Creative Nonfiction by Andrea Badgley
Recipe (my first cocktail creation!) 1/2 lemon, squeezed, then cut into quarters Leaves from 2 sprigs lemon balm 3/4 oz honey syrup* 2 1/2 oz gin Squeeze 1/2 lemon into cocktail shaker. Cut the remaining lemon rind in quarters and drop them into cocktail shaker. Add lemon balm leaves and honey syrup. Muddle until the … Continue reading A cocktail from the garden: lemon balm smash
A friend asked recently what it is about gardening that I love so much, and with such intensity. What is so compelling? What do I get out of it? When we moved into our house, it was surrounded by nothing but mowed grass. A vast expanse of green blades, all the same height, all the same … Continue reading Welcome back, little critters
Each year since we moved into our house and I killed all the grass, I take a week off around the time of our kids’ spring break to fertilize, mulch, and dedicate myself 100% to getting the garden ready for warm weather and flowers. This year, that week starts today. Originally I was going to … Continue reading My gardening vacation begins today!
March is lioning. Wind howled through the night on March 1st. It shook the house, rattled the windows, scoured the lawn of leftover leaf detritus from winter. Now, Saturday morning, with a cat on my writing arm, I look out the window and see a red cardinal and tiny house finches perched on the bare … Continue reading The roar of spring
I am out of control. Once Christmas ended, and the holiday decorations were all stored and put away in the cubby hole under the stairs, and winter became plain old winter with nothing left to look forward to in it, my mind switched gears to gardening. Yep. Gardening. In January. Two years ago, I embarked … Continue reading Can’t stop my brain
I’m taking a day off today. We were planning to camp, but camping when both of us work full-time is a giant pain. It’s more stressful than it is fun, what with all the prep work and cleanup on each end of the trip, and having to leave immediately from work to drive and set … Continue reading Morning amble
