I had three strawberries in secret this week. There were as sweet as the sun can make them. My yard is fulled with strawberry patches because of my changing design of where these plants belong.
Five years ago the home for my three varieties were in the round circles at the base of each fruit tree in the orchard. There was also a bed along the back fence under the espalier fruit trees. This bed of 50 feet in length and about three feet wide created a summer feast for berry pickers like my grandchildren and John and me. I was told from the beginning to get the early June bloomer and the other two types I long forgotten the names but the produced slowly all season.
After a couple years the beds needed some major weeding and I pulled up the bigger plants and divided, pulled off the daughters and found I have more extras than I knew where to put but I managed to stick them into between around the yard for safe keeping. These like patches of course never got moved and now I have patches of strawberries everywhere.
Two years ago, I heard about a special french strawberry and I researched it. Only one place in California offers it for sale and it is really for high end commercial growers. I ordered it for our fruit club and got 20 plants for myself. Mara des Bois is a berry that is available though White Flower Farm but they charge nine dollar a plant! These berries are bloom until the October light is so low and the sun offers no heat anymore, they are the largest and the sweetest of any of my berries. Friends exchange the daughters for valued plant material, they are so prized. I finally decided on the wandering of my strawberries that this one should have a place of honor and be put in a raised bed in the vegetable garden. They were moved to the new home last fall.
In the meantime, the bed along the back fence has totally been moved to the west fence a year ago. The orchard strawberries are now residing along with the roses near the clothe line. I did all these changes because fruit club members told me that my berries were taking the water and nutrients from the fruit trees. My design was not that healthy. The wandering daughters of my strawberries are all over the backyard. At the moment, I must have a thousand blooms or berries forming in this yard.
Last week, I heard in a workshop chickens like the color red best. Five chickens in five minutes could eat a week supply of red berries, I imagine.
I have become a guard now along with the water person, the weeder and the eater.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Caretaker
Watching D-Day anniversary events on t.v. reminds me of my trip to the grounds 15 years ago. It is impossible to be there and not be awed by the bravery of all the young men that invaded Normandy that day. The view out to sea and the beauty of the uniformity of all the markers made everyone in our group fall to silence. That silence stayed with for a long period of time after we left and headed back to our hotel for the evening. There are spot on this planet, that hold history that is so large, that all following generations understand the importance.
I have decided that a good way to cope with John's Alzheimer is to start writing a daily log of the craziness. It will give me a place to unload the events and start fresh and hopefully make me a better caretaker. Some days it is with us and some days it almost doesn't exist.
Yesterday, a more than nutty day. In mid afternoon, John walked around the yard with Ahman and me and repeatedly wanted to know what happened to the broom that is normally in the garden shed. Because losing items is a daily theme I usually ignore these conversations or answer with something like, "It's around, no one would steal our broom.". An hour later he happily reported he found the broom in the garden shed. In the meantime, I put garden soil, some sand and some fertilizer in the wheel barrow. John helped me mix the three and broke up the lumps with the back of the shovel. I stopped at 2:35 and Ahman and I left to go pick up Mira at school.
I got back home and my wheel barrow was missing. John had dumped the mixture in the back of our fence as waste. I took the wheel barrow and loaded up the dirty again, found most of it usable. In the meantime, the children wanted a snack after viewing the chickens for a few minutes. It was decided that the egg salad sandwiches and milk would be a picnic and they would eat them outside. John is always amazed at how much children can eat and have a conversation about didn't they get lunch today. These food conversations are from this mother's mouth because I heard similar ones from her. I assure John that children eat every two hours. Of course, he then feels it is OK and he is apologetic about sounding petty. All the while he is sure that Shuchi is pick up the children at 3:30 because she had done that on Wednesday. I am repeatedly explaining that this is Friday and we are back to the normal schedule.
I taught the children how to identify diseased leaves on my drawf orchard trees and ask them to help me pick the bad ones off. It must be the heat of last week but there were numerous coddle moth nests and apple maggots infectations everywhere. After a period time and much wonder in finding the correct ones to remove, all which were put in the chicken coop for the chickens to eat, it was time for watering the trees. Nothing interests children more than a garden hose.
