Curiosity

Episode 7: I've got to know.

April 12, 2022

Asparagus. April 8, 2021.

I ran across this photo yesterday of my asparagus haul from this time last year and… my spears are NOWHERE NEAR where they “normally” are this time of year. (What’s “normal” anymore, anyway?) Asparagus chez 909 has emerged as early as mid-March (that was in 2012), but this year’s pokethrough might be the latest in my patch’s 12-year history:

Asparagus. April 10, 2022.

[Short sidebar: I ordered my asparagus crowns from Gurney’s in 2010 after figuring out how many of them I’d need to fill the 5 x 15 bed I’d lovingly dug up in the northwest corner of the backyard. They arrived in a cardboard box and didn’t look at all like what I expected. No matter! I planted as many as 2 8” deep trenches 18” apart would hold, and then gave the rest to friends and neighbors. I waited through two seasons before finally harvesting for real in 2012. Asparagus. So worth it. I recommend. I’m rooting for a 30-year bed!]

Central Illinois’ weather has been even less predictable than “normal” this spring; while the immediate forecast is for warm temps and a fair amount of rain, cooler weather will prevail late this week and into next, continuing to slow my garden’s roll. Most years I’m late with the lettuce and the spinach and the peas because of rain or work or whatever, and it’s been OK because the asparagus is up, but not so this year.

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Here’s something that’s thriving back there, though: The mint.

OH MY GOD, THE MINT.

On Sunday, after weeding the asparagus patch but before rewarding myself with a beverage, I thought I’d check in on the area of the garden I call the Junk Drawer. The Junk Drawer is a large patch at the north end of the garden where the plants I get from the side of the road and free tables go; it’s also where I toss experiments like old seeds and random cuttings. It’s basically junk, and I mostly love it because it’s stuff that grows out of the ground (which I still regard as a complete miracle). In any event, the Junk Drawer was (and remains) in need of organizing, as is usually the case with junk drawers, and I thought I’d yank up some of the young mint to, you know, get ahead of it. [LOL. Young mint. It’s a dumb story I tell myself every year.] The spearmint in the Junk Drawer began as one of the aforementioned “random cuttings” planted in a pot 2005 that quickly (and rudely) jumped the container’s boundaries. While it shows itself in early spring as innocent and wee little baby leaves, here’s what lies beneath:

Mint rhizomes.

Endless, vigorous, ropey, and INCREDIBLY HAPPY rhizomes. What you see here is about 1/20000th of what’s down there. While it is extremely satisfying to pull up (rhizomes are amazing), and I love spearmint… we will never, EVER be rid of it. EVER.

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I think about this tweet from Allison Wilens all the time.

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Book Rex (minus Rex).

The BBC, A People’s History by David Hendy

A colleague and I successfully delivered a big presentation last Friday, putting the cherry on top of an intense couple of weeks. To celebrate, we went to lunch at our local book bar and, on our way out after a solid meal and a long conversation, I treated myself to this gorgeous brick of a book.

I’ve only just started reading, but so much is happening! It’s early 1923, the BBC was formed just a few weeks previous, and almost everyone who works there is taking a turn at the mic to put on radio plays and read a version of the news. The engineers are just figuring out how to broadcast the odd performance. It’s about the very real people who were making broadcast radio happen in its infancy, and I’m especially loving reading this as my local public radio station, WILL-AM, is celebrating its 100th year this year. Mmmm! History! Never gets old!

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Long-percolating thought: I want to offer a semi-regular series here about thrifting. I began thrifting mohair grandpa sweaters and trenchcoats and vintage gloves when I was in high school in the 80s, and got my ScL (Scholar of Life) in Thrifting Studies and Practice from my oldest child’s father in the early 90s.

25+ years of thrifting in C-U has yielded some amazing shit; our house is full of things we found when we needed them that were otherwise unaffordable. My kids grew up thrifting and reusing things, using what they had and what we had and thrifting it if we didn’t have it, a tactic I hope will be of use to them as they navigate adulthood and the constant encouragement to part themselves from their hard-earned money*.

I no longer thrift with abandon due to the nature of how I currently spend my days, but there are others who do. Should I find these people and interview them? Would this readership be into that? More importantly… would I be into that enough to commit to it? Hm.

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Several readers got themselves on the list last week to receive a postcard from me via US Mail. Were you one of them? No? Want to get one? Drop me a line or leave a comment and we’ll figure it out. I sent a couple since my last post and am hoping to send out plenty more in the coming weeks as we continue to gain daylight. 

Notes to self: Plant seeds between raindrops. Renew your library card. Treat the weekend like a mini-vacation. Put the phone down. Remove the mascara before bed. Be a goldfish. Turn off the plant lights before heading upstairs. Don’t forget to breathe.

Thanks for reading, if you’ve made it this far. More next week!

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LOTSA (Lisa’s Open Tabs, Saved Aggressively):

→ My go-to local weather source—Andrew is also my neighbor

→ Dolce far niente, explained by Italians (thx to AL for the inspiration)

→ Smelling this today takes me right back to last summer’s trip to FL (right in that sweet spot when we thought maybe vaccines were going to solve all our problems)

→ Last Gasp crushing it again - that Sort Sol segment, tho

→ Fascinating piece about the origins of jaywalking

→ OH MAH GAH, For All Mankind is coming back in June!

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* says the woman who should take a page out of her own playbook