Sometimes when I close the office at the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace something catches my eye and instead of leaving right away I linger, my attention captured by something that is going on on the grounds. Our groundhog guests have moved from under the porch of the Stulting House to under the Carpenter Shack.
That's good because they're no longer undermining the porch of a
National Historic Structure, not so good because it's awfully close to the
garden! But they're as cute as ever, darn those things!
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| This would be the Good Earth Garden |
After locking up I walked around outside to see if things were growing in the garden yet, and if they had done any damage. Whenever I seem them out of their borrow they are nibbling on wild flowers, in other words, the weeds in the yard. But that may well be because that is all that is available so far this year. Once that garden is producing delicious vegetables, it may be too much to pass up.
What strikes me almost every day I walk around the property is that things change really fast this time of year, almost day to day, hour by hour! It was only a few weeks ago that I used the arch in the top image to the right to frame an image of the Stulting House for what I thought was an interesting angle on side view of the house. Now the leaves are so thick on the grape vine they practically block the house from view.
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| First Signs of Leafy Vegetables Planted by HE students |
At that time the plot where we plant The Good Earth Garden had been so overtaken by grass, you could hardly tell there had ever been a garden. Then one day I walked behind the house and it was plowed. Shortly thereafter people began planting. Even the seeds
planted by the Hillsboro Elementary Schools Students during our opening week are popping up above ground!
Perhaps more strangely, one of the trees in the orchard by that parking lot to the back of the Stulting House is bearing fruit! It's not an apple or pear tree, though. I had thought all those trees were varieties of apple, excepting one pear tree.