Oh Glorious Garden!

"A rich spot of earth," is what Thomas Jefferson said of his exquisite Monticello gardens. The tiny garden separating my house and the horse shelter is a postage stamp by comparison, but with the help of llamas over several years, the formerly hard clay soil is rich, loose, and an abundant resource for hungry plants. Gardening is all about the joy of digging in dirt, making charts (mostly lost later) of what is planted where and when, in homage to Jefferson's meticulous records. Some things grow better than others; this year I was in for a few surprises.....

Corn patch in foreground with sunflowers behind. Beans,
greens, carrots, squash, all coming along - making me
eager for harvest.

All winter long, I collect seed catalogues, drool over the offerings, make huge long lists of enough seed varieties to plant several acres. And these are only the veggie seeds - then along comes a desire to grow millet for the birds, a bit of my own oats for the horses, and of course, flowers...a dazzling array of flowers to delight and charm every honey bee, hummingbird and butterfly in the county.

Then comes the hard task of whittling the "wants" down to a manageable amount for an average-size garden. Every year I threaten to expand and begin a true market garden - and this was the year of that Great Experiment....I thought. To the right is how the garden looked only a couple of luscious weeks ago....such promise...meanwhile...

                                                                                     Safely enclosed in their own paddock next to the

 horse's shed and well beyond reach of the garden,  my young mini-donkeys, Lola and LeRoy, enjoy playing on an accidental gravel "mountain" I have not yet raked out before autumn rains. There is still time, and these two are so amusing and have such fun scampering up and down, chasing each other, and playing "King," that I will leave it there for their delight (and mine) for as long as possible. Yonder behind them is the gate to the back paddock, where they can run big figure-eights (quite the spectacle) and work off even more energy before settling down for the evening.

On a particular afternoon about two weeks ago, I

had to work late and fretted about having to delay

evening meals for my animals. Equines in particular 

benefit greatly from regular meal schedules. As it turns out, donkeys are even more determined than horses to have their meal arrive at dinnertime, thank you very much, regardless of how or where it comes from. They waited patiently, patiently, and then, no doubt convinced they had been abandoned to fend for themselves, they did...(...queue "Jaws" music...)

To borrow from another well-known movie, I am sad to report that the Great Experiment in market gardening is "Cornless in Lakebay," where my farm is located. Also carrotless, lacking in marigolds, lemon daylilies, chard and lettuces.

To anyone interested, it appears donkeys are not fond of arugula, squash, tomatoes, cucumber blossoms, the fern-like leaves of cosmos, scallions or pea vines. I offer this observation should you encounter hungry donkeys while toiling hopefully in your veggie garden.

To end this woeful tale, the donkeys were easily apprehended, being  too full to waddle far. Now securely back in their paddock, with a new donkey-proof lock on the gate, the little piggies are newly camera shy, hiding their faces in perfect presumed-innocence. ...hmmmm.....what new caper are they hatching now?