Jury Duty

Morning temp: 52F
Afternoon high: 83F (it was actually hotter, like 86F)
Tonight's projected low: 52F
Humidity: 76%
Moon: 96% Full!!! (Good for transplanting!!!)

Today was clear and very sunny, with a North wind at 4 mph.

This Morning & Afternoon.
1. Well, I'm officially behind with respect to the work here that needs doing, and I may become more so as the week progresses. I have Jury Duty this week, and have to report at 8:00am this morning, and then I have a 5 day trip to Alabama beginning this Friday. Still, I count this a good thing. While I'm busy with these things, I'll have lots of interesting Homesteading work to look forward to.

2. The article I posted yesterday, "You've Been Wonderful Neighbors," remains in need of proof reading. A number of important things, e.g., quotation marks indicating when I'm quoting a source directly, did not come through when I cut and pasted this document from my MS Word file, making portions of the article somewhat unclear. I apologize for this sloppiness, and will get to this asap.

Late This Afternoon.
1. I was out of JD and home by 4:00pm. Yayyyy! So, I had time to dig the remaining10' of the 3.5' X 30' Bed. Truthfully, and for several reasons, I only single-dug it (i.e., removed and aerated the first 12+ inches of top soil). All of the dense, red clay beneath the top soil would take a very long time to dig out, and we needed the Bed dug fairly quickly. Also, a single-dig (with organic Mushroom Compost and Peat Moss worked in) will still produce a wonderful growing environment. As the plants grow and develop through the Spring and Summer, their root systems will help to loosen the hard clay beneath. Lastly, I'll dig these Beds at least once a year, and so I'll have a chance to go deeper next time.

2. M laid out soaker-hoses in the Pepper and Squash Beds, and then mulched these Beds with hay straw. These plants were already beginning to wilt in the late afternoon Sun, and the mulch will keep the soil around them wet, and thus prevent wilting. Apparently it's not the heat that wilts them, but the dehydration.

Looking to the Future: "Making Bentwood Trellises, Arbors, Gates and Fences," by Jim Long, just arrived! I'll give this a careful read tomorrow while I'm sitting in the Jury Duty waiting room - thankfully, I do not need to report until 1:30pm tomorrow. I'm hoping to get started on the Garden Fence by the middle of next week, or perhaps even sooner. : )

This Evening.
1. Made made completely vegan (no animal products) Spring Rolls and Peanut Sauce. Oh my gods! It was orgasmically good.

2. I had to back on the Advair this morning, as my breathing was especially tight and congested. My diet has been quite clean, and I'm down 114lbs (from 125lbs+) , though I have been eating Whole Wheat Bread. In the past, I saw the remission of all asthma symptoms when I was really 100% on Dr. Day's diet. For now, I'm happy to see the weight loss, which is bringing about an increase in energy, so it's okay if I need the Advair for a bit longer.

3. In the last hour of sunshine I'm off to mow the back sections of lawn.

Beltane

Morning temp: 68F
Afternoon high: 80F
Tonight's projected low: 49F
Humidity: 49%
Moon: 93% Full

It's a clear day with a Northwest wind at 9 mph.

Yesterday & Today.
1. I've been completing some research that I began at the University back in the Summer of 2003. Quite happily, this involved attending a Beltane celebration last night (more on that later). My research involves a Wiccan community living in the suburbs here in the Southeast, and their attempt to gain the tolerance and acceptance of the larger neighborhood. To make matters more interesting still, this large, successful Wiccan Covenstead sits right next to a Baptist Church, from the steps of which the ritual space and altar are quite visible. I'll post an early version of the article that this research has generated asap. I should have the research complete by the end of the day, and the final version of the article out for publication by the end of May, at the very latest. Yayyyy! Four years of work are bearing completion!

2. We've had time for little else other than watering the Garden and hanging laundry out to dry. This afternoon, however, I hope to be back at work here at St. Fiacre's, as there's a good bit of work waiting on me, and thank gods there is! It's so vital to have a purpose and work to do.

Back Outdoors! : )

Morning temp: 61F
Afternoon high: 74F
Tonight's projected low: 50F
Humidity: 100%
Moon: Nearly Full, at 81%

The rain was gone by midnight last night, and since then the sky has been crystal clear! It's a lovely day, warm sun, cool air and a nice West wind at 8 mph.

This Morning.

1. With the rain continually coming and going, and the bread kneading (ha ha) my frequent attention, I got nothing done outdoors yesterday. In the future, I'll need to integrate the several different stages of bread-making into other Homesteading chores. Yesterday though, I was afraid to leave the kitchen unattended. They say you get more relaxed after you've had your first loaf. It came out very nicely, BTW. I'm off to work outside...

This Afternoon.

1. So far (it's 2:45pm), I've dug about half of the 3.5 X 30' Bed. I love the short width, which makes it much easier to work. With 4' Beds and larger, I always find myself reaching too far too often. About every 5' or so I go back and rake the top soil flat, accept for the sides and ends of Bed, which I rake up into small mounds; they end up looking like raised borders. Then I add layers of Mushroom Compost and Peat Moss into the flat "depression" I've created atop the Bed. Since Tomato Cages 28" in diameter are going in here, the flat surface (~42" in width) will provide stable (and quite fertile) ground. When we put in our first set of cages last week, we really struggled to set them down square on a rounded Bed. Imagine that! "What if I'm not happy with, 'we'll make it fit'," I can still hear M saying! Also, I've been watering the soil just prior to each stage of digging. This seems to loosen and soften the soil considerably. Finally, I'm really learning to slow down, taking long breaks in-between 10' sections. I've brought a book of ee cumings' poems with me, and during each break I'm memorizing one stanza (or more) before I return to work.

Looking to the Future.

1. We've been talking more and more about the kinds of home-based businesses we'd like to develop and grow. In the next few years, we want M to shift to part-time nursing, leaving her many more hours for Homesteading. I am no longer teaching, but I do share a small construction company (commercial drapery installation) with my close friend KP (the guy from the Great Tepee Debacle of 2002). By working together, we are able to take on large-scale jobs (e.g., 600 room hotels) and still keep our work schedule to 2 - 4 days per/week. Moreover, we are able to take one or more months off from work when we desire to do so. This is good for my Homesteading and KP's schooling (he's currently completing a degree in Computer Science). So, what's the home-based-business (HBB) going to be?

This Evening.

Well, what a busy day!

1. The Tree Fellows came today and took down two very large Pines out in front of the house. With my Haddon Lumbermaker on the way, J had them cut the trunks up into large sections and leave them. We helped them roll the very large, enormously heavy trunk-sections over to one side of the yard! With four of us pushing, we could barely move them. Cutting them into lumber will be quite a challenge!

2. I dug about 20' of the 30' Bed, then I developed some pain in my right hand. M loves the long, narrow Bed, and also the raised borders on all sides! I hope to complete the digging Sunday morning.

3. M has been on-call this evening, so while I watered the Beds, she thoroughly weeded and fertilized (with Bone Meal and Dried Blood) the Lettuce, and then broadcast new Lettuce seed where ever there was a gap between plants. We so want to eat fresh Lettuce from the Garden all Summer. We're hoping the Bed it's in will be sufficiently shaded to protect it from the Summer heat.

4. Finally, I mowed the front portion of lawn, which seemed to be up-hill in both directions, because I'm a bit worn out.

Where do you get all this time?

Morning temp: 59F
Afternoon high: 77F
Tonight's projected low: 56F
Humidity: 94%
Moon: Waxing, 64%

It was quite cloudy this morning, and then a drizzling rain set in about 9:00am. There's also a slight South wind (they say it's 4 mph, but I doubt it).

This Morning.

1. I'm early at 4:0am this morning, so I've started two loaves of whole wheat bread. This will be my first time going through the process without M's guidance. Eee gads. Once it's light outside, I'll give the Garden a morning watering and dig the 3.5' X 30' Bed I staked out late yesterday afternoon. At that point, we'll see what the weather looks like.

2. A few readers have emailed, asking how it is that we are able to spend long hours nearly every day engaged in some aspect of Homesteading work. "Don't you have jobs?" "Where do you get all this time?" Very good questions indeed. M, of course, works full-time as a Labor and Delivery nurse. So, three and sometimes four days a week she is working 12-13+ hour shifts, and then sleeping as much as possible, trying to recover. On work days, this leaves her maybe half an hour to visit the Garden, cut salad Greens, if she has the energy, a few minutes of weeding. On her off days she is a Gardening dynamo, watering, transplanting, starting seeds, surveying the successes (or failures) of individual plants, planning out our gardening future. The wealth of knowledge and experience she has built is impressive.

I, on the other hand, have been in a very different kind of situation for the past eight months. From 1999 to 2006, I worked as a Visiting Instructor of Religious Studies and Philosophy at a large research University here in the Southeast. I taught number of courses, such as World Religions, New Religious Movements, and Philosophy of Religion. I enjoyed this work a great deal, but found it thoroughly exhausting and depleting. Doing the best possible job in the classroom, plus research, writing and community service (e.g., lecturing for local groups on hot topics such as, "What is Islam?" when asked to do so) required, at least from me, literally all of my energies and 60+ hours a week, for a very, very, very small amount of money (about $27,500 per/yr.) and absolutely no job security whatsoever.

In academia, there's a wide gap between Professor and Instructor. Professors have undergone the most thorough academic training in the world, possess a profound level of expertise in their fields, and accordingly possess doctorate degrees (PhDs). Instructors may have this level of training (and may simply be waiting for a better position to open up somewhere). Or, like myself, they may have less training (e.g., a Master's degree), though they may also turn out to be apt (or even gifted) teachers. There are also differences in how long you are able to remain at your job. Professors, of course, have long-term jobs just like every other professional occupation (e.g., lawyers, doctors, etc.). In my case, the University offered Instructors one-year contracts, at the end of which you could re-apply for the following year. Of course, you'd have to compete against everyone and anyone nation-wide who might want your job, so there was no guarantee you'd be re-hired and have a job the following Fall semester. Obviously, this is a very difficult way to live.