I can tell that John is still upset with himself about throwing out my mixed soil and he is edgy now about everything. Watching the children about the water is now his concern. I suggest that is time to walk Daisy and then he should fix us a glass of wine. It is five o'clock.
Sitting there on the little patio near the chicken coop, watch the children with the hose moving tree to tree, Daisy laying near us, I said, to John, "How is it that at our age we are in charge of two children, five chickens and one dog?" He said, "Well, do you think it's too much?"
"No, we could sit in a condo, eat out and get bored like some retired people. I will choice this over that life."
I have decided that a good way to cope with John's Alzheimer is to start writing a daily log of the craziness. It will give me a place to unload the events and start fresh and hopefully make me a better caretaker. Some days it is with us and some days it almost doesn't exist.
Yesterday, a more than nutty day. In mid afternoon, John walked around the yard with Ahman and me and repeatedly wanted to know what happened to the broom that is normally in the garden shed. Because losing items is a daily theme I usually ignore these conversations or answer with something like, "It's around, no one would steal our broom.". An hour later he happily reported he found the broom in the garden shed. In the meantime, I put garden soil, some sand and some fertilizer in the wheel barrow. John helped me mix the three and broke up the lumps with the back of the shovel. I stopped at 2:35 and Ahman and I left to go pick up Mira at school.
I got back home and my wheel barrow was missing. John had dumped the mixture in the back of our fence as waste. I took the wheel barrow and loaded up the dirty again, found most of it usable. In the meantime, the children wanted a snack after viewing the chickens for a few minutes. It was decided that the egg salad sandwiches and milk would be a picnic and they would eat them outside. John is always amazed at how much children can eat and have a conversation about didn't they get lunch today. These food conversations are from this mother's mouth because I heard similar ones from her. I assure John that children eat every two hours. Of course, he then feels it is OK and he is apologetic about sounding petty. All the while he is sure that Shuchi is pick up the children at 3:30 because she had done that on Wednesday. I am repeatedly explaining that this is Friday and we are back to the normal schedule.
I taught the children how to identify diseased leaves on my drawf orchard trees and ask them to help me pick the bad ones off. It must be the heat of last week but there were numerous coddle moth nests and apple maggots infectations everywhere. After a period time and much wonder in finding the correct ones to remove, all which were put in the chicken coop for the chickens to eat, it was time for watering the trees. Nothing interests children more than a garden hose.
I can tell that John is still upset with himself about throwing out my mixed soil and he is edgy now about everything. Watching the children about the water is now his concern. I suggest that is time to walk Daisy and then he should fix us a glass of wine. It is five o'clock.
Sitting there on the little patio near the chicken coop, watch the children with the hose moving tree to tree, Daisy laying near us, I said, to John, "How is it that at our age we are in charge of two children, five chickens and one dog?" He said, "Well, do you think it's too much?"
"No, we could sit in a condo, eat out and get bored like some retired people. I will choice this over that life."
Friday, June 5, 2009
living in the right time to explore
I realize, what a fortunate time, I have been living in after reading Jeff Rubin new book WHY YOUR WORLD IS ABOUT TO GET A WHOLE LOT SMALLER. So much changed in my generation for the better. Now it seems, many of these things are coming to an end. This book discusses energy in a detailed manner by an expert in the field.
I will explain why I feel very lucky to have been born in 1943.
When I started college in 1961 it cost $97 for tuition and books at a state school in Wisconsin. My room cost around $250 a semester. These facts are important because my family was poor but viewed as average income family during my years of growing up. It is a fact that if you have the ambition to go to college, the opportunity was there for about anyone. My generation of women were probably the last one to think in terms of becoming a teacher, a nurse or working in an office. We all thought it was a natural path that after marriage we would most likely stay home and for a number of years raising our children.
Three major social events during the sixties changed the United States for my generation. The first was the war in Vietnam. The draft affected every neighborhood in American. Families were watching television seeing the war daily in their homes in a places few could find on a map. The movies had made war romantic or heroic but the tragedy of this war was playing daily for us to view, put that notion to death. People were shocked at the killing from the air, seeing children and women mixed in the middle of the fighting and the young faces of our soldiers. Questioning the sense of the politics of the war started to be expressed first on college campuses and then a few brave media people and then a movement started to question the authority of our government. Well, we know the history of this one.
