June 2, 2025 - GARDEN TIME!
Our shadows casts over our garden plots on the side yard of our house. The side yard was once the site of another house that was destroyed by fire 50 years ago. The former owner of our house purchased the lot and we now have a whole half acre in which we can garden, but we try to limit it to a few small raised beds.
I discovered a nice large patch of cardoons along the Outlet Trail.
and with a huge amount of work, they ended up in the pot. Cardoons are actually part the thistle plant and related to the artichoke
Julie bought this 125 year-old push cart with handmade wheels. It was at the local museum and they were having a sale. The head of the museum said it was for picking up horse manure in the street in the 1890s!
I couldn’t let Julie buy something without buying something for myself so I purchased this early, 1950s stroller and I’m sure that it’s just like the one that my mother pushed me around in!
I got in my first day of fishing on the lake this past week with my buddy Franklin. Pickings were slim, but I did land a nice bass albeit out of season…
Forever the judge of my instruments, Ken Luk checks out a CollingsA style mandolin that just arrived. It is a custom order with just a bit wider neck at the night and a dream to play
My old friend Ben Ford stopped by to check out an expensive Gibson mandolin… he left with an Eastman that just suited him better.
Gavin Rice has finish his college degree and will be heading off to New York City to work. He’ll be back in the fall for a short student to finish up his student teaching. We will miss his presence.
GARDEN TIME!
June 2nd, 2025
Greetings folks,
I have often felt that gardening was both the most humbling and the most rewarding activity that one could pursue. To get one’s hands dirty, to dig in the soil of the Earth, where we all came from and where we all must return …and to get rewards for doing it! That is a truly a human experience. I’ve always had a garden… wherever I lived. My mother taught us early on how to till the soil, plant, weed, harvest and even squish big green tomato caterpillars. I never forgot those early lessons and over my lifetime I’ve planted hundreds of trees and thousands of tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, squash and every herb that we could obtain….not to mention shrubs, bushes and flower beds. There is an ancient value in turning the soil and planting something that will grow to fruition. Gardening starts out in the early spring, chilly and damp, and without growth…and in the fall you are rewarded with an abundant harvest. Gardening is for people who have hope, for people who can see beyond the dirt. Gardening transformed our species from a hunters to planters; from nomadic to domesticated. Gardening gave rise to civilization, and perhaps if more people took up gardening, we would become a bit more civilized once again. So my plan was to spend the entire day on Sunday tending the small raised beds, adding a flower here, an herb there…. basil, eggplant, hot peppers, tomatoes filling the whole thing out.
However, rain and weather had other plans. The entire day was pretty much a cold wash out so we both exercised on our home gym upstairs. Then we did some other types of gardening…. The type we planted seeds for 50 years ago….the kind that requires mental exercise, and honest approach and writing a big check. Yes we picked up the instruments pictured above from the family of the original owner and we will be cataloging them in soon….there are some REAL GEMS!
With peace,
John Bernunzio
There is no better way to spend a rainy afternoon than buying some instruments and then driving around the Lake Keuka Bluff
Today will be a better day for gardening and getting the final touches done on the potted plants