Today: Sowing Seeds... - To Fall Like a Drop of Rain...

 

Today's picture on my Page-a-Day Art Gallery Calendar is Vincent Van Gogh's "The Sower"... It sets me to thinking...

How much of life is like sowing seeds or planting plants...  Seeds are a truly unknown commodity... As an example, last year, the packet of seeds said they would grow into "Sentimental Blue Balloon Flowers"... but the ones I sowed all ended up white... and one of these was something else... no idea what it was going to be; except that it was going to be HUGE... too big for the space I had, so it had to go...  and then conditions are anyone's guess... For the past few years in my garden the summers have been HOT and DRY, so I'm choosing plants that like these conditions... but maybe the next few years are all COOL and DAMP... OH! DEAR!! Will what I've planted make it through???  I research plants carefully before I buy, but  the information  I find isn't always indicative of what I can expect to happen in my garden... The nurseries make EVERY plant sound WONDERFUL!!!  Even plants like staghorn sumac, with which I have personal experience, are listed as GREAT to buy and place in your garden...  The grove of sumac I had on the fringe of the property, which apparently were the result of someone 3 or 4 doors down planting a single tree... grew over 15 feet high (15 feet is supposed to be their maximum height) and were like THUGS, wanting to take over the entire property... their roots went down more than two feet in compacted gravel and clay (I don't know how much farther down they went, because I couldn't dig farther) and spread out at least 30 feet, sprouting vigorously at every node and then, on top of this, they self-seeded too...  After trying to work with them for years, I finally just cut them all to the ground in the fall of 2020...so I tend to take what the nurseries say with a BIG "grain of salt"... and do my own, independent investigation on the Internet... However, this too, isn't really reliable... Often I've seen the Internet say this kind of plant grows to 6 feet tall in one place and 4 feet in another... but what I really want to know is how big it will grow in my garden???  No-one can tell me this... Maybe it grows only 2 feet, or maybe 8 or even 10... one place lists it as Zone 5 and another Zone 3... What am I to believe??? I'm supposed to be in Zone 4, so it makes a difference!  Zone 5 things aren't likely to survive the winters here... and this is just a small sampling of what sowing and planting is like in my garden space where some research is possible... Even if it is of questionable value, I still do the research because it broadens the view and is at least a little more informative than the nursery's glowing words and "pretty" flower pictures... The extra information allows me to get a  "feel" for the plant and whether I have a space for it in my garden... However, I NEVER know... it's always a gamble! Each time I sow a seed or place a plant in the ground it's a step into the unknown; a gateway into another world where potentially strange or  unexpected consequences can occur... To me, it always feels a little like Alice in Wonderland falling down the rabbit's hole...

Eating isn't much different... I put things in my mouth... but I don't know if my body is going to be able to digest and use them... or ... not...  My body has done SEVERAL radical shifts, where the food she'd been used to eating and digesting was suddenly completely INDIGESTIBLE!  She'd been able to digest it quite happily yesterday, but today NO and the NO is strong and stays in place for weeks or months or years... Consequently, I never really know if she's going to be able to use what I've so carefully stocked in my pantry, prepared and chewed...  Here too, I find body's digestive process isn't well understood... even the generalizations, that assume we all have similar bodies, have gaping holes where a lack of understanding is readily apparent... and then, I think we all have unique bodies, uniquely tied to unique souls, and if this is the case, the generalizations are frequently going to be inaccurate and incorrect... If  my thinking is correct, it would render at least some, and maybe much of the "knowledge" we've gained so far  useless in a practical sense...  landing us back again with Alice in Wonderland, sowing seeds of unknown type and result... whenever we eat...

In my "secret" private, inner garden, I sow the seeds and plant the plants of "qualities" and "traits of character" I think I want to grow there...  but how they will REALLY grow, or what they may require or... I have NO idea! 

My Web-site... well it's the same...  I put things out there, on it, that make the "best" contribution I can for now...  However, what I put there are very much like seeds... I have NO idea what will grow as a result... in me or in my readers...

Gardening... wherever and however we do it... isn't as simple and easy as it would appear... No matter where or how it's undertaken, it is a CHALLENGING activity, with many unknown variables and unforeseeable consequences!   

