‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder’
I noticed when I was weeding the front beds today, that when I was yanking whole wads of them out, it felt more like being mad. When I eased the weeds out carefully I was more aware, slowin’ down does that! Weeding is a constant in gardening. By slowing down a bit, I had an odd sensation- something very akin to gratitude for the weeds, what?!? Yes you read that right! Weeds are place keepers in the soil to stall erosion, otherwise every downpour would muddy up the drainage ditches! These very place keepers caught my eye, before I pulled out those spiky things at the base of the irises a faint waft of garlic rose. I realized they were garlic chives! Probably a carryover from when I divided the irises! Garlic chives are not easy to find in garden centers, in fact they are highly prized herbs. Chopped and added to softened butter, garlic chives add something nothing else can- to bread, a baked potato, a crisp cracker or even melted over warm shrimp. I was delighted to find them since the other patch I have has almost played out. But they don’t look right where they are and it’s not time to dig iris tubers so they’re staying where they are! The beauty of garlic chives is in the Beholder’s Eye. Weeds may be ‘fine plants’ waiting to be discovered. Take a look at the Oxalis below-
An old gardener complained to me once, ‘I can’t ever get rid of that old Oxalis, its everywhere!’ I know he yanked out, rooted up every one he ever found, they were the bane of his existence in his garden! Years later I was working at a fine garden center, around St. Patrick’s Day potted up just as pretty as could be, were blooming Shamrocks! The common weed was elevated to a fine gift plant! And imagine my surprise, while working there, to find the bane of my lawn, Ajubaweed, was sold as a groundcover! It’s the Rule of the Beholder’s Eye. Right about now in my area, the daffodils have finished blooming but…the foliage is all flopped over; don’t just run a mower over them or weed-eat them all up. No, no, no, I’m going to show you a ‘love knot’ for the floppy foliage- 
Daffodils need the food in the foliage to come back strong next year! It doesn’t take long…just tie the long stems into knots and they will look tidied up! The ‘Moral of the Beholder’s Eye’ is this- how we view everything whether plants, events or people determines their value, their worth. There is no truer saying than ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder’. The greatest lessons can be learned on bended knees in a garden! So, put on your Beholder’s Eyeglasses and tell me what you find!
Love y’all, Camellia
When I was a little girl, in early spring a man with a rigged up produce truck came to our neighborhood, with windows rolled down we could hear him as he called out…’Ber-ries, straw-ber-ries!’ It was an exciting sound, ‘Momma, Momma, it’s the strawberry man!’ We’d run to the road waving our arms for him to stop…gears grinding down he would roll to a perfect stop, so that the open wooden shelves could be seen. Little balsa wood pint boxes of perfect strawberries were displayed and exclaimed over. As we were dancing on tiptoe to get a better look, the strawberries would be bought- always more than we needed, always a few juicy ones that had to be eaten right away! To this very day, it is one of my most vivid childhood memories. As a young adult I was delighted to see strawberries growing in rich dark soil, the runners connecting the mother plants to their young…pale green berries hiding under leaves that looked like they had been cut with pinking shears., sweet white blossoms with sunny yellow centers, such a sweet sight! Two years ago, I decided to start my very own tiny patch, not for a big harvest more just for the fun of watching them grow and girl, let me tell you! There is nothing as sweet as a fresh picked, warmed by the sun strawberry ! Here in Alabama, it’s almost scandalous how right that groundhog was when he predicted an early Spring! I’ve been just dying to show y’all my little patch and how it’s coming along…
Alabama has thrived on cornbread for generations, all of us, not just some of us. We all love it, eat it- crave it, need it. I learned the cornbread rules at an early age from my grandmother. I have her iron skillet and it still makes the best cornbread, though I do love corn muffins too!
And oh my! corn sticks! I have an iron corn stick pan too! But the rules never change. You are the first to know my grandmother’s rules. Use your own cornbread recipe, with one exception…which we will cover first.
Chicken and Dumplings
the special traditions which include eggs- particularly at Easter. Since the early 1600’s eggs were mentioned in connection with the Paschal Vigil which is called Holy Saturday, a religious ceremony commemorating the time when Christ lay in the tomb. The hard shell of the egg represented the stone of the tomb and the inward parts the symbol of rebirth, when a bird hatches from the hard eggshell with new life. The empty egg shell therefore represented the Resurrection; the empty eggshell is a reminder to Christians that Christ rose from the grave and that those who believe can experience life eternal. Easter Eggs or Paschal Eggs as they are often referred to in some cultures were given with a greeting ‘Christ has Risen’, the eggs were joyful gifts of these enduring beliefs in the Christian faith. And while they were not written about until the 1600’s historians believe that the custom of giving Easter Eggs dates back to Christians living in Mesopotamia, who stained the eggs red to symbolize the shed blood of Christ. Some cultures, particularly in Eastern Europe decorated eggs in elaborate ways, each color being symbolic of their faith. White for purity, Red for the Blood of Christ, Green for eternal life and Yellow or gold symbolic of Christ the King. (these colors vary in significance). Out of these traditions came the Easter Egg Roll or Easter Egg Hunts when the eggs were used to celebrate Christ’s Triumphant exit from the tomb. I love history and hope I have gotten this right, it was an interesting study for sure. I was never very good at dyeing Easter Eggs so this mix of naturally occurring colored eggs, the brown and white eggs are common and I bought the pale blue and aqua eggs from a friend who raises Aracana chickens whose eggs range from pale blue to deep olive green. All together they are so pretty! I really couldn’t decide which pictures to share so here are a few more…
Camellia's Cottage 