Another Garlic Harvest!

Morning temp: 75F
Afternoon high: 88F
Tonight's projected low: 60F
Humidity: 53%
Wind: NE at 5 mph
Moon: Waxing still, almost 100%

This Morning.

1. It's beena hot day, and with a slight upper back strain, I've done little other than basic household chores & lay some cardboard out in and around the garden to keep down the grass.

This Afternoon.

1. M and I brought in a bit more Garlic. I'd say that Bed is about 40% harvested.

Summer's coming

Morning temp: 60F
Afternoon high: 85F
Tonight's projected low: 57F
Humidity: 69%
Wind: E at 6 mph
Moon: nearly 100% Full (a good time for transplanting!)

This Morning.

1. It's a beautiful, sunshiny day! We can see the days getting warmer, with day-time highs creeping into the mid-80s, and night-time lows creeping into the 60s. We think we'll be able to keep the Lettuce going so long as the night-time temps remain below 70F. That's what we've heard, so we'll see.

2. I'm spending my morning doing dishes, laundry, sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor, cleaning the bathroom, and learning to make Bread a different way. Thus far, we've learned to make quite hearty, whole wheat loaves using recipes from the Tsajara Bread Book- an excellent book for beginners, as detailed instructions and illustrations are provided for each step of the process. But we'd also like to make lighter, baguette-style loaves, and we're in the early stages of our first attempt right now. I've turned to a different cookbook, How to Cook Everything, for some new ideas.

This Afternoon.

1. Well, the new Bread recipe (from the book How to Cook Everything), as it turns out, is seriously flawed, calling for just 1 teaspoon of rapid-rising yeast for four loaves. That's a minuscule amount; twice that would be parsimonious. As a result, my baguettes are hardly rising at all, though they've sat up for several hours already. Projections for baking these dense little loaves are less than favorable, unless you like to eat rocks! : (

The funny thing is, even with my tiny amount of Bread making experience, I knew that more yeast was called for, though I was reluctant to disobey the "official" instructions. Is this experience a metaphor for life, or what?

Conversations with open minds, how refreshing!

Morning temp: 59F
Afternoon high: 84F
Tonight's projected low: 60F
Humidity: 88%
Wind: E at 5mph
Moon: Waxing, close to 100%


This Morning.

1. As the month of May nears its end, we celebrate a minor success here: we have not used our clothes drier since April, nearly one month! Hanging wash out to dry on the nylon line strung across the yard has actually become a rather meditative exercise in the sunshine and wind, one to which I look forward. Before long, we hope to purchase a hand washer & ringer, which will cut electricity entirely out of the equation (though our water still comes from a centralized municple source). Moroever, the grey-water from our wash, with the help of biodegradable laundry soap, can be used to safely water the Blueberry Grove!

2. Last night we met up with one of M's sons, J., who is home visiting from his college home in Chicago. Luckily, I managed to talk not only with him but with several others we met during the evening about our Homesteading endeavors, and about the movement in general. Everyone's interest seemed peaked when I used words like, "self-reliance", "simplifying our lives", "doing more for ourselves", and even "Homesteading". As is often the case when I get to talk with bright, thoughtful folk, so doing helped me to think through my own understanding further and more clearly than I had previously. This is one reason I loved teaching.

One important dynamic that emerged in these conversations was that Homesteading is a continuum, rather than a set of absolutes. That is, one may engage Homesteading at different levels of intensity and still be a welcomed member of the movement. Some notable Homesteaders have mastered the art of self-sufficiency to such an extent that they have gone several months without spending any money whatsoever, even in the harsh Australian outback-http://www.lintrezza.com/. Others have learned to integrate lush, bountiful gardens, solar-panel energy production, and making their own bio-fuel in their garage into a typical suburban neighborhood, without infuriating their neighbors-http://www.pathtofreedom.com/. We respect and admire these advanced approaches, and would also like to suggest a gradual, incremental approach that can be made to fit any lifestyle whatsoever -http://www.urban-homesteading.com/. Basically, anything we do to increase our self-reliance, use fewer resources, save money and increase our "at home time" may start us down the Homesteading path! Each of these points is of import, and deserves a bit more detail.