This Post's Flavor(s):  food,gardening,human,process,puzzle,art
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Today: Is it Swiss Chard or is it Beet? - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain

A Small Wonder:

My favorite chard...
Bright, jewel-like, fuchsia stems
Brilliant, dark, emerald/lime green leaves
Added a splash of vibrant color
To my summers' meals...
Come autumn, it
Grew a root like a beet...
I ate it...
Tasted like beet...
Two days later, I'm still alive and well...
I guess it was edible...

This Post's Flavor(s):  poetry, gardening, food, puzzle, human, small, process

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Today: Change.... - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

Change & Contrast... A Process...

March has started off like a LION this year...  Again today between what drifted and what fell... another 2-3 feet of snow to shovel from my path.... 2016 is a year for SNOW!!! Since the middle of February, at least 5 feet have fallen....  My narrow path winds its way through a tunnel of snow, with banks head high on either side.... I don't need any exercise equipment...  Removing the snow off my 70-80 foot path, lifting it up over the towering banks gives me a full work-out!!

With the path cleared, I checked for mail... A confirmation of my order of plants for my garden.  The invoice says, "paid in full, plants will ship in Spring..."  Today, Spring looks quite impossible... Spring.... Do the seasons really change again this year?  However, I think back and remember other years when it's seemed equally impossible... and recall that miraculously each year Winter has ended and Spring has arrived...  

I marvel at the wonder of change... beginnings and endings which happen in spite of how solidly anchored in place things appear to be... It happens too, in spite of a great human desire for things to stay put, and organized and how we're used to them being... Change takes us on a journey into the unknown, where chaos, disruption, and confusion lie in wait... These aren't on the top of most people's list of want to visit places... Magically, however, baby step by baby step I manage to cross the boundary from what is known into what isn't... and change DOES happen... in me too...

UPDATES ON THIS YEAR'S CHANGE OF SEASONS: 


Mar 11/16 - Heard my first red-wing blackbird and saw my first grackle.... and the snow banks are about 2 feet lower than they were.....
Mar 22/16 - Heard my first robin and the banks of snow are slowly disappearing.... It's even possible to see bits of my garden... here and there...
Apr 7/16 - My garden had just emerged from under this winter's mountains of snow and small green shoots were appearing here and there...Then yesterday a blizzard and almost another foot of VERY heavy, wet snow...  I'm back to shoveling snow this morning.... strengthening the same muscles I'll need to use digging in my garden....
Apr 14/16 - My garden has re-appeared...  with small green shoots showing here and there...  Although the sun has shone brightly both yesterday and today, it's still TOO cold to start digging...  and snow still lingers in the shady parts.  However, with a warm coat, in the lee of the wind, I'm able to soak up a little sunshine...  I'm  SO hungry for some sun in the Spring!
May 1/16 - The last of the snow melts...

This Post's Flavor(s): gardening, beginning/ending,  human, process

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Today: A Look at "Good" & "Bad".... - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

 "Good" & "Bad" - A Thought: 

In the world, "there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."  Hamlet Act II, Scene II, William Shakespeare

After spending copious hours yanking grass out of my garden spaces, I'm thinking if people weren't so in love with "green carpets" that grass would be classed as a noxious weed...  Not only will it grow in almost any soil, in shade or sun and spreads rapidly by underground roots, which can range far, but it also self-seeds with abandon.  

Thinking something is "good" or "necessary" makes it difficult to see its "down side".  The whole picture always includes both - the "good" and the "bad".... A "simple" two-dimensional truth would seem to be nothing but a lie... The world, I think, is neutral....  It is our perspective, feelings and thoughts which give it its apparent weight...  since we are very complex beings the "good " and "bad" we feel are also complex and not simple to either understand or apply....

As a result of the attachment to "green carpets", a multi-million dollar industry has developed around the care of grass, ensuring the continued growth of such carpets.  This lends additional support to the attachment and makes it very difficult to see grass as it really is or imagine any kind of alternative to a "green carpet".  

Grass's classification seems to be simply a matter of perspective and habit...  However, habitual ways of seeing and thinking always have far spreading roots and strong supports which aren't easy to see or understand, much less change or shift..... 

This Post's Flavor(s): gardening, puzzle, human, small

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Today: A Pleasant Surprise... - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

 A Surprising Discovery: 

I planted two lavender plants in my garden: a Munstead and a Phenomenal.  I took a risk planting them because I've never liked lavender at all! However, my only prior experience with lavender was with the essential oil and the dried herb. The fresh herb, I find, is VERY different. Furthermore, I've discovered I can cook with it!

