4/25/11

4/25/11
The sole fell off my boot yesterday. No warning, just turned into a flip-flop. Looks optimistically repairable. A clean break, fixable with some Guerrilla Glue. I guess 7 years of mud and abuse has finally taken its toll. The splitting cracks in the leather along the 'toe bend area' exposed the Kevlar below, still impenetrable to water; still protecting my feet and keeping then dry.
So I must wear my alternate weather footwear. Every rainy day girl's favorite pull-up rubber boot. Patterned in red, yellow, and black plaid ( finer plaid than pictured), they are more fashionable than comfortable. Not really form-fitting but entirely waterproof nonetheless. It's been raining for 3 or so days, mostly a warm drizzle interspersed with bouts of T-storms and heavy rain. Work must go on.

There's basic requirements for any garden job I've had:
1) work in all weather conditions (hot, wet, cold, etc).
2)be able to lift 50 lbs.
3)sustain work on your feet for 8 hours daily
A love for plants should be on that list also, but if you can do those things, you can be a gardener.



Today I'll rake the wooded paths which connect Hill House, a guest residence, to the satelliting yoga studio and conference center. Just a few sticks and a single tree down across the path, but also a shallow, yet wide, spring fed creek. I'm assuming guests in the 'over-50-and-not-so-agile-on-slippery-rocks' group will have difficulty crossing.
A low wooden planked walkway, like those in wetland areas, would be perfect; as the amount of water flowing here is depended on the season and rain. Right now there's a lot of water, in summer not as much. Though a great idea, it will be on the bottom of the list of things to do, as the maintenance guys have a million other things to do before.
I'll hula ho some weeds, mulch the roses with some alfalfa I found in the shed (horses & roses love alfalfa), and prune the grapes instead of trying to build a footbridge today.
The ground's still super wet. I'll stick to projects above the ground. Maybe drill a couple of bee boxes. http://www.tucsonbotanical.org/gardening/building-a-bee-box/

4/22/11 - 4/24/11

4/22/11
Hooray! Hooray! The compost war is over! For reasons I have not written about my compost ordeal though it has consumed most of my time. Aside from the composting process and it's magical benefits to the soil, the difficulties I've had trying to obtain some aren't entertaining... about as entertaining as my last entry on organic fertilizer. Plus after thinking, talking, and even dreaming about it, the last thing I want to do is write about it. Even though I am in rural NY, I can't seem to find a local farm or nursery to provide me with OG composted manure. I've asked everyone working here, called every store in 50 miles, and even placed a 'compost wanted' ad on Cragislist. Everything was either a million dollars to truck here or just not available. You'd think there would be someone around here that could drop off a dump truck load of finished horse shit for a a good price. In the end I got a discount rate on a pallet of 'the goods' bagged by an organic farm about an hour and a half from here. (I had called them directly and it would have cost $210 just for delivery). I didn't want to deal with throwing away 60 plastic bags, I wanted it in bulk, but it turned out perfect as I unloaded the 40 lb. bags at the end of the garden rows they're to be spread on. Important thing is that it's here and it's beautiful stuff. Organic and fluffy, I swear it may be the best compost I have ever seen. Forget about black gold, I got black diamonds. Now to wait for the rain to stop so I can till it in with some of that Dr. Earth. An organic cocktail for super soil.



4/24/11
Today is Easter. I would love to see a bunny rabbit. More likely I'll see a turkey. I planted some spring flowers in a large cast iron cauldron-like container sitting at the base of our cabins' stairs. I dug the sad lil cedar tree out that was (sorta) living in there. Though it was only 4' tall with like 3 leaves, I felt bad for my thoughts of conveniently throwing it on the burn pile. I figured he survived in a shallow cast iron pot with limited room to grow. Not to mention that metal containers get hot in the summer, & cast iron holds heat pretty darn good. Lil cedar really was living in a cauldron.



