On Failings and Futures–Spring hopes, eternal

It takes a while to grasp that not all failures are self-imposed, the result of ignorance, carelessness or inexperience. It takes a while to grasp that a garden isn't a testing ground for character and to stop asking, what did I do wrong? Maybe nothing.

~Eleanor Perényi, Green Thoughts, 1981

Last night, there came a frost, which has done great damage to my garden.... It is sad that Nature will play such tricks on us poor mortals, inviting us with sunny smiles to confide in her, and then, when we are entirely within her power, striking us to the heart.

~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The American Notebooks

Gardening is civil and social, but it wants the vigor and freedom of the forest and the outlaw.

~Henry David Thoreau

There is no gardening without humility. Nature is constantly sending even its oldest scholars to the bottom of the class for some egregious blunder.

~Alfred Austin

I lost some tulips. I don't mean I misplaced them; it's that they did not grow. When planting spring bulbs awhile back, I put a dozen noir tulips in a spot I thought would be perfectly complimented by their dark-hued petals. Yet, as careful as I was when I planted them (and I'm always as careful as I think I need to be in the garden), they seem to have either rotted and weren't viable to begin with. Or, perhaps something at that particular site wasn't to their liking, or the variable weather this year confused them.

First, let me say, although I don't dislike any plant, I am not a huge fan of tulips. Although they were highly coveted in Holland and traded on a "tulip exchange" (wonderful history of this in Michael Pollan's great book, Botany of Desire, I'm just not convinced they should be coveted more than other flowers in the garden. Also, as I am planting the bulbs, I am keenly aware that each one will only produce (generally) one flower, often only once.

Also, to be truly committed to tulips, one will often pull up the bulbs after blooming, and many gardeners are skeptical of using them again. Oh, and I didn't even bring up the fact that many people chill their bulbs in a refrigerator prior to planting in an effort to "force" them. Anyway, I do love looking at them, but I see them as elements to be mixed in to the garden design more than a major focus.

So, as I was saying these particular bulbs didn't grow, leaving me with a couple of bare spots in this particular garden plot that (joyfully) I get to fill with something new in the next week or so. The "death" of these bulbs got me mulling over the facts of life and death in the garden.

In gardens, beauty is a by-product. The main business is sex and death.

~Sam Llewelyn

Spring is considered the time of emergence, rebirth, new birth, new life in nature, and it is a wonderful and captivating season that encompasses all of that. However, leading in to it, there is an important ritual of preparation in the garden where old, dead plants need to be removed or pruned; rotting dead leaves cleared; sprouting mushrooms and weeds cleared; soil prepared and rotted compost distributed. A very vivid transition indeed.

After the long season of winter's grip and the seeming suspended animation of dormancy, gardens must be cultivated in preparation for the spurt and progress of spring growth. I've found myself in deep, mindful reflection in the gardens recently as I've preparing for the new season.

It's an important time to consider plant losses, successes and failures from the year before. I run mental inventories of the previous harvest, reflecting back while looking ahead. I consider loss and life, bounty and scarcity, growth and diminishment--the cycle (or circle if you will) of life.

Heady stuff while pulling weeds and turning soil.

In the garden I tend to drop my thoughts here and there. To the flowers I whisper the secrets I keep and the hopes I breathe. I know they are there to eavesdrop for the angels.

~Dodinsky

It is part of the mindful experience of gardening. Great moments of insight, reflection and personal growth along side of the most mundane tasks. The holism of gardening, fully committing heart, soul, and mind to the experience can mold and change perspective. The cultivation of the soil inevitably leads to the cultivation of self.

So I do call for spring hopes, eternal and enduring, for all that occurs during this time of emergence and growth is inextricably linked to the continuity of the seasons and cycles of nature--garden and self.

I Am The Rain Maker, or, Maybe Coyote is in Charge

Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away the hunger. ~Saint Basil

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky. ~Rabindranath Tagore

I am sure it is a great mistake always to know enough to go in when it rains. One may keep snug and dry by such knowledge, but one misses a world of loveliness. ~Adeline Knapp

According to the Handbook of Native American Mythology, as you might expect many Native American cultures have stories that explain how the seasons came to be. For example, the Tsimshian, believed that an ongoing squabble among the Four Great Winds (North, South, East, and West) is settled after they come to an agreement that each shall have the earth for three months, making the seasons the result of the shifting required to maintain a mediated settlement.