About two years into my stay, the University Administration instituted a policy limiting Instructors to three consecutive years. So, after Summer semester 2002, I took a year off - it was during this time, and to some degree for this reason, that M and I briefly emigrated to Lookout Mountain, Alabama for a year. Fall 2003, I returned and taught for the next three years, until Summer 2006 when my appointment ended once more. By this time, however, given what we'd learned about the possibility of a Homesteading lifestyle, I began to seriously re-think my goal of earning a PhD (in Religion) and moving on to a long-term University teaching career. Frankly, Homesteading may be the better choice. It certainly promotes a far more healthy lifestyle. Moreover, it sets an extraordinarily helpful example for other Americans (e.g., of gradually reclaiming one's self-reliance), an example that may well be sorely needed in the years to come, given the ecological and resource challenges we face. So, the past eight months have been a time of research, self-education and experiment, specifically to see whether we can, in fact, begin to master the skills necessary for a full-time Homesteading existence. In essence. I'm making the best possible use out of my present unemployment.

This Afternoon.

1. The bread seems to be coming along okay. Just now (12 noon) it's about half way through a 50 minute rising period. So, with the rain merely drizzling, I'm headed outdoors to see what can be done. Oh, M loved the brick walkway, and wants to plant Spinach beside it.

Getting hotter, the temperature, that is

Morning temp: 58F
Afternoon high: 82F
Tonight's projected low: 61F
Humidity: 73%
Moon: Waxing, 63%
Clear, with a North wind 0 mph

This morning.

1. When I got out of bed, I had a small amount of tightness in my chest, and my first inclination was towards the Advair. But I drank a large glass of Water, and used a breathing technique I'd learned years ago while studying Breathwork. "When you are feeling something you wish to let go of," my Breathwork teacher told me, "just do the following:"

i. Breathing only through the nose
ii. Take quick inhalations in
iii. Let each exhalation out without any force behind it
iv. Be certain NOT to push the exhalations out, just let them go
v. Continue this pattern - quick inhalation, relaxed exhalation - until you feel more at ease

This technique, she said, will help to release repetitive thoughts, unpleasant emotions and even physical symptoms. Over the years, I've found it to be remarkably effective and easy to use. Accordingly, the tightness disappeared quickly.

2. I've also found that on Dr. Day's "new way of eating," I'm eating far less than before, but I've quickly gotten past that first day of hunger and discomfort. Drinking lots of water, making sure to eat a large portions at mealtimes (e.g., organic Greens and Potatoes), and having plenty of organic Apples and Bananas around to snack on have helped. Most helpful of all, however, are the Barley Green drinks she recommends (http://www.drday.com/). This Barley Green stuff comes in the form of a powder that I mix with Apple Juice and drink for breakfast and sometimes for dinner. It's not very expensive, about $40 (includes shipping) for a 7 once container that lasts me two weeks. It raises my energy immediately, and most of all helps to fill me up so that I'm not walking around hungry. Truly, I do not resist cravings well at all, and so I've really needed to assemble as many forms of assistance as possible. I don't think I could do this new way of eating without the Barley Green drinks! Also, I'm still drinking a small amount of coffee in the mornings. I know Dr. Day would disapprove (and probably for good reason), but for the time being the coffee really helps to raise my energy level and trim my appetites. The day will come to let this go too, but it's not this day - it's vital to know your limitations.

This Afternoon.

1. The Garden received both morning and late afternoon waterings, especially the Corn Bed, which must remain moist until the seeds have sprouted. Watering remains one of my favorite activities!

2. Two additional sections of lawn were cut today, and all remaining wood was carried up from the Pipeline. The rotted wood we'll dry and burn in an outdoor fireplace, probably at MidSummer. The good wood I'll save for our Bentwood Garden Fence, Gate, Arbor and Trellis - research continues in these areas.

3. I staked-out another Garden Bed with four old-timey Tomato stakes and white cotton line. This one measures 3.5' wide by 30' in length, running the entire back width of the Garden. I watered it fairly well (Jeavons says this will help loosen the soil), and will double-dig it in the cool of the morning. M can plant all the Tomatoes she likes out there.

4. In Garden Bed #2 (beside the Lettuce) I dug-in a red brick walkway 2-bricks wide. I also double dug (for the second time) the far left third of this Bed, in which M wants to plant.... something, but I'll be darned if I recall what.

This Evening.

It's time for a shower, a meal, and some baseball!!!

I'm free, I hope

Morning temp: 61F
Afternoon high: 76F
Tonight's projected low: 56F
Humidity: 88%
Moon: Waxing, 56%
Cloudy this morning but already clearing-up; they say they'll be a West wind at 5 mph, though I haven't seen it yet.

This Morning.

1. So, I've been on Dr. Day's diet for a week now (I think she would prefer the phrase, "new way of eating," as the term "diet" implies a temporary change, and the plan she offers is meant to be permanent), and so far so good. I have been hungry several times, and I've certainly craved foods that are out of bounds. But I've also found solutions to these problems. When I'm really feeling uncomfortable with hunger and/or cravings, I use a method that M taught me - in addition to being a (really hot) Chef and Labor & Delivery Nurse, M is also a yogini, that is, a female yogi; she acquired this training over many years, primarily at a wonderful place called Yogaville, about a hour outside Charlottesville, Virginia (http://www.yogaville.org/) - I stop and say to myself, "This is me hungry, This is me craving X." Whenever I do this, the craving diminishes. I think what happens is that this method pulls me out of the craving in which I've become "lost", and allows me to view it from outside, with some perspective, and make a more rational choice about whether to follow it or not. Of course, I also address the hunger/craving on a physical level. I make sure to drink all the water and do as much of the juicing Dr. Day recommends as is possible. I also have a supply of organic apples on hand.

The results so far are promising. I've lost 10 lbs., down to 215. 175 is my target weight. I'm also on my 2nd day off of all asthma med. For me, this is huge, and real proof that Dr. Day's "new way of eating" is special. Even with our insurance co-pays, we're spending $1,000 or more each year on doctor visits and monthly meds. We've also grown increasingly concerned about the long-term, deleterious effects of steroids such as Advair. While I'm grateful for these meds - they've literally saved my life, and also made the past 25 years worth living (sever asthma symptoms totally suck) - it's time to let them go for good. So, I'm praying and hoping and praying some more that I'll make this transition! Please feel free to picture me in your mind as utterly healthy, and it will assist me along. There's a tsunami of evidence to suggest that consciousness is capable of such non-local effects, but that story's for another day.

2. I'm trying something new today. Several of you have emailed, pointing out that some days we post rather late at night, and you prefer as early a post as is possible. I agree, and apologize for the delays, on most days our work runs right up until sundown. As a solution, I'll be posting Morning, Afternoon and Evening segments whenever possible. We'll see how this works out.

This Afternoon.

1. I mowed a small portion of the lawn. Normally, this is not difficult, though now the pollen and dust stirred up while cutting raise pose a potential challenge. In years past, I simply could not do this work without meds. Today, so far so good. When I came in after about half and hour of work, I drank a large glass of water with lemon and a pinch of cayene pepper, and then a cup of ginger tea, both of which head off and release any inflammation.

2. M and I made a late afternoon visit to Home Depot's Garden Center. Within certain limits, we like to visit these centers at Lowe's and HD. We like the wide range of young vegetable plants, flowers and herbs we can purchase their. While we grow most everything from seed, there remain a few things we like to purchase as young plants, such as Fennel if possible. What we don't care for is the obnoxiously loud music at HD. It's tolerable inside the store, but outdoors it's pumped through cheap loudspeakers, ricochets off of concrete in seemingly every direction, and was blaring so loud it gave M nausea!

This Evening.

1. M and I went out to the Garden about 6:15, when the Sun had gone down into the Pine and Poplar Trees on the West side of the yard. While M planted Cucumbers, Onions, more Peppers and some of the things we purchased at HD, I watered our 9 planted Beds. We have not yet laid down our soaker hoses, so for the moment we're still watering by hand. Once the night time temps stabilize at 60F+, we'll lay down the hoses and mulch the Beds with Straw, this will help to conserve water, diminish the number of weeds that emerge, and help feed our growing plants.

A nicely varied day : }

Morning temp: 58F
Afternoon high: 78F
Tonight's projected low: 57F
Humidity: 77%
Moon: Waxing, 43%
Clear, with a SouthWest wind at 8 mph

1. M made some amazing Whole-Wheat Bread yesterday, and we're making more today! It's entirely Vegan (i.e., contains no animal products), and so lies within my dietary practices. The recipe comes from The Tassajara Bread Book ("Tassajara Yeasted Bread I," pp. 36, 37). M is quite an accomplished cook (I call her a chef, but she doesn't care for this title), and she's walking me through the various stages - kneading, rolling, kneading, pounding, kneading, rolling, rising, baking - so that I can take on the responsibility for the Bread making. Until now, I've only been good at the final stage, eating. She also made some equally amazing Bean Soup, and as we ate it up last night and tonight with Bread and fresh Garden Greens, M pointed out that before too long everything in that meal we would be growing ourselves, even the Wheat, which apparently can be grown in small quantities - in my mind I pictured only vast fields. She also pointed out that while our 1/3 of a Bed of Lettuce cost us about .50 cents in Lettuce seed, we have probably cut about $100-worth of organic Lettuce thus far!

2. I cut a small portion of the lawn, and I'll do a bit more tomorrow. I've noticed that on days that I'm pushing our mower around, I do not need to go to the gym and climb on the elliptical cross-county machine or jog on the treadmill. I've also noticed that our push-mower only runs for about 45 minutes, and then conks out and needs to rest for at least a few hours, if not for the remainder of the day. This of course forces me to take a break from mowing. I find this situation both ironic and helpful because, in the past, my tendency has been to take one piece of work and obsess over it, ignoring other important tasks and wearing myself out in the process. While working on my Master's Thesis, for instance, I would frequently sit at my PC for 12 or more hours a day, for days at a time. Obviously, this is a most unbalanced way of being.