I thought about planting him right in front of the house where there's actually enough room to grow to maturity, but didn't think I could stand to look at it everyday off my deck, all Charlie-Brown-Christmas-tree looking and slow to recover; especially if he didn't make it. Trees take a long time to die, just as they take a long time to grow.
Instead I went in search of a soft spot, a spot where i wasn't going to have to dig a whole bunch of rocks just to get a 2' hole for lil cedar. I found an old plant graveyard, ( a spot where past gardeners dumped rootballs and soil out from plants that had died) more like a mausoleum because of its mound shape, and planted him right on top. Here he's got a mountain of awesome 'spent' potting soil to grow in, favorable to the rocky clay native soil. If he was meant to survive, this is the place he'll do it.



Back in the cauldron I dug about half of the lifeless 'dirt' out and replaced it with compost. I planted a small pieris I noticed just sitting bareroot next to my garden shack after the snow had melted. Figured he was a survivor! Along with it I planted some flowers I picked up when I was in NJ: white columbine, purple & yellow violas, & a token hyacinth for spring.

4/19/11 - 4/21/11

4/19/11
I woke almost every hour last night. Now I know why. The mice got into my room and dug up and devoured my sunflower & hollyhock seeds, and basil starts. Little bastards. Time for PB spring traps! I figure the pound of seed Jr. put out on the deck for wildlife are more than a rodent attractant to our house. Just wish they'd not fuck up a good thing and stay outside! The clouds are hanging in the valley this morning. A foggy 50 degrees or so. Perfect for working.
There's a group coming in a couple weeks that everyone's pretty excited about. The elders from a few North and South American tribes are coming to meet and talk about the state of the world and peace. I'm sure this kind of gathering is rare, if not a first, at least in the century. The following week they will join other spiritual world leaders for an international summit in Newark, NJ. The brick city of all places! I guess the city has comprised a model for peace within the community.
One of the tribes are of particular interest, The Kogi from the mountains of northern Columbia. http://www.theelderbrother.com/kogi/index.cfm I haven't researched the details, I'll leave that up to you, but I have been told my coworkers that they are also called the 'seers'. Their first 8 years of life are spent in total darkness to sharpen their senses, their ability to 'see'. The tribe has lived secluded in the mountains, unchanged for generations. They still speak their native tongue, they don't even speak Spanish. I believe they have decided that they need to travel out into the world to deliver a message about our earth. If now is the time they have decided to leave their mountain top, I can't help but to think things can't be good.

4/20/11
Today a WOOFER http://www.wwoof.org/ is coming to volunteer his time. WOOFERs works on organic farms, 4 hours a day, in trade for room and bored, supporting the organic growing movement. He'll help me hula hoe the weeds out of the vege beds and maybe haul some chips from a spot down the road, where there's a mountain of a pile. The aftermath maybe of some trees which may have fallen across the road and were chipped up. I've seen people filling up the bed of their truck or garbage cans full of the free stuff. We need to load the truck by hand. Hopefully the truck with the dump bed will be available for an easy unload at least. It has rained for 3 days and the mulch will be wet and soooo heavy. As is the garden, making tilling a big clumpy, muddy mess. Hopefully drier days are to come, I'll try to wait till then to do any heavy material moving.
I set traps wit PB last night and slept the night through soundly. Likely because I wasn't woken by a sprung trap, but mostly because I knew my seedling garden was safe. Nothing looks disturbed... not the seeds or the traps. It's working. The smell of PB can only mean one thing to a smart mouse. Death.

4/21/11
I picked up some vege fertilizer from a great little nursery in Rhinecliff called The Phantom Gardener http://www.thephantomgardener.com/. Dr. Earth brand is a staple for organic gardeners on the west coast, especially in CA, it's made in the Bay Area. It's a mixture of organic materials (alfalfa, sea bird guano, blood meal, greensand, oyster shells, mychorrizae, etc.) which are ground to a consistency alike what you'd get if you mixed dry oats and cream of wheat. Powdery but not exactly dusty. It mixes beautifully and feeds for the long term, nutrients becoming available as those tiny lil microbes and beneficial organisms break it down through consumption. All the while improving the soil's health, bringing it to life; building it over time. Opposite of what a chemical fertilizer does, gives it a quick fix of petroleum based plant food & leaves heavy salt build-up over time, creating a saline environment, inhabitable to those lil microbes so necessary for beautiful, bountiful soil.