But I think my favorites involve efforts by the animals of the earth to sort things out amongst themselves and a concerted effort to resist the will of Coyote as he tries to force his will on the others. In Northern Paiute lore, Coyote summoned a large crowd of other animals to decide how long the seasons should be, proposing that each be 10 months (and stating that he would be strong enough to survive such a long winter). Without getting any responses at all, he felt the matter was decided and left to get his pipe for a smoke to seal the deal. While gone, the other animals quickly decided Coyote's proposal would not do, and a bird from the mountains proposed three months for each season, so the other animals agreed and left before Coyote returned.

As you might expect, Greek Mythology has both a story of sisters who rule over the seasons and portions of time as well as one drawing on turmoil among the gods, including kidnapping, forced marriage and a negotiated settlement.

These sisters??

In Christianity, God appointed the times and seasons as was defined in the bible book Ecclesiastes (and a great song from the 1960's, Turn! Turn! Turn...written by Pete Segar and sung by the Byrds:

"There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven ~

A time to give birth, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted.

A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to tear down, and a time to build up.

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance."

Source

And so on, each culture or tradition presumably having its own mythology explaining how the seasons came to be.

It is relevant now, of course, because our area has been having such a warm, dry winter, having just finished the second driest December on record and spending the first two weeks of January with record temperatures in the 60's approaching 70 on some days and absolutely zero rain.

I've spent the last few days pruning, watering and fertilizing--partially because I felt forced by the weather and partially to take advantage of this seemingly early spring--while keeping in mind that it's actually the middle of winter (70 degree afternoon be damned!). So, in essence, I was making it rain.

Now, some of you might believe that I believe I can influence the weather (and don't think I didn't try through force of will), but I do accept that I have certain limitations. I've also read a couple of articles in some farming & agriculture papers that many farmers in the state have done some irrigation this month. So, from the plants' perspective, we are making it rain.

It's almost as if Coyote or one of the sisters is asserting themselves and forcing the season. Now, THAT would be a fun way to experience the seasons; however, I believe it's some combination of climatic forces that pushed the jet stream north.

Looks like there is some rain in the forecast for next week, but with such dry conditions for the past two months (and a dreadfully low snow pack), it seems unlikely we will be able to make it up over the next couple of months.

It will be nice to be able to stop irrigating. One of the joys of a winter garden for me is that it is typically pretty self-sufficient. And, I do really love harvesting some of the greens that have been slowly progressing during the cold months. (I find them to be very hearty and flavorful.)

So, here's to a hopefully wet February and March!

~Timothy

Gathering The Holidays

Last time out, we were gathering greens from around the property for a holiday display (pine, bay, Toyon, aka Christmas Berry). Today we've gathered some bunches of another native, mistletoe. It's interesting that it came to represent kissing (berries were plucked from a hanging bough, each allowing one kiss), given that it is a "hemi-parasitic" plant. (Hemi-parasitic means it is half parasitic, attaching itself to tree branches, oak here, but sill able to do photosynthesis.)

Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemi-parasitic plants in several families in the order Santalales. The plants in question grow attached to and within the branches of a tree or shrub.

There is quite a bit of history and lore attached to the plant around the holidays.

Happy Mistletoe and Happy Holidays!

~Timothy

Let's Talk Turkey!

We've mentioned our resident rafter of wild turkeys here a number of times. (Yes, "rafter" is a term for a group of turkeys.) Given the time of year and the fact that I saw a fascinating documentary about the bird, I'm inspired to spotlight them again.

Last night I watched "My Life as a Turkey," an episode of the PBS program "Nature," based on naturalist Joe Hutto's true story chronicling his remarkable and moving experience of raising a group of wild turkey hatchlings to adulthood.

He was seeking to understand the science of imprinting which "refers to a critical period of time early in an animal’s life when it forms attachments and develops a concept of its own identity." In essence, Hutto became mother to a brood of turkeys.

The Wild Turkey is quite an interesting bird and fairly different from the domestic turkey you might have "visiting" this Thanksgiving.

(Apologies to my vegan and vegetarian friends if there is anything in the following that suggests a turkey is anything but a wonderful example of native wildlife or a delightful pet...for your additional enjoyment, here is some information on the Wild Tofurkey and a delightful source of inspiration for a vegetarian Thanksgiving!)

NPR's A Vegetarian Thanksgiving story

A Vegan Thanksgiving Dinner (vegatarians welcome!)

OK, now that they are distracted I'm just going to say it, the turkey you will...um..."share" Thanksgiving with next week isn't much at all like its wild relative and very different from those eaten in early America. (There isn't actually certain evidence that turkeys were consumed at the "first" Thanksgiving; however, when the holiday was formalized as an official American holiday in the mid-1800's, turkey was definitely consumed at holiday meals.)