On a parallel track the slow train of recognizing black people as full citizens in the United States was coming to ahead. A few court cases, a new outspoken leader name Martin Luther King and the restless of this nation was in the streets again covered for the first time daily on television for all to see. This movement divided people, tore towns apart and was painful death of an old lifestyle that the South and large Northern cities had known for all the history of our country. It open up discussions for all of us to understand our guiding religious views, how had our church leaders ignored this for centuries? How could they have got this so wrong for so long, was the question.
The third event in the sixties that changed our society was the birth control pill. For the first time it was not the fate of woman to follow the historical path of human race and take nature in its fullest or stay celibate. Woman had the physical freedoms that males had experienced for all of history, being married did not necessarily mean you devoted your life to young members of the family giving up all personal ambitions. Women had choices and had to figure this out.
These events affected all of us in this country and they rapidly changed out society. Living in the richest country in the world with opportunity unknown before for women was not a conscious, big shift. The change happened slowly, personally as each woman figured out her place.
Results are in for me. I had many short careers, all interesting to me. I have traveled 30 years around the world viewing places I was curious to see and or cultures to understand. Tasted food, had conversations with strangers that touched my life, and developed a conviction along the way that guides me was the result. All along being parent to two wonderful children.
After reading this book, I do believe that type of travel will probably not be available for my grandchildren. The cost of energy for jet planes will end it as the book clearly explains. The world will go back the old way that only the leisure class will travel. Other energies will be developed for many of our daily needs but flying is particularly expensive and unique. The book also suggested that we will become local in the manner of my childhood where vacation was spent nearby at a lake or resort. The way it was done, except for the jet flying period, for generations.
The other part that will return to my parents' generation will be the issue of food. Salmon from Alaska or the Atlantic, avocado from California and mango from Chile and blueberries from Maine will be for special occasions. Locally grown food will become the daily diet. People will grow gardens and probably live healthier. Cost of transportation will end cheap food.
One other foot note to the week. Afghanistan has played a key role in the history of the world. Before the fall of empires, that of China, England and Russia, they invaded the far off country. None of the countries ever ruled Afghanistan and all the countries faded from power shortly after. History books are sometimes not read.
I was born at just the right time to explore my world. I am very lucky.
I will explain why I feel very lucky to have been born in 1943.
When I started college in 1961 it cost $97 for tuition and books at a state school in Wisconsin. My room cost around $250 a semester. These facts are important because my family was poor but viewed as average income family during my years of growing up. It is a fact that if you have the ambition to go to college, the opportunity was there for about anyone. My generation of women were probably the last one to think in terms of becoming a teacher, a nurse or working in an office. We all thought it was a natural path that after marriage we would most likely stay home and for a number of years raising our children.
Three major social events during the sixties changed the United States for my generation. The first was the war in Vietnam. The draft affected every neighborhood in American. Families were watching television seeing the war daily in their homes in a places few could find on a map. The movies had made war romantic or heroic but the tragedy of this war was playing daily for us to view, put that notion to death. People were shocked at the killing from the air, seeing children and women mixed in the middle of the fighting and the young faces of our soldiers. Questioning the sense of the politics of the war started to be expressed first on college campuses and then a few brave media people and then a movement started to question the authority of our government. Well, we know the history of this one.
On a parallel track the slow train of recognizing black people as full citizens in the United States was coming to ahead. A few court cases, a new outspoken leader name Martin Luther King and the restless of this nation was in the streets again covered for the first time daily on television for all to see. This movement divided people, tore towns apart and was painful death of an old lifestyle that the South and large Northern cities had known for all the history of our country. It open up discussions for all of us to understand our guiding religious views, how had our church leaders ignored this for centuries? How could they have got this so wrong for so long, was the question.
The third event in the sixties that changed our society was the birth control pill. For the first time it was not the fate of woman to follow the historical path of human race and take nature in its fullest or stay celibate. Woman had the physical freedoms that males had experienced for all of history, being married did not necessarily mean you devoted your life to young members of the family giving up all personal ambitions. Women had choices and had to figure this out.
These events affected all of us in this country and they rapidly changed out society. Living in the richest country in the world with opportunity unknown before for women was not a conscious, big shift. The change happened slowly, personally as each woman figured out her place.
