From beloved gardening & photograpy master Ozark Hillbilly:
On my first expedition I had the pleasure of spending 6 days underground with Chuck, a Rastafarian smoke jumper from northern NM who was one of the most even tempered people I’ve ever caved with. On our last day his fractious headlamp that had been incessantly arguing with him the entire time just stopped working. Chuck, who had never uttered so much as “darn” or a “dagnabbit” began cursing like a sailor and beating his headlamp in the hopes of improved morale and then, just as suddenly stopped.
“Oh wow man, I need to Zen out. Here in this most beautiful place, I really need to Zen out.”
That’s where I’m at with the murder of George Floyd and all the white people who think protesting for haircuts with AR-15s is the height of resonableness, also thinking they get to lecture black people angrily protesting for their lives on how they are doing it all wrong.
So I am Zenning out…
ZenOut [top photo] shows the all but finished original Zen garden. There are a few more details to be added to the divider such as the “stained glass” my wife is going to do for the windows.
The pics are just the step by step construction of the Zen addition.
Photo Bomb Percy (damn dog tries to get in every damn pic I take)
Spiderwort is added just because this needs a pretty flower picture. They are growing up thru a broken cast iron pot I found while mushroom hunting, no doubt thrown away by a frustrated 1870s iron prospector for whom it was the last straw. That area is pocked with prospect pits including at least one 40′ deep shaft going straight down.
***********
What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
raven
Mad skillzzzzz!
raven
How are the seats mounted in the john boat? I had a 3/4 marine ply floor in my 14′ semi-v alumacraft and I bolted them to that.
MagdaInBlack
This is absolutely lovely. Thank you ☺
Raven, I just love that you glommed onto the fishin boat ??
Barbara
Nice!
Sab
Gorgeous home. Gorgeous garden. Impressive beagle.
Didn’t a new dog sneak into your lives a couple of years ago?
I need a refresher course on establishing moss. I have a shady backyard, some moss established and I want more. Also some old butermilk in fridge. Now what?
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Bolted onto welded aluminum decks over foam filled flotation chambers.
Baud
Dagnabbit, I want something like that.
OzarkHillbilly
That would be Percy, short for Persistent as he just wouldn’t leave during the 3 day deluge dumped on us by the last vestiges of Hurricane Gordon 2 years ago. (he and Missy, 2 dumped sweethearts, had been staying with our neighbor but visiting us daily) He’s actually a beagle/spaniel mix who had suffered rather extensive abuse. Fairly recovered from it now but attached to my ass like a hemorrhoid. I can’t go 3 steps w/o him getting up to follow me.
Moss: a handful in a blender with buttermilk and poured where you want it.
Geminid
Nice work, great final product! The process shots are informative. A great place to celebrate the Buddhist holiday “Cinco de Maya.” Not that Buddhists celebrate.
JPL
It’s lovely and I do hope that you take time to enjoy your labor of love!
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Sweet, is the finished zen shed where the boat is?
eta I guess that was another in a long line of dumb questions.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Who’s a good pupster???
Kobekid
Saw the post and top pic and thought, ‘Blech’ that’s OH’s place.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Yep, it kicked my truck out when it arrived. This coming fall/winter I hope to build the long awaited addition to the shop and extend the roof out for another covered parking spot.
Percy is a terribly sweet companion and totally devoted to me. My wife says that when I leave without him he whines at the door for 5-10 mins then sits down and stares at the door until I return (he has magical stares) and if he goes out he will search high and low for me, nose to the ground all the way to the spot where I climbed into the truck. If he comes with me, he sits on the seat next to me and plants a paw on my thigh where it will stay until we get where we are going. BUT… I have to be extra careful when I am working. The other day I turned around and almost caught him right in the face with the weedeater.
ETA:@Kobekid: Heh.
Lapassionara
Wow! That is lovely!
Barry
This is beautiful! Thank you for posting it.
evap
beautiful!