Domesticated turkeys are the over-bread, in-bread, "couch potato" cousin of the more agile and elegant Wild Turkey. Whereas the wild bird can run (quickly in bursts) fly for short periods (at the freeway speed limit if required), and can live for about 4 years, the domestic turkey is absurdly bulked-up, front heavy, barely able to move, incapable of flying, and lucky to live more than 6 months. The domestic bird has also lost all of the beautiful brown and gold coloring that helps camouflage its wild relative, leaving it with a mostly white plume. (More info. & source)

So, if you are prone to...um...invite a turkey to Thanksgiving and like to know from where your...um..."guests" are procured, I hope you found this interesting reading. (Are the vegans back yet??)

One last thing...

Mr. Audubon himself had quite a bit to say in his field notes about the Wild Turkey, along with a beautiful drawing of the bird (as he is of course well-known for producing).

The "Perfect" Fall Garden

I recently read a letter sent to one of my gardening magazines (yes, yes, I understanding the implication of having subscriptions to "gardening magazines") presenting a couple's dilemma regarding how to maintain their flower garden at this time of year. (The vegetable garden, of course, having been cultivated with planting for fall/winter produce.)

One half of the couple wanted to clean and trim so the garden looked "tidy," while the other wanted to leave the plants a bit longer so they would be more natural. I definitely agree with the "natural" approach.

Plants have a mission--to grow and produce to ensure perpetuation for the next season and/or next generation. Who am I to argue?

I like to let plants set and distribute seeds (even if they are just distributed to birds and squirrels), including the delightful (and tasty!) rose hips of our many rose bushes. And bulbs, tubers, corms need the energy produced by their leaves to prepare and store energy for the long winter and spring emergence. (As just two examples.)

So, I say it is fine to be a little rough around the edges when making a transition... from Autumn to Winter.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

~Timothy

ABUNDANCE OF HUNGER

This being the harvest time of year, culminating with Thanksgiving, it is of course very natural to think of the cornucopia of fruits and vegetables that have or are being collected from the gardens and farms in the area. As I reported in my previous post, though the weather was atypical most of the year, there were still many wonderful crops to gather.

It has also been a particularly great autumn for the fall garden, and it’s clear there will be a nice supply of cold-weather vegetables for months.
For me, it’s also a great time to reflect on those who can’t celebrate abundance at this or any time of year.

Nearly 17% of people in America experience hunger, or food insecurity, including 23% of all children in the country without enough to eat.

According to the Redwood Empire Food Bank, in Sonoma County, 78,000 people face the threat of hunger every month:

• 34,000 are children


• 11,300 are seniors


• 13,500 are working families


• The median monthly household income of food recipients is $930

And they continue: “children make up the largest group of those at risk of hunger in our community. There are 9,762 children living in poverty in Sonoma County according to the latest statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau. Seniors living on fixed incomes represent another large segment of the population the REFB serves. For 61.4% of our senior clients, Social Security is their primary source of income.”

It is a common reaction to be astonished that so many people go hungry in a country with such abundance—but people can’t eat a reaction.

I recall vividly the times in my life that I have worried where my next meal would be coming from and had to make limited dollars stretch. In fact, growing up our family was briefly on welfare and food stamps, and, looking back, it is clear that our single mother had to get creative in how she was going to get food on the table. (Ask me about the joys of “green spaghetti”—a truly fun & entertaining experience for us kids, but a creative attempt to combine cheap bags of pasta, powered pesto and cooking oil to feed 8 hungry kids.) But I’ve never had the thought that I would not be eating for an extended period of time or that I would have to regularly skip a number of meals.

Try not eating for a day and see how you feel.

You may get a sense where this is going and already feel that, as bad as the situation may be, you just couldn’t possibly face yet another appeal to make a donation. And, if you simply can’t give cash, food, or time, I understand and that’s OK. However, if you can give, I’m asking you to take the time to give as much or as little as you can.

You would be AMAZED how well food banks can use donated dollars—it is truly spectacularly efficient.

A donation of just $25 helps food banks provide 100 meals, so a child could eat for a month, or a family of 4 could eat for over a week. Alternatively, you could drop a food donation in a food barrel or volunteer 4 hours to help a food bank or other organization pack food boxes. In the last month, I downloaded $25 of music from iTunes, drank $25 in diet Coke, and spent that much the last time I put gas in my car.