Results are in for me. I had many short careers, all interesting to me. I have traveled 30 years around the world viewing places I was curious to see and or cultures to understand. Tasted food, had conversations with strangers that touched my life, and developed a conviction along the way that guides me was the result. All along being parent to two wonderful children.
After reading this book, I do believe that type of travel will probably not be available for my grandchildren. The cost of energy for jet planes will end it as the book clearly explains. The world will go back the old way that only the leisure class will travel. Other energies will be developed for many of our daily needs but flying is particularly expensive and unique. The book also suggested that we will become local in the manner of my childhood where vacation was spent nearby at a lake or resort. The way it was done, except for the jet flying period, for generations.
The other part that will return to my parents' generation will be the issue of food. Salmon from Alaska or the Atlantic, avocado from California and mango from Chile and blueberries from Maine will be for special occasions. Locally grown food will become the daily diet. People will grow gardens and probably live healthier. Cost of transportation will end cheap food.
One other foot note to the week. Afghanistan has played a key role in the history of the world. Before the fall of empires, that of China, England and Russia, they invaded the far off country. None of the countries ever ruled Afghanistan and all the countries faded from power shortly after. History books are sometimes not read.
I was born at just the right time to explore my world. I am very lucky.
Monday, June 1, 2009
chickens and kansas
I never knew that chickens liked the color red, have no sweat glands, in the wild had only about 25 eggs a year and that they still like to settle on the highest place possible for the night.
NW Chickens 101 was offered Sunday afternoon and I went only because I wanted to know what other people locally used for bedding. Well, I found that out, but I also learned that the casual conversation that my friends had suggested raising chickens was simple maybe have been misleading. To do it well, you have to also know a lot about disease, food, and seasons.
Tonight my chickens found a sand pit in the yard and took a bath for 30 minutes while I watered the vegetable beds. I am beginning to see the peck order with the chickens that talked about in class.
The weather we are having is the same as moving to Kansas, that is how I look at it. The weather in later May and now fore cast for the next week is so unusual the state of Washington has been misplaced. The guy fore casting has been about 10 degrees short each day and he says Friday is going to be 89. I can't believe how my new transplanted, young vegetable garden is going to survive. I have always wanted more heat but not this early in the growing season, they are too tender and require two watering a day.
The heat has also affected my energy level. I am up early and out watering by 6:30 but by 10 o'clock the day is over. I have not only moved to Kansas but Spain and Mexico! I would normally plant more seed but don't know it they would dry out in two days.
I sprayed all the fruit trees and berry bushes this morning with calcium. Tomorrow I will spray again with the mineral booster but in my heart I believe water is the answer for my young orchard.
NW Chickens 101 was offered Sunday afternoon and I went only because I wanted to know what other people locally used for bedding. Well, I found that out, but I also learned that the casual conversation that my friends had suggested raising chickens was simple maybe have been misleading. To do it well, you have to also know a lot about disease, food, and seasons.
Tonight my chickens found a sand pit in the yard and took a bath for 30 minutes while I watered the vegetable beds. I am beginning to see the peck order with the chickens that talked about in class.
The weather we are having is the same as moving to Kansas, that is how I look at it. The weather in later May and now fore cast for the next week is so unusual the state of Washington has been misplaced. The guy fore casting has been about 10 degrees short each day and he says Friday is going to be 89. I can't believe how my new transplanted, young vegetable garden is going to survive. I have always wanted more heat but not this early in the growing season, they are too tender and require two watering a day.
The heat has also affected my energy level. I am up early and out watering by 6:30 but by 10 o'clock the day is over. I have not only moved to Kansas but Spain and Mexico! I would normally plant more seed but don't know it they would dry out in two days.
I sprayed all the fruit trees and berry bushes this morning with calcium. Tomorrow I will spray again with the mineral booster but in my heart I believe water is the answer for my young orchard.
Monday, May 25, 2009
The first warm days of spring are there is so much to do in the yard and garden that it is overwhelming. I feel all the penned up day dreams of the winter have to be done in the first five days.
My tomato starts look so sickly compared to the nursery's that I have started giving them a booster. I have been taught not to use Miracle Grow. The long list of reasons, mentally, I understand but then I have to consciously think about my home make magic. The easiest and quickest is from the grocery shelve, Brer Rabbit Molasses. Some say that is all one would need. I add also from the nursery a liquified organic kelp --seaweed extract and Superthrive. I have had the same small bottles for three years now but this summer I will be using it more as I feel my soil is in need of much.