i. While the Universe contains an infinite supply of wealth, riches and resources, our current civilization is not doing a very good job of making them equally and reliably available to everyone, nor are we making good decisions as to which resources to use. Clearly, 6 billion Earthlings hooked on oil as a primary power source is not avery good idea, and has created an unfortunate ecological, economic and political reality - one that we will solve, but that may take some serious discipline on everyone's part. Fortunately, some brilliant and disciplined minds are already hard at work on our behalf - http://www.cheniere.org/

Also, right now (in 2007), the money we Americans make is at an all-time low in its purchasing power. While wages have risen in terms of dollars over the past sixty years, what those dollars are capable of purchasing has plummeted. My grandfather (who had a 5th grade education), for instance, worked as a truck-driver and then as meat-slicing machine salesman and made enough money to provide for his family: a nice house in New England, two cars, a lake-side cottage for weekend get-a-ways, a college education for his daughter, and ample retirement savings on his income alone. His experience was typical in 1950, when the middle class was growing at an amazing rate. Two generations later, however, the number of families able to achieve this level of prosperity on two incomes is exceedingly rare. I do not want to paint an apocalyptic or hopeless picture here. Like our ecological difficulties, these economic circumstances simply represent a problem, which we will solve. Fortunately, brilliant thinkers are also hard at work in this arena doing just that - http://www.nesara.us/pages/home.html.

Until new, cleaner and saner realities are embraced, the benefits of using fewer resources and saving money are obvious. I think the following basic realization lies at the heart of the Homesteading movement: "I'll happily learn to cut back where I can do so with a reasonable amount of effort, for instance, purchasing as much of my food as I can from local farmer's (perhaps at real farmer's markets), since the food available at traditional grocery stores is shipped across the country (or even from other countries) and uses a tremendous amount of gasoline (nearly 60% of American gasoline consumption is used to transport food that could be - and used to be in decades past - grown locally!) and thus contributes mightily to greenhouse gases, global climate instability and all of the political amd military disasters that result from our dependence upon oil".

ii. Given these weighty considerations, it's often overlooked that the farther we go down a Homesteading path, the more calm, peaceful, "at home time" we'll get. One of the primary reasons Helen and Scott Nearing (early 20th century Homesteaders who have inspired millions around the world with their most excellent books, chiefly Living the Good Life) was to increase the amount of leisure time in their lives. They time and energy to play music, paint, write, rest, read and enjoy one another's compant and the natural world around them, and they were weary of what they called "the work treadmill": we go to work so that we can purchase things that in many cases we don't need but have been trained by advertisers to desire. But we never seem to get to the point where we have enough money and things to get off the treadmill. Sound familiar?

Once they learn to discard the "work-a-holic" tendencies learned in mainstream culture, Homesteaders are amazed at how learning to do more for themselves allows them to gradually disengage from the "work treadmill", spending greater amount of time at home, at peace. It's exciting to think what will result as Homesteading (on any level) continues to spread as a system of values, philosophy and lifestyle. Our consumption of harmful things will diminish, as our consumption of truly worthwhile things - peace, rest, health producing food, time and energy for creative endeavors and relationships - will grow!

If you can't Beet it...do something different

Morning temp: 58F
Afternoon high: 86F
Tonight's projected low: 59F
Humidity: 73%
Wind: N at 0mph
Moon: Waxing, 90%+

Corrections.

On yesterday's post, I have a photo of the Cucumber Patch where a photo of the Beet Patch should be. When I attempt to correct it, a cascade of coding errors ensues. So, here are the correct shots.

1. A Beet Leaf close-up...







2. A thriving Beet Patch!






This Morning.

