Extreme Gardener Eats Out in Cool Places

I spent 3 days last week at the Principal's Academy sponsored by the Cooperative Council of School Administrators, (CCOSA)hanging out with 12 other principals and assistant principals. We learned a lot and very much enjoyed each other's company. This was the last set of sessions that started back in September, '08.

I don't get out much, so one of the fun parts was getting to go out to lunch as a group every day we met, and discovering some great restaurants in the area of the capitol.

Here are some of our favorites.

Jamil's Steakhouse
4910 N. Lincoln



Check here for a review of the evening dining experience at Jamil's. Our group of 13 was there at around 11:45, and they seated us at two tables since the dining areas are pretty small. And besides, Barry Switzer and all his distinguished looking, silver-haired friends in sport coats were occupying the only long table there. I had the pulled pork sandwich and tasty fries for under $7. Just the right BBQ sandwich consistency of not too dry and not soggy at all.

The reviewer I read said that, "Probably the thing I liked best were the old, wooden creaky floors and chairs.In my opinion, nothing adds more ambiance than creaky, wooden things." So true. So true.

Iron Starr Urban BBQ
3700 N. Shartel



We wandered in here looking for wagon wheels and cowboy gear on the walls. But the decor was definitely much more contemporary. BBQ sandwiches and ribs made all of us happy.
Read a review here. The reviewer says, "I’ll give you my take — urban barbecue offers moderate portions of meat served along some creative side dishes on nice plates in an upscale atmosphere. That would be as compared to regular barbecue, where success typically means enormous piles of meat and a big roll of paper towels on the table."

The Prohibition Room
In the gold dome, 1112 NW 23rd street



A "modern, swanky, speakeasy feel." The veggie sandwich was yummy.

The Faculty House
601 NE 14th Street



You have to park in the lot on the west side of Lincoln at 14th street and walk across. Pretty rooms with pretty furnishings. A spacious dining room and several smaller group dining rooms with a standard lunch buffet. It was a great place to enjoy conversation at a leisurely pace in one of the reserved small dining rooms.

That's it! That's all for the restaurant tour! Back to our standard Chic-fil-a and Panera Bread.

Glad you could join me. Been anywhere interesting lately?

Extreme Gardening Again

The sky is one of Oklahoma's best geographic features. Umm, Cori, to be a geographic feature does it have to be attached to the earth?

This cloud graced the sky over our property when I got home from work today.



I wasn't going to explain my stupid falling episode yesterday, but, y'all already know what a clutz I am, so , here's the story.

Gene was out on the big mower trying to give the field it's first haircut before the rain came. I was on the "new" mower that we bought off of Craig's list. I think Gene thought if it was shiny and cute I would mow with it. He might have been right. I do like watching the neat rows appear in the thick grass, and I notice a lot more about what's growing around me when I'm on the mower steadily decapitating it. There were the prettiest little lavender flowers...

Anyway, I stopped mowing to pick up some branches, started dragging the big trash bin around the from the side of the house, with the lid open and dragging in front of me. Duh. I was reading what it said on the lid as I walked. "Please close lid before moving." Wind blowing hard, hair in my face, stepped right on the lid, tripped, fell, launched the trash can violently back toward my falling body. The impact occurred somewhere near the ground. I was fairly sure my left arm had been severed. But no. The nice PA says there is no fracture. Just some painful, colorful bruising from my shoulder to below my elbow, which Nicky wrapped for me after the x-ray.

Yet another example of my Extreme Gardener ways.

If I Were a Cow, Where Would I Be?

If you were a cow, there is about a 70% chance you would be facing a particular direction if I happened to stroll by. Know what direction that is?



Chances are you would be aligned north to south according to science reports from this week. Nell Greenfieldboyce from NPR reported, "A new study suggests that cows sense the Earth's magnetic field and use it to line up their bodies so they face either north or south when grazing or resting.

