Seedling Surprise
The publishing business is a side line to a busy personal and professional life. It is a fun and enjoyable undertaking and diversion from the business of day to day activities. At least, that is the excuse I’ll put out when someone asks “When will you put out a book?” Fair question. There are plenty that are about 90% completed. Short attention spans are the order of the day here at the Brown Dog. Interests jump from one project to the next – it’s all for fun, not work – so if something more interesting comes along, we are on it! Like the next squirrel, or rabbit, or, wait, are you going to finish that sandwich…
The current project has been a pamphlet that we stumbled on while looking for something else – Mémoire sur la Possibilité de Cultiver le Thé en Plein Terre et en Grand en France, avec des Observations sur la Préparation de ses Feuilles, leur Usage, etc., etc. (1844) [Report on the Possibility of Growing Tea in the Open Ground and on a Large Scale in France, with Observations on the Preparation of Its Leaves, Their Use, etc., etc.] by Dr. F.V. Mérat. They don’t write titles like that anymore.
We were led to that work while researching citations given in Dr. Junius Smith’s Essays on the Cultivation of the Tea Plant in the United States of America (1848). The French work has more practical information than Dr. Smith’s and so it jumped to the head of the line. Translation tasks are mostly done. Waiting for a quote on a short section in Latin that is a footnote to a work that is footnoted in the primary text (we add value to the work!). Karma must be at work. Yesterday while cleaning up a little in the plant beds around the house, we found two seedlings growing in the Open Ground where one of our first tea plants had lived for the past year. They went unnoticed a month ago when we moved the orginal plant to a more favorable spot. What a treat. These two were given new homes in pots so they can come inside for the winter. We may be able to set them back in the ground next spring.
Volunteer Tea Seedlings