Potatoes have not interested me until this year. I have a narrow side six foot area along a side fence not seen or used. This is the year to experiment. Since potatoes and strawberries are the mostly heavily sprayed with pesticides I want to see if the difference in taste is as great as it is in strawberries. John and I have moved miles away from potatoes as we have aged but part of that is we have developed a taste for dried beans. It is said a home grown potato is so good you don't need that butter and sour cream, we'll see.
The other thing I am trying this year is a Peruvian ground cherry plant, well, two of them. They are related to tomatoes, very easy to grow spread three to six feet in two directions and have small yellow cherry like fruit that taste a little like strawberry or pineapple. Can be eaten fresh or dried for winter use. The Peruvian man that sold the plants to me also explained about saving sticks the plant to start next years. I am going to try making my grow up a sunny fence.
My tomato starts look so sickly compared to the nursery's that I have started giving them a booster. I have been taught not to use Miracle Grow. The long list of reasons, mentally, I understand but then I have to consciously think about my home make magic. The easiest and quickest is from the grocery shelve, Brer Rabbit Molasses. Some say that is all one would need. I add also from the nursery a liquified organic kelp --seaweed extract and Superthrive. I have had the same small bottles for three years now but this summer I will be using it more as I feel my soil is in need of much.
Potatoes have not interested me until this year. I have a narrow side six foot area along a side fence not seen or used. This is the year to experiment. Since potatoes and strawberries are the mostly heavily sprayed with pesticides I want to see if the difference in taste is as great as it is in strawberries. John and I have moved miles away from potatoes as we have aged but part of that is we have developed a taste for dried beans. It is said a home grown potato is so good you don't need that butter and sour cream, we'll see.
The other thing I am trying this year is a Peruvian ground cherry plant, well, two of them. They are related to tomatoes, very easy to grow spread three to six feet in two directions and have small yellow cherry like fruit that taste a little like strawberry or pineapple. Can be eaten fresh or dried for winter use. The Peruvian man that sold the plants to me also explained about saving sticks the plant to start next years. I am going to try making my grow up a sunny fence.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
just thoughts
My gardening tells my brain the age of my body. This season, I have found it necessary to visit my chiropractor a couple times a week for a few weeks. My lower plate or hips get tilled to one side because of the constant up and down and the favoring of one side, repeating movements that finally bring on pain and totally stoppage of everything. This lovely woman has start the balancing and realignment of my lower back and encourage me to do a few minutes of excises first time in the morning. Miracles in life some times are so small but change the whole lookout of the day.
John's truck is very important to the gardening we do. We haul loads of saw dust, organic garden mix and sand to the area behind our property and slowly during the year work from these piles. John is going to have his 76th birthday shortly and the new tires he put on the truck yesterday will last until he's 91.
I wonder if there is a person that goes to the dentist and hears a comment like you bush your teeth so well there will be no cleaning this year. The lecture I got from a woman last week made me feel like I flunked second grade. I do believe she belongs to the Nazi party in a past life.
The main problem with the pharmaceuticals is that the synthetics they give us never leaves the planet. It leaves our bodies but it goes into our water systems. Too bad we can get the original herb or mineral that we need in the original form.
Last night I took a walk with two of my grandchildren and the family dog, Daisy. We went on a public trail that was created from a logging spur in the last century. We took a short cut back though a field and I pointed out an animal trail. I told the children how the people settling the West used the trails that the buffalo used. Buffalo moved from one source of salt to another traveling about the plains and the early scouts often used the same paths for the cover wagons going west. Lewis and Clark wrote in their journals about the sight of not seen any land because it was solid with brown with that animal.
John's truck is very important to the gardening we do. We haul loads of saw dust, organic garden mix and sand to the area behind our property and slowly during the year work from these piles. John is going to have his 76th birthday shortly and the new tires he put on the truck yesterday will last until he's 91.
I wonder if there is a person that goes to the dentist and hears a comment like you bush your teeth so well there will be no cleaning this year. The lecture I got from a woman last week made me feel like I flunked second grade. I do believe she belongs to the Nazi party in a past life.