The discovery was made by a team led by Hynek Burda of the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. "I think the really amazing thing is that hunters and herdsmen and farmers didn't notice it," Burda says. Burda figured this out by looking at Google Earth shots of cattle all over the world. Geeks rule! (He started out studying the effects of the earth's magnetic field on naked mole rats. Seriously!)


Have YOU ever noticed which way cows stand to munch? Or...anything else? Since I happen to know a few cows in the neighborhood I decided to check it out. Either someone tipped off the neighborhood herd, or it's simply true! I would say at least 70% were standing on a north/south line. Amazing. Life in the countryside never ceases to amaze. Come on out to my neighborhood and check for yourself, or find your own herd.

In other news, Ma and Pa Zimmerman visited Marcum's today down in SW OKC, 119th and Penn.



They have a great selection of native type perennials like Coreopsis, Salvia, Blanketflower, Guara, Rudbeckia, Yarrow, Butterfly Weed, etc. Plus they have acres of trees and shrubs and other wonderful, cool, amazing, pretty stuff.

We brought home a lilac bush among other things. A gigantic Lilac bush was second base in our front yard in one of the houses we lived in growing up. If you made it from first base at the end of the sidewalk to the Lilac bush you were safe at second. We used to cut lilac branches from it and deliver to the old guy across the street; my sister and I and probably Patty Brock from two doors down.

One are two more photos for today.






This is in Piedmont today. The garden is in front of the Express Personnel building looking toward the Baptists. I appreciate the effort they always go to to keep their little part of the world pretty.

Have you seen any other good examples of public space gardening lately?

Goodbye to Splashy

About 6:00 this evening the 3 dogs were camped out on the study floor while I was playing and singing;

All things bright and beautiful
All creatures great and small
All things wise and wonderful
The Lord God made them all.

I turned around from the keyboard and found that our old friend Splashy had passed away somewhere in the verses of my song.

Gene was at work, so Alli and I, and our friends Ron and Debbie, buried her under the tree near my garden.

We loved her and we'll miss her. She was a good friend for a long time.

Harvest the Rain

My brother commented on a previous post that I should collect the rain water from the various roofs around our property for watering the garden. I think it's a great idea, and have been thinking about it for a while. So I went looking for rain barrels and "rain harvesting" systems.

Here are some of the rain collection systems I read about; from ugliest to most beautiful. Yes, beautiful. You'll see.




The best thing I can say about these is that they're $5 each on Craig's List, and they come in blue, green and white.



Not bad. I like the shiny, curviness.



This one is easily camouflaged with the garden itself, I guess.



Reminds me of the Tinman.




I like this one. It wouldn't look too bad sitting in a flower bed or amongst the bushes.




This one is beautiful. Let's build one! The CISTA rainwater harvesting system holds 100 gallons and you can grow your favorite climbing plant up the side for vertical green space.

I can dream.

The Trees and Me

The pear trees behind the barn were so loaded with fruit two years ago, and the branches hung so low, that all three of them grew into odd twisted shapes. I don't think the various ice storms helped much either. Every time I pass them I apologize, "So sorry guys!" and then hurry on because they looked so uncomfortable. Actually we have several uncomfortable looking trees on our property and I would love to hire an arborist with a bucket to fix that problem. Or somebody with a huge chain saw. The big scraggly one in front of the house especially bothers me as I pull out every morning to go to work. Ugh. Like a mild headache behind the eyes, every morning. The Pin Oak by the driveway, on the other hand, looks perfectly comfortable because the branches are all orderly in their spacing. It makes a pretty pointy shape over all, and every leaf is gracefully located at even intervals.

So Gene and I finally took a trimmer to the pear trees and they now smile and thank me every time I go by, and I enjoy visiting again. Now I wander out there every day to check their progress and have a chat.(Just say what's on your mind. Yes, I know the word FREAK is in there somewhere.) They are just beginning to bud, of course, since we have had a ferocious wind for several days. Last year there were only 7 or 8 pears on all three trees because that's how many delicate blossoms were able to withstand the wind that came up just when blossoms were full. It was lovely to see the snowy blossoms drift through the air, except that I knew they really ought to still be attached to the tree!