4/17/11 - 4/18/11

4/17/11
Everyone's up early and out for the last day of this weekend's retreat. A woman named Mary Ann Williamson was the speaker at the retreat, a popular woman who's written a couple of self-help kinda books. Oprah loves her. http://www.marianne.com/ This retreat's focus was on eating, overeating, healthy food values... weight loss I guess. I was busy & did not participate.
The people attending are not the usual guests I'm told. Not necessarily very 'spiritual' in the way this place provides. Lots of them had tried yoga for the first time and were weary and even aggressively fearful of an all vegetarian menu. Jr. says Mary Ann and her philosophy were received with astounding revelation. People dropped C notes at the gift shop. Some of those purchases being gifts of jewelry for Mary Ann. A thanks for saving their lives in sort. For opening their eyes to life changing choices. The sun is out! Better work while I can!



4/18/11
During the last retreat a woman came from the city to help out at the retreat and stayed on our extra bed in the common area. She brought her sweet 6 year old fatty dog Chloe. She was some kind of French Spaniel. Never seen at fat one before. I love her! She's one of those middle aged companion dogs, who'd rather be with you than run off somewhere and get into trouble. She hung out with me in the garden for most of the day. She loves me! I brought a bag of cheese with me just in case she thought to wander off and find her mom. But she was content just chillin'.. and eating cheese while I raked. What I like to call finding the ground; removing all of last year's leaves and debris to find some definition between the beds. Raking the dead grass out of the lawn pathways, fluffin' it up. There are more weeds that I thought below all of last fall's mulch and as spring continues, rain-sun-rain, they will continue to polka dot the beds.
Good thing I cleaned my garden shack (kinda resembles an old shit house, except double-wide, like a handicap porta-potty made out of wood). I found basically all the tools I needed, specifically happy about finding the Hula-Ho. A fantastic tool for popping up small weeds.
http://www.practicalenvironmentalist.com/gardening/product-review-the-hula-ho-weeding-tool.htmAfterwards I went to the hardware store to pick up some more seed starting stuff and threw in another bag of oriental lilies. The bulbs are puny, especially when I remember the softball size bulbs I used to have... wah. But these little bulbs were sprouting in the bag, tortured to live in dry and mildew-smelling sawdust... and they're my favorite. Also happens to be that just last night a coworker asked what kind of cut flowers were going to be in the garden and requested something scenty. Lilies are the best air freshener for a bathroom with no ventilation.

4/14/11

4/14/11
Directions from Menla to Kevin's: 28, 209, NY State Thruway, 46 E.
Directions from Dover to Menla: 80 E, 287 N, 17 N, 209, 3, 28A, 28.

4/16/11
My weekend went fast bit it was fun and successful. Reality is that everything seems far when driving around here. All these NJ & NY light-less and stop-less 2-lane country roads seem never ending. Until I drive them enough times to recognize markers, know where I'm going. Then time and distance can be measured, predicted & then rationalized into being "only a few minutes" from... everywhere. Today I l;eave to go back up to Menla. Thought I'd check out the old Dover thrift stores first. Super lame variety and quality, though some necessities, so altogether successful. Because I have a new space with new walls and a new kitchen, there are always cooking utensils needed. I scored a loaf pan $.99, large aluminum colander $.99 (w/ all 3 legs!), a flower vase, a sailor's mug (no cup holder in the El Camino), a box fan $2, and a tasteful 8x10" frame for my copy of Diserderata. Lastly the one thing I actually went there in hopes of finding, a pair of boot cut fitting navy Levi's...$4.
I was tempted to cross the street and go to the Mission (that was ritual when coming here weekly as a teen). They really pack the shit in there and I'm sure some neber comes out. Last time I was there it reeked of feet and mildew. But I had thrifted enough crap for the day and wanted to hit the road. It was already raining pretty hard when I left the store at 1:00. Rain wasn't predicted till 5... so they said. Thunderstorms and 2' of precipitation overnight. I hope this means tomorrow will be out of the storm and under the sun.