Earthway

 Esty Mae helped her pops shell some Maine Yellow Eye beans. She got the hang of it after a few tries and stayed focused for over a half hour. That's pretty good for a two year old. A title for this picture could be "Beanie Baby."

 We hatched some praying mantises inside so we could see them better, and then we placed them and their oothecas, which literally means egg cover/container, in the various gardens. With a good eye (or a click to embiggen) you can see plenty of the little insects that M.C. Escher used in one of my favorites of his work: Dream (Mantis Religiosa) 1935.

Thanks to Georgetown University for this one, which is where the engraving resides. In fact, it was the first print that Escher sold in the United States.

 The Wolpertinger garlic is doin' dandy. I've tried to keep up with the weeds but the darn plants just keep on growing. No spray, no way. A little recap on my trials with row spacing and garlic: all of the garlic in double rows with about 9 inches between each clove and about 12 inches between rows grew bigger and faster than the triple rows of the same spacing. Go figure. Some of the pros I've seen grow this ancient crop (we are talkin' many many thousands of years) in single rows! One day, when I get my own land, one row will be the way to g(r)o(w)!

 Summertime makes me want to chop it all off and compost the nitrogen-rich mop-head.

Suenos dulces.