Life As Nutz: For Dad

I logged on to create a blog about the Farmers' Market this morning, which blew my mind, and realized that I have this blog queued up and waiting to be finished... so today, my lucky readers, is a double blog day! I know, I know, you're super excited.

You may recall that my dad and stepmother visited earlier this month. The weather didn't cooperate, but that didn't stop us from exploring the Triangle. We visited Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough and (of course) Durham. Despite the cold temperatures, rain and wind, we visited the Sarah P. Duke Gardens and gave those Mainers their first taste of spring for 2011.

As we strolled through the gardens admiring all of the early spring flowers - daffodils, tulips, wisteria, camelias - I could see the dreamer in my dad awaken. Bloom after bloom, bush after bush, my stepmother would say, "We have that!" and my dad would reply, "No we don't, but maybe we should". You see, my parents have a beautiful home in southern Maine that sits on nearly five acres of land. A quiet tidal river runs through the back yard that leads out to the Atlantic Ocean. It's nice for kayaking and canoeing, but not so nice for the Gardener that lives inside of my dad.

Being so close to the ocean means that he's working with clay rather than rich soil. He and my stepmother have done a wonderful job planting things that have meaning to them and to the family: pine trees and lupins from Downeast (Maine) where my grammy and grampy live (and dad spent part of his childhood), the lilac bush brought from the farm house where we grew up and the Crabapple Tree from my great grandparents. My dad keeps bees and plants plenty of wildflowers for their mutual benefit. Gardening isn't impossible, and he has managed to create a couple of small gardens, one of which will grow some veggies this year, but when paired with harsh Maine winters and short springs, it's a challenge.

So when I was in Greensboro recently for work (we're launching Greensboro Food Tours (yay!)), I thought of my dad. On our Greensboro tour we are visiting the Edible Schoolyard at the Children's Museum. It's the first children's museum in the country to have a licensed Edible Schoolyard, a program created by Alice Waters and the Chez Panisse Foundation, really cool stuff! Click here to learn more. Since it's an educational garden they have all sorts of neat things, including different types of plant beds to protect plants from harsh weather. Dad, you probably already know about all of these options, but I thought I'd share these photos with you in case you do plan on creating any beds. Well actually the first picture is a chicken in a Chicken Tractor...