3. The Sweet Potatoes arrived this afternoon, so M planted them! Interestingly, they arrived looking extremely wilted and weak. Apparently, however, they're hardy plants, and can be shipped that way, then replanted and thrive! She also planted basil(Thai, Genovese, Lime), Busho Puerto Rico Sweet Potatoes, "That's Delicious" Corn, Red Seeded Thai Longbeans, PurplePodded Pole Beans, Mexican Gerkin Cucumbers, and Celeriac. All but one of our 10 Beds is now planted!

Looking to the Future: Later this week, J is having two large pine trees taken down. While J himself is very good at felling trees (he grew up in a family of New Hampshire lumberjacks), given the considerable size and proximity to our house of these pines, he's having a professional, fully insured, tree service do the work. No doubt an excellent idea. While self-reliance is virtue, knowing your limitations, and when you need professional assistance, is vital! J suggested that the tree-service-fellows could cut the pines into 8' long sections, leaving me some excellent wood for making posts, beams, shelving and such. I've been waiting for this opportunity for quite a while! In my Homesteading research last Autumn, I discovered a kind of chainsaw attachment that allows you to cut felled trees into lumber! I looked at several models, varying greatly in price from dirt-cheap to thousands of dollars (these are basically portable saw-mills), and have settled on the Haddon Lumbermaker. It costs about $100.00, carries a 30 money-back guarantee and a lifetime warranty (http://www.haddontools.com/). This is an important aspect of our long-term Homesteading plans, so I'm grateful to have an opportunity to what challenges and difficulties are involved.

A quick look at our Spring/Summer Garden

Morning temp: 53F
Afternoon high: 76F
Tonight's projected low: 48F
Humidity: 67%
Moon: Waxing: 33%
Another amazing day here in Zone 7b, clear, sunny, 76 degrees with a gentle North wind at 0 mph!

1. After two days of fairly intense planting, here's where our Garden stands so far.

Bed #1
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Red Gold Potatoes

Bed #2
Garlic

Bed #3
Arkansas Traveller Tomatoes
Brandywine Tomatoes
Black Cherry Tomatoes
Sun Gold Tomatoes
Black Pineapple Tomatoes

Bed #4
Mustard Greens
Lettuce

Bed #5
Pattypan Squash
Raven Zucchini Squash
Tondoscuro Squash

Bed #6
Rosabianca Eggplant
Hillybilly Red Okra
Clemson Spineless Okra

Bed#7
Ace Bell Peppers
Golden Marconi Peppers
Poblano Peppers
Tomatios

Herb Bed
Rosemary
Lavender
Oregano
Thyme
Parsley
Dill
Fennel

The Garlic, Greens and Lettuce were Winter crops, but the rest we put in over the past two days. We still have three large Beds in which to plant vegetables and one for different kinds of Basil. Because M wants to grow as many tomatoes as possible, specifically White Tomesol, Tappy's Heritage and Dr. Wyche's, we've decided to put in another Bio-intensive, double-dub Bed, this time 3' wide by 20' long along the entire South side of the Garden, build six additional Tomato cages and plant as many tomatoes as possible. Three foot withs should be easier to dig.... ooohps Sopranos are on, more tomorrow. : )

Gettin' n tune

Morning temp: 60F
Afternoon high: 74F
Tonight's projected low: 47F
Humidity: 56%
Moon: Waxing, 14%
Sunny, with a North wind at 0 mph.

1. We'll be moving a great many plants out to the Garden this afternoon! More about this when we're done.

2. Tired of being overweight, easily tired out and "addicted" to asthma medication, I've decided to re-apply homesteading principles to my body. I've been about 40 - 50 pounds over weight for three years now. As a result, my blood pressure has risen a little bit, I feel like I'm carrying around a backpack filled with encyclopedias all day long, and I've needed to be on Advair and Proventil one to two times a day. I'm dissatisfied with this state of affairs because I know from my own experience that it's entirely optional. In Stage One of our homesteading experiment (while living on Lookout Mountain), I came across the work of Dr. Lorraine Day, a well established, mainstream surgeon who healed herself of a very aggressive cancer (that had her within weeks of death) by setting aside everything mainstream medicine and culture demanded that she do to treat her condition. Before long, she discovered that this same approach produced complete, miraculous cures 100% of the time with absolutely no side-effects when applied to a great many medical and psychiatric conditions, so she began to teach others how to heal their illnesses. I was struck by the simplicity of her approach, which starts with eating only organic fruits and vegetables, period! Of course, her entire approach is comprised of some 10 steps, such as making sure to drink at least one gallon of fresh, clean water each day, and juicing fresh, organic fruits and vegetables several times each day, and can be read about at her website, http://www.drday.com/. I began her method in earnest, and within one week I was able to stop taking all asthma meds whatsoever - it's important to note that I had severe asthma for 30 years, had been on daily asthma medication for about 20 years, and had nearly died twice due asthma-related complications, so it was no minor problem that was cured. Within two months, I had returned to a perfect weight for my height, 175 lbs., and people around me noticed how my clear my skin was, and how high and steady my energy level was.

However (there's always a "however" in any good story), as I was drawn away from our homesteading experiment, needing to return to University teaching and construction work, my dietary practices quickly spiraled back down to eating anything and everything I desired. This bottomed-out last Summer, when I herniated my small intestine in several places merely carrying a small TV set out to the trash, and needed fairly extensive surgery. When I asked my surgeon why this happened she answered, "You're obese! When men become too large it stretches their 'plumbing' out of shape, which allows part of the small intestine to rupture out when put under stress, such as lifting." Wow! 50 lbs overweight is clinically obese, and I was there and growing still! I had always been the tall skinny kid who could eat pizza and drink beer every day and still loose weight, even into my middle 30s.

Well, it's time for me to re-apply these homesteading principles - simplify, cut-down to what's necessary, do what you can for yourself - on the most intimate levels. I'm tired of being a sick, exhausted fatboy!

3. We'd like to mention two additional points about working with the cycles of the Moon. In an earlier post, we mentioned that seeds started at the New Moon tended to sprout and grow quickly. We forgot to ad that this applies to seeds started within the first seven days of a New Moon! So sorry. Secondly, several of you have pointed out that although we recommended transplanting on the Full Moon, we in fact did our last transplanting of seedlings to the Garden on the New Moon. You're quite correct. As M stated in our first post, we're studying, experimenting and learning as we go. Also, we wanted to get some plants in the Garden and couldn't wait another two weeks! Today's planting, however, is closer to the Full Moon, so we count that as a success.

Frankly, I find it remarkable how challenging such a simple task - starting seeds on the New Moon and transplanting on the Full Moon - has turned out to be. Of course, there are other factors to be worked in, such as the "last frost date" for our part of the country (which was supposed to 4/15), what's actually happening with the weather (4/15 saw Winter's brief return), and our work schedules. Still, in this we're working to recover something our larger culture has lost, and in so doing we're attempting to harmonize ourselves with something utterly foreign to the way M and I have lived all of our lives thus far. For 40 years, we paid no attention whatsoever to lunar cycles, save perhaps noticing a beautiful Full Moon now and again.

We have the resources!!!

Morning temp: 51F
Afternoon high: 70F
Tonight's projected low: 45F
Humidity:67%
Moon: Waxing, 14%
Mostly cloudy with an East wind at 12 mph.

1. I'm still up on Lookout Mountain visiting family, though I'll be home late tonight. M says that our golden and sweet potatoes arrived yesterday afternoon. We'll plant them first thing this weekend. They're going in somewhat late this year, since we forgot to order them and then two weeks ago began to wonder why they hadn't arrived. Oops. Of course, the lawn's growing again, and we have a great many plantlings indoors awaiting a garden transplanting. So, it will be a weekend of activity!

2. On my drive up here, I took the back roads as opposed to the highway, and I noticed how much potential garden space many homes have available, whether in the form of modest front lawns, back yards, or side plots. This means that, if we really wanted to do it, a great many of us could grow enough food to feed our families and share with others. But don't you need a lot of land to grow enough food to live on? No. Bio-intensive gardening, which utilizes raised beds about 4' wide and 5' in length, allows plants of all kinds to be planted very closely together. Experts tell us that a family of four can eat full-time out of four of these beds, or 100 square feet. But won't a sustained mass-gardening movement deplete our soils and use up our water supply? That depends on how we garden. Composting our grass cuttings, leaves and left over fruits, vegetables and eggshells from our kitchens would produce, for each homestead every year, several hundred pounds of humus (i.e., a completely organic, top-shelf soil additive) that could be immediately and continually added to our soils. Hence, we would be radically and consistently improving our soils. Have you ever noticed how many eggshells a Waffle House or IHOP uses in just a single morning? If we mulch our Bio-intensive beds them with leaves, straw, or even cardboard, and water the soil directly, we would use less water than is typically expended on watering lawns. But what about the winter time, how will we eat then? As with all things, there are safe, sound, reliable solutions, such as building a small greenhouse or small wooden "hot houses" around the base of garden beds.

On a far larger but logically parallel level, the most recent bi-partisan Congressional estimates of the war in Iraq set the total price at $2.2 trillion, all said and done. Interestingly, similar estimates suggest that an investment of this same magnitude would be more than enough to switch the entire American infrastructure over to solar and wind-based power! Like the potential garden space I see everywhere, I find this highly optimistic because, while $2.2 trillion seems an unimaginable number to me personally, clearly we as a nation have access to this kind of money (after all, it's funding the war as we speak). So, when the day finally comes and we're serious about funding safe, sustainable, democratic forms of power production, we have the resources and technology to do so, immediately. I suspect similar arguments could be made about education, health care, and who knows what else.

