Everyone has to start somewhere..

 I've helped a few people this year with either starting a garden, plants for their garden, sharing vermicompost, explaining how to brew teas, identifying the source of troubles... and identifying bugs. Lovely my husband has wandered home a few times with a plastic container with various pests...  for heaven's sake... email me a dang picture already! Seriously... you don't need to send me your squash bugs, cucumber beetles, aphids, earwigs, assorted caterpillars! 

 I do find it hilarious that some of them are so intrigued by the balance of bugs and are quite interested in beneficial bugs.. that THEY LOCK UP THE PRAYING MANTIS! No joke.. at my husband's work they discovered a mantis on the potted cherry tomato plant.. and in the efforts to protect this bug, they move the whole big pot into a sheltered caged area next to the building every night after work. Who knows why they zeroed in on this particular one.. maybe it speaks to their secret inner ninja. 

 Some.. I just try to stay away as they drive me nuts. Just a few doors down is one of those nitwits. That would be the least offensive way to describe her.. she may be the ultimate walking contradiction, and yet is completely oblivious about it. Example.. .. her husband built rather elaborate decks for multi-million dollar homes.. yet she won't let him build the raised bed as she doesn't think he can do it.. so she paid someone else who does landscaping $500 to build 2 raised beds that are 3' x 6' and only 1 board high. High may be the operative word here.

 I try to stay clear of her as much as possible. It is hard though as she wanders over often to borrow the shovel.. the pitchfork.. the clippers.. frequently forgetting to close the gate and letting my dog out. She has these tools, I don't know why she uses mine.

 I get the excited phone calls when something new can be picked from their gardens. I never get tired of the updates. Always learning something new... like eating cosmos hasn't killed anyone yet, but they made horrible pickles. 

Yeah... I need to be better about making sure things are labeled (using a sharpie.. as many other writing implements may wash away..) before offering transplants to brand spanking new gardeners. I tend to forget that not everyone knows what a tomato plant looks like.. or some herbs. It's times like when someone makes a big pot of mint tea that they realize their friends on facebook can't tell mint apart from hops. (Yep.. same one that made pickles with cosmos).

 They bring me endless laughter. It is only a matter of time until the next mishap. Irony is they are total peace, love, hippy, healthnuts that pride themselves on being so outdoorsy. Stick to the trails my friends.. as after 6 run-ins with poison ivy you still can not identify it. They did learn a lot from these experiences.. like don't listen to Charlie when he offers you water to rinse it off and says to rub it vigorously to get it off. Still the skinny dipping story makes me cry with laughter. Short version.. while trying to avoid detection as a group of hikers went by.. and clothes were out of range... he apparently was hiding behind a tree in a patch of poison ivy. They are an endless treasure trove of the hilarious.

 So when Tom calls and asks what type of round zucchini he has.. because it grew out of his compost.. and he prefers the "stick shaped" kind.. I just giggle and remind him of the birdhouse gourds from Halloween.