Big stuff

Sioux trots down the road where weeds grew to relatively normal height

Two and a half weeks ago, I said I would show some of the extra-large growth that resulted from the abundance of rainfall this winter. I was hoping to show some spectacular hemlock (which makes a tea that’s guaranteed to end any addiction you might have to tea) that had grown to shoulder height right outside our back door. There were some memorable thistles, too. And the miners lettuce was getting noticeably larger.

Miners lettuce becomes Majors lettuce.
“Normal” size in background.

But I spent all of my time working on the studio for Babe, the piano, and missed all the best lighting opportunities. I’m sure you’ve taken the perfect picture of the memorable scene with the only problem being it was the wrong time of day and the picture was a disappointment. Photographs are made with light, and light’s quality varies throughout the day.

Mowed weeds in foreground, unmowed weeds in background.
These are knee deep; some got to be hip deep.

Meanwhile, Karla started the annual fuel reduction process. That means she uses a string trimmer and starts mowing down acres (literally) of weeds surrounding our buildings. One of the first items to bite the dust was the hemlock. Then came some gargantuan thistles. The miners lettuce was spared, mostly because it’s so good to eat.

Thistles taller than the old tractor

The result was that I couldn’t get the really good stuff photographed, so I have prepared some cell phone pix that I grabbed recently on my horse-feeding journeys.