The days of my Ohio homesteading adventure I miss the most are the days when something went wrong. It was only in the disasters that my one-sixth acre farm revealed its magic. The cover of my debut novel, Strawberry shifters book 1: Bear with Me, is a mystical interpretation of one of those days. While Alison the Green Witch uses her inherited magic to grow pumpkins, I used a series of coincidences to make my pumpkins fly.
Inspired by the 1960’s television show “Good Neighbors”, my spouse and I tore out the backyard grass from our suburban home. We constructed a fence around our mud pit and hoped the Machiavellian homeowners association (HOA) didn’t look too closely. It was a neighborhood of old money with a famous golf course on one end and a nationally ranked high school on the other. We had received a nasti-gram from them for letting our trash cans burn the corner of our lawn. When we ignored the letters, someone spraypainted the twelve-inch circle green under the cloak of darkness.
My husband was upset when he found that all the vines I had planted were butternut, acorn, and spaghetti squash. He wanted a Halloween pumpkin to carve and place on our porch, right under the noses of the HOA. I didn’t see this as a reason to grow pumpkins in our micro-farm. A few sweet words from his dimpled smile, and I was starting pumpkins seeds. Where to put them? We used companion planting in lieu of pesticides so we didn’t accidentally poison ourselves. Every square inch of the backyard was planned for maximal growth conditions sans pumpkins. In a huff, I planted the pumpkins under the pignoli nut (Italian pine) trees at the end of our yard. With a sinister chuckle, I planned for the constant shade to kill them.
The vines flourished into a florescent green superhighway system. The opposite side of the trees was the edge of a paved church parking lot, so I thought no harm was done. They will crowd themselves to suffocation. I was delighted when the ROUSes (giant groundhogs) of Ohio ate the blossoms and were too full to eat from our farm. The pumpkins were serving a purpose.
It was a day in late November when we saw the first UFO. My husband and I were planting fall garlic when our neighbor ran out with his camera. He showed us the forty-pound pumpkin swinging about six-feet off the ground. We laughed but noticed it had a friend in the neighboring tree. Climbing the tree to retrieve the second UFO, I found several smaller pumpkins nestled in the tree branches. Meanwhile, my neighbor and spouse were laughing in the church parking lot with the reverend of the church.
I joined them to view the pumpkins swinging from all the pine trees in the periphery of the parking lot. The church sold them as a fundraiser and defended us against the HOA. The reverend called it one of God’s miracles. My spouse called it my magic. It was this moment that gave birth to Alison the Green Witch and my (own voices) main character in Strawberry shifters book 1: Bear with Me.
Blurb, BEAR WITH ME:
Excerpt:
“You look perfect. I mean perfectly healthy. I mean mostly uninjured,” she stammers. She places her tiny hand over her eyes.
Feeling braver than ever, I walk right up to her. I gently remove the hand from her face and hold it to my own. “See, I’m fine,” I whisper as I gently rub my thumb over her tiny knuckles.
Her eyes lift to mine and lock our gazes. I have always found the golden color of her eyes fascinating but never studied them up close. They are light brown with a golden star in the middle. I am literally star gazing as she takes in the injuries to my face. We stand there for about a minute, lost in time.
I wonder if she is thinking about when we first started dating, the hard times that followed, the present, or the future. I search her face for clues but don’t want to break the spell by opening my mouth. I decide to put said mouth to better use by lowering my head toward hers.
Author Bio:
Marilyn Barr currently resides in the wilds of Kentucky with her husband, son, and rescue cats. When engaging with the real world, she is collecting characters, empty coffee cups, and unused homeschool curricula.
She has a diverse background containing experiences as a child prodigy turned medical school reject, biodefense microbiologist, high school science teacher, homeschool mother of a savant, and advocate for the autistic community.
She would love to hear from readers via her website: www.marilynbarr.com.
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What a charming story of flying pumpkins ;) Best of luck with Bear with Me!
ReplyDeleteI love the flying pumpkin story! Hilarious!
ReplyDeleteGreat Post! I really enjoyed the flying pumpkins. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI love that story!! And three cheers for The Rev. :) I wonder--Did the HOA ever contact you about your garden? My HOA is pretty laid back, but the HOA where my friend and her husband live sounds about as serious as yours was. Good luck with the book :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for being my guest today, Marilyn!
ReplyDeleteWonderful story! You wouldn't be human if you didn't laugh at flying pumpkins!
ReplyDelete