Down To Earth Community Gardens

07/28/2025

Today's showing is Okra, that slimy cousin from the south that my mother used to boil and serve as a side dish - slime and all. The woman hated cooking and it showed. No salt, no spice, no love, just weird food prepared badly.

Okra is great in gumbo, etouffee, and various other preparations that are NOT slimy, uninspired and pathetic. It is growing into MY garden this summer.

I love gumbo and etouffee, but I'd be curious to see if a) anyone has other recipes, and b) do you grow it here in the 8b Snohomish area?

Garden carefully, and watch those first steps off decks. 😉 ~Barb

07/27/2025

🌙 DOWN TO EARTH AFTER DARK 🌙
Warning: The following berry content is NSFW. Viewer discretion is advised.
NSFW = Not Safe For Weeding

So here I am, holding just one of my thornless blackberries and once again…
“THAT’S HUGE!” echoes from across the garden.
And y’all—every single time—my brain short-circuits and I can't stop myself:
“THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID.”
Unapologetic.

Let us not forget:
A stranger once ran up to me, dragged his wife behind him, and shouted:
“SHOW HER YOUR HANDS.”
I held them up like I was being mugged by weird birdwatchers.
And they yell, giggling:
“PORN HANDS!!”
What now???

Apparently, my hands are deceptively smol. They are tiny.
Like, make-a-berry-look-like-a-grapefruit tiny.
And honestly? If that's the superpower the universe needs me to carry, I'm fine with that.

🖐️💅🍇
These blackberries?
✔️ No pain.
✔️ No filters.
✔️ No shame.
✔️ Juicy giants.

Berry Warning Label
➡️ May cause moaning.
➡️ May attract neighbors.
➡️ May result in unsolicited horticultural compliments.

07/24/2025

Bright red goofball eyes,
hovering like he knows things—
forgot midair why.

Behold: When you’re 90% wings, 10% confusion, and 100% sure this glass sculpture is your throne.
Presenting: Lord Derpenstein of the Blown-Glass Bog.

Sympetrum corruptum (Variegated Meadowhawk)
Perched momentarily on a blown glass surface, this migratory dragonfly is native to western North America and often found near ponds, marshes, and slow-moving streams. Its large compound eyes provide near-360° vision, making it an agile aerial predator—despite the perpetually puzzled expression.

Fun Fact:
Unlike many dragonflies, the Variegated Meadowhawk is a long-distance flyer, sometimes traveling hundreds of miles during seasonal migrations. Goofy eyes, serious mileage.

Diet:
Both larvae (nymphs) and adults are voracious insectivores. Nymphs feed on mosquito larvae, aquatic insects, and even tiny fish. Adults sn**ch midair snacks like mosquitoes, flies, gnats, and aphids—making them excellent natural pest control.

How to Attract Them:

Add a pond or shallow water feature with native aquatic plants.

Avoid pesticides—dragonflies are highly sensitive to chemicals.

Include tall grasses, reeds, or perches for basking and hunting.

Provide flat rocks or warm surfaces for sunning their wings.

Despite their cartoonish eyes and doofy stare, dragonflies have nearly 30,000 individual lenses per eye, offering nearly full-circle vision and elite hunting precision. They're the garden's air force—with zero fuel needed.

07/21/2025

is again upon us. I am again cranky, but that's normal so we'll move on.

Welcome to harvest time! The beginning of too much of everything, why the hell did I plant so much, I'm never doing this again, and wtf do I do with all this??

PS, you'll do it again, just saying.

If you find yourself with too much, you have options.

1. Freeze things, if you have space. You can eat them later, or throw the frozen bricks at...things.
2. Freeze dry. No refrigeration needed. Works on fruit and veg. Hurts less when hit by it (unless it's still in the storage jar).
3. Can/make jam. Yum for jam. Less thrilled with canned veggies.
4. Take it to the food bank. More than ever people are going to need our food banks, and donations are at risk as costs go up and supply goes down.

