Last weekâs span of warm, clear days found island gardeners scrambling outside, perched on bended knee pulling weeds, transplanting seedlings and slaying slugs. It was a flurry of activity that reminded me of a childrenâs story called âAll Summer in a Dayâ by Ray Bradbury.
The story takes place on Venus, where it rains for seven years at a time. And then the rain stops for two hours . and magic happens.
I wonât spoil it for you, but know that itâs worth a read. Just Google it .
Itâs easy to overdo it, you know, in our efforts to pack months of planning and dreaming into a few days or hours. Our backs hurt, tools are lost and refound, to-do lists get longer, holes appear in gloves, new callouses form, wheelbarrows balk under the weight of compost, we forget time .
With the return of sunshine comes the return of dandelions, and my annual plea to not mow down dandelions.
I know, I know. The appearance of those yellow flowers nestled among oneâs otherwise pastoral sea of green grass is enough to send many homeowners over the edge.
But hear me out .
Dandelions will keep coming back no matter what you do, so learn to either eat them, enjoy them or mow them. And if you plan to mow them, please hold off. Let them be mellow-yellow for a while so bumblebees and other pollinators can enjoy a decent meal.
I built my first compost pile around 1986. Give or take a year. Over the years (decades — yikes!), I consider myself on intimate terms with dozens of materials, from
It was a cool day in March when I donned a warm jacket and walked up Ole Johnson Street to the Kodiak Daily Mirror office for my appointment with then-publisher Nancy Freeman.
We sat in the conference room and talked about my new idea, a weekly gardening column for the newspaper. And I would write it.
We talked about the coming spring: daffodils that would soon be blooming, how to grow seedlings under lights, sparrows that dig up pea seed, making compost . all manner of garden topics. Including earthworms.
Even though I was accustomed to pitching ideas to editors, having freelanced for Alaska Magazine for almost 10 years, I was nervous and felt like a car salesman.
Obituary: Ryan Lenwood Gilley
Ryan Lenwood Gilley 1987 - 2021 SCARBOROUGH - Ryan Lenwood Gilley- loving son, brother, uncle, grandson, boyfriend, and friend, passed away .
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Ryan Lenwood Gilley
Ryan Lenwood Gilley 1987 – 2021 SCARBOROUGH – Ryan Lenwood Gilley- loving son, brother, uncle, grandson, boyfriend, and friend, passed away on Saturday, April 3, 2021 at his home in Scarborough. He was 33 years old and a production supervisor at Texas Instruments. As we sat down with heavy hearts to write this, we all came up with the same word to describe Ryancompassionate! He took on everyone’s pain and hurt as his own, and perhaps that all became too heavy to hold. He was born on June 26, 1987 to Darry and Shelly Gilley. He was the baby, with three older sisters who loved him fiercely, and drove him crazy. Ryan graduated from Mt. Ararat High School in 2005 and enlisted in the Air Force, where he served for six years, including three tours in the Iraqi war. After his time in t