The Munstead is still a very small plant, so I'm letting it rest, grow and get established.  The Phenomenal is larger, so it's the one I've been using.  Consequently, I haven't been able to compare the difference in flavor between the two kinds of lavender. That's for the future; another exploration I'd like to do sometime farther down the road when the Munstead is ready...

In the meantime, I've been enjoying exploring all kinds of flavor combinations with the Phenomenal... I started using it in place of rosemary, but have gone on from there to add it to many dishes - even strange combinations like with a curry and have enjoyed each dish to which I've added its special flavor.  It doesn't take much; one flower, two small leaves, and maybe an inch of the stalk minced is enough to give plenty of flavor to a dish... I've added the minced stalk for the final five minutes or so of cook time and the rest has been added just before serving.  I don't know if the minced stalk really requires the cook time, but it's quite crisp, so I've done it this way.  Maybe it too can be added just before serving with the rest.  Another exploration for the future...

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Today: Dining In...- To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

Eating can be such a Pleasure:

At home, with good-feeling, tasty food to eat - beautifully garnished with delectable flower petals, fresh from the garden; I feel wealthier than a millionaire dining in the finest of restaurants...

This Post's Flavor(s): food, gardening, difficulty/pleasure, creativity, human, small, 
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Today: Planting My Garden... - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

 Gardening Thoughts: 

I've just finished planting my vegetable garden...  Even though I started sprouting the plants at the beginning of April, most of them are still VERY small and tiny - just seedlings. Each year, with my garden, I face the fragile, tenuousness of life and my food supply... Each year I wonder if plants who are so tiny and small can actually survive and grow in a world which isn't always gentle and kind. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't, but regardless of their "success" or "failure", I get to feel ALL of how it feels...

Today one of four Shungiku, (Edible Chrysanthemum -Leucanthemum coronarium) plants disappeared... Yesterday, like most of the tiny plants I've just planted, its four leaves were nice and green and getting bigger with each passing day. I felt happy to see it doing so well... but today there was only a small bare stock and a few shards of leaf left lying on the ground. If, like last year, the same fate befalls the other three, I won't be tasting this delicacy this year...

This Post's Flavor(s): gardening, food, difficulty/pleasure, beginning/ending, human, small, process

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Today: Sun & Shadow... - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

Light & Dark - Sun & Shadow... 

This morning - The Sunny Side:

What magic!

A plant...

Who sprouts forth

With fresh, new growth

From the ashes of
Last year's dried, dead leaves...

This afternoon - The Shadow Side:

I face the reality that in the outside world I inhabit, this wonderful, feeling magic only happens sometimes... Sometimes things stop unexpectedly, mid-stream and die... sometimes things are still born... sometimes they look oh SO full of promise, but ARE empty or dead...
Sometimes... Sometimes I don't feel happy or wonderful... sometimes I feel tired, sad or frightened...
Sometimes...


This Post's Flavor(s): poetry, gardening, human, small, process
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Today: Spring Takes Its Time... - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

Spring's - A Process: 

Jack Frost is back...

With more delicate art work 

For my windows...

I work on my table top

While

Wondering which plants

To start for my garden...

This Post's Flavor(s): poetry, gardening, beginning/ending, process

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Today: Beginning of Spring... - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

 Signs of Spring...

It seems the waters of March run a little late this year - in April....

Yesterday, the first of the Spring birds arrived... A cloud of male grackles and red-winged blackbirds descended out of nowhere.  sporting bright, new, breeding plumage, they were busy practicing their songs in readiness for the arrival of the females... 

They reminded me of young teenagers, arriving separately for a dance... The girls anxiously casting sidelong glances at the boys, while absently twittering together.  Their attention clearly focused on the boys, rather than on their conversation... The boys talking together in their own separate group, regarding the girls with equal nervousness...  All were wanting to "dance", but unsure of the steps or the outcome... 

Watching the birds yesterday, I wondered if rather than birds and animals being like people, as I've so often thought before, it isn't the other way around.... Perhaps it's people who are like animals and birds..... Hmmmm......