Time Travelling

Morning temp: 46F
Afternoon high: 72F
Tonight's projected low: 45F
Humidity: 93%
Moon: Waxing, 10%
Wind: from the North at 1mph or less

I'm posting early today because I'm driving up to Lookout Mountain, Alabama to visit some family I'm very close to for a day or so. In 2002 and 2003, M and I made our first sustained attempts at Homesteading here. M's mom, who lived on the Mountain, invited us to try out our grand experiment on her 30 acres of land. We did, with neither jobs, money, nor any of the skills and knowledge we should have had under our belts, only a vague, romantic notion of "getting back to the land." Almost daily our Homesteading vision changed as we read and researched and discovered what did and did not work through trial and error (mostly error). Trying to live in a twenty-eight foot tall tepee, for instance, is a very bad idea. Great praise must go to my close friend KP, who helped me set-up and take-down that fantastically heavy monstrosity at least 20 times. We invested nearly 60% of our savings into it, but could never get it right, or keep the rainwater from soaking the ground, or prevent hornets, wasps and yellow jackets from taking up residence.

Our greatest success during this time was in gardening. M had small and productive gardens when we lived in the city, and so we had some knowledge here. We also had several thousand square feet of rich valley floor to cultivate, if we so chose. We decided on a "modest" 1,000 square foot Garden. Tilling, raking out and planting the long, straight, raised rows gave us the best days we have had together as a couple, and ultimately lead us to marry. By early May, we easily produced enough food to eat two superb meals a day out of our Garden. During this time I shed some 40 pounds of excess weight, lost all symptoms of asthma (which I had since childhood) and felt better than I have before or since.

Eventually, we moved back to the city, where I returned to University teaching and M earned a degree in nursing. We needed a reliable economic base to fund the many aspects of a Homesteading life. M felt that nursing, particularly working in women's health, would allow her to serve whatever community we choose to live in, even while we pursued a Homesteading lifestyle significantly removed from the dominant cultural patterns. Despite our failure to make it our permanent home, our time on Lookout Mountain was very well spent.

By the wake of the Moon

Morning temp: 51F
Afternoon high: 73F
Tonight's projected low: 45F
Humidity: 48%
Moon: Waxing, 2%
Wind: from the East, at 5 mph

Spring - when ecstasy seems the natural way to be, and any other out of tune with the season of soul growth. Birdsong, airy silence, a lively conversation between plants.... Spring is not so much a metaphor for a state of attunement as it IS that attunement.
-Rumi

1. We've begun to take seriously and experiment with the relationship between the cycles of the moon and our garden work. We already know that lunar cycles have an impact in what happens here, on earth. They create, for instance, tides in large bodies of water, and when the moon is full labor and delivery nurses see an increased number of births. Going back into ancient times, farmers have noted that seeds planted during the new moon germinate more quickly than those planted at other times. Perhaps this is due to gravitational forces, as horticulturist John Jeavons explains, "If you place seeds in the ground 2 days before the lunar forces are greatest [i.e., as the moon begins to wax] the seed has time to absorb water. The gravitational force exerted on the water in the seed helps create a 'tide' that helps burst the seed coat in conjunction with the seed's swelling." Jeavons also recommends that all transplanting (whether to garden plots or larger containers) be done during the Full Moon (about 14 days after the New Moon). He writes, "plants are transplanted at the full moon so they may begin their life in the growing bed during a time of stimulated root growth to compensate for the root shock that occurs during transplanting."

Of course, the most ancient spiritual traditions on the planet have a complementary explanation. According to the Old Religions, while all things and beings come from one infinite source, the divine reality tends to manifest itself to us in complementary pairs of male and female. Not opposite forms, but different forms that, when healthy, work well together. Hence, in the ancient religions we see both Gods and Goddesses. It's important to remember that ancient peoples didn't just make up their deities. Rather, ancient mystics experienced, first hand, the divine reality as two-fold: as a Great Goddess who herself appeared in myriad forms, as a young and playful woman, a warrior and protector, a queen, a priestess, a mother giving birth to the cosmos, an old crone full of wisdom and guidance for human beings; and as a God, who also manifested in many different ways, as a young and playful male, a hunter and warrior, a father, a priest, a venerable sage and teacher. This is why ancient cultures have so many different deities, both male and female, playing many different roles. You might think of it as many different paths back to the divine source. If there was really only one path, that would leave out a great many people, and an infinite intelligence would never construct such a narrow-minded universe.

Within the Old Religions, the Goddess gave birth to all things and beings, and hence we are all made up of Her, the earth, plants, animals, human beings, even the God himself is birthed into existence by the Goddess. The God, on the other hand, is the cosmic grapevine, and we are the branches. Hence, we are both made up of the Goddess just as an infant is made up of the stuff of her mother, and we have within us the living God, who flows through us like a river. Does some of this sound familiar? It should, as history unfolded and male-centered, patriarchal religions grew in dominance, one-half of the divine reality was lost, forgotten, and repressed (at least here in the West), and the other half was raised up and held to be a complete description of what the divine reality is like. This, in turn, seriously limited the kinds of spiritual experiences people could have. Fortunately, some of the fastest growing spiritual movements (or religions, if you like) in the world are those that attempt to bring the Goddess back into our understanding of, and our experience of, the divine reality and the physical world.

So what does this have to do with gardening? For us, a great deal. For if all the world is made up of the Goddess and has the God running through it, this explains how and why the trees, plants, wind, sun, rain and all elements of nature are conscious, aware, divine beings. It also explains why St. Fiacre, who is in truth just another manifestation of the God, so quickly, easily and reliably responds to our invitations. Whenever I'm working in the Garden or on any aspect of our Homesteading experiment, when I remember to stop and invite the Goddess and God within me and ask for their presence and assistance in my work, I immediately feel more peaceful, connected and aware, and the work goes smoothly and easily, and I enjoy it. Conversely, when I fail to do so, I am likely to fall into a hurried, unconscious, quickly frustrated state of mind, which I don't particularly enjoy. Indeed, I'm likely to remember old arguments and conjure up new ones in my mind, getting and reaming angry while I'm working. Zen Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh suggests that such states of mind have become common place, that often we walk around "like ghosts", our bodies are performing various tasks (e.g., driving) but our minds are miles away, often caught in unpleasant feedback loops. Communing with the Goddess and St. Fiacre seems to rectify this situation immediately, uniting mind and body.

Planting and transplanting on the lunar cycles is, we hope, not just another way to make use of the cold, unthinking, mechanical forces that operate within the universe. Rather, like communing with St. Fiacre, the angels he brings with him, the Garden Kami, and the Goddess, planting with the lunar cycles is one way to harmonize ourselves with these divine presence in nature. I'm thinking that "powering down," reducing our consumption, increasing our self-sufficiency, and enjoying the ordinary things in life are similar in this way.

Butcrunch lettuce, anyone?

Morning temp: 49F
Afternoon high: 74F
Tonight's projected low: 46F
Humidity: 33%
Moon: New Moon!

We had a clear day with a mild West wind at 5mph.

1. Hoping that the cold weather is gone for good, we transferred a number of plants from the inside A-Frame to the Garden, along with several new ones we purchased yesterday evening at Lowe's. While I re-planted Purple Impatiens in St. Fiacre's Flower Bed (the frost took those planted earlier), M put Lavender, Parsley, Oregano and Thyme into the Herb Bed. Then, together we planted Squash, Peppers, Tomatoes and Buttercrunch (mistakenly labelled "Butcrunch") Lettuce. Everyone got a scoop of organic mushroom compost and dried blood and bone meal, followed by a long draught of worm tea and water. The Tomatoes each got banana peels at their base and a Tomato Cage (28" wide, 70" tall) staked down by 8' tall bamboo poles buried a foot or more in the soil. Finally, at least some of the plantlings have made it to the Garden. Tonight's temperature is supposed to go no lower than 46F, which all of these plants can tolerate. Please assist us by holding in your mind an image of our new Garden residents growing tall and strong!

When we were done with our planting, we ate a salad of freshly cut Garden Lettuce & Mustard Greens, fish J caught this past weekend, and organic Potatoes with Rosemary from the Garden. M's Rosemary potatoes are quite fetching, and if you email her, she'll probably share the recipe. She is, by the way, an AMAZING chef!

Looking to the future: Well, M and I have decided to "power down" as much as possible, that is, to reduce our energy bills and the electricity we use. So, we've begun switching-out our incandescent light bulbs for CFLs (Compact Fluorescent light bulbs). CFLs last for literally 1000's of burning hours, and provide the same levels of lighting at a markedly reduced cost (e.g., imagine a bulb that provides 100W lights of light at 8W in cost). We're already hang-drying about 90% of our wet laundry, and we're seriously contemplating the purchase of a hand laundry washer and ringer. This, of course, costs nothing to use, save the cost of the water. Moreover, if we use biodegradable laundry detergent (e.g., Oasis brand), we can water our plants with the used laundry water with no harm to the plants or to us. The hand washer/ringer costs nearly $500.00, and we hope to be able to purchase one soon. Homesteading seems to be about making these sorts of gradual, incremental changes.

From Gardening to Homesteading, Part 2

Morning temp: 41F
Afternoon high:66%
Tonight's projected low: 43F
Humidity: 36%
Moon: Waning, 1%

Windy windy windy. In between our 12 Garden Beds, we've run long strips of cardboard. Provided that the cardboard is free of colored or excessive amount of black ink, it will biodegrade into the soil. Meanwhile, it provides a mud-free walking surface, while also keeping weeds and grass from sprouting up. In a sense, it's a kind of mulch for the Garden walkways. Well, the West wind, which gusted up to 40mph, had its way with the cardboard. Otherwise, the wind spirits were very kind and gentle during their visit. In truth, we found the wind exhilarating, cleansing and fun, and we hope that everyone visited by these spirits was kept safe. Perhaps with time we can learn to live more harmoniously with them.

1. M and I went to Lowes for two bags of mushroom compost, a tray of 36 purple Impatients for St. Fiacre's Flowerbed beside the Garden, two hanging pots of Impatients for our back porch, and a number of young plants we have marked for our two, red-bricked, Garden Herb Beds (#11, 12). Last year, we had a great experience with the Impatients on the back porch. We fed them worm-tea and water regularly, and they grew and grew and flowered into early November, after we had moved them indoors up on the fireplace mantle. They seem to be quite hardy plants that can bounce back from excessive heat and a lack of watering. They also seem to have a wonderfully peaceful energy about them, or so we felt.