Finally, you can ninja gift to your neighbors. Don't ask, just put bags of food on their porches at night. Drop it in unoccupied cars whose windows are down. Use your considerable imaginations. 😇

~Barb

07/21/2025

07/21/2025

07/18/2025

It's hot. I'm cross. No, I'm fkn pi**ed.

I weeded this parking pad a few weeks ago, but seeds fall on top, mingle with minute particles of imitation soil, and think "wheeee, party time!"

NOT TODAY, SATAN!

I considered chemicals. I'm too lazy to spray, then spray again, then spray again... but there are other, equally drastic but more environmentally friendly ways.

FRY THEM IN HELL!

Ahem. As an environmentally sound way to kill things, especially during the hot days of summer, take tarps and cover the area. Weigh them down with heavy things. Bricks, pavers, body bags (careful of smell), old posts, plywood, whatever. They will fry and die in a few weeks. I'll be moving the trailer in a couple weeks to go camping, and at that time I'll apply more tarps.

Why do I have so many tarps? Mind your own... 😇😉

If you would like more gardening tips, just ask!

~Barb

07/18/2025

Bean There, Picked That

Harvest season is here and the beans are showing off. So far we’ve got:

🫛 Fava beans – ready for something molto Italiano (thinking pasta or a dreamy fava purée)
💚 Green pole beans – classic, crisp, and climbing
💜 Purple pole beans – colorful until they hit hot water
🐍 Rattlesnake beans – spicy name, tender flavor

Still waiting on the Lazy Housewife beans, who are clearly living up to their name. No rush.

🍝 Fava Beans, but Make It Italian 🇮🇹

Fresh favas are here, and we’re turning them into something straight out of Tuscany.

Try this garden-to-table dish that feels like a hug from Nonna.

✨ Fava Bean spread with Lemon & Garlic ✨

🫛 Shell and blanch your fresh fava beans, purée them.
🧄 Sauté garlic and half an onion in olive oil for a few minutes.
🍋 Add a splash of lemon juice and zest
Add 6oz of tomato paste.
🌿 Toss in your favas, salt, and a handful of chopped parsley, coriander, or basil and simmer 5-10 minutes.

Top with goat cheese, fresh red onion and freshly chopped tomatoes.

🍝 Mix with your favorite pasta + a ladle of pasta water. For a low carb option use over roasted zucchini sliced or spiraled. For a full carb option soak up with grilled garlic sourdough and enjoy like a nice bruschetta.

🧀 Optional: finish with parmesan or a crumble of almonds.

In under 20 minutes you have a summer dish you'll dream about all winter.

Simple. Fresh. Free from the Backyard.

07/14/2025

Welcome to another episode of "it's and I have insomnia."

As squash season kicks into full gear, be aware these plants can be ouchy. Maybe not lethal, but definitely ouchy. Make sure and wear gloves, trim off some of the excess leaves to improve air flow and reduce powdery mildew, and try to harvest your zucchini before it grows the size of your leg.

Pick beans daily and understand that, like squash, those b@$%& #*$ hide. You think you got them all, but tomorrow you'll find beans the size of, well, a small zucchini. And zucchini the size of your leg.

Yesterday's harvest for me was 4 normal sized zucchini, 8 eggs of multiple hues, and a slew of pole beans. Cucumbers are almost ready to pick, and buttercup squash is squashing.

If you're harvesting already, drop a picture and gloat. Gloating is healthy. So is looking down your nose at the pathetic, overpriced store fruit and veg as you prance by on your way to get a donut. Oddly specific, I know, but there it is.

Stay hydrated, it's going to be hot! ~Barb

07/13/2025

Sweet peas on my lap,
foot high like garden royalty—
cat brings me a snake.

Things I can do with a broken foot:
✔ Shell two massive trays of sweet peas
✔ Save seeds like a calm, collected garden queen
✔ Halt my fluffy orange menace mid-snake abduction

Because even from the deck, I’m gardening, managing the chaos, and apparently running wildlife control.

No snakes were harmed in its catch & release.

07/11/2025

Don't mind me..just over here scaring my HOA...

When the garden starts singing... you know it's time to run. 🎶🪴