Dianne
Today, although the weather was frightful, I stopped by the community garden. Mecklenburg County, of which Charlotte is a part, have several plots of land set aside for those who wish to do organic gardening. For a mere $40/year, you can become your own gardener. There is one such garden near my home. I’ve passed it hundreds of times, but today is the first time that I actually stopped by. It was great!
For my wife who really LOVES butterflies!
I figured that, since I was still dressed up in my work gear, that I only stop in for about 5 minutes, shoot a few pictures and leave. I had another reason to leave quickly, it was 103 degrees outside with a heat index of nearly 110. This was not exactly the time to be standing around jaw-jacking, which is exactly what I did do!
After walking into the garden, I met Dianne. She was tending to her garden and took time out to explain to me all of the things that she was growing, bits and pieces about organic garden, and information about the gardens such as cost and availability.
I cruised around a bit more, chasing butterflies and Goldfinches and far exceeding my original 5 minute estimate! I was sweating like crazy and enjoying every blazing minute of it. I got to see, for the first time, a Goldfinch away from a feeder actually eating wildflower seeds. Beautiful!
After finishing my chase of the local wildlife, I met Anthony who had a garden there as well. He’s very much into cooking and runs a catering business, as well as being a food service manager. He was fun to talk to and he sent me home with a bunch of tomatoes and some peppers! Yummy! We exchanged cards and I told him to look on the website for his picture! So, here he is checking his cucumbers that had gone slightly past ripe. I didn’t know that when they went from green to yellow, they had gone ‘past’. Live and learn! It still smelled like a cucumber, but it was pretty hard inside.
Anthony and his cucumber
Overall, I spent about 55 minutes more than my 5 minute estimate. Yes, I was standing out in the sun talking for about 1 hour @ 103 degrees. My shirt was soaked by the time that I got back in the car. However, I had a ‘cool’ time, which I usually do when I stop to meet new people. I plan on making many return trips to the garden, perhaps when it’s cooler. I want to chase some more of this birds and insects and, of course, meet some potential new friends!
One person, in the true sense of community, had this sign in front of her flowers;
Please Pick Flowers!
All pictures taken with my 55-200mm VR. I just love that VR stuff!
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I’m battling jealousy over these goldfinch photos! I saw a goldfinch perched on a Cosmos one morning, but naturally, I didn’t have my camera at that moment. Mostly they fly to our feeders. That photo should be marketed, Paul. It is unique and colorful.
What a fun outing, getting to meet new friends doing what they love best – gardening. I have always said that gardeners and campers are some of the nicest people on earth. Speaking of which, we’re heading out to a nice shady campground for five days, starting this afternoon! R&R, here we come…
LOVE IT!! I first started organic gardening 25 years ago and I am so pleased to finally see it as a widespread recognized alternative to growing. What a wonderful community project! As the sunflower seeds really ripen on those plants they will be covered with more goldfinches than you can shake a stick at, as they have to crack open each seed, usually while it’s still on the plant, and get the tasty meat out. And since they don’t seem to mind humans as much as the other birds do, you should walk away with some more spectacular shots like you have displayed here. The first goldfinch shot is one of my favorites that you’ve ever posted.