2. We also transplanted a number of seedlings and plantlings to peat-pots and to larger plastic containers (we recycle our yogurt containers in this way). Our weather forecast for this week has improved (now they're saying the days will reach 70F+ and the nights no less than the mid-40s), so we're leaning towards moving all of our mature plants into the Garden tomorrow! We'll see how M feels; she's really the Garden Boss. I just do what she says, or at least what she approves of.

3. Throughout our work together, we talked a good bit about the kinds of home-based businesses we're interested in the starting, particularly after the move to up-state New York, which is looking ever more likely. Currently, our logic is as follows. As Homesteaders, we're interested in self-sufficiency, which entails learning a very wide range of skills, everything from growing your own food and making your own household items to building your own home. As part of this process, we're interested in making our own essential oils, herbal water mixtures (e.g., rose and lavender water) and herbal soaps. Indeed, we've begun to research these things, and M already makes her own herbal skin-cream. One thing we noticed with M's lavender skin-cream is that when people found out about it, they wanted to purchase some for themselves. So, perhaps these other endeavors could lead to a range of marketable products. As you may have guessed, this is why we've put in the two Herb Beds, to experiment with growing a number of herbal plants so that we can take this knowledge with us. Thankfully, other Homesteaders farther along than we are have also shown that such home-based businesses are possible, so we feel that we've got something reasonable to base our hopes upon.

Looking to the future: Pictures are coming! Of the Garden, of the various things we've built here so far, of Arjuna (our cat) and most especially of Helen, queen of the doggies! Ever so slowly, my technical skills are increasing, and before too long we'll see improvements to the blog. : )

The ideal relationship

Morning temp: 52F
Afternoon high: 58F
Tonight's projected low: 40F
Humidity: 100%
Moon: Waning, 4%

Today looks to be both cloudy and windy. Thus far, there's been a fairly steady and quite cool breeze out of the West at 14mph, though there's some concern that gusts could become considerably stronger. In fact, we're under a "wind advisory" until later this evening.

1. So, if you've got kami in your Garden, what does this mean? What are you supposed to do about it? Another superb question, one we could answer a number of different ways! To begin, let's recall that kami are spirits or divine beings found throughout nature, especially in those places that inspire awe (or dread) within us. The storms that have been sweeping across the eastern half of the country certainly qualify. Very early this morning, after the front line of thunderstorms departed, I stepped outside and felt that they had done some very important work for us. We know that they clear the air of the pollutants we've put into it, but perhaps they've cleared something else as well. We've all noticed how it feels after a thunderstorm, how much more calm and peaceful it seems. Perhaps these storms are clearing out the anger and frustration that we have been putting out there. Moreover, perhaps storms will continue to grow in intensity and frequency until we learn to cultivate different thoughts and emotions, such as patience, peace and forgiveness. This accords nicely with traditional Shinto understandings of what it means to live in harmony with the kami. On Shinto teachings, when human beings get stuck in negative inner thoughts and emotions, particularly those that give rise to unkind and inconsiderate actions, this creates an intolerable atmosphere for both earthly and heavenly kami. You might think of it as a kind of "emotional pollution." As a result, the so-called "negative kami" become activated, the first stage of which is frequent and angry storms that both cleanse the atmosphere of unhealthy energies, and (hopefully) wake us human beings up, so that we may once again begin to cultivate the thoughts and emotions that give rise to kind and considerate behavior and actions, and thus harmonize ourselves not only with the kami, but with each other.

Much like our stories of calling upon and feeling the presence and assistance of St. Fiacre and his angels while we work in the Garden, whatever we make of Shinto mythology - whether we see it as literal truth or existential metaphor - we believe that insofar as it helps us to adopt a calm and patient attitude toward one another, and to live in harmony with nature and our neighbors, it points the way toward learning to live well.

2. It's a very cool, windy day here in Zone 7b, and we're grateful that the line of storms that passed through were very gentle with us. We received lots of steady, soaking rain and the clean, crisp air that comes in behind. We're hoping that the "strong winds" said to be moving through today will be similarly mild. In fact, I'm considering asking them to be as careful as possible in keeping our home, Garden and community safe and well-protected, asking that any negative emotional energies they may be attempting to clear-out be released easily and effortlessly, without so much tumultuous thunder, lighting and such. In truth, I did this yesterday afternoon with the storms headed our way, and I felt that they responded with awareness and understanding. I'm also considering putting the plantlings out on the front porch, to harden them off to even chillier and windier weather. I think, also, that it will be a another good day for inside chores.

Looking to the future: Today (4/15) is our "last frost date," and so we're moving as many plantlings as possible out to the Garden tomorrow. The lows this week are supposed to be in the mid-30s on Monday and low-40s Tuesday and beyond, so we'll probably transplant only the hardier varieties, and wait on the tomatoes and other more sensitive plants.

Garden Kami?

Morning temp: 50F
Afternoon high: 69F
Tonight's projected low: 54F
Humidity: 76%
Moon: Waning, just 12%

It's been a cloudy morning, with little breeze to speak of. We're supposed to see thunderstorms this evening and into the night, followed by a return to cooler weather tomorrow.

1. I went to Pike's Nursery for one more bag of peat moss for Beds #8 & #9. I also weeded and fertilized the Garlic, Lettuce and Mustard Greens with organic bone meal and dried blood. With rain due in this evening, though, I'm holding off on watering. So far, I've been carrying our plantlings out to the front porch for hardening off. Today I put them out in yard beyond the fence (to keep them safe from the dogs), as they require exposure to greater levels of wind, sunlight and temperature variation. We want them to be well prepared for full-time residence in the Garden, which should begin this coming Monday, provided it's not too cold. I also brought the remaining wood up from the Pipeline. I still have a mind to build a Garden fence and trellis from these thick, twisting branches. This time, I plan to sink 4' posts along the entire perimeter of the Garden (each to about 1' in depth), and let the earth settle in around them, providing a more firm and stable foundation, waiting a while before putting on the top rail. Also, I think I'll limit myself to one horizontal railing running atop the posts. Clearly, this structure is meant only for discouraging deer and for M's flowers to grow up and along.

2. Just a few weeks past, I drove to St. Louis to visit an old friend and his family. From where we live in Zone 7b, this ride takes about 7 hours, so I started off quite early in the morning. My pre-dawn departure found me in the rolling, jagged hills and mountains just north of Chattanooga, TN. (on Hwy. 24) at the first break of day. With the roads wide open before me (I was virtually alone at this early hour), I think I understood, or I think I experienced, a taste of the feelings and sensations that led ancient peoples the world over to built Temples and Shrines to honor the divinity found within nature. There really aren't any words for it; let's just say the power of this landscape was remarkable. It certainly felt as if I was not alone during my solitary drive.

That the divine should be encountered in nature is nothing new. It is not difficult, for instance, to find a Christian mystic who, after considerable time in prayer, sees and feels God radiating out of every blade of grass. In other modern day traditions, indigenous Japanese religion (commonly known as Shinto, or "way of the divine beings"), for instance, the elements of nature are themselves held to be home to powerful spirits, or kami. Earthly kami, this tradition teaches, can be found virtually anywhere, in mountains, rivers, lakes, oceans, rain, wind, trees, any earthly place marked by power and beauty. Heavenly kami, who dwell above us, appear as the Sun (a great Goddess figure around whom all things revolve, or circle), Moon, stars and sky. Of course, there are also the kami we would rather not have to deal with, who manifest as tsunamis, hurricanes, floods, disease and tornadoes. Essentially, the kami reside in those aspects of nature that inspire awe, or dread, or both.

Well, if I'm in a calm and peaceful frame of mind, and if I look carefully, it's immediately obvious to me that there's divinity within and around our Garden. Perhaps this is why St. Fiacre and his angels respond so quickly and easily when invited. In recent years, it's seemed to me that this reality is more readily felt on an emotional level, more easily harmonized with than understood in a purely rational way, the way we understand geometry, or algebra, for instance. As a scholar of religion, I was drawn to the commonalities and especially to the differences found among the world's religions. As an aspiring Homesteader, I'm intrigued to perhaps be plugging into some of the realities these traditions describe from first-hand experience.

Low-brow gardening

Morning temp: 48F
Afternoon high: 68F
Tonight's projected low: 51F
Humidity: 58%
Moon: Waning, 21%

A clear, sunny, cool day, with a West wind at 8 mph!

1. After a month of rigorous double-digging, it seems I've hit a temporary lull in Garden work. For today, I'll be watering, weeding the mostly empty beds (save for two beds of winter crops) and adding a bit to the compost pile. Oh yes, and sitting out by the peach trees listening to the bluebirds. Frankly, I'll take this brief respite, knowing that we'll soon be moving several dozen plantlings from the A-Frame indoors to the Garden. We've been putting these plantlings outside on the reasonably warm afternoons for the past three weeks in an effort to "harden them off", that is, get them used to the changing conditions that wind, sun and clouds bring (as opposed to the staid conditions underneath grow-lights in our living room). I hope we can get them into the Garden by Monday or Tuesday. They've grown so well indoors that they're becoming root-bound, so they need to be out in the wide open soil of freshly turned and fertilized Garden Beds!