Now, today a Spring day AT LAST!  In the lee of the wind, I don't even need a coat!  After the long, cold winter, I'm VERY hungry for some sun... I soak it in while drying my hair in its warmth...

Most things in my garden look quite dead.... I'm hoping the lovage, lemon balm and sorrel have made it through the harsh winter, but for now, I see no signs of life...  However, the thyme and savory still look green, so I think they've survived......  

This Post's Flavor(s): gardening, human, small, process

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Today: I Order Some Seeds... - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

A Beginning...

Today I ordered seeds for my garden...  Looking outside at the mountains of snow it seems incredible that I'll be able to plant them at all!  However, I've ordered them today anyway. After much deliberation, I've chosen things which were edible entirely or partially: some calendula, some nasturtium. a sunflower (whose flower buds are edible), "dolly" basil (this one is reported to be a prolific producer of leaves -- maybe it will like the conditions I have), red pod asparagus bean, Chinese mallow,  salad burnet,  chervil, mitsuba, some corn salad, an edible Chrysanthemum, a wild arugula and two kinds of Swiss Chard ( a red and a green). Many of these I've never tasted before, but would like to try...

Only some things seem to want to grow in my garden.  Last year the herbs I planted did fairly well as did the beans and sorrel, but most other things didn't grow well at all.  There was an unexpected bonus though...  Not having much in my garden, I discovered I could make very good feeling, tasty meals with the dandelion, chicory and plantain which grow prolifically all over my yard...  These I don't have to care for AT ALL.  They just grow!

Consequently, this year, I'm wanting to try leaving more of my garden space, like the yard, in the Gods' hands... so I've chosen things I think will work with the kinds of conditions which are supplied naturally, by Mother Nature. The corn salad, chrysanthemum and arugula I suspect I'll be growing indoors under lights, but I'll try them outdoors first and see...

Like SO MUCH of life, each year my garden is a FRESH, NEW experiment.  I never know what will grow.  Maybe what grew last year won't grow this year or maybe what didn't grow last year will this year or...  Maybe I choose plants that like cool and wet and the Gods send hot and dry...  Each year, my garden is therefore also an adventure and where I go from its conceptualization is an improvisation...


This Post's Flavor(s): food, gardening, beginning/ending, creativity, process
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Today: "Hansel & Gretel" from a new perspective - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

 A Puzzle...

My micro-greens are growing VERY well.  Soon they'll be big enough to eat...  I'm looking forward to adding fresh greens to my menus, but have a difficulty...  I've REALLY enjoyed watching them grow and they haven't required much care, so this too has been a pleasure.  I'm therefore, finding it difficult to transition from enjoying watching their growth and caring for them to killing and eating them...

I am reminded of the fairy tale: "Hansel and Gretel".  As a child, I was horrified by how the witch intended to feed herself: capturing the children, so she could "fattened them up" prior to cooking and eating them.  However, I notice now, people do very much the same thing with the plants and animals which are farmed and cultivated. Furthermore, this seems to be absolutely necessary to supply enough food for us to continue living. When food comes from a grocery store -- all sterilized and packaged in paper, plastic and styrofoam, I am distanced from this part of the process and fail to feel it, but growing my own is a different story...

Perhaps the concepts of "good and bad" and "right and wrong" are more complex than it might seem at first glance...  

A tidbit to chew on for today...

This Post's Flavor(s):  food, gardening, puzzle, fairy tale

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Today: A Bitter Wind & Micro-greens - To Fall Like A Drop Of Rain...

 Can it be???

The wind howled all night...
A bitter, biting COLD.

Hard to believe...
In only a few weeks

I can be working in my garden...

 A New Thing... 

I'm trying a new thing -- growing micro-greens under lights indoors.  I just planted them last Friday evening and already the small shoots are growing tall.  The rapini was the first up and although the sprouts still only have their seed leaves they are almost 3" tall.  The peas are almost as tall and have more leaves.  The fenugreek is at about the same stage as the rapini, but not quite as tall.  The sunflowers are the slowest...  They're only about 1" tall and the leaves are still just breaking out of their seed husks...  

I so enjoy watching things grow!  The sheer MAGIC of the process enthralls me... I never seem to tire of it.  I watch as plants emerge out of small dried up seeds that look like dead bits of dirt...



This Post's Flavor(s): food, gardening, difficulty/pleasure, poetry, small, process

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