1. It's a warm Sunday morning, about 70F, though there's a cool breeze blowing through every now and again. After a long session on the Betar (a table using resonant sound for deep relaxation and healing that I use with clients regularly but, for some reason, often forget to use on myself; you can read more about it in my earlier posts or at http://www.kellyresearchtech.com/) last night, I'm finally able to slow down, enjoy my coffee on the back porch overlooking the Garden. I've been thinking about how "busy" I've felt lately, how for a week or more now I've been fighting back a hurriedness, which of course entails an impatience and frustration at "not getting enough done". Sadly, I've felt this way even when I'm getting things done!

At the same time, I've been drawn back to Benjamin Hoff's charming book, The Tao of Pooh. This book was inspired by the overlap Hoff thought he saw in the American classic "Winnie the Pooh" stories and one of the Three Teachings that make up the complex web of indigenous Chinese religion some Western scholars conveniently label "Taoism" (the other two being Buddhism & Confucianism). "Taoist" teachings and practices - as Hoff points out - are themselves quite diverse, encompassing a wide range of philosophical, monastic and folk traditions. Put differently, there are many different ways one might live and still consider oneself a "Taoist", e.g.., practicing Tai Chi, reading sections from the Tao Te Ching each day, studying acupuncture, using Chinese herbs, and so forth. This morning it's the highly practical teachings of both Pooh and many of the Taoist philosophical traditions I'm concerned with. In the Tao of Pooh, Huff includes the venerable parable, "The Gorge of Lu", which will start us off in the right direction, I think. It goes as such:

"At the Gorge of Lu, the great waterfall plunges for thousands of feet, its spray visible for miles. In the churning waters below, no living creature can be seen. One day, Confucius was standing at a distance from the pool's edge, when he saw an old man being tossed about in the turbulent water. He called to his disciples, and together they ran to rescue the victim. But by the time they reached the water, the old man had climbed out onto the bank and was walking alone, singing to himself. Confucius hurried up to him. 'You would have to be a ghost to survive that;, Confucius said, 'but you seem to be a man, instead. What secret power do you possess?' 'Nothing special,' the old man replied. 'I began to learn while very young, and grew up practicing it. Now I am certain of success. I go down with the water and come up with the water. I follow it and forget myself. I survive because I don't struggle against the water's superior power. That's all'.

How does the old man survive the raging currents of the pool ("in which no living thing can - ordinarily - be seen")? He doesn't fight against the powerful tides and forces he feels pulling him this way and that, but flows with them. He practices what is called Wu Wei, literally "not-striving" against the natural (and sometimes the social) world. How does he accomplish this, when his natural instincts upon being plunged into deep water and strong currents would surely be to gain control of the situation by swimming to the top? Of course, striving against the pool's fierce current would have quickly worn him out and ended his life. Clearly, the old man had achieved a profound level letting go of the need to control. It's interesting that the story implies that both (i) the old man did not fall into the pool accidentally, but chose to extend his practice of Wu Wei (pronounced "Wu Way") to this ultimate level (ii) Confucius did not understand anything the old man was about, suggesting of course a significant difference in philosophy and practice between these two schools, "Taoist" and "Confucian". What's the point of the story? No doubt that living well in the world requires Wu Wei, learning to let of of our deep-seated need to control the forces around us, and to develop the corresponding ability to flow harmoniously with the way the world is. This does not mean, necessarily, that we can't work and hope to change things for the better, but that in so doing we should not find ourselves in the position of "striving", pushing, forcing, fighting and so on. The best tailor, the Tao Te Ching teaches, does little cutting.

So, we have the parable, some sense of what it means, now we must apply it to our 21st century lives. I've no plans for leaping into dangerous tidal pools. It would be both arrogant and foolhardy to think I could accomplish in one day what Taoist sages took years, even decades, to achieve. In our "I must have everything I desire immediately (and I don't want to know about the toll it places on the environment or on other human beings who worked to bring it to me)" culture, this is a point forgotten and, when pointed out, resisted or even resented in many communities: some aspects of spiritual growth take decades of discipline and practice and there's no way around this, so we may have to "put in dollars and get back nickles" for considerable time. My friend E represents a refreshing counter-example to this trend. Her elegant and inspiring book, The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity, took her twenty years of teaching and practice to write, and it was worth the wait!