Anyway... I gathered some of the branches we trimmed off and put them in a vase in my kitchen. It's been sweet watching the buds open a little more each day.

Here's are a couple of picnik.com versions of the bouquet.





More enthralling garden news follows:

1. Lettuce and peas are planted.
2. We need rain.
3. My basil and other herbs are coming up nicely under the grow light in the kitchen.
4. We need rain.
5. My garden is all turned and waiting for rain.
6. The day lilies in the front bed are growing like crazy and don't seem to notice it's so dry.
7. The tiny daffodils that oddly line the median all along Northwest Expressway are in full bloom.

Today's favorite quote from Christopher Lloyd's The Well Tempered Garden concerning "the pleasure of hand weeding."

"Many gardeners will agree that hand-weeding is not the terrible drudgery that it is often made out to be. Some people find in it a kind of soothing monotony. It leaves their minds free to develop the plot for their next novel or to perfect the brilliant repartee with which they should have countered a relative's latest example of unreasonableness."

That's how I see it. What do YOU think?

The World is Waking Up

I spent last week feeling pretty lousy. Then I managed to pass it on to Alli. Papa G has missed it so far.

I did shuffle out one day when it was 75 degrees last week and managed to get my sweet mesclun (lettuces) and pea seeds into the ground. But then I was too exhausted to drag the garden hose from its winter location in the barn and hook it up to the spigot by the garden. So those poor little seeds are just hangin' out in the dry dirt. I had to shuffle back in and lie down.

Lowe's was in full garden gear up mode today. I get greedy and want, want, want when it comes to pretty outdoor furniture, landscaping plants that our sad yard needs so much, even colorful packages of seeds, pots and, yes (deep breath)giant bags of mulch and potting soil. But a girl can dream, right? I walked away with some herb, vegetable and flower seeds, and Papa G got the biggest yard rake I've ever seen, which he'll mostly use to relocate dog poo. I don't think I've ever seen him rake anything else. We DO have three dogs, but I seriously think he could successfully move elephant poo with THAT rake! The last rake was unlucky enough to be leaning against the back of the house during that huge hailstorm in November. It got beat into disconnect green plastic shards.

The day lilies are showing bright green growth out of nothing; my little annual miracle. The first year, when they died back in the winter, I just knew that was the end of them. There was nothing left but a few crispy brown pointed leaves, and they blew away soon enough in the winter wind. But they show up green again in the spring; bigger, thicker, healthier. It's reassuring on a spirit level.

I found a brand new grow lamp in the coat closet, still in the package, behind the old vacuum sweeper. I think I planned to put it up in the study, under a book shelf, but didn't get it done before I heaved it into the closet in one of my (rare)cleaning frenzies. As of today, it has a new home in my kitchen under a cabinet, shining it's happy rays on some new pots of herbs I planted. On sad days, I think I'll try sticking my head under it and maybe borrow some sunny happiness.



The mailman brought me a new friend on Friday. The Well-Tempered Garden by Christopher Lloyd arrived in a brown envelope wrapped in bubble wrap and newspaper from "johnmyrna04", seller of used books at Amazon. I paid about $13, including the careful shipping, for a beautifully preserved 1973 First American Edition of this classic gardening book. I'll leave you with a few lines from the first chapter.

"The great wonder, in gardening, is that so many plants live. I seldom get the opportunity of watching the private gardener at work. Privacy, indeed, is their watchword. They may be demons of efficiency in running their houses or businesses, but are understandably self-conscious when it comes to being seen doing a spot of manual work in the garden. They wait till the coast is clear rather than risk the on-lookers sharp intake of breath as their trowel chaws through the heart of an unexpected bulb or the guffaw that attends the stabbing of their shoe with the garden fork."

Raise your hand if you've ever done THAT!

May your best ideas bud and flower.
May your weeds refuse to live an hour.
May the sunshine feed and warm and nourish.
May your plants and children grow and flourish.

Just a little Extreme Gardener poem to start your new week, from me to you.