Growing Chicory
and "Chicory Will Get It Done" a Poe-umm Revisited
The chicory flower unfurling in the early morning light…I love these pretty blue flowers and have created a nice patch of chicory in the wild flower north garden. I’m a sucker for blue flowers, but these little beauties have been a longtime favorite.
It has taken a few dedicated years to maintain this one little corner of chicory, which meant studying what the seedlings look like compared to other seedlings of plants I don’t want to have taking over the section, many have similar leaf and stem structure that doesn’t become clear until later in the growing season what is what. I like having them growing along with Queen Anne’s Lace, so I have to spread some seeds in that spot this fall. I will set aside a spectrum of seeds for this garden to give it more variety. I had to dig up a lot of golden rod earlier in the spring, it was getting out of hand…that also looks really pretty with the chicory, too!
I did write a poe-umm about Chicory…which was my very first post on Substack on July 21, 2023! (I can’t believe it’s already been two years.)
I do love that little poe-umm! Chicory Will Get It Done. Chicory is such a tough plant, it survives along the toxic edges of highways and doesn’t seem to mind the harsh conditions. It pushes through the tiniest cracks in sidewalks and along foundations.
A few years back (probably about 10 years ago) there once was a field that was Chicory and Queen Anne’s Lace, I called it the field of blue and white. I loved seeing it blooming this time of year, it was a small patch near the road within a farmland plot that had gone wild, and had been for sale for a long time. Of course, the land was eventually subdivided and sold, and then houses were built on it…the field of blue and white is no longer there. That’s progress, I guess.
We’re finally getting a break from the hot weather, it was exhausting, also, I’ve developed tendonitis (or possibly a micro tear) in my right wrist, and of course, the left one is fussing because it has taken on some burdens of the right, so I’ve had to dial back a lot of my garden toils between resting the wrists and not overdoing it in the hot sun.
I have spent lots of time on the porch reading Rodmoor by John Cowper Powys. It’s a curious book (most of his books are curious), just when it looks like a happy ending was on the horizon, things were falling into place, but I had my suspicions from the foreshadowing that I've noted, everything went pear-shaped, the tragedy has begun...there's still more to come in this strange town by the North Sea (even the town and the sea have personality.) He's very wordy in his descriptions, but I don't mind that at all...I'm that kind of reader, I trust the author to guide me through the story and I let him take his time to linger on the path to the ending. It's not his best book, but, as always, the characters are interesting, imperfect as humans tend to be, there's always a witch-like person or someone (sometimes more than one) living on the edge of insanity. The women have interesting dimension with a range of strengths and weaknesses, the good I can describe to be chaotic good, then there are some women who are downright evil... fascinating. I've dogeared many pages to revisit later. Once I'm finished, I'll dip in and out of it for a few days before I move on to the next read. I'm looking forward to writing my thoughts about this book. Powys is such an interesting writer (a writer's writer) and I loved how one character mentioned Thomas Hardy to another character, because Powys was influenced by him (he dedicated his first novel, Wood and Stone to him, which was very sweet.)
I’m having my manuscript read to me using the read aloud option in MS Word. I believe I have finally finished clearing up the disaster of lost changes that I discovered in the PDF that my Fred designed. It’s been a long haul of uncertainty for several weeks, but it appears that I have accomplished what I feared was impossible. It’s such a funny, yet dark book, and it’s the soap opera that I intended to write, only bigger and better than I ever imagined. I’ll be glad to turn it out into the world someday, I’m ready to move on to other writing projects that are waiting for my attention.
I have also started a poe-umm sketchbook in which I write out a poe-umm in pencil overlapping the words and not being too careful about legibility, and then partially erased it.
I did this one on Monday afternoon. It’s one of those whimsical ideas that I come up with for something to do. Yeah, what the heck…it keeps me off the streets and out of trouble. Keeps my busy mind busy doing something that feels good, I’m following my bliss wherever it will take me. It’s possible that I may insert or tip in a page of the poe-umms printed on translucent parchment or vellum paper. I do have a notion about creating a font of my handwriting, which would be a nice thing to have.
I hope everyone is well. Be extra good to yourselves, follow your bliss, and find joy. Remember to be kind to others, okay? You never know what someone is going through—and we’re all going through a lot these days.
Thank you for visiting From My Acre of the World. I’m happy to share my creative life journey as I connect the dots between life, art, images, the written word, and my creative process. I want to say “Hello” to all my subscribers, followers, and new visitors. I want to thank my subscribers, both paid and free; I truly appreciate your ongoing support, and it means a great deal to me to have you here. My content is always free because I want to reach people and have my work accessible (you can pay if you want to, but there’s no pressure). I always enjoy hearing from you; your comments are pretty special.