No, dear friends, not agape, that group of Greek words meaning Christian or brotherly love. Agave, as in nectar . . . of the Gods. There is nothing brotherly about my passion for the liquid sunshine contained in this bottle. I have to thank Erin McKenna of Babycakes Bakery for introducing me to my love. She shared a recipe for a wonderful allergy free bread she prepared on Martha Stewart's show. (You can find this episode on Babycakes' website under "Press.") In this bread was agave, which at first, made me think of tequila, thus fostering bad memories of a certain party we won't discuss. Agave is related to gardening, or, at least, the plant world. Most people are familiar with agaves as ornamental plants, sometimes called century plants because they live to be very old, although not 100 years old. They are from the family Agavacae and are related...

Last Saturday, my youngest daughter and I attended an Oklahoma Centennial Event in the heart of Edmond. It was to celebrate our state along with ninety-five years of Girl Scouting in Oklahoma. This statue, of a girl scout planting a tree, was created by Shan Gray and was unveiled during the festivities. For those of you who live close to Edmond, it is located in Mitch Park behind the softball fields and in front of the pavillion. Mitch Park is at the intersection of Covell and Kelly streets. I wanted to know more about the statue so I contacted Susan Bohl, Service Unit Director for the Trail Blazers Service Unit. The statue cost $25,000, and Susan told me that the girls themselves raised a lot of the money. "We sold bricks, had car washes, a huge garage sale, a mother/daughter chocolate dreams event, handed out flyers, and partnered with Papa...

Sounds like a 50's B-movie just in time for Halloween. In my wildfires post, I discussed the fire danger posed by cedars and promised you more information. Not long ago, like most rural residents, I considered cedar trees to be weeds that appeared on my acreage and in my flower beds. Irritating, but not dangerous. I changed my mind when I realized how invasive they are. The Oklahoma Redcedar Task Force was formed in 2001 to come up with some solutions to this ever growing problem (pun intended.) Per the task force's report published in 2002, although there are five different native junipers in Oklahoma, the one causing most of the problems is the eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana.) The other natives are Ashe juniper (Juniperus ashei), oneseed juniper (Juniperus monosperma), Pinchot juniper (Juniperus pinchotii) and Rocky Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum.) As gardeners living in a dry state, we're always thinking...

I've been thinking about the wildfires in California today. My heart goes out to the people whose lives have been altered, whether they lost property or not. Thinking about the devastation made me consider our own dry state. I know what you're thinking, "Not with the monsoon of June," but prior to last summer, our drought lasted years. Seven years ago, in Oklahoma's back country, two young men were seen with fireworks. They set off a wildfire that burned so hot, it annihilated both the buried telephone cables and all microorganisms twelve inches deep in the soil. I took this picture today showing the fire's continuing impact on one tree. I remember because our home was within three miles of that fire. Fortunately for us, the winds blew the flames the other direction, but we went without land line telephones for a month. I live in a log house, so...