This week, I picked green beans and Asian eggplant for the first time this season. My cherry tomato plants are covered with green tomatoes, so I’m at that hopeful stage where I think, this year I will get some before the squirrels take them all and/or they wilt and die suddenly. Hope springs eternal! We’ve had the most amazing weather this year (in Atlanta), it’s been cool in the mornings and has barely topped 80 most days. Lots of rain means everything is lush and green. I can’t remember a nicer late spring/early summer in my 30+ years here, although at this point I am usually traveling in Europe.
NotMax
Zen and the art of verdant cycle maintenance.
wvng
Beautiful. I have considered trying some fancy landscaping but the deer eat everything that’s not behind a tall fence.
satby
Really lovely Ozark! Echo what @raven: sez!
I’m waiting to water because it’s supposed to rain and the sky is properly gloomy so I have hope it’s a true forcast. The last few predicted rains went by us without even a tiny drizzle to wake up the dormant grass.
Edited to add: My raspberry bushes are producing, so every day I get about 1/2 pint. Yay!
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
Dorothy A. Winsor
Percy is Zenning out. What a beautiful space.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
rikyrah
The pictures are absolutely gorgeous ???
OzarkHillbilly
Damn it @NotMax: I was trying to figure out a way to turn that pun and you beat me to it!
Steeplejack
Beautiful spot, beautiful pictures.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: “Blessed are those who have earned the love of an old dog”.
Steeplejack
@rikyrah, @Baud:
Good morning! ?
zhena gogolia
Percy really makes the pictures.
This even makes me miss Missouri.
MagdaInBlack
@satby:
I received my order and Oh my lord, the honey oatmeal soap smells so good I almost want to eat it ☺
I have not reviewed yet on etsy but I will. Thank you.
And yay for fresh raspberries, I used to have a giant patch of black raspberries, my favorite.
NotMax
@zhena gogolia
Missouri miss misses Missouri?
;)
Steeplejack
Dog question reposted from the other night:
The Sighthound Hall mob is “fostering” a puppy that they will undoubtedly end up keeping, and I’d like to help them out by recommending/donating some good dog food. Suggestions? Looking for dry, but will consider wet as well.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
Lots of jackals, then, who are blessed many times over.
Ozark, I love your zen garden.
stinger
Hello, Percy!
Kristine
Lovely garden. Well-crafted outdoor spaces make me happy. Found dogs make them even better.
The spiderwort are blooming here in far NE Illinois, too. I don’t have any in my yard, but the nature areas have lots. I did find what I am pretty sure is a gray dogwood in an overgrown area outside my fence but in my yard*. I plan to transplant it after it goes dormant.
*there’s a huge oak straddling the property line, so the fence guy had to install the fence a foot or so inside my property line instead of just inside.
SiubhanDuinne
@MagdaInBlack:
I got a Satby package of lovely lavender soaps and lotion a few days ago, and I’m almost faint from the aroma. If I believed in heaven, I think heaven would smell of lavender.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Nobody would ever say I am “blessed” but I am loved by both our hounds.
MagdaInBlack
@SiubhanDuinne:
My mother put lavender soap in the bed linen drawers, so of course, I do the same.
Right there with you on the “heavenly scent.☺
SFAW
Your garden is the un-Blech-iest way to start a Father’s Day — or any day, for that matter. Happy Father’s Day, and it’s good to see Percy.
debbie
Stunningly beautiful, OH. I love your wife’s windows. Hope you get a chance to really enjoy the space.
zhena gogolia
@NotMax:
I used the sick sheep!
Immanentize
Ozark! So great! I remember your first pics of the back of the covered parking pad and we chatted about the side details. I opened this page today and was all:
Wow! and
Damn! and
What’s your hourly rate plus travel?!
I’m so impressed, wish I had those mad skilllzzz (and related tools) and I understand Percy’s (and Woofmeister’s) devotion. Peace through Zen to you and yours.
Immanentize
It’s father’s day? Oh.
Happy Father’s Day to all you Fathers and those who have or once had fathers including you father-stabbers. I hope you get anything you want (today and everyday).
OzarkHillbilly
If you have to ask, you can’t afford me. :-)
Wyatt Salamanca
Love the photos in this thread.
Happy Father’s Day to every father except Trump.
