Creative Nonfiction by Andrea Badgley
It’s rough getting winter storm warnings in autumn. The kids were out of school yesterday, with inclement weather days chipping away at their summer break before we even get to December. But ice sure is pretty. Continue reading November ice storm
Last winter I obsessed over the garden. I scoured seed catalogs, bought graph paper to design flower beds, stood at the back door staring at the bare hill and tried to visualize what it would look like with plants on it. Now that everything is dead and gardening season is over, I wanted to take … Continue reading The garden through the year: monthly comparison photos
The garden is is peak bloom right now. Pollinators buzz busily, and the bigger butterflies are starting to find their way to the flowers I planted for them. These are mostly just the close-ups. I published more photos on Andrea’s Gardening Blog if you like photographs of gardens and flowers. Continue reading Photos from the butterfly garden
What better way is there to reflect than to go on a hike? The day after Expo ended, Support Driven organizer Scott Tran and I wandered the Portland International Rose Test Garden while we thought about what went well at the conference and what we will need to improve on next year. What a treat! … Continue reading Portland Roses
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