So, can I apply these teachings to simpler, more mundane matters? Perhaps my persistent worries that "I'm not getting enough done" represent my own attempt to control the flow of work each day. To live more healthily and more happily, I'll need to practice setting this habit aside. It's quite well established in me, this urge to achieve the maximum amount of work each day. But every day can't be a mid-summer harvest. If so, the Earth would all too quickly wear out.

When I first went to college I studied classical guitar with a brilliant and internationally known teacher, John Sutherland. I was fortunate to be accepted into the program, as John was considered a Master Teacher by the world's best players, and was regularly sent the best students by them. I had only begun to study the guitar some six months prior to applying for entrance into the program. Many days I practiced 8 hours or more and just barely was admitted (or so it seemed to me). One day in a private lesson, I said to John, "I'm worried that I'm falling behind in my playing." "Behind what?", John asked. "Behind where I should be," I answered. "That's ridiculous," he laughed, "you are where you are. There's no ahead or behind." I'm not sure how, but this story seems to be connected to the above discussion. Perhaps it's another example of needing to control the flow of work. I think I have a great many of such stories, and that it's time to take seriously the Gorge of Lu.

This is a point that I think sometimes gets lost in academic discussion of comparative religion. Whether or not "all religions are paths to the same destination," and whether or not the claims various religions make are true or false, our religious and spiritual traditions can be, at times, "wisdom traditions", that is, repositories for insights that are fantastically useful in living life well, rather than less well.

Signs of the future

Morning temp: 56F
Afternoon high: 85F
Tonight's projected low: 60F
Humidity: 54%
Wind: Wind: N at 0 mph
Moon: Waxing, 80%!

1. M and I were talking last night, and we came to the realization that our current Garden, while some 1,200 square feet (30' X 40') in size, represents just a fraction of what we want to grow. Increasingly, our planning for the future is drawn toward our likely migration northward, to the "The Land," the 120 acres in upstate New York that awaits us, and for so many reasons. For instance, The Land is replete with fresh water springs, far more than enough for all of our Homesteading needs. Conversely, with the ongoing droughts here in the suburbs of Zone 8, we've already been limited to one day a week watering. This clearly limits our self-reliance on a very basic level: no water, no Garden, no food, save the taste & nutrient-free varieties that have been trucked across the country and are for sale at our local grocery.

Some Good Signs.

1. Winter Garlic is nearly ready for harvest... Arjuna certanly thinks so.









2. Cucumbers growing, blooming!






3. Unauthorized & unruly volunteer Potato patches abound!





4. Beets are very healthy...




...and the Beet Patch is thriving! Until now, we'd never grown Beets successfully.




5. Basil is standing tall!




6. Butcrunch Lettuce, looking good!



7. Sweet Potatoes are spreading out.

8. Baby Tomatoes have appeared!

9. More Squash blossoms!

Busy busy busy...

Morning temp: 55F
Afternoon high: 81F
Tonight's projected low: 58F
Humidity: 94%
Wind: N at 0 mph
Moon: Waxing 70%
Overall: Much more cloudy today, and less sunshine probably means it will remain cool, barely exceeding 80F!

This Morning.

1. Helen's waiting - somewhat impatiently - in the hallway for me to decide which room I'm going to work in.



2. And finally I've decided, and she can get down to some serious lying down.




3. Helen... sad after having read Hamlet several timesd over.




Looking to the weekend.

1. M has several days off coming up, and so we're thinking through the Garden work that needs doing that we can best do together. Laying down more soaker hoses and mulch? Weeding? Fertilizing? I'm unsure just now.