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: When I first saw your picture I said Holy Crap.. but that didn’t seem appropriate for a top site like Balloon Juice. You truly are an artist.
Happy Father’s Day to all the dads.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: I suspected that when I asked.
JR
Anyone know how big an eastern redbud can get? We inherited one with our house and it is beautiful but 30’ with no signs of stopping. If it keeps going we might not be able to keep it.
SiubhanDuinne
@MagdaInBlack:
I did that (in the tee-shirt and underwear drawer) with the bars I’m not yet bathing with.
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning ?! I have your package of masks heading your way from the market lady. They’re gorgeous.
@MagdaInBlack: Thank you, so glad you’re happy with them ☺.
@SiubhanDuinne: All these complements are going to turn my head ? Thank you, glad you like them!
satby
@Steeplejack: Good for them! All my gang gets Purina Dog Chow, Puppy Chow if they’re under a year. In spite of often suffering neglect or abuse until I get them, they all live long healthy lives, often exceeding the usual breed lifespan with no health issues from food. And unlike more expensive brands, Purina has never been recalled for contamination. Do not feed grain free, it’s been linked to cardiac issues in dogs.
Jeffery
@JR: Google says 30’ for height. It should stop growing taller. Might widen.
Redbud pickle recipe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLbNawSznrQ
No, I haven’t done it.
satby
And Happy Father’s Day to all the jackal dads out there!
Steeplejack
@satby:
Thanks, will check it out.
MomSense
Beautiful, OH. My gardens are looking nice, but again this year we went from cool to blasting heat.
I’m halfway through my shovel compost on the beds and I don’t really feel up to finishing it, but I can’t leave the giant pile on my lawn.
OzarkHillbilly
Political thread up now, so before folks begin to ignore this one all together, I want to say thanx for all the compliments. I find them a little embarrassing because it is still very much a work in progress and I quite often find myself looking at one thing or another and saying, “Boy, I wish I’d done that differently.”
Anyway, the encouragement keeps me trying to get it right even tho I know I never really will.
opiejeanne
Very nice, OH, and I also knew it was your place when I glimpsed the first photo.
Someone mentioned deer. We have seen deer just down the road a couple of times in the last two years, about half a mile, but they don’t seem to have found us yet. Right now there are reports of a mama bear with two cubs in the neighborhood, and very nearby, a cougar. That cougar is between us and where we’ve seen the deer, so maybe neither will come our way.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
This is your sand mandala. Never finished, always a work in progress.
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: We have had our Ellie on Nutro Ultra dry (Adult, in the purple bag) and she seems to do well with it. I don’t really like dumping more money into the Mars family fortune, but what are you gonna do. (We’ve used Nutro since before Mars bought them out.)
Good luck.
Cheers,
Scott.
MoCA Ace
Wow. Beautiful garden and love the Zen Shed! I don’t have a lot of shade and have been thinking about a covered gazebo next to the garden that has now morphed (in my mind) into a Zen/Barbecue/three season structure thingy. I’ve been sketching a timber frame structure with one end filled in with a fieldstone wall complete with built-in outdoor fireplace, barbecue, and of course a wood fired pizza oven. Of course with our periodic waves of mosquitos it needs roll-down screen sides. I already have a lot of the posts and unlimited field stone… this project should keep me in shape unless it kills me!
On a garden note. I have been raising garlic for years and always cut the flower stalks off and threw them in the compost pile. Learned only recently that they are edible, and in-fact a delicacy. Yesterday I made a chicken Alfredo and garlic scape pizza… it was life changing!!
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
It’s beautiful already and it will keep getting better!
WaterGirl
@OzarkHillbilly: I am speechless. Truly inspirational.
@Immanentize: maybe if we pool our resources, we can afford OH to come build something like that at my house.
Everyone: I assume you guys all know that if you click on the top photo, it opens to just the photo on the screen, but bigger. Then, if you click again, the photo fills the entire window. Clicking the back arrow takes you back to the original post.
Aleta
@OzarkHillbilly: I love how a dog will adapt to all kinds of things human but when it comes to absolute right and wrong he’s firm: you and he must stay together. Splitting up the pack destroys a universal law and the closed front door is a catastrophe.