The Redwood Empire Food Bank has the most amazing set-up allowing you to shop online for a large variety of food items at their wholesale cost. You literally can choose and calculate any amount of a donation.

If a family came to your door and told you their kids had not eaten for 2 days, asking if you could spare anything, wouldn’t you give them a box of pasta or cereal? Well, now you can do that virtually through the link below.

You can really count on your donation making a difference.

Feeding America fights hunger nationwide:

Happy Abundant Harvest!

~Timothy

Seasonal Friends

Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.

~ Henry David Thoreau

The Autumn counterfeited Spring
With such a flush of flowers,
His fiery-tinctured garlands more
Than mocked the April bowers,
And airs as sweet as airs of June
Brought on the twilight hours.
~Dinah Mulock Craik

When Summer gathers up her robes of glory,

And, Like a dream of beauty, glides away.

~ Sarah Helen Whitman

I really enjoy the times of year during the transition of one season to another, a bridge between the phases of nature's inevitable advance. These days, I experience it most profoundly when I am out working in the vegeyard and am seized by a profound awareness of recognition--a seasonal déjà vu.

After months of growing comfort, working to become in tune with the unique personality of the current season, it's invigorating to get a whiff of the approaching season--like a good, old friend when you think you caught a glimpse of them across the street, or a remarkably familiar smell that suddenly forces a sharp, visceral recall into your consciousness. (With my grandmother, it's certain smells of hardy "old school" cooking or Lysol, reminding me of the process of cleaning the garbage room of the apartment building she managed with my grandfather.)

Of course, since September 23 was the equinox, we are now in the early days of Autumn, with the various temperature extreme this time of year brings--sweatshirt in the morning, t-shirt in the afternoon (and, of course, sun screen)--only more so this year!

We've just finished an unusual heat wave that had gardeners and growers in the area stressing about heat stress, resulting in this warning from Sonoma County Master Gardeners

Now that everyone has switched gears to dealing with the heat wave and the water stress that it produced (it also produced some ripe tomatoes and melons!), we have to switch gears again and prepare for some early rain. The weather forecast calls for rain for the first half of next week. If you are planting a winter vegetable garden, get your starts in ahead of the precipitation. You may need to protect the young plants with some Remay or overturned pots if we really get the stormy conditions that are forecast.

(from their Facebook page ...of course!)

Severe Weather Alert!!

So, this is all well and good, but in addition to the warning from the Master Gardeners, the Weather Channel issued a “severe weather alert,” complete with flashing red graphics and such on their site:

... EARLY SEASON RAIN EXPECTED NEXT WEEK ACROSS NORTHERN AND CENTRAL CALIFORNIA...

SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN THE WEATHER ARE FORECAST TO OCCUR DURING THE FIRST HALF OF NEXT WEEK AS A STRONG EARLY SEASON PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM TAKES AIM AT NORTHERN AND CENTRAL CALIFORNIA...

So, as I’ve mentioned before, it has been an odd weather year (both this and last) that is having a pretty significant effect on how things grow. Change in weather, change in climate, caused by human activity...what I can say for certain is that if these changes remain constant, what we eat when will be affected, as will the cost of food.

Lesson Learned!!

One of the joys of gardening in Sonoma County is growing chiles (or chili or chilli) of many different varieties. The hotness of chiles is rated on the Scoville Scale and is dependent on how much capsaicin is in the fruit. Recently I learned a lesson in the intensity of the Scoville Scale and a bit of humility regarding what I will shove in my mouth without thinking it through.

I took a bet with one of the guys helping us out with some work here at RMH to trade and try hot chiles that we grew. Seems he eats very hot chiles every day for lunch; however, I on the other hand will typically only use them for cooking.

He ate the one I grew like it was candy, so it was my turn. Being small, I ate it in one bite. At first it has a fresh taste and a mild warming sensation. Turns out the chile is referred to as El Diablo, and it lives up to it’s reputation. First I felt a slow, steady burn develop as it I had taken a mouth full of a hot beverage that was uncomfortable but not burning. Ahh, if only it had stopped there. Very quickly, it began to feel like I had taken a mouth full of some chemical that wasn’t supposed to be consumed, and, even more quickly, I began to worry that I would soon be experiencing blistering. Ahh, the calming effect of the fat in several glasses of milk...lesson learned.

Like Buttah

Didi and I had a fund day on Thursday turning our RMH organic pear harvest into Spiced Pear Cardamom Butter, using a great recipe from Organic Gardening [LINK: http://www.organicgardening.com/cook/spiced-pear-cardamom-butter]. We look forward to sharing it over the coming holidays.

