Category Archives: gardening

Random garden joy 13: autumn – shifting gears

Posted on September 16, 2025 by Donna Mitchell-Moniak

First, a young monarch butterfly on a purple zinnia. One can observe that its sorting out how to be a new butterfly through its sluggishness and drinking from a flower that is going past its prime, thus not much nectar. … Continue reading →

Posted in gardening | Leave a comment

Random garden joy 12: babies grow, time passes

Posted on September 2, 2025 by Donna Mitchell-Moniak

The Monarch caterpillars are a few weeks old now. Still munching away on the milkweed. The little black pellets are poop. Seems that they are eating well! Hollyhocks, bachelor buttons, mexican hats, and gaillardia are all going by, to the … Continue reading →

Posted in gardening | Leave a comment

Random garden joy 11: let’s eat!

Posted on August 28, 2025 by Donna Mitchell-Moniak

First ear of corn. Yum! This is dwarf sugar corn from Amish seeds. Here’s a short list of yums made from garden bounty. Saag: Indian Saag can be made with almost any leaf green. It freezes well also. Tiki Masala … Continue reading →

Posted in gardening, Health and well being | Leave a comment

Random garden joy 10: totally random

Posted on August 23, 2025 by Donna Mitchell-Moniak

Beauty. Mother Nature knows how to sculpt, paint, and hang in just the right place manifestations of amazing beauty. For a certain few weeks, Nature sings its beauty. Flowers are in full regalia, vegetable plants are producing and flowering to … Continue reading →

Posted in gardening | 1 Comment

Random garden joy 9: a faker

Posted on August 13, 2025 by Donna Mitchell-Moniak

Yes. A faker. There was a faker in one of the garden beds. Remember this photo? Well, the plant with the yellow flowers is within the tomatillo family, but it’s showy-ness belied its intentions: to crowd everything else out, look … Continue reading →

Posted in gardening | Leave a comment