OzarkHillbilly
Pictures or it didn’t happen! Seriously, I’d love to see it.
I have some stone work to do across the front of the house and this year I have to get serious about it. Or maybe next year. ;-)
TaMara (HFG)
Gorgeous photos. And I love spiderwort. I have a bunch of volunteers and always happy to see them reemerge each year.
Aleta
The pavillion (addition) is heartthrob level, especially in those woods. Sunday morning swoon.
OzarkHillbilly
@TaMara (HFG): Spiderwort has long been a favorite wildflower of mine. Happy to have found these and happier still that they are doing well.
p.a.
Yin: seem to have found a birdfood mix squirrels don’t like.
Yang: apparently birds don’t either ?.
It’s a mix of seed, nuts, dead insects (purposefully), and dried fruit. 3 days, very little drawdown. I usually mix my own: safflower seeds (said squirrels don’t like: ha ha), hot pepper seed mix (same claim re:squirrels: ha ha) nyjer (too small for squirrels to bother with), and mealworms. Very popular W feathered and furred. And yes I’ve seen the ninja squirrel vid.
Miss Bianca
@satby: @Steeplejack: I had a friend recommend Purina One for my pupsters. She was one of the leading lights of the animal rescue group here in the valley (till she moved to NM), and had bred, raised, and shown Jack Russell Terriers for many years, so I decided her advice was probably sound. No problems so far!
Miss Bianca
@opiejeanne: Watson has been barking and barking at *something* down the mountain off and on all morning. Thought it might be deer, but D took a scan with the field glasses and reported cows wandering around the next road over. Open range, y’all!
J R in WV
Great stuff, Ozark, thanks for sharing with we Jackals!
We have spiderwort around too. Love how it closes up are dusk, reopens in the morning. Plus beautiful blooms in midsummer.
Take care, all. I’m a little down in my back right now, but have to go to town anyway. Wish me luck!
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: I gave you my particular brand recommendation in a different thread, so I won’t duplicate that here.
But you should probably consider where ingredients come from – not china, etc – and check on the “recall” track record before you make a decision.
satby
@Miss Bianca: Purina One is great too, just out of my budget range. For decades Purina was the only animal food game in town. They even make a duck chow. I get annoyed with the dog food woo people who imply feeding my dogs chow is practically poisoning them when my dogs end up living longer, healthier lives all things equal. Plus the never recalled aspect, which a number of the higher priced snob brands can’t claim.
MomSense
@satby:
The fad was no grains or starches for awhile and then the dogs started getting kidney problems. Basic food is just fine. I also give my dog carrot ends, wild blueberries, and other goodies. She goes nuts for sweet potato and frozen string beans.
NotMax
@satby
A plethora of chows.
;)
grandmaBear
Our ducks like their duck chow. @satby:
Cowgirl in the Sandi
Lovely garden!
Ozark – if you’re still around, what are the hanging chains that go from the roof on either side of the window? They look great. Can you describe them?
grandmaBear
In SW Ohio our strawberries seem to have run their course but picked our first black raspberries yesterday and the red ones are just beginning to turn color. I’m hoping the marionberries I planted last fall will survive the winters here but they won’t have any this year.
Steeplejack
Thanks, all, for the dog-food suggestions. Notes taken. Had to duck out to take my mass-transit-less friend to Costco to pick up a prescription.
Anne Laurie
When I first started gardening, my guide warned me: You’ll know you’re a true gardener when everybody looks at your work and goes ‘OOOH’ while you think BUT THOSE WEEDS!…
MoCA Ace
Serious dead-thread territory here. This is not going to happen any time soon. I have an addition to the house to complete first. It’s more of a retirement project (5 years hence if I’m lucky). This is how I work… by the time I start I will have built and rebuilt it in my head so much I won’t need more than a back-of-the-napkin sketch. Mrs. MoCa and I were having dinner on the deck this afternoon and I laid it all out there for her. To my surprise she just rolled her eyes and said “not until I get my first floor laundry”. I was expecting a hearty Fuck No. So progress!