2. In France, some 50% of the population gardens regularly, either on land of their own, or on rented plots. Even in major cities some 20% have gardens. Here in the U.S., we haven't seen that level of interest since the mid-1940s, when Victory Gardens appeared in every neighborhood across the nation. In those days, our national logic held that each family should grow as much of its own food as was possible, and thus conserve our resources, as they would be needed for the war effort. Note how this varies from our own times, when we are urged to purchase and use up as much as possible to keep the economy growing, and thus "do our part". In the old days, we made sacrifices by only eating the lettuce, tomatoes and peppers we could grow ourselves, and seriously cutting back on our consumption of meat, diary and a wide range of other luxuries and necessities; today we sacrifice by charging HD plasma TVs to our already burgeoning credit cards. And our attitudes toward gardening have grown similarly odd. Here in the Southeast, for instance, we've noticed that a great many subdivisions have strict rules forbidding gardening. We've met folks who were warned that if they dug-up their lawn for a vegetable garden, the Neighborhood Association (NA) had the power to foreclose on their mortgage, and would do so without hesitation. Apparently, in the eyes of a great many NAs, putting in a vegetable garden is likened to heaving your old, rusted-out pick-up truck up on cement blocks and letting it sit for a year or two, or leaving engine-blocks and transmissions strewn about one's front yard. M and I have often wondered about this perception of gardening as low-brow.

From Gardening to Homesteading, Part 1

Morning temp: 50F
Afternoon high: 71F
Tonight's projected high: 40F
Humidity: 24%
Moon: Waning, 27%

Today was utterly clear with a strong West wind at 17 mph. Sunny, cool and entirely ordinary, I hope some of you decided to stick around for it. Regrettably, I was unable to visit the Garden today whatsoever, as M was scheduled for dental surgery, which went very well, and she's comfortably resting and happy to have it over with.

1. Home Depot has been running a charming little commercial in which somewhat drab, unremarkable backyards (rendered in black and white) are magically transformed into colorful, flowering affairs through the happy introduction of various plants, shrubs and trees. The commercial sings the praises of the casual, weekend gardener, and so do we. Working cooperatively with nature is no doubt an inherently good thing, both for us and for our back yards! For M and I, however, our attempt at gardening - from digging our beds, building our compost and starting seedlings - represents far more than a casual pastime (in truth, neither M nor I do casual pastimes particularly well, we're either into something deeply or not at all). For us, these things represent our attempt to utterly rethink and reconstruct our lives.

It all began with a book, The Good Life: Helen and Scott Nearing's Sixty Years of Self-Sufficient Living, which M had read many years ago as a teenager, and which she got me to read on a fateful Summer camping trip nearly seven years past. This trip was "fateful" because, not only did we meet our dog Helen (yes, named after Helen Nearing), but we also decided that we would pursue a Nearing-like, Homesteading-based life as vigorously as possible, even if it took us many years to fully untangle ourselves from our contemporary cultural pattern, which seemed to demand, in exchange for what it called "the good life", a number of concessions, for instance, that we exhaust ourselves working in highly specialized professions paying off tremendous financial debt incurred so that we could enjoy a handful of comforts, including new cars, a big house, hired help to mow our lawn, clean our house, vacations abroad and so forth. Like the Nearings, we felt uncomfortable making these concessions, and suspicious of the assumption that the good life was in fact to be found in this way.

The Nearings tell us, "we moved away from New York City to a farm in the Green Mountains of Vermont. At the outset we thought of the venture as a personal search for a simple, satisfying life on the land, to be devoted to mutual aid and harmlessness, with an ample margin of leisure in which to do personally constructive and creative work." We feel similarly, hopeful that, if thought-out and executed with care and discipline, we could live a simple, self-reliant lifestyle. Indeed, the Nearings encouraged us to think so, insisting that, "a couple, of any age from twenty to fifty, with a minimum of health, intelligence and capital, can adapt themselves to country living, learn its crafts, overcome its difficulties and build up a life pattern rich in simple values and productive of personal and social good." Of course, we are far from alone. Many have successfully walked the path the Nearings laid out, and many others are adapting this path to urban contexts, forging a kind of "urban homesteading" (see, for instance, http://www.pathtofreedom.com/). This past year, M and I have talked many times about suburban homesteading, that is, purchasing my family's home here about 30 miles outside our major city in Zone 7b. But this is not proving economically feasible - once J and C decide to sell the family propoerty, probably in one or more years, we'll leave the suburbs for far more rural, and far less expensive, surroundings, where keeping our expenses low is an attainable goal.

So, what specifically do Homesteaders, whether urban, suburban or rural, do? To start with, Homesteaders grow as much of their own food as is possible, and all of it organically. What they are unable to grow, they purchase from local growers and producers found among Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), food cooperatives and farmer's markets. They are also likely to build and make as many of their own things as their current skill levels allow, for instance, clothing, furniture, tools, and what they cannot build or make themselves, they are likely to seek in barter from others, or seek to purchase used. In a sense, Homesteaders are highly conservative, in that they want to conserve as many resources as possible, including their own time, energy, money and of course natural resources such as wood, metals, fuels and so forth. Hence, they tend to be very interested in alternative construction methods (such as earth-sheltered homes, cordwood masonry, composting toilets, grey-water systems) and energy sources (solar and wind-based power). Homesteaders not only want to have these things, but they want to learn to do the hands-on work necessary to create and maintain these more ecologically and economically sustainable practices. Indeed, Homesteaders see their "chores" as part of their vocation, and hope that such a lifestyle will provide them with greater opportunities for avocational pursuits (such as reading, writing, music, arts) then is currently offered by the dominant culture.

We are definitely on a Homesteading trajectory. We see our current work in and around the Garden as necessary preparation for the "next stage" of our experiment, most likely to be carried out way up in Zone 4 (not far from the Finger Lakes, in upstate New York), where, by the way, it's still snowing. Yes, we've been tracking the weather there for the past nine months, which may be best described by a simple.... Burrrrrrrrrrrrr, though they say that the Summers are glorious!

Escape to the old & ordinary : )

Morning temp: 48°F
Afternoon high: 64F
Tonight's projected low: 44F
Humidity: 93%
Moon: Waning, 41%

It's looks to be a rainy day, with a steady east wind at 10 mph. So, it's a good day for indoor tasks such as sweeping & moping floors, cleaning bathrooms and restocking the fireplace.

1. My wife (M) and I live in a large, two-family home that we share with my parents (J and C). We live downstairs, J and C upstairs. For nearly 25 years, my grandparents lived in the downstairs, and when they passed-away we just happened to be looking to move from Lookout Mountain, Alabama back to Atlanta (M had just been accepted into an accelerated nursing program at a nearby University, and I had had been offered a three-year teaching contract at that same University). Understandably, my mom has been slow to let go of my grandparents' things. So, even now, some four years later, M and I live our daily lives in a home filled with my grandparents' antiquated, and (I think) quite charming things. Just now, for instance, I'm listening to a baseball game on an AM-only Panasonic radio (I discovered it just this afternoon), sipping organic espresso from a bright red, tin, camping-coffee cup in a bedroom (now my office) crowded with circa-1950s bedroom furniture. M is eager to have our own place, and fill it with furniture of our own choosing, which I can surely understand (and I feel this way too). But these old things make me think about what life might have been like in past decades, what we've gained since then, and what we've lost.

2. With the steady mist and rain, I did little in the Garden today, save cut some lettuce for dinner and empty a nearly-full, 5-gallon bucket of kitchen scraps into the compost bin. One more bucket (probably by next week) and I'll have a nice, two-inch layer of green material on top. Then I'll add a shovel of top soil, a bag of composting leaves, and a handful of straw, until we've saved up more kitchen scraps.

3. I went to the tire store this afternoon. As I was waiting for new front tires to be put on, I noticed a photograph of beautifully restored, 1969 Mustang GT. Above the bright-yellow 1960s sportscar it said, "Escape the Ordinary!". After initial, knee-jerk agreement, I began to wonder whether this was really the way to live well, which was clearly the point of the poster, and which is also a value evident in many places within our current cultural pattern. Indeed, we continually bombard ourselves (and each other) with this same message, "Be extra-ordinary!". But, is this realistic, and aren't the things and people I truly value entirely ordinary?

I looked at the tall, old oak and pecan trees out beyond the tire-store parking lot, at the mist that hung everywhere in the air and watched the cool Spring breeze stir the young leaves. I thought about our Garden, about the bluebirds and blackbirds that sing day and night, and the deep, dark and rich soil of all ten Garden Beds I'd recently dug, and the pictures M took of last year's Garden at mid-Summer. I thought about the family and friends I'm close to, about my very excellent wife, and about the young fellows changing my tires. All of these people and things are thoroughly ordinary. I can depend on them precisely because of this fact. And, if I've got my head on straight, that's all I'll ever really need. The "escape to the extraordinary", I believe, is in large part an illusion, most likely unattainable and, if attained, unsatisfying.

Who is St. Fiacre, anyway?

Moring temp: 34°F
Afternoon high: 60F
Tonight's projected low: 47F
Humidity: 100%
Moon: Waning, 50%

There were clouds early this morning, but this afternoon has been sunny, warm, with a slight East Wind at 7mph, and absolutely beautiful! Much more like Spring. I'll not complain about warm days again for at least a week or so.

1. As scholars of Christian history are well aware, St. Fiacre was an Irish Catholic priest who lived in the early 7th century. Because of his great love for nature and things that grow, most especially a well-cultivated the garden, St. Fiacre eventually became the patron saint of gardening. As the Catholic Encyclopedia tells us, "He lived a life of great prayer, fasting and the manual labour of the garden. Disciples flocked to him, but, desirous of greater solitude, he left his native land and arrived, in 628, at Meaux, France." Upon his arrival, the stories continue, he was told by the powers that be that he could have only as much land as he himself was able to clear between sunrise and sunset on a single day. Miraculously, St. Fiacre cleared a vast area of forested land, and soon built a chapel for prayer and bountiful flower, fruit and vegetable gardens! Those who visited St. Fiacre's garden found inner peace and serenity as well as miraculous physical recoveries. The Encyclopedia recalls, "He cured all manner of diseases by laying on his hands; blindness, polyps, fevers, and especially tumours." We find these stories to be quite inspirational, and feel a kinship with St. Fiacre, as we as well desire to create a place of peace, serenity and healing. So, what better name for our Homestead than, "St. Fiacre's Acre"? Indeed, when we begin our outdoor work for the day, we try to remember to invite and request St. Fiacre's presence and assistance, and any angels he wishes to bring along. When we do, he graciously shows up, and so do the angels, and the work goes more smoothly, more easily and more peacefully.

