Welcome everyone!
We are a friendly and active bunch, our diaries a verdant palate cleanser from the heavier fare in the the world. Please share your stories, anecdotes and photos. Ask questions, or simply introduce yourself. Shout Out to the lurkers too.
We are here every Saturday at 8 am Central with new content and chit chat continuing throughout the week. A core crew checks in each day.
All comments are read, which makes us the best diary series on DK.
My Grandmother's favorite color was yellow. Her kitchen walls were painted yellow, with 1970’s vegetable art hung on the walls. The fridge was yellow, adorned with ubiquitous 70's fruit magnets. In her front garden stood the patch of pale yellow and lilac iris.
I have one wall in my home painted yellow as a nod to my Grandma's kitchen. On the yellow wall hangs Adolphe Millot prints. Of fruit, veggies and flowers. It's not the same as a three dimensional plastic corn cob on a wood backing she had, but it's a touch of her and a lot of me, in our space. The kitchen. Her home was a sanctuary. Calm, safe and the place where I learned the few manners I actually have. It also provided raspberries, potatoes to be dug, iris, petunia, green beans for dinner every summer and huge trees in the back yard. If I am ever blessed with grandbabies, I hope my home provides the same.
We grandkids were required to help out at dinnertime. Setting the table and drying the dishes, mostly. As a kid I hated it, but the passage of time has eased my annoyance and made me wish I could go back with a tape recorder for those conversations, and dry dishes quite a bit slower. Even more conversations were had over the heart cookies we made each Valentines day. Prettily iced, of course. I still have those cookie cutters. Pieces of her.
My yard has a small memorial garden, showcasing yellow flowers, dedicated to her. While I love the idea of her own special place, the shine of yellow doesn't wish to stay just there. The sunny pop of color just finds its way around, and it's so lovely when it does.
There was a lot to love about Grandma. She was generous. Very active in her church. Not the witnessing type, she simply lived the Word. Always making a quilt with the ladies, or making sandwiches for a funeral, the same as one day the ladies did for hers. Old age with dementia was her ending. She was frugal. Loved a garage sale and sometimes my Christmas sock had a hand-me-down tucked in it. As she was a small child in the 1930's, it's no wonder. I'll never forget her tales of eating lard on bread on the SD farm during the depression. She saved everything. Peanut butter jar lids, rubber bands, every green plastic berry container. One of my favorite tasks was helping her clip coupons.
What really fascinates me is how history repeats itself. The dust storms of the 1930’s were a crisis she lived though. 2022 brought a dust storm to South Dakota once again, in year three of a severe drought. Almost ninety years later and her grand-daughter looks to west and watches a wall of upturned roiling prairie soil make its way over the family home and garden. Just as it did for her, the sky turned from day to night and every living thing left unprotected became the subject of Mother’s Natures target practice.
Unlike her, my family had only the garden and some property to worry about. My children are not suffering from malnutrition during these drought years, as surely she did. My son with asthma [pictured above] had his inhaler and other medical help that people with breathing issues wouldn’t have easily had back then.
The prairie winds never change.
Another story; her dad did not want to give his approval for her to go to nursing school in the late 1940's, and his approval was actually required by the college! Her mom stepped in and talked him into letting her go.
Grandma’s wedding was an inspiration for mine. Home cooking, backyard flowers, small and family-focused. She made wedding mints for everyone’s wedding. I made wedding mints for everyone else for my own. Same patterns and colors she did. Roses in soft yellow and pale green. My wedding colors, of course!
Grandma was also a disciplinarian. Very intelligent. She wasn't as goofy and spoiling as my Grandpa, but she was my favorite just the same. I was a curious child, always asking questions and just saying what was in my head, much to many adult's dismay. I get the sense I was a wearing child with the constant inquiries. But Grandma was bemused, even as she corrected me. Felt like she understood me, even as I think we were very different people.
Her advice: Always take care of your back and your eyes. Drink prune juice and lots of water. Walk every day, weather permitting. She loved birds, babies, petunias and yellow pear tomatoes.
More Pretty Yellow Garden Things
Oh, and today is the BEST DAY EVER. Let me count the ways. 1. It’s the first day of the Farmer’s Market. The Farmer’s Market hosts a vendor that makes my very favorite pizza. I only can get this pizza 5 months out of the year, once a week.
2. All the plants, except the peppers, are fully hardened off and outside! Feels good being so close to getting the house back.
3. This diary! I love chatting with my favorite people.
4. I might get to do some gardening this weekend. If not today, then tomorrow. My glad bulbs and potatoes are giving me the stink eye every time I pass them. They should have been in the ground a week or two ago. It’s been rainy (!!!) and the soil hasn’t been dry enough to plant, as well the temp has been chilly. Mama likes it HOT. Potatoes are going in pots this year. As with every other year, I will need to refresh the pot soil. I’ll lay out a tarp and dump out all the soil from the pots. Then I’ll add the leftovers of all other soil products I have been using the past year. Leftover open potting soil, vermiculite, a bit of leftover peat, a bag of Miracle Grow garden soil I got last fall for 50% off and some time release balanced fertilizer. Mix it all up with shovel and hands, then fill the pots. Use what ya got to refresh. The soil mix is different every year and always grows beautifully.
We Have Diary Spots Open! We all love to help a new diarist get their first diary to the group. There are also step by step instructions on the group page. Those instructions are what I followed to write my first diary, around 2 years ago. Or was it three? Anyhow... I will post a comment with the schedule shown below. Please reply to that comment (it will be nearer the top) with an open Saturday date you would like to write a diary, and we will add you to the queue and reply to you to confirm. Diaries here do not need to be long. If you have a couple of paragraphs about a garden related topic you are passionate about, and some photos, that is a diary. You can tell a personal story, share a really neat travel destination (especially if you visited some gardens) or bring a topic of discussion to the group. Do you love peppers? Or squash? Have a breathtaking iris collection like Mimer? Tell us about it! We ask that you have the diary in queue (you can “Schedule for Later”) Friday evening and after your diary posts, check in every now and again to make people feel welcome and to answer any questions they have for you. That’s it. If you “Schedule for Later” as most of us do, you don’t have to be available right at 8AM CST. The diary will post when you schedule it automatically. There are a group of us that will be available and will get the conversation going. Feel free to search and peruse past diaries.
May 4th (Vol. 20.18) — CWalter
May 11th (Vol. 20.19) — GCNY
May 18th (Vol. 20.20) —
May 25th (Vol. 20.21) —
June 1st (Vol. 20.22) — DHM
June 8th (Vol. 20.23) — CWalter
June 15th (Vol. 20.24) —
June 22nd (Vol. 20.25) —
June 29th (Vol. 20.26) —
Please share whatever the heck y’all want. Happy Saturday!