Articles by Shannon Bardwell
Possumhaw: All things spider
“The Incy Wincy spider climbing up the spout. Down came the rain and washed poor Incy out. Up came the sun and dried up all
Possumhaw: Not your average Joe
He looked strangely out of place behind a desk in an office. He was friendly enough when asking, “What can I do for you?” On the wall behind him were framed diplomas but something didn’t add up. He was dressed in sweatpants and a hoodie.
Possumhaw: Change for the better
So much has changed in the last year and a half. Some changes no longer seem strange but now are the regular way of doing life. I’m surprised how necessary the internet is. Some situations make life more difficult without good internet service while making other situations a breeze with adequate internet service. My own personal internet service rates somewhere in between.
Possumhaw: As seasons change
On Wednesday the 22nd we will slide into a new fall season. According to my 2020 journal it was in April we started “sheltering in place.” With everything shut down, I kept track of any markers that might define my year.
Possumhaw: The little plant that could
Years ago, I brought home a plant from a box store’s sales rack. The plant was about half-a-foot tall. It was green and fairly healthy so I brought it home and put it in a new pot with fresh potting soil. When the sunroom was added I moved it into a sunnier location where it grew and grew like “Jack and the Beanstalk.”
Possumhaw: Out of sight, out of mind
Chiggers, red bugs, harvest mites, harvest bugs, harvest lice, mower’s mites, berry bugs, call them what you will but they are all a beast. Chiggers appear across our Prairie in late spring, summer, and early fall.
Possumhaw: Joy to the World
In another life long ago after work I’d return to the house where I lived alone. After microwaving my dinner I’d sit at the counter on a bar stool looking through two large picture windows as the sun sank over the trees and darkness fell like a cloak.
Possumhaw: Dark was the night
The winds blew, the thunder roared and the lightning flashed. There was a loud “boom,” a flash of light through the house, a scream, then everything went dark.
Possumhaw: A day in the Prairie
Morning and evening I sit in front of Hatcher, the rabbit, feeding her greens I have foraged from the yard and refrigerator.
Possumhaw: Something more for Margaret
Sooner or later everything changes. Rabbits are down from three to one, as are ducks, and the four goldfish the size of your hand are now eight new goldfish the size of your thumb.
Possumhaw: Home on the Prairie
When you holler out “pretty bird” in the quiet of the evening and you don’t hear the sound of a quack come wafting back across the water, you can bet something is going on. There has been the occasion when a duck had its head underwater foraging for what ducks forage for.
Possumhaw: Riding with the wind
It’s an easy thing to sit down every week and write an article about the birds and the bees, what the cat is doing, how the goldfish suddenly died unexpectedly, or how beautiful the fields and lakes are as viewed from the sunroom. It’s another thing to write of something you care deeply about and leaves your heart broken and your eyes flooded with tears in the strangest and possibly inappropriate places.
Possumhaw: True seed or not
The craziest things happen as a gardener even if you know for certain you’re not a good gardener. I like the idea of being a gardener; I like the results. At least most of the time I like the results. As life has slowed down, caring for the garden has become pleasant: preparing, planting, watering, fertilizing, weeding, deadheading, pruning, harvesting. It’s not that hard, but it’s not always productive either.
Possumhaw: Under the eaves
Sometime in April and May the barn swallows begin to arrive from Central and South America to our barns, sheds and porches to nest and breed. The distance travelled is estimated at around 6,000 miles.
Possumhaw: A peaceful passing
Few things seem more peaceful than white Pekin ducks gliding across still waters. I watch our two from a window and immediately feel my breath slow down as do the wheels turning in my brain.
Possumhaw: The wandering ibis
A far as you could see — across fields and lawn — was deluged with standing water after days of torrential rains. Halfway between the house and the lake, the Pekin ducks were sitting low in the grass… like sitting ducks you might say.
Possumhaw: A goldfish tale
A month or so ago my pond goldfish died. All of them. They were somewhere around 8 years old which is not old for a goldfish. It’s like maybe a person would be in their thirties. The goldfish were fantails; they looked elegant with that tail fluttering like an angel’s wing.
Possumhaw: A true tomato tale
“Gardening does so much for your brain. You’re learning how the process works and how important it is to do everything right. So that you
Possumhaw: In with the new
It’s been a beautiful spring if not an odd one. I can’t decide if it’s really more lovely than every spring or if it’s appreciated more after a long season of a hot summer, a cold winter, along with enduring separations from those people we care about. The rains have been plentiful and the flowers, trees, and grasses abundant.
Possumhaw: Slow goes the turtle
‘Tis the season for the annual box turtle migration. Remember when after a spring/summer thunderstorm sidewalks would be littered with red squiggly worms.