2. I double-dug the 10th Garden Bed. Finally, the entire Garden's been double-dug, thank goodness! I worked-in three bags of composting leaves, as usual, but again I'll have to wait on the peat moss until later this week.

Looking to the future: All six perimeter posts are up around the Blueberry Grove (BBG). We now need our bird netting. But the only netting we've found so far is available at Home Depot, and costs nearly $26.00 for each 5' X 45' strip. We'll probably need six of these, and this is currently beyond our economic means. So, I need to find a less expensive solution, soon.

Several things on a somewhat rainy day

Morning temp: 40°F
Afternoon high: 51F
Tonight's projected low: 35F
Humidity: 49%
Moon: Waning, 60 %

It was cloudy all day, and cool, with sprinkles of rain now and again, and a light, occasional West wind at 5mph. For a very brief time we saw the afternoon sun. The weather is beginning to warm again.

1. Incidentally, M has informed me that we're not in Zone 8, but rather Zone 7b. My apologies. I'm fairly certain, though, that where we live is, in fact, in the Southeastern U.S. (ha ha).

2. I double-dug Garden Bed #9 this afternoon (one more to go!!), working-in a bag of composting leaves. I'm out of peat moss for the moment, so that will have to wait. Last Fall, I composted some 50+ bags of fallen leaves (watering them thoroughly and mixing in a shovel of composted manure). M and I both laughed at so many, thinking it far in excess of what we'd need. Actually, though, we could use another 20 bags or so. In addition to working them into Gardebn Beds, I've been adding them to my compost piles, usually ontop of 2" of kitchen scraps and an inch of topsoil and/or composted manure (and then a handful of straw). Presently, we're down to 10 bags of leaves, with 6 months before I'm gathering fallen leves. : (

3. I gave the Blueberry Bushes (BBs) and the plantlings inside on the A-Frame a drink of worm tea. They all look good, though we are concerned about the dearth of honey bees this Spring. The BBs require cross-pollenation - that's why we've planted several differents kinds of BBs together in our BB Grove (BBG). Honey bees do this cross-pollenating work especially well, but we've seen only a small number of them this Spring. Lots of carpenter bees, though. Perhaps there are ways to help replenish their numbers?

4. M and I continue to cut and eat Lettice, Mustard Greens and Kale for both lunch and dinner salads from the garden every day! : )

Looking to the future: M has decided that she wants chickens, and a goat. I'm uncertain of how good an ideas this is, but I'm open minded about anything M says she really wants... and I'd rather she want chickens than diamonds. We're also going to inherit a rather wayward cat (from M's dad) sometime in the next few months, and of course we both want a puppy as soon as possible. Finally, we're very seriously considering a move to up-state New York, a significant retreat from the every-encroaching suburbs, near the Finger Lakes. Yes, that's Zone 4, quite different from our long, languid zone 7b Summers.

Seedlings make difficult house guests

Morning temp: 32°F
Afternoon high: 53F
Tonight's projected low: 30F
Humidity: 64%
Moon: Waning, 72%
NW wind at 5mph

1. As M mentioned in earlier posts, we start about 95% of our Garden crop from seed. Since our Garden has grown in size (to about 900 sq.ft.), and our methods have increased in efficiency (we're now using John Jeavons' Bio-Organic methods, see his How to Grow More Vegetables), we have a great many young, maturing plants waiting inside the house for the "last frost date" of April 15th, when they'll be transplanted to the Garden. That's why I built the A-Frame Seedling Shelving Unit (AFSSU), which allows us to keep seedlings and plantlings together, with easy access for watering and for taking them outside during the day (part of the hardening off process), and under grow-lights for as many as 16 hours a day (freeing up our kitchen counters, where they resided in the past). So far, by mutual agreement, I'm not allowed to work with the inside plants unless sanctioned to do so (by M). They're finicky things, and my proclivity for daily watering and weekly worm-tea fertilizing seems too.... intense for house-bound plantlings. My approach works well with the plants outside in the Garden, but these young ones indoors need to be watered but not wet, dry but not dried out, nurtured but not gorged on nutrients. Hence, while M's minimal approach yields strong, vibrant youngsters, mine creates sickly, strung-out teenagers.

2. I Double-dug Garden Bed #8 and the expanded Herb Bed, working in two bags of composting leaves and covering each bed with two inches of peat moss. But isn't peat moss a somewhat rare and nonrenewable resource? Yes, peat moss comes from just a few places in the world, such as the moors of Scotland, and takes hundreds of thousands of years to be replenished by natural processes. My thinking here, however, is that I'm not using this stuff excessively or frivolously; I'm using small amounts of this rare, highly valuable stuff to radically improve my Garden topsoil. By next Spring (2008), we'll have sufficient amounts of compost to forgo using peat moss. We'll emend and improve our Garden Beds with compost that has transformed itself into humus.

Looking to the future: Thus far, we've become somewhat dependent on the plastic, seed-starter-trays that we purchase from Pike's Nursery each year, and we'd like to kick the habit. They're expensive, at $12 each, and we use a dozen or more every year. They also represent yet one more thing we are not yet doing for ourselves, but could easily do with a bit more knowledge and effort. So, I'm researching how to build our own wooden seed-starting-flats. As it turns out, not just any wood will do (apparently the chemicals in many kinds of wood create inhospitable conditions for seedlings), and not just any old top soil will do. Imagine that. More on this as my research continues.

The Pipeline

Morning temp: 30F
Afternoon "high": 48F
Tonight's projected low: 25F
Humidity: 34%
Moon: Waning, 77%

OK, even my Canadian grandfather would agree it was damned cold today! With a West wind blowing steadily at 16 mph, it felt a good deal cooler than 48F, more like 38F.

1. Last Fall (in September, I believe), the county government sent a crew out to our land to cut back the tress, bushes and grass that had overgrown a section of our land underneath of which lies a natural gas pipeline, "The Pipeline," we call it. Thoughtfully, they asked whether we wanted the wood for ourselves (otherwise they would have dragged it away to the chipper), and when we said that we did they cut the branches and trunks into 10' - 20' segments and left them in piles on the ground. Now, the Pipeline runs several hundred feet away from our house, at a sharp downward angle, and so hauling anything up from the Pipeline isn't easy. The ground is rocky and uneven, so wheelbarrows and motorized vehicles are out. If this wood is going to make it up to the house, it's going to be carried by hand, and not just once but three times. Let me explain. As it runs away from the house, the Pipeline is crossed by a fence and two fairly wide streams. So, the wood has to be hauled to the first stream and tossed over (one large heavy piece at a time), hauled to the second stream and tossed over, hauled to the fence and (you guessed it) tossed over, at which point it can be loaded into a wheelbarrow and carried up to the house. I think so far I've spent about three days on this project, with probably two or three more to go before all of burnable wood is retrieved and stacked neatly beside the back porch. Of course, then it needs to be split and stacked.

But is the relatively small amount of firewood worth all of that work? Wouldn't it be more efficient to spend that time working for wages, and then spend your money buying firewood? A very good question, and one I'm asked fairly often. The only response I can give is that gathering, splitting and stacking my own firewood contiually teaches me something about myself. It teaches me to go slow and pace myself. It reveals to me where I have allowed work to become hurried, stressful and irritating, when work is supposed get my blood moving, expand my lungs and chest, and use and exert my own energy and agency in ways that working for wages from others never could. This, of course, is not to say that I should never work for wages, but rather that I should not always make economic efficiency my primary concern.

Am I too sexy for cutting grass?

Morning temp: 39°F
Afternoon high: 55F
Tonight's projected low: 25F
Humidity: 26%
Moon: Waning, but still 85%

The morning sky was thick with clouds, though by 10:30 the sun had broken through and the day warmed. A gentle wind blew in now and again from the Northwest at 14 mph.

1. I spent the larger portion of day cutting back our lawn. We live on nearly 5 acres of property, with probably 3 acres of grass, which grows thick and tall and fast here in Zone 8's alternating days of sunshine and rain. For the past few years, we've hired someone to cut the grass for us. He would show up at all hours of the morning, afternoon or evening when the lawn was nearly overgrown, race back and forth on his enormous, tank-like, riding-mower while nameless helpers weed-whipped seemingly everywhere at once, and we paid him about $200.00 a month. This year, after stumbling upon our forgotten but once proud push-mower, I decided to take these duties upon myself. So, I mow a small portion of the 3 acres every-other day (though given today's cool temperatures I decided to mow much more). This provides me with an excellent aerobic workout, and I believe I've dropped a waist-size already (don't worry, I have plenty left over). We also have an old rider-mower, but one tire seems to be always flat no matter how many times we have it repaired. More importantly, to ride around my lawn in much the same way as I ride around town (sitting on my ass) seems markedly unsatisfying. For one thing, my ass gets plenty of sit-down time already. And mowing the lawn is supposed to be work, I'm supposed to raise my heart rate, breathe more deeply, sweat a little bit (or a lotta bit), and drink cold icy water when I've mowed my bit for the day, and then do the same again another day soon. How have I come to believe that getting out of physical work and getting someone else to do my work for me is a good thing? Certainly, getting out of meaningless work is a good thing, but taking care of my things myself, saving the $200.00 a month and getting some needed exercise is quite meaningful.

2. I've put up the third post around the Blueberry Grove. In fact, after further consideration we decided to put additional posts at half-way points in beteewn the first three, making six in all.
Next, I'll run some kind of pole or connector atop and between the posts, upon which we'll hang the bird netting.

Looking to the future: The Blueberry bushes have flowered, so I'll need to have the netting up soon.

