Red Bud Maples On The Edge Of The Swamp

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Not knowing the truth of a situation is a constant state for me. I have to go off alone and think things through before I can let what passes for the truth for many people... go. It seems I am forever dumping baggage and blowing bubbles. Like doing the maintenance work on my computer system and running all the checks and balances through their paces to make sure they're still working.

It doesn't take much input to stimulate me into diverting my attention to keep the bad guys at bay. I don't want them to cross the street to say "Hello". I don't wanna go to some defensive stance in the middle of just being out for a walk. I disengage from the world of the senses, and the other assumes I must be out for lunch.

The red bud maples are working their magic over in the edge of the swamp. Since the only place to live on the coastal plains are the ridges that are higher than the swamps, swamps are always right around the corner, and red bud maples are one of the dominant species that grows on the peripheries of the swamps.

As the precursors of the arrival of Spring they sort of forecast what kind of summer it's gonna be. Usually due to how late the last killing frost descends on us in the form of a Montreal Express. It's warmish now. It hasn't been for the last six weeks. If the blossoms on the fruit trees emerge and then a killing frost puts and end to the process, it means you gonna hafta buy your fruits and vegetables at the grocery store at a higher price to pay for the shipping. Bummer.

Not me though. I've been so successful at growing sprouts it's hard for me to live with me. I found myself wishing today that my parents had known about sprouting seeds and eating the results to keep the family healthy. Since we kept cows we always had meat and dairy product year around, and since we kept a large garden and preserved food by canning we had really good soup and bread, but no living vegetables much.

The good thing about me being successful in growing sprouts is that it's hard to go wrong. If you use the right procedure and have live seeds that will sprout it's a cinch. I like to experiment with this process, and I don't have to leave my house to do it.

I've read a little about germinating flax seed, and most of the authors I've read suggested that one should not expect much success. I'm having a little success with germinating flax seed, but I don't know what the end game will be.

It's this business of hulls that have me confounded presently. I first ran into it when I germinated some black beans I got off the shelf at Wal-Mart. When they germinate they split into by the white sprouting leg . the two black halves of the seed is where the energy for the plant is stored, but they taste bad. What happens next is that two green leaves and a growing tip emerge. Those first two leaves are the best food you can get out of this legume. They can be put in a salad or a juicer and you get the good stuff. Like the first trimester of human growth. Uncommitted stem cells galore are abundant.

I'm an old man and it doesn't take much to amuse me. I use the top of my washing machine as a counter top because it's there. Yesterday I was cleaning up around the kitchen after I had transferred my sprouts from the wide-mouth jars into plastic baggies before I stashed them in the refrigerator.

A couple of alfalfa sprouts had fallen by the wayside, and just to indulge my miserliness I pick them up and ate them. The sprouts were less than an inch long, and growing. They were alive. Perfect little plants in every way including what would become the root. From the seed I germinated the plant only has one mission, to produce more seeds. Everything that plant has to offer to grow is there for the taking. Good stuff.
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