So how do you like politics now? I believe I left you last time with the notion "If you don't like politics vote for less government!" Simple fact is politics will always be as nasty as the government is big. If government had no say in the issues that effect your life why would you care who the President is. If Congress had no power would you find your TV filled with ads announcing what a slimeball your Congressman is. If the Supreme Court decided one esoteric case on a dispute between States every two or three years would you really care who did what in high school?
The funny thing is most Ds and Rs agree government should solve this problem or that, they just disagree on which problems they want government to solve. Than if you're a 'good citizen' you work your tail off to help get 'your guy' elected. Perhaps donating time or money certainly making compromises with the hope that it will all add up on election day and you'll 'win'. But what do you win? More importantly how long will it last - will the next guy use the new powers given to the last guy in an equal and opposite way with perhaps a flourish of new power working against you? In all but the most base circumstances government is the problem not the solution.
Yeah it's been a nasty few weeks for politics and the election is just under a month away so don't count on anyone singing Kumbaya soon. The garden on the other hand has been a delight. No seriously, an absolute delight. Now Deb and I might be getting a blue ribbon from 4-H from all the things that have been dehydrated, frozen or otherwise put up for use later but it's steady good not overwhelming. The nectarine tree gave us a great crop but it gave the fruit a bowlful at a time. One super ripe juice dripping down my beard nectarine for breakfast a couple more just 'cause and than during the heat of the day into the kitchen to slice and freeze the rest, next day next bowl. So too tomatoes, a few in something for dinner perhaps a tomato sandwich for lunch but always a crock-pot stewing some down to be frozen for later or cut up into the dehydrator to get preserved in olive oil. The basil to pesto a few pears in honey more raisins than my winter oatmeal will be able to handle and of course butternut squash piling up on the table as a centerpiece of sorts.
Perhaps it is a juxtaposing that makes the garden seem a delight. We lost out cabin and property to a wildfire this year, my gardening neighbor and friend Shawn died of his cancer on Labor Day and my niece continues to struggle with her fight against cancer the thousand little frustrations of normal life each bite like a gnat and politically I'm expecting my neighbors will vote to give me no politician I care for and perhaps as many as 5 separate tax increases. So life ain't all nectarines and pesto, but the gardens been a delight.
The music is some old blues starting with some Howlin Wolf I've cued up Smokestack Lightnin' but I've actually got a best of Chess Records version on the stereo. They both are quality so potato tomato.
The Blues seems appropriate to a rainy day that will lead to a cold night and the freeze tonight will likely mean the end of the summer garden. A few things will likely take both the cold and the rain as a good thing. I expect I'll see the spinach perk up and I'm hopeful the garlic and potato onions (Coral Mtn in fall Green Mtn in spring - Thanks Kelly!) will offer up some sprouts of fall growth. I'm not sure about the Swiss chard's handling of a light frost. I kinda hope it does well as I've barely eaten any during the summer and it needs to find it's place if I'll bother growing it again. Beautiful stuff, makes you feel like your garden could make it into one of those magazine photos but the flavor is just OK - kinda like a beautiful girl with no personality.
The frost will likely at least bring color to the trees leaves if not speed up their dropping altogether. The ash has been dropping leaves for a while now and the maple had a tough year with the drought (and been showing it in it's leaves) so I'm not sure what schedule it will follow this year. The fruit trees are however as green as spring. I figure that's a good thing for the overall health of the trees and while I've got to get some pruning done, especially on the nectarines, I'll leave that to some warm mid winter day. The hole for my little Albert Etter apple tree is dug and just waiting for that 'tree' to drop it's leaves and show me dormancy. I fought with myself over it's planting site but with the hole dug it would appear it will grow in the front yard just a bit too close to the sidewalk. I'm sure years from now you'll hear this grumpy old man complaining about the neighborhood kids "stealing my apples". 'course that supposes we'll each live that long which would be a good thing (someone remind me of that when you hear me griping!).
As this is something of a wrap-up for the garden year I have to mention I've found a second good use for mint. Mint in all it's varieties is an aggressive and invasive plant. That's good in that like oregano you can plant it in lousy conditions and it will survive and give you more than you need. Unlike oregano I've never had a real good use for mint. The chocolate mint, I got a small rooting from a neighbor, I intentionally planted in heavy shade, bad dirt, and bordering the lawn. Mind you the smell of a torn leaf is nirvana, if nirvana was a Junior Mint. I know because I, at first unintentionally, hit it while mowing the lawn. It seems this use of the plant to encourage me to mow the lawn along with the rest of the hints has kept the mint small and in it's spot. That might change. The nectarine harvest spurred me to buy at the local ARC thrift store for a whopping $6 a little ice cream maker. I never did make ice cream per se but the sorbet we made was excellent. As the nectarines started to peter out the neighbor gave us some apples but honestly apple sorbet sounded boring. Add a 1/2 cup of minced chocolate mint and you've got something. You should own a little ice cream maker!
