moss and trees...

My mom likes gardening.  I can't say that I inherited her green thumb. I keep trying to grow my own herb garden, but apparently gardens like being watered and I just can't seem to keep that in my daily routine long enough for anything to survive. I think I started to despise gardening as a 12 year old when my list of weekly chores included weeding and pruning. What kid wants to wake up early on a Saturday to prune? I really do wish I liked it more...  I love using the fresh herbs and veggies from the garden up in Oregon.  Maybe its like eating tomatoes or wearing pearls... You don't really appreciate them as a kid, but eventually love them when you grow up? 


Anyway, one of the things my mom loves to do for her garden is gather wild moss to use in flower boxes and arrangements.  It grows on every surface up there and peels off in big patches and long strips.  I didn't understand its charm at first, but now the adventurous kid in me loves climbing over fallen trees and exploring the forest for moss... and the competitive kid in me loves finding the biggest piece EVER to impress my mom. 


There is a park on the other side of the river that is a perfect spot for moss-picking.  When I was up there before Thanksgiving with my girlfriends from college, we helped my mom gather moss in the park and had so much fun making moss beards and filling up our muck buckets with this spongy green substance that is so foreign to us city girls. 

Moss on trees!

Working hard...

and hardly working.

Frolicing in autumn leaves.

The final product. You're welcome, mom.