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** Note: I actually wrote this on Sunday, but activities prevented me from getting it edited and sent out. Sorry for the delay! -- Douglas"

There is nothing so odd as returning to the place of your birth and childhood after many years away. The first thing I noticed is the smell. After so many years in California, the smell of a humid Ohio night tickles the brain, bringing forth memories of long nights playing "hide and seek" in the neighborhood dead-end street. Even in the darkness you can sense the green growth that contrasts so greatly with the, now golden, hills that surround the San Fernando Valley.

Humidity

This morning when I awoke I looked out across the lawn to the farm fields that surround my small hometown of New London, Ohio, (pop. 2000). A low ground fog softened the edges of everything, like a film camera that has been draped with cheese cloth. In Los Angeles we can't get enough moisture this time of year to put dew on the grass, let alone create a deep bank of fog such as this.

Of course, the same humidity that makes for such a pretty sight also lends its heaviness to the 80/90 degree days. I have often described it as "breathing cotton candy" and I am reminded this week of just how true that description is. Still, it is wonderful to be back among old friends, old towns and old gardens.

Maples

If you visit my hometown it is easy to tell where I developed my attraction to the Japanese Maple in my back garden. The main streets, named North, East, South and West, in true "Beaver Cleaver" fashion are all over-arched with 100 year old Maple trees. These lend a stately style to an otherwise small town. The high winds of the regular summer thunderstorms and the weight of winter snows have diminished their number somewhat, but there are still more than enough to make an impact. Maples such as these don't grow in southern California although you will sometimes see a smaller specimen. They like the cold of a hard northern winter, waiting for the warming of spring for their sap to rise.

Around here, maples offer an even sweeter treat than their summer shade and beautiful looks. To this day I am addicted to almost anything maple flavored. Of course, I am not talking about artificially flavored pancake syrup but food flavored with real maple syrup. While this area is not a hotbed of syrup making there are several groves that produce each Spring. I remember buying 5 gallon metal cans of syrup each Spring, smelling the steam from the syruping house as it cooked down the sap. Now I have to be content buying it in plastic jugs from the local warehouse store.

Back yard gardens

The state of backyard gardening here is much the same as it was when I left 18 years ago. Nearly every backyard has some sort of garden, whether it is only a few rows or half an acre. There is something aesthetically pleasing about the strict geometry of rows of sweet corn, green beans, potatoes and onions as they march across the garden.

We are in Ohio for another 5 days. So next week should bring more stories of my hometown.

Until then....

Keep digging!

 

What was happening a year ago (or more) in my garden? September 5, 1999 I've got a concept September, 1996 Fighting The Scorching Sun and Opossom Links