The other surprise win in the garden this year was poblano peppers. I haven't for quite some time grown peppers. Simply, in order to start them early enough to get anything of a crop I have to start the seeds using heating mats and nurse the sprouts along in our sunroom windows where they compete with my tomato starts for window space. Additionally, my neighbor Tom has been growing and sharing his poblanos, that he does quite well with, each year. Oddly, Tom mentioned that the local nursery where he buys his poblano plants had none this spring. He more than made up for his lack of the more mellow poblanos with a variety jalapeños, Thai and some other eye watering varieties, but no poblanos. My sister Donnell was at the other branch of the local nursery where they were having an overstock close out on you guessed it poblanos (along with a bunch of others) for 50 cents. It was late in the season but she was kind enough to give me a few too many. I stuffed them in the garden where I could with the poblanos getting perhaps the best dirt. The poblanos snapped into production and just yesterday I picked a small bucket full of the largest. So win!
Before I leave you till next year I want to mention my 'begging bowl' that's what I call it. In the mornings when I go out to the garden to pick whatever is ripe and ready I bring a large white mixing bowl to hold the haul. Sometimes it's too big sometimes it requires a few trips but it's always the same big white bowl. Some years back I recall learning that some Buddhist monks would carry a bowl into which people would put offerings of rice or other items and whatever the monks collected was their food for the day. In Christianity Mathew 6:26 offered some equally humbling thoughts about our worries and our needs. Thus while I am an agnostic I do try to remind myself of the humbling kindness of my garden as it provides my meal for the day. It is a very spiritual thing that one can ponder for hours sitting in the shade with an ice tea looking at the garden.
The number of plants that I've killed and seeds that did nothing were about my usual number and proof that I'm no Buddha. I think that might be the secret to it all. I expect that I'm not a 'great' gardener merely a dedicated one who enjoys the challenge, experiments, and the occasional victory. If I could just bring that same expectation to the rest of my life and politics in particular I do think I'd be happier. Meanwhile if you could all help a friend along and use your vote to vote for less politics this November I'd be much appreciative. Doug A.
The funny thing is most Ds and Rs agree government should solve this problem or that, they just disagree on which problems they want government to solve. Than if you're a 'good citizen' you work your tail off to help get 'your guy' elected. Perhaps donating time or money certainly making compromises with the hope that it will all add up on election day and you'll 'win'. But what do you win? More importantly how long will it last - will the next guy use the new powers given to the last guy in an equal and opposite way with perhaps a flourish of new power working against you? In all but the most base circumstances government is the problem not the solution.
Yeah it's been a nasty few weeks for politics and the election is just under a month away so don't count on anyone singing Kumbaya soon. The garden on the other hand has been a delight. No seriously, an absolute delight. Now Deb and I might be getting a blue ribbon from 4-H from all the things that have been dehydrated, frozen or otherwise put up for use later but it's steady good not overwhelming. The nectarine tree gave us a great crop but it gave the fruit a bowlful at a time. One super ripe juice dripping down my beard nectarine for breakfast a couple more just 'cause and than during the heat of the day into the kitchen to slice and freeze the rest, next day next bowl. So too tomatoes, a few in something for dinner perhaps a tomato sandwich for lunch but always a crock-pot stewing some down to be frozen for later or cut up into the dehydrator to get preserved in olive oil. The basil to pesto a few pears in honey more raisins than my winter oatmeal will be able to handle and of course butternut squash piling up on the table as a centerpiece of sorts.
Perhaps it is a juxtaposing that makes the garden seem a delight. We lost out cabin and property to a wildfire this year, my gardening neighbor and friend Shawn died of his cancer on Labor Day and my niece continues to struggle with her fight against cancer the thousand little frustrations of normal life each bite like a gnat and politically I'm expecting my neighbors will vote to give me no politician I care for and perhaps as many as 5 separate tax increases. So life ain't all nectarines and pesto, but the gardens been a delight.
The music is some old blues starting with some Howlin Wolf I've cued up Smokestack Lightnin' but I've actually got a best of Chess Records version on the stereo. They both are quality so potato tomato.