Reminder of Upcoming Events at RMH in October

October 22: Fundraiser for the Redwood Empire Food Bank

October 29: Eerie but Elegant Winemaker Dinner featuring Moshin Vineyards

Happy Autumn!

~Timothy

Fakin' in the fields

Every time I drive 101 (not *the* 101...I grew up in the bay area and know how we refer to our freeways) between Sonoma County and the bay area, I raise my fist in exaggerated (mock) anger just north of Petaluma and shake it at a field of pumpkin vines (and not just because the field seems to cause a slow down of gawkers that momentarily ties up traffic).

You see, they purport to give a "farm-to-home" experience of picking your own pumpkins for the holidays, but it is a manufactured experience. Now, they may in fact grow the pumpkins you'll find in the field, but they don't do it there. The pumpkins that will be available in a few weeks are brought in from another location and placed strategically in the field for the "pick your own experience."

About a month or so ago, they planted their squash vines and corn stalks and have clearly been fertilizing them for rapid growth, but this is far too late in the season to plant if they plan to harvest produce. You see, the corn is just for a corn maze, and the squash vines are to give the illusion that they produced the pumpkins that will soon be manually placed in the field.

Now, far be it for me to ruin the truly joyful experience of children running through the field looking for the perfect great pumpkin. I think that walking around in dirt looking for produce to "pick" is a truly important experience in helping connect us to the produce we use.

But the field is fake, doesn't produce what people are "picking," wastes a tremendous amount of water (and likely fertilizer and pest control efforts) to produce vegetation for show. It would be one thing is the corn was grown for food before being turned into a constructed maze and the squash vines were grown correctly to produce some fruit, even if is were supplemented with some showier pumpkins. In fact, the squash isn't planted at the correct time to even produce fruit, and the size of vines people will find on their forays into the field could not produce the size nor volume of pumpkin that will be found.

With the growth of true farm experiences in the area connecting with the desires of so many people to truly understand how their food is grown, I just think a faux farm experience undercuts the authentic farming experiences in the area and hurts the growers by suggesting it's as easy as it will seem in this fake growing field.

Fry those green tomatoes?

Of late, I’ve been researching pickling recipes for the abundant crop of cucumbers this year and have gotten a good feel for dill pickles (and a particularly great cold cucumber soup served recently at RMH to great acclaim). However, I am starting to fear that I may have to turn to pickling my still-green tomatoes.

The cherry tomatoes--sun gold and chocolate--have been producing for a couple of weeks, but I'm still waiting for the other varieties. Patience being a virtue and all hasn't always been my strongest character trait, but as I have learned many times in many ways, gardening teaches lessons.

It’s common understanding that this has been a particularly cool summer.

According to AccuWeather:

Already having one of the coolest summers of its climatological record, California will begin the week (August 8) with more unusually cool weather.

One of the things I enjoy is heading to the various nurseries in the area and trading stories of our growing experiences. One of the employees at one of my favorites and I continue to marvel that we have big, beautiful pumpkins about ready for harvest before our tomatoes have come ready.

On the other hand, our unusual weather seems to have made it a fantastic year for pears--more of each of the varieties we currently grow than in the past several years.

Dahlias

Although it took a bit of time for the sunflowers to really get going,it has been a fantastic year for dahlias. This picture speaks for itself…this is just one blossom that we grew in the RMH flower garden.

Naked ladies everywhere

Great article on the Sonoma County Master Gardners website about this pink beauty that pops up this time of year:

Will the real Amaryllis please stand up?

Redwood Empire Food Bank:

This fall we will be working to support the food bank. It's no secret that in the current economy, more and more people are experiencing food scarcity and nutrition problems--hunger. In my least economically stable times, the worry about where and when my next meal would be available was always a great source of anxiety.

36.2 million Americans–including 12.4 million children–don't have access to enough healthy food to thrive. They are food insecure and at risk of hunger.

In 2010, the Redwood Empire Food Bank served 78,000 low-income residents per month by distributing 12.59 million pounds of food–is the equivalent of 27,000 meals a day.

It really doesn't cost a lot to make a difference in helping feed a family:

Virtual Food Drive

Bay Area Food Banks

First Day of Fall: The Autumnal Equinox

Fall begins in the Northern Hemisphere on September 23, 2011, at 5:05 A.M. (EDT).

Sonoma County Harvest Fair September 30 – October 2

HAPPY AUTUMN!

~Timothy