Posted on by Jessica Dofflemyer

Spellbound

hard
showing
reading
early
amphibian

These are just some of the spelling words Jeb has to learn this week. Test is today and last night we were studying.

It’s become a family affair.

Not having been taught English in school, the Bohemian has learned the language solely by listening. This leaves a little room to brush up on his spelling and he’s taking advantage of Jeb’s second grade weekly list of words.

There they are. Jeb and the Bohemian, their blank pages numbered one to fifteen, pencils poised.

“We’re ready,” the Bohemian says with that slightly rolling ‘r’ of his.

Tonight’s prize is a special dessert to the one who gets the most right.

And when it comes time to correct their work, it’s all stars on the right ones and a little furrowed brow and shake of the head from the Bohemian on the wrong ones.

Afraid he may miss a sweet treat, Jeb tries to finagle out of misspellings.

“I just forgot that ‘n’ there, but I meant to put it in – can that one count, Mom?”

Words that give trouble: since, species and amphibian (though, for the record, Jeb gets ‘species’ right and a short dance with triumphant hands in the air ensues).

In the end, we don’t even tally who got the most right. We know there is the Bohemian’s left over birthday cake and everyone’s going to get a slice.

Homework with Jeb has been a downer all year. I honestly don’t know who dislikes it more, him or me.

But I can chalk another one up for the Bohemian, in the countless ways he makes the unpleasant, pain-free. Thank God my fiancé’s at the second-grade spelling level.

Posted on by Jessica Dofflemyer

Time and the Twine Tie

Jessica Dofflemyer ~ all rights reserved

Always using what we have, the Bohemian takes the trimmings from the panax hedge and crafts a trellis for the garden tomatoes.

“It’s a project, Jess…” he says with a smile, as he lays out all the pieces on the ground like some giant quilt.

It’s a team effort as I cut twine and hold intersections together while he wraps and ties. Diamond shapes take form as he asks me, “What year is this?”

He’s excited that we are not using nails or other ‘modern’ technology (though, I am using an exacto blade – rather than my teeth or a rock – to cut the twine).

The whole project takes about an hour in a half. We realize a person could have bought a lattice at Wal-mart or the hardware store. And we suppose that would be a normal course of action for someone who doesn’t have the time to tie 20 cross-sections together.

But I know the Bohemian – and I would agree. He doesn’t want to buy it if he doesn’t have to.

Besides, “We’ve got all the time in the world. Right, Jess?” he asks, still wrapping and tying.

That’s how he is with these projects. Casually infusing the ether with magical incantations as he executes seemingly mundane tasks. Planting seeds, digging holes or erecting trellises. He gets the chores done with a twist. Singing “Happy Birthday” to garlic cloves or chanting “beautiful garden” to the basil starts as he plants them. Evoking timelessness through diamond portals as he builds the tomato support.

I go along with the Bohemian and his projects. Glad to be led to the profound through his simple. Let this twine tie transcend us beyond space and time.

Posted on by Jessica Dofflemyer

Garlic Yield

We did the math.

One clove of planted garlic, yielded one bulb bearing 24 fresh cloves.

Unless we want our garden beds to be overtaken by garlic, only a portion of the harvested bulb’s cloves will go back in the ground to perpetuate the crop. We’ll share some cloves with other growers. And we even get to eat a few!

They may be small but they pack a potent pungency. Great flavor!

Jessica Dofflemyer ~ all rights reserved

Hip hip hooray for short day garlic grown in the tropics!

And for anyone who read the recent “Why Not?” I’ll let you know that I spied a small seed tray with a wooden marker that read “Garlic Long Day” in the Bohemian’s neat print. He just can’t help himself from attempting the ‘impossible’. For those that did not read “Why Not?”, I’ll give you the why. “Garlic Long Day” does not grow in the tropics.

So don’t ask me what this means: As the Bohemian finishes planting our ‘short day’ cloves, all the while quietly humming what resembles a version of the “Happy Birthday” song to them, he suddenly gasps with glee.

I move to where he’s squatted and observe with my own eyes. The papaya tray has not yet sprouted. Neither have any of the kumquats. But that “Garlic Long Day” – sure enough – a small, green tendril is moving earth, curling up to stretch to sun.

Jessica Dofflemyer ~ all rights reserved