"Winter's Brutal Cold Grips South", ha ha ha

Morning temp: 39°F (Burrrrrrrrrrrrrr)
Afternoon high: Maybe 57F (Still burrrrrrrrrrrrrr)
Tonight's projected low: 35F (Again, burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)
Humidity: 75%
Moon: Waning, but still 93% full

Today was cold and windy, with a gusty Northwest wind blowing in at 14mph. Now, I grew up in New England, and I realize that 59F should not feel cold - how my grandfather from Nova Scotia would laugh at my wearing a coat and hat on a day like this - but we've had several weeks in the mid-80s, and I suppose we've gotten used to it. This happens very quickly living in Zone 8; the Summer months are long and hot, so as soon as they arrive (sometimes very early in the season) we consciously and unconsciously acclimate to them. On the other side of the season, say by the third week in September, after 4 months of 90F+ days we'll get a day when suddenly, shockingly, the temperature drops into the 60's, and everyone seems to suddenly wake-up and perk-up, filled with early-Spring-like-energy, happy, more peaceful and friendly, unexpectedly invigorated by the chill in the air.... and then it's hot as hell again for three weeks before Autumn finally cools things down for good.... in October.

1. Unexpectedly, I double-dug Garden Bed #7 today, coat and all (perhaps tomorrow I'll put a space-heater out there in the garden with me; may my grandfather's spirit be mightily amused!). Perhaps the cool wintery air reinvigorated me, b/c directly afterwards I single-dug and laid bricks around a 4 X 4 bed at the front of the Garden that M has marked for an assortment of Herbs. There are already two robust Rosemary bushes and a young, culinary Sage adjacent to the Herb Bed I dug today, so we might expand this Herb Bed to 4 X 10, or even 4 X 15 dimensions.

But why did you only single-dig the Herb Bed, Kenny? A fair question. I've learned to apply John Jeavons' advice (author of How To Grow Grow More Vegetables and chief proponent of double-digging) here rather strictly: "dig down only as far as is possible with a reasonble amount of effort". The first twelve inches of soil in the soon-to-be Herb Bed was delightful: dark, rich and digable. Anything below that level could pass for asphalt: hard and densely-packed red clay. I've double-dug into red clay before, but this stuff was something special. I could have dug it, I say to myself, I could have broken and turned that soil, if I were willing to break out my pick-axe and maul, sweat and strain and probably swear like a lunatic, but so doing is a far cry from "a reasonable effort". Also, planting the bed this year, with roots growing down into it and regular waterings loosening the tough-to-dig clay, next year I'll be able to dig that bed deeper, assuming we're living in this place, but that's another story.

A Look to the Future: Just 10 days until April 15th, our "last frost date", and our date for moving our young, strong and growing seedlings to the Garden. For the past two months I've been suggesting (and sometimes insisting) that we plant early, given the long streak of very warm temps, while M has maintained that we abide by the April 15th "line in the sand". Well, she was correct. By Sunday (4/8), the morning temps will drop in the 20s! Had we done as I suggested it's likely we would have lost all of of young plants to the cold, good grief.

A rainy day, thank goodness!

Morning temp: 59F
Afternoon high: 69F
Tonight's projected low: 40F
Humidity: 100% (they say, though it feels wonderful outside and in)
Moon: O (97% Full)

Lots of very cool, clean air came in early this morning behind the thunderstorms, which woke me up when they arrived at 2:30am. This morning was cloudy and rainy, but by noon the sun had come out. There was a SW wind of ~ 8 mph; a cool and sunny and beautiful day! : ]

1. I'm a bit exhausted from the past few days of work, particularly the double-digging and post-setting. So, in order to rest productively I spent my time on inside-the-house-chores, sweeping and mopping floors, cleaning bathrooms, a few windows and a porch.

2. I'll make just two trips to the garden. At 1:30pm I cut lettice, mustard greens and kale for a lunch salad. It was insanely good! Later this afternoon I'll go out to the compost bin. Everyone here at St. Fiacre's Acre sends (nearly) all their fruit and vegetable s left-overs and waste (no meat, dairy, grains or processed foods) to compost; this daily practice has quickly and effortlessly become a household ethic, which I find quite hopeful. We did not, however, begin this process in ernest until just last Fall (2006), and so by Spring (2007) we had only one pile of cured compost (or humus) ready to be worked into the garden beds. But next Spring will be quite different. We will have had a full year to build, water and turn the piles regularly, thus we should have several hundred pounds of organic humus by Spring 2008.

3. But why don't all fruit and vegetable scraps go to the compost bin? The worms need to eat as well. Several years ago, M (in her usual brilliance) discovered the secret of keeping earthworms. As pets, at least compared to dogs and cats, they're somewhat lacking; they do not cuddle especially well, and they're terrible watch-dogs, or watch-worms, as it were (at the same time, they neither bark, hiss nor jump up on house guests, unless the guests move very slowly). They do, however, take fruit and vegetable remains and turn them into worm-tea and worm-castings, both of which are absolutely amazing 100% organic support foods for growing plants, trees and bushes. I LOVE feeding this stuff to our plants; just one "drink" of worm-tea (I mix a half-cup of tea with a gallon of water) and our plants respond the very next day with new growth, dark green color and an aura of health and vitality about them! We keep our earthworms in a round, black plastic bin about 1' diameter and 3' tall. In the Winter, we keep this bin in our kitchen, and it does not smell at all. In the warmer months, we keep the bin out on the back porch, which is covered and fully shaded. It's crucial to keep the worms out of the sun and out of very cold, or very hot, temperatures.

Going 'round the blueberry grove

Morning temp: 63F
Afternoon high: 77F
Tonight's projected low: 57F
Mostly Cloudy, with a North Wind 1 mph
Humidity: 100%
Moon: O (99% Full)

1. In addition to the garden, M and I have developed a strong interest in fruit-bearing bushes and trees, probably because they grow very well here, they're beautiful, and we can eat what they give us! Also, our home is a two-family, which we share with my parents, J and C. Three years ago, J put in seven blueberry bushes just off the back porch of the house. He tended, trimmed and watered them dutifully, and in their second year they produced many gallons of heavenly blueberries - to think we used to pay $4 for a miniscule-sized container of perhaps fifty berries, good grief : ( ... and now we have thousands, virtually for free : ) This Spring, it seems, M and I have informally assumed the care of the blueberry grove (the bbg, as we call it). So early this morning I laid down 100' of soaker-hose, halled 15 bags of composting leaves up from behind the garden, and mulched the bbg. I also gave the bbs long draughts of magical worm-tea, fertilized the soil with organic bone meal and dried blood, and then gave the entire bbg a good soaking. M discovered the soaker-hoses last Spring, and we've used them ever since; because they water the soil directly (as opposed to broadcasting water through the air and onto plant leaves, as do sprinklers), they use far less water and do a far better job of watering. Of course, the mulch will shield the soil from the hot Summer sun and thus also conserve water. The iron from the decaying leaves will help feed the bbs.

2. Since we're anticipating a large bb harvest, we've also been thinking through some measures to protect the bbg from neighboring birds. We considered simply draping bird-netting over the tops of the plants, but this could easily develop into a royal pain in the ass come picking time. So, I've devised the following plan: the bbg is laid out in a triangular shape, 3 large plants on the back row, 2 medium plants in the middle row, and two new and smaller plants up front. Accordingly, I'm setting three 4' X 4' X 10' posts (which I found simply lying around and thus were free) in the ground around the perimeter of the bbg, one at each point of the triangle. Each post is set at 1' depth, and held in place by gravel heaped in around its base - concrete seemed a bit over-the-top. Next, I'm thinking of running long bamboo poles (J planted bamboo 20 years ago where the back yard meets the woods and it's grown steadily) between the posts, and then draping the bird-netting down the sides and over the top. In theory, this should keep out the birds while allowing the human easy access. We'll see. So far, I've put in two of the three posts - there's a pipeline running underneath a section of our yard, and I need to be certain I won't hit it before I begin digging in its proximity - so it may be a few days before this project is completed. We're not, by the way, anti-bird: we'll left one bb bush unprotected out by the garden. Bon appetite!

3. The sixth garden bed is double-dug, with two two bags of composting leaves worked-into the soil and a two inches of peat moss layered on top. Two thirds of this bed was fairly easy digging; we've been watering the undug beds regularly through the Fall and Winter in order to soften and loosen the soil. The final third, though, was slow and difficult; the bottom twelve inches was dense, heavy red clay. In fact, I could only turn 6 - 9 inches here. I'm worn out.

Gathering wooden pallets is easier than double digging, so let's do that : )

Morning low: 59F
Afternoon high: 75F
Tonight's projected low: 57F
Alternating cloudy (mostly) & sunny (a little), with a West Wind at 8 mph
Humidity: 88%
Moon: O (100% Full)

1. I spent the morning riding around town looking for recycleable wooden pallets that I could take home with impunity. I found and loaded several in the van, and stacked them vertically against the compost bin (also made of recycled wooden pallets) by the garden. Earlier this year, I discoverd a website by a fellow who built himself a shed for his tractor out of these things (http://summerville-novascotia.com/PalletShed/) . It's a helpful site, as he's got photos and commentary documenting each phase of the building process. I hope to design the shed this evening, and begin building later this week, after the rain goes through.

2. This afternoon, under very cool and cloudy skies, I began to double dig the sixth garden bed. I start by loosening the first twelve inches of topsoil with a D-handled fork (it has roughly 12" prongs), and then shovel this topsoil out and into a wheelbarrow. I do this for the full width of the bed, giving me a trench four feet in length, one foot wide (basically the width of the shovel), and one foot deep. Next, down in the trench, I loosen and turn over the soil, again using the D-handled fork. I try for twelve inches, but I'll only go as deep as the soil will reasonably allow. When I dig these beds again in the Fall, the soil will be easier to work, and I'll go much deeper more easily ... I apologize if this is sounding rather pornographic... Then, I fill the first trench with topsoil - NOT from the wheelbarrow (I save this until the last trench) - but from loosening and shoveling out the next 4 X 1 X1 trench. I repeat this process until the entire bed (4 X 5) is double dug. All this work seems to give the plants lots of air, space and freedom to really stretch their roots, as it were, and grooooooooooooooooooooooooooow.