The main problem with the pharmaceuticals is that the synthetics they give us never leaves the planet. It leaves our bodies but it goes into our water systems. Too bad we can get the original herb or mineral that we need in the original form.
Last night I took a walk with two of my grandchildren and the family dog, Daisy. We went on a public trail that was created from a logging spur in the last century. We took a short cut back though a field and I pointed out an animal trail. I told the children how the people settling the West used the trails that the buffalo used. Buffalo moved from one source of salt to another traveling about the plains and the early scouts often used the same paths for the cover wagons going west. Lewis and Clark wrote in their journals about the sight of not seen any land because it was solid with brown with that animal.
Monday, May 18, 2009
MINERALS FOR THE GENETIC CODE by Charles Walters continues to teach me the importance of trace minerals in our diet and in our soil. It takes so little to throw off the balance of one of our functions. Surprisingly, the book discusses the overlay of mineral involved in degenerative diseases and spell out the what is needed to right the situation.
The current use of aspartame and Splenda as a sweeter in soda and gum is very dangerous. It is related to a 30 to 50% loss of the thymus function which means immunity if being canceled out quickly.
Other quick facts I found. White spots on fingernails denote a zinc deficiency.
People and animals consuming selenium either diminish or eliminate cancer.
Nuts and seeds offer a constant healthy source to trace minerals.
Deficiency in copper maybe white hair along with a long list of conditions including arthritis.
We get some minerals and vitamin from the air and sunlight as in vitamin D, which has three parts to it. The sun gives us energy from its light and some of vitamin D can not be consumed though supplements. Maybe that explains winter colds and flu and poorer health that season of the year.
Probiotics are the good bacteria, all 400 different ones in our stomach, that fight off bad bacteria. If the AMA and the Food and Drug promoted probiotics more than antibiotics, we would probably live in a different world today. Probiotics are as simple as yogurt and fermented foods and we all have to remember our stomach is our second brain. Enough on minerals today
I have my own pray flags! They are flying on the support fences that I put up for my tomatoes. This year I started my own varieties of tomatoes and yesterday I transplanted them. I want to closely follow what varieties I will continue to plant so I wrote their names on a bright pink plastic tape and tied it to the top of their support. The eight inch tapes blowing in the wind reminded me of the pray flags in all of Asia.
My chickens roam the yard much more than I would have thought. The most comical aspect of the it is that John some times sits in a chair and watches that they do not hop onto my raised beds. He has a long stick and tells them to move along. It is a scene out of China where the elders have a full time job watching the ducks in the courtyards.
The simplify of my garden is one the keys to my sanity in world where the daily news is so depressing.
The current use of aspartame and Splenda as a sweeter in soda and gum is very dangerous. It is related to a 30 to 50% loss of the thymus function which means immunity if being canceled out quickly.
Other quick facts I found. White spots on fingernails denote a zinc deficiency.
People and animals consuming selenium either diminish or eliminate cancer.
Nuts and seeds offer a constant healthy source to trace minerals.
Deficiency in copper maybe white hair along with a long list of conditions including arthritis.
We get some minerals and vitamin from the air and sunlight as in vitamin D, which has three parts to it. The sun gives us energy from its light and some of vitamin D can not be consumed though supplements. Maybe that explains winter colds and flu and poorer health that season of the year.
Probiotics are the good bacteria, all 400 different ones in our stomach, that fight off bad bacteria. If the AMA and the Food and Drug promoted probiotics more than antibiotics, we would probably live in a different world today. Probiotics are as simple as yogurt and fermented foods and we all have to remember our stomach is our second brain. Enough on minerals today
I have my own pray flags! They are flying on the support fences that I put up for my tomatoes. This year I started my own varieties of tomatoes and yesterday I transplanted them. I want to closely follow what varieties I will continue to plant so I wrote their names on a bright pink plastic tape and tied it to the top of their support. The eight inch tapes blowing in the wind reminded me of the pray flags in all of Asia.
My chickens roam the yard much more than I would have thought. The most comical aspect of the it is that John some times sits in a chair and watches that they do not hop onto my raised beds. He has a long stick and tells them to move along. It is a scene out of China where the elders have a full time job watching the ducks in the courtyards.
The simplify of my garden is one the keys to my sanity in world where the daily news is so depressing.
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