zea takes a hit ( survivable )...the truck motors on

when i went out back after work i found this maize plant with a ninety degree bend in the stalk and instantly thought "squirrels"...

until i picked up the plant and found the ear still intact...maybe they were interrupted?

a closer look at the stalk found me thinking it had been broken, not gnawed...

then i noticed a zea mays mexicana plant laying over across the narrow path between the two stands of relatives...they like to do this naturally so it wasn't a surprise...however when i looked at the stem it was broken as well...like something blundered into both plants...

unfortunate since that stalk of teocintli was developing some fine looking ears...so i straightened it out and leaned it into the eight footer for support and am hoping the damage is not terminal since the stalk was not broken in two...

one of the tillers on the eight footer folded over in an inopportune spot in a thunderstorm day before yesterday...

again unfortunate since the tiller has clearly got some seed coming along...so i lashed it to a bamboo in a semi upright position...hopefully, since the plant is a natural faller anyway, the capillaries and veins supplying it will remain open enough to allow the seed to ripen to maturity...

still...there are a lot of ears on unbent tillers and stalks...teositli is not shy about producing seed...we may be alright yet...

there are increasing number so un-husked seeds appearing...all on stems just below a flower and all on tillers...i imagine there is an explanation for this behavior...i just haven't found the reason as yet...still looking...

the limited and partially unplanned truck garden is doing very well by contrast...the volunteer chamomile is seemingly happy and is blooming...i see tea in the future...

like the teocintli, the bean in the bed is working on seed which will be spread around the yard next spring..and, probably, make a return for a second generation of truck beans...

last...but surely not least...the new york import i transplanted into the truck a few weeks ago is looking robust...

is deploying another new leaf...

has a daughter that is firmly rooted and greening up...

and has generated a second stolon...another daughter on the way and working on the colony's population before winter slows the growth down...have i mentioned that i find dna relentless?