2. For myself, I've remained busy keeping the Garden watered, the house clean, the laundry washed and hung out, Helen walked and happy, and the bread made. These past two loaves we made yesterday are by far our best yet.




3. On our two most current and intensive projects - the Garden Fence and Shed - I've made not an inch of progress. This points out, I believe, an irony implicit within a Homesteading lifestyle: as the number of things we do for ourselves each day increases - e.g., growing more of of own food, baking our own bread, cutting our own wood for our the Garden Fence, and so forth - the amount of time and energy we have for each particular project is reduced. This means that our days need to become more efficient and perhaps longer. The danger, of course, lies in creating a stressful environment, which is precisely what Homesteading is meant to avoid. The alternative is to really learn to go slowly, do the best job you can with everything you do, and let it all take time. This is probably why it took Helen and Scott Nearing (the founders of 20th century Homesteading) 17 years to build a stone wall around their Garden! I find it comforting to note how different this approach feels when compared to the ethics of the dominant culture, evident in a recent Home Depot commercial, in which two neighbors are mowing their lawns, one on a rider-mower the other behind a push-mower, each competing with the other to see who can complete their work in the least amount of time. The assumption, of course, is that "yard work" sucks, and that the "really successful" folks in our subdivision are those who can afford the most expensive rider-mowers, race back and forth across their lawns while not getting off their asses, and complete their outside work in minutes. I do not fully understand why this commercial bothers me so much. Perhaps it is because simple, outdoor work has a nobility that has all but been forgotten. No doubt that in a culture of massively over-worked, stressed out, over-weight, malnourished folks, such an attitude towards "yard work" is inevitable. Truly, a major re-alignment of our values, priorities, actions and daily lives will require, not a great catastrophe as some apocalyptic thinkers like to believe, but a Great Blessing that allows us all to get plenty sleep, eat very good food, take long walks by the fields, woods & streams, have heart-to-heart talks about what we really want to do with our lives in a context in which such choices represent realistic options.

Ambititous but also worn out

Morning temp: 61°F
Afternoon high: 82F
Tonight's projected low: 58F
Humidity: 77%
Moon: Waxing, 52%
Wind: S at 4 mph

This Morning.

1. With a relatively temperate day spread out before me (a high of only 82F), there's a great deal I'd like to get done, e.g., cutting wood for the next fencing section. Still, I'm a bit worn out from all the moving yesterday, and we do have a new book that looks quite good, Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, an account of her family's attempt at growing their own food & eating locally.

A few quick shots.

Morning temp: 55F
Afternoon high: 86F
Tonight's projected low: 56F
Humidity: 37%
Wind: SE at 8 mph
Moon: Waxing, 40%

Gateway.



Goddess & God in fading sunlight.



"Butcrunch" Lettuce & Cauliflower



Winter Garlic



Another Squash Emerging




This Afternoon, as of 5:30pm.

1. My friend KP and I have spent the day helping my family move their business office across town, and now, with one of our autos in the shop, I'm getting ready to drive M to work (she works the night to morning shift). So, I won't get into the Garden until dusk probably. There will at least be time for some watering. I'll also be getting up early, to go and get M at 7:00am (she works very hard), and so no doubt I'll have a good many hours for.... something important outside.

This Evening, as of 7:30pm.

1. I think these "busy day" entries are important because they suggest that, even during those times when we are unable to give our Suburban Homestead our full attention, the Garden continues to grow and the Homestead is always here upon our return. We'll be putting this to a greater test in June, while KP and I are off to Key West, Florida to do a two week long construction & renovation project, and again in September while M and I are in India and Nepal. Somehow, this helps me get my mind around our upcoming Big Move to Upstate New York, which might be as early as next April. With all the work M and I have put into our Suburban Homestead, we are reluctant to leave. But just as our current Homestead will be here when we return from one trip or another, we can built an entirely new one in New York when we go. 120 acres in the Allegheny Mountains! Forests, fields, plenty of spring water & no mortgage. The pull is indeed strong.

