters, composter biobags, and three small trellises at the dump swap shop on Sunday:

cat with his delivery

Food: Leftover cacio e pepe with shrimp & artichoke hearts for dinner Monday, along with sautéed summer squash, onions, and green peppers + (our) cukes and humus. Tuesday we ate enough veggies, humuses, fruit, cheese, crackers, and meat, etc., at the farm tour to call it dinner and just had a little leftover mac & cheese with peas and tuna later. We grilled dogs (soy and beef) on Wed., with corn on the cob, herb & garlic rice pilaf, + cukes and carrots and humus. Wednesday I made a potato salad by noon which we chilled until dinner and enjoyed that with grilled swordfish topped with our (2025) pesto and sautéed green beans. Leftover swordfish and potato salad on Friday, this time with sautéed summer squash, onions, and green peppers. Veggie burgers on Sat., with arugula (finished up ours and farmstand’s), corn on the cob, and ? On Sunday we ate outside at a localish restaurant for a late lunch/an early dinner (grilled trout and pan-seared halibut, both in piccata sauce, with cooked snap peas and radishes, and either fingerling potatoes or lemon Parmesan orzo salad. My husband made some naan to have on hand for vegan curry next week.

• Garden

I spent almost 6 hours in the garden this week, watering, weeding, harvesting (raspberries, cucumbers, dill, Little Gem romaine lettuce, and about 1/3 of the garlic, which is still too small), cutting back baptisia and cutting out old hydrangea stems, pulling invasives. puttering. My husband also harvested raspberries and pulled invasives and on Thursday he did some sheet mulching and applying wood chips (left from the spruce removal) to the expanded fruit guild edging.

some garden pics this week

• Sleeping & Dreaming

I slept an average of 7.5 hours per night this week, with a (Samsung Fit 3) score of 87.7 and a range of scores from 81 to 95. I enjoyed blissful dreamy REM sleep for 13 hours 45 mins and deep restorative sleep for 8 hours.

• Reading / Words & Ideas / Listening / Watching  

Reading

Didn’t finish any books this week.

OTHERS

All these articles & essays interested me:

Who was the worst monster of the 20th century? And who is the worst monster of the 21st? by Noah Smith at Noahpinion on 22 July 2026.

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Those bugs are eating my flowers! What do I do? by Chris Helzer at The Prairie Ecologist on 23 July 2026. From which,

“There’s a lot of discussion these days about what species are invasive or pests and which aren’t. Does it matter whether they’re native or not? Should we just stop even thinking about invasive species as problems and live with them? It’s a good discussion to have, though I think the answer to the last question is an easy “no” – or, at least, “no, we can’t just ignore all invasive species and hope things will turn out for the best.”

Again, the real question is “what do we do?” As a land steward, my answer to this hinges on whether a species is working against my big objectives. My biggest objective is to facilitate ecological resilience, which largely depends on species diversity and the size and connectivity of habitat. As a result, when I’m thinking about how to respond to a plant or animal that seems potentially problematic, I ask myself if it seems to be decreasing resilience. Is it fragmenting habitat and decreasing the ability of prairie species to use or thrive in that area? Is it monopolizing resources and simplifying the plant or animal community it has moved into? If the answer is yes, I feel like action needs to be considered. Those questions, by the way, apply to both native and non-native species.”

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Maybe it will happen today: Solvej Balle monitors the situation by Helena Fitzgerald at Oakland Review of Books on 23 July 2026, about my current favourite books. From which,

“What made Balle’s novels so bizarrely compelling for me, what made me unable to stop reading each next volume until I had finished it, was, I think, the same impulse that draws readers back to the ceaseless livestream of social media. On the Calculation of Volume grabbed my attention the way the internet does, and I read each new novel the way I open up Instagram, again, a second after I’ve closed it. The vigilant nothing of the novels is compelling because I have taught myself, in weeks and months and years of days online in the twenty-first century, to be compelled by exactly this: monitoring the situation, waiting for nothing to happen, hoping to solve problems whose scope is beyond my understanding by simply staring very hard at them and doing nothing else, all tension and no expectation of linear narrative.”

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Handy Tip: Aortic Dissection Warning Signs:

Listening

Watching: We watched the last episode of “Schitt$ Creek” this week. Now we’re back to House Hunters episodes.

• Connections &  Community

Local Support: My husband volunteered at the local museum for 15 hours this week, including helping with a weekend event. We attended some public events this week locally, including a raptor meet & greet, a farm tour, and the one-lunger event, and I went with a friend to visit a local art gallery on Thursday. My husband & I had lunch outside at a local bakery/café on Wed. and I had lunch outside with a friend at the same spot on Thursday. I bought three summer squash, some blueberries and 2 Penna. peaches at the farmstand on Saturday and (their farm-grown) corn on the cob, green beans, and Natasha gold potatoes on Sunday.

Relationships: I hosted Salon this week, with five of us for 2.25 hours. Our friend RL gave my husband some sourdough starter on Friday because his had molded 🥹 I attended the monthly poetry group on Tuesday, with four of us (JW, DP, BB, and me) sharing poems and town news. I took a friend (ED) to the park & ride to catch a bus to a plane on Wed. afternoon. My husband and I chatted with a neighbour and their dog (JL & O) for about 20 mins on Wed. I ran into a friend (MB) later who told me a mutual friend (JS) was in the hospital, so I was able to head over there to visit with him for 20 mins or so. My husband called a neighbour (EB) on Wed. to see if she would be amenable to having a tree removal set-up on her driveway to take down one or two of our trees (she is). I had my hair cut on Thurs. morning and caught up with my friend/stylist (GV). My friend RL and I visited the art gallery and had lunch at a local bakery/café on Thursday. My husband and I visited with a friend (ND) for 1.5 hours on Saturday afternoon to help her with a few things and have tea together. On Sunday afternoon, we had lunch/dinner at a localish waterside restaurant and bought a bottle of wine from a cellar & pantry spot nearby. My sister and I texted back and forth on Tuesday about Sept. vacation plans.

• Endings/Harvest

I harvested raspberries, cucumbers, dill, Little Gem romaine lettuce, and about 1/3 of the garlic, and my husband also harvested raspberries.

• All This Useless Beauty