Nitty Gritty Dirt Man

The Incredibly True Misadventures Of A Home Gardener

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Adventures in Ancestry: The North & South Of It

When I was in third grade, I arrived home from school very, very angry. We had learned about slavery that day and since I knew my mother was born and raised in Louisiana, a southern state, she was, I believed, responsible for it. In hindsight, I admit this was a bit melodramatic – even for a 9-year-old – but it also doesn’t erase that my 9-year-old mind and heart both understood that there was…

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Bloomin' Update 67: The Art of Doing Nothing & More

There’s a lot to be said for doing nothing. The older I get, the more I try to embrace that ethic in the garden. There seems to be so much else to worry about these days, do I really need to add garden worries onto the heap? This was my approach after this winter’s record-setting cold severely burned and damaged the chenille plant (above). After several days and nights of frigid temperatures,…

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Not-So-Wordless-Wednesday: Bee Bomb

As I was about to take this photo of the first giant purple iris of the season, a green orchid bee photo-bombed — or should I say “bee bombed” — the image. Native to Mexico and Central America, the metallic green bee was first spotted in Broward County, FL, in 2003. It’s now fully established, expanding its flower appetite from orchids to include other fragrant, pollen rich flowers — such as,…

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Adventures in Ancestry: Annie's Songs

Every family tree has a story – or stories — to tell. That’s probably why I tend to get lost among the leaves and never get to the one leaf I was reaching for when I started my climb among the branches. I just never thought it would happen as soon as page 43 of 300 Years of Louds in America. That’s when I met Annie Francis Loud. Annie Frances Loud Annie and I aren’t directly related. 300 Years is…

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Bloomin' Update 66: The Discontent Of Our Winter

Nothing burns like the cold. George RR Martin wrote those words as part of the prologue in one of his Game of Thrones books – and all I could think about were my plants wailing these same words, as a record-breaking cold front moved down the Florida peninsula and into the Caribbean. Overnight temperatures hovered just above the freezing mark and wind chills dipped into the mid-20s, making South…

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Adventures in Ancestry: Ebenezer & the Captain

My paternal grandmother, Charlotte, had a repertoire of stories that she would often tell and re-tell at family gatherings. Some of these were about the memories she had of her children and grandchildren, even of her own childhood – and the stories were always told, word-for-word, in exactly the same way. Each family member could recite them by rote. One of those stories was about the Loud…

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Fireside Chat with Franklin: How Did A New Year Age So Quickly?

Leading up to the holidays, I had hoped to share a post about my 4x-great grandfather, Ebenezer Loud, because who doesn’t love a good Ebenezer story just before Christmas? That, at least was the plan. With cookie baking and decorating and a family emergency, the holidays were upon me before I even realized it. There was no time to write about Ebenezer or 3 Garden Gadgets I Didn’t Know I Needed or…

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Joy!

Wishing all of you a calm and peaceful holiday season — and a 2026 that’s full of health & happiness. Thank you for sticking with this blog. See you next year!

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Adventures in Ancestry: The Acadian Connection

On a mid-summer day in 1755, Jean-Baptiste Guillot, my 7th great-grandfather, looked around him, at the land he farmed and the home he built. He was a proud and content Acadian, living in Ile Saint-Jean, a small Canadian maritime community. This was the only life he had ever known, since he had been born in Cobequid on nearby Acadia, a French colony first settled in the early 1600s by people…

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Bloomin' Update 65: An Orchid's Life

Just as summer was flowing into autumn — which in south Florida means summer heat becomes autumn heat — I couldn’t believe what I saw on one of my orchids. It was a large bud, swollen and green with a collection of tiny ruffles at the tip. The timing of this blossom may have been a coincidence, but I jumped on it as one of the hints that fall was actually happening in my part of the world. My…

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Adventures in Ancestry: A Revolutionary Tale

Only 15 miles separated Weymouth, MA, from Boston, but very often it felt as if the small village was a world away. Where Boston was a large and bustling seaport, the jewel of the Massachusetts colony, Weymouth, officially founded in 1622, remained rural and agricultural. Residents held fast to the traditions of New England, including town meetings and strong community ties. Still, 15 miles was…

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Adventures In Ancestry: The Mystery of Crocifissa, Parte Seconda

After solving the mystery of how my great-grandparents, Giuseppe and Crocifissa, had met and married in Independence, LA, I was energized to learn more. I already had proof of Giuseppe’s arrival in the United States, but I knew nothing of Crocifissa’s arrival. So much of her life remained a mystery – and I wondered how far back in time could I travel without ever leaving my house? At the start…

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Adventures in Ancestry: The Mystery of Crocifissa, Parte Uno

Part of what I truly enjoy about genealogy is the detective work, finding clues and fitting the puzzle pieces together to create a more complete picture of my ancestors. Such was the case as I worked on my great-grandfather Giuseppe’s history. As the picture of his life came into focus, there was one, very large, missing detail: Who was his wife, my great-grandmother, Crocifissa M.? Where did she…

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Mowing for Sanity: The Lawn & Short of It

During stressful times – and I certainly think these days can be considered stressful times – I think of my friend, Sue. Not that she’s a stressful person – far from it, as a matter of fact — but I always remember how she coped with stressful days when she taught second grade in the classroom next to Joe. That’s when I first met her. It was on one of those days that only teachers can understand,…

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Adventures in Ancestry: My Sicilian Rabbit Hole

Picture it: Sicily. 1887. In the small village of Bisacquino (pictured above, courtesy of the Southern Italy Genealogical Center), a son is born to Salvatore and Maria. They name him Giuseppe and this is the start of my great-grandfather’s story, as well as my own, as I research his life and his connection to me. That connection, by the way, seems to have stretched through time. After we returned…

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Fireside Chat with Franklin: Lifestyles of the Rich & Infamous

Not a day goes by – unless we’re given a narrative-changing distraction – that we don’t hear something about Jeffrey Epstein and his connection to Trump. While I don’t want to get into any sort of courtroom scenario to prove the guilt or innocence of any of those involved… and nor do I want to get lost in the weeds about what a President can and cannot legally release… a familiar theme seems to…

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Adventures In Ancestry: Growing Up Loud

When I was very young, I never gave my surname, Loud, a second thought. That’s probably because I had never met or heard of any other Louds, other than the Louds in my small immediate family and in my small extended family. It was a small Loud world, after all. That all changed when I entered kindergarten and Loud became fuel for playground taunts, things like “Loudy” or my all-time favorite,…

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