The Blues seems appropriate to a rainy day that will lead to a cold night and the freeze tonight will likely mean the end of the summer garden. A few things will likely take both the cold and the rain as a good thing. I expect I'll see the spinach perk up and I'm hopeful the garlic and potato onions (Coral Mtn in fall Green Mtn in spring - Thanks Kelly!) will offer up some sprouts of fall growth. I'm not sure about the Swiss chard's handling of a light frost. I kinda hope it does well as I've barely eaten any during the summer and it needs to find it's place if I'll bother growing it again. Beautiful stuff, makes you feel like your garden could make it into one of those magazine photos but the flavor is just OK - kinda like a beautiful girl with no personality.
The frost will likely at least bring color to the trees leaves if not speed up their dropping altogether. The ash has been dropping leaves for a while now and the maple had a tough year with the drought (and been showing it in it's leaves) so I'm not sure what schedule it will follow this year. The fruit trees are however as green as spring. I figure that's a good thing for the overall health of the trees and while I've got to get some pruning done, especially on the nectarines, I'll leave that to some warm mid winter day. The hole for my little Albert Etter apple tree is dug and just waiting for that 'tree' to drop it's leaves and show me dormancy. I fought with myself over it's planting site but with the hole dug it would appear it will grow in the front yard just a bit too close to the sidewalk. I'm sure years from now you'll hear this grumpy old man complaining about the neighborhood kids "stealing my apples". 'course that supposes we'll each live that long which would be a good thing (someone remind me of that when you hear me griping!).
As this is something of a wrap-up for the garden year I have to mention I've found a second good use for mint. Mint in all it's varieties is an aggressive and invasive plant. That's good in that like oregano you can plant it in lousy conditions and it will survive and give you more than you need. Unlike oregano I've never had a real good use for mint. The chocolate mint, I got a small rooting from a neighbor, I intentionally planted in heavy shade, bad dirt, and bordering the lawn. Mind you the smell of a torn leaf is nirvana, if nirvana was a Junior Mint. I know because I, at first unintentionally, hit it while mowing the lawn. It seems this use of the plant to encourage me to mow the lawn along with the rest of the hints has kept the mint small and in it's spot. That might change. The nectarine harvest spurred me to buy at the local ARC thrift store for a whopping $6 a little ice cream maker. I never did make ice cream per se but the sorbet we made was excellent. As the nectarines started to peter out the neighbor gave us some apples but honestly apple sorbet sounded boring. Add a 1/2 cup of minced chocolate mint and you've got something. You should own a little ice cream maker!
The other surprise win in the garden this year was poblano peppers. I haven't for quite some time grown peppers. Simply, in order to start them early enough to get anything of a crop I have to start the seeds using heating mats and nurse the sprouts along in our sunroom windows where they compete with my tomato starts for window space. Additionally, my neighbor Tom has been growing and sharing his poblanos, that he does quite well with, each year. Oddly, Tom mentioned that the local nursery where he buys his poblano plants had none this spring. He more than made up for his lack of the more mellow poblanos with a variety jalapeños, Thai and some other eye watering varieties, but no poblanos. My sister Donnell was at the other branch of the local nursery where they were having an overstock close out on you guessed it poblanos (along with a bunch of others) for 50 cents. It was late in the season but she was kind enough to give me a few too many. I stuffed them in the garden where I could with the poblanos getting perhaps the best dirt. The poblanos snapped into production and just yesterday I picked a small bucket full of the largest. So win!
Before I leave you till next year I want to mention my 'begging bowl' that's what I call it. In the mornings when I go out to the garden to pick whatever is ripe and ready I bring a large white mixing bowl to hold the haul. Sometimes it's too big sometimes it requires a few trips but it's always the same big white bowl. Some years back I recall learning that some Buddhist monks would carry a bowl into which people would put offerings of rice or other items and whatever the monks collected was their food for the day. In Christianity Mathew 6:26 offered some equally humbling thoughts about our worries and our needs. Thus while I am an agnostic I do try to remind myself of the humbling kindness of my garden as it provides my meal for the day. It is a very spiritual thing that one can ponder for hours sitting in the shade with an ice tea looking at the garden.
The number of plants that I've killed and seeds that did nothing were about my usual number and proof that I'm no Buddha. I think that might be the secret to it all. I expect that I'm not a 'great' gardener merely a dedicated one who enjoys the challenge, experiments, and the occasional victory. If I could just bring that same expectation to the rest of my life and politics in particular I do think I'd be happier. Meanwhile if you could all help a friend along and use your vote to vote for less politics this November I'd be much appreciative. Doug A.
Jalapenos Sorbet.... hmm. I had some Jalapeno Kombucha before.
ReplyDeleteHmm back at you! That just sounds I'm not sure if dangerous or interesting is the word I'm thinking of!
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