Haven't been in the Garden yet, but...

Morning temp: 52F
Afternoon high: 84F
Tonight's projected low: 50F
Humidity: 28%
Wind: N at 0 mph
Overall: definitely much warmer, hot in the sun even

This Afternoon, as of 4:00pm.

1. Well, it's been a day of a million chores, including Bread making, replacing a broken sliding glass window, & taking one of our cars to a body repair shop - J's tractor rolled off of a retaining wall and hit the front right corner : ( So, I'm yet to get out to the Garden. M, though, went out earlier to mulch the Pole Bean Bed & cut Lettuce and other Greens for dinner salads. Here are two shots of the Winter Lettuce up close, and then one of entire Winter Lettuce Bed and brick walkway.





2. Our Garden tools washed and coated with oil.





3. Our Potato Bed that M mulched with straw.





4. Our Pole Bean Bed that M mulched with straw. The Pole Bean Tipee is made of 50" fencing pieces.




5. We're off to water the Garden, weed perhaps a little bit, take some photos, and play! : )


This Evening, as of 7:30pm.

1. We've finished hand-watering the few Beds that remain without soaker hoses and mulching. At most, we string two soaker hoses together - more than that and the pressure really drops and thus little watering gets done. So, we'll be returning to the Garden several times to switch the hose to different hook-ups.

2. Helen, of course, always comes with. Here's our girl unhappily waiting behind the fence.




2. Her spirits improve once we head back toward the house.





2. Basil that M grew from seed. Because the Herb Beds were only single-dug and not supplemented with much in the way of compost (we were out at the time), I'm giving them worm-tea several times a week and lots of water. They seem to be responding.



3. M's Beets are likewise doing well. Two nights past, she pulled up a handful of baby Beets, mixed them with a garlic, parsely, oregano and served them with whole-wheat pasta in olive oil.



4. The Summer and Panty Pan Squash are also flowering!



5. We've got the South side of the fence built. Yayyyy!

Southern face.


Eastern Post Wall.


Northern Post Wall .


Western Post Wall.


6. Helen crashed out after a long day.

Getting some things done : )

Morning temp: 58F
Afternoon high: 81F
Tonight's projected low: 45F
Humidity: 38%
Moon: Waxing, 20%
Wind: N at 0 mph
Overall: sunny, clear skies, cool so far, though getting warmer as June approaches. We've had a very mild May

This Morning.

1. I'm off to water the Garden & photograph the BBG Netting, among other things.

2. Helen enjoying both sun & shade lounging.




The BlueBerry Grove (BBG).

1. Three different views of the BBG "screen house", as M calls it.











2. Prior to hanging the netting, we connected each of the 4 X 4 posts with white-painted, spruce stripping (roughly 1/4" X 1" X 9' pieces). Because of the distances between posts, in places we had to bridge multiple sections together (evident in the photo on the lower right). We also criss-crossed inexpensive cotten line between posts, giving the netting something to hang upon out in the middle of the BBG (see photo on lower left).




3. We made sure to leave an extra foot of netting at the bottom, making it difficult for tenacious Robbins to scratch their way in by going beneath the netting




4. We finished by tying a sprung strip to the end of the netting, making a "door" for easier access. If the netting is able to get caught up in your feet or arms or legs or clothing or hat, it will.



5. One of the larger bushes a bit closer up. It's grown considerably with regular worm-tea and water!




The Garden Fence.

1. Two fence sections in the making.




2. The larger section up and secured. I hope to get the smaller up this afternoon. I've run off to get more nails, both 2" and 3" varities. Also, if you do this, purchase a really well-made hammer, the kind with criss-crossing groves on the head, which makes nail bending much less likely. Also, seriously consider pre-drilling your nail holes.




3. My next cuttings for fence materials will come from way back in the yard, where a thick patch of privet has grown up around a brick pile. As you can see, the pile is nearly completely overgrown (it's amazing what 25 years of growing will accomplish).