Being here on the ranch pretty much full time this year has meant that I could see the tiny increments of the progress of the natural seasons, all tied to the availability of water, and most of all to the light we have in this part of the world. This photo is of one of the raised flower beds. Everything is self-seeded and volunteer. I did plant a few zinnia seeds and they are now in full flower. The humongous cosmos are self seeded and in a few weeks they will be as thick as trees and covered with enormous yellow blossoms. By that time the blanket flowers will have died down and the Mexican petunias will be three feet tall and blooming like crazy. This bed needs no extra water or attention.

The vegetable garden has been the best yet. Tonight we had eggplant, peppers, onions, beans, tomatoes, and the last of the lettuce. I keep thinking that we have gotten the last pickings and then I discover that there are enough beans to feed an army. (I am beginning to hate beans!) But as the last of the vegetables are harvested, there are still more! Throughout the summer we will still have onions, okra, collards, eggplants and peppers. The gourds have become a menace as they climb everywhere, under and over. The bugs have just about given up, having devoured or spoiled the tomato crop.

A few days ago when Andy was going to the grocery store I asked him to buy some asparagus. What?? You, locavore, you want asparagus from maybe Peru or Chile?? Give me a break, I want some different vegetable. We do grow asparagus, but in Florida it is thin pickings and I always speed them directly into my mouth, no extras for the table.

In June I must throw out the vegetable plants that are no longer productive. The compost pile is thick with old bean plants, tomato vines, squashes and weeds. I throw out the household compost and hoe everything under. I notice that next to the compost pile there are a number of volunteers: acorn squash, tomatoes, cucumbers. In that place I let them live if they can!

Here, there is no slack season. There is no time when everything is conveniently dead and dormant. Yes, in January, growth is down to a dull beat, but that is when one puts in the spring garden and then has anxiety fits if it freezes those tender plants! If there is a dormant season it is from late July to early September. But at this time you have to worry about hurricanes, and then all bets are off.

I love this rugged part of America for the fascinating natural world it is. I am appalled to think of how retrograde this state is, how ignorant the electorate, how lightweight is our current governor. I am devoted to reading all letters to the editor in three papers. So many folks think only of themselves and have no clue about the larger good.

If any of you out there are interested, please consider Alex Sink for governor. I have known Alex forever and think highly of her. She's smart (actually brilliant), honest, down-to-earth, modest, possessed with incredible energy, and she knows so much about the finances of the state. Here's something you may never know in the press: little factoid dept. Alex's grandfather was one of the famous Siamese conjoined twins. Eng and.. I forget. Pretty fascinating stuff. Look it up.