Time to plant Garlic!

I have grown garlic for the past couple years, using my extra grocery store bulbs. Even so, the flavor and texture of what comes from my own garden soil are way better than the store bulbs.

This year I took the next step and purchased some "seed" garlic. This garlic is specially produced to plant. I chose a stiffneck variety called 'Music', 2 packages with three bulbs in a package. I got about 30 cloves (check out how nice and big the cloves are!) and planted them in a prepared raised bed.

The cost was about $1 per clove, so my experiment is pricey, but hopefully the results will be worth it.

Across the field

A view over the yellow-green soy beans to the intracoastal waterway and a lone sailboat making it's way south. This time of year large boats move out of the north to warmer climes for the winter. Many stop at the marina in Coinjock along the Albemarle&Chesapeake Canal where a contrast of economies is displayed: ordinary frame houses front the canal towered by luxury yachts in the alongside slips.

The Miners and the Butterfly

As we watch the amazing rescues of the Chile miners today, the story of the miners and the white butterfly is one that sticks: two miners reportedly stopped to watch a white butterfly in the mine and the stop to gaze at that wonder saved them.

There is the idea of a sign and the idea of the chance of it all, but I take away the idea of the stop. I love to stop and look as close as I can at the wonder. It's a stop I learned in childhood; my Father alerted us to look at the bird, the bug, all the wildlife around us.

So stop and gaze, it's all a wonder. Here a Sulfur Cloud Butterfly samples a Hummingbird Vine bloom.

Fall is Here

True evidence of the newest season are these Fall Crocus. Around 6 inches they are a giant next to the typical spring crocus flowers.
My ospreys are gone, hummers are gone, migrant summer nesters long gone and cicadas are quiet. We have been enjoying the fall warblers and I spotted two tiny diving ducks on the causeway today. It has been raining for days and more expected ... but it's still nice and warm. The Fall Crocus knows better though and we can expect cooler weather soon.

Wood Nymph on ivy

The finely detailed wood nymph samples the bloom of an ivy vine.

American Redstart

Spotted this pretty female today, I have yet to see the male. He is black where she is grey.

Storm Troopers

Hurricane Earl was thankfully a minor event. The hummers were in a panicky, fighting mood before today and remain in that frame. I put out two extra feeders on the protected west side before the storm. It's a 'better than tv' show at my kitchen window with plenty of hummers feeding and fighting all day.