7/4/11 - 7/8/11

7/4/11
A rainy morning 4th of July. Fog in the valley with sun slowly burning through. Yesterday was torrential. I pray for sun. My garden is magnificent but could use a steady three days of good weather.
Friday my younger brother came up and spent the night. We had a lot of laughs. Laughed till it hurt. Friday he arrived around 8 so we went downtown to get some food and drink, came home and laughed until I started nodding out from fatigue. He took this opportunity to clown me as I spoke in random thoughts every 30 seconds... in between falling asleep. He said I made no sense and talked crazy shit. Funny thing is that he's done the same thing with me once. Back in WA, when he was visiting and had taken allergy pills that caused him to drift in and out of consciousness. We were having a conversation and he was saying the most illogical things. Then I knew he was all narcoleptic. So I asked him all kinds of testy questions and got the most insane answers. Hilarious!
Seems to be that it runs in the family. Dad, the two brothers, and myself can't make it through a movie. Food + couch + TV = sleep. We hiked a semi-marked trail on the west side of the valley, an area I've wanted to explore since I've been here. It was awesome! So many creeks! I continuously looked for good rocks to cross the creek by. Waterfalls and springs led us back over the other side and we looped around, back up to the east side , spotting tiny bright orange and yellow shrooms all the way. Nothing edible and if so, not choice, but very illuminating and cute.
Starving we headed back to 'campus' and decided to get burgers in Phoenicia. Afterwards we shared a beer at the river and gasped for breath laughing, watching the dozens of people tubing get stuck, their tubes stuck in an outcrop of rock. Our stomachs hurt. We likely cried and peed a bit in our pants. Good times.
Last Sunday I earned some extra cash planting, pruning, and weeding in Uma's mom's yard. It was a great time hanging out with her and the pups. We had an awesome lunch of salad from the garden & toast topped with parmesan and prosciutto. Some of my favorites. She also made an awesome cup o' tea. Some kind of vanilla rooibos chai with a touch of cream. Yummy like dessert.
On the way home the El Camino overheated and I pulled over and saw a spittering leak in the radiator. I topped it off and got it home. Monday I went to gettin' it fixed. I don't recall ever replacing a radiator, but I knew I could do it myself, maybe with a little help. I popped the hood and saw it wa just a few bolts and a couple of hose clamps... plenty of room to work... ahhh, old American cars... you could lay down in the empty space under the hood. I mentioned it to a few guys that work here- maintenance dude for tools in the shop, kitchen dude to see if they'd offer muscle. No one offered help. Not because they didn't want to I suppose, but because they had no idea what was under the hood. Wow.. seems sad in my book. I may not need a man to fix my car, but I rely on them for advice. To reinforce that I've got it right.
By Monday evening at 6 I had the car in the shop and went to scavenging a catastrophe of a shop for the right wrenches and sockets. Amazing I found everything I needed and had the new radiator in by 8. Woo-hoo!

7/8/11
Honeybees showed up
Watched a male hummingbird drink from a pea blossom
Sunflowers 6' & up
Tomatoes chest high
Corn 5'
Kale & collards 8th harvest

6/24/11

6/24/11
I'm not too sure how much more of this I can take. Of what? Of the decision making and the pressures that build. I have a short list of serious problems all of which I can remedy with patience, time, and strength. Each one's final decision will change my life in a major way,, but to make the best choice is the painstaking part. Two days off with no where to go except in my own head has left me exhausted and still I feel at a loss. I know when I feel like this the anvil is hot and ready to strike. The pressure will build and when I'm about to lose it, the levee will break and the answers will come.

6/20/11

6/20/11
I've been waking up in the middle of the night pretty regular lately
I don't like it at all
Sometimes it's a mosquito
Sometimes a thunderstorm
Sometimes I have to pee
I feel wide awake and lay there wondering how I'm going to fall back asleep
Funny thing is that if I just closed my eyes I'd probably just drift off
But it doesn't feel like it so I turn the light on and stare at the ceiling
And hunt the mosquito when he flies near the light
If I actually sleep through the night, every bird in town gathers outside my window at dawn
And if the window's open, it's like being awoken by a symphony
just more psychedelic for lack of a better word
Listen to me complain about about birds
It's just that they rob me of a couple hours every day.

kmtorpay's photostream

6/9/11
Though this 'log's (I dislike the word blog) called 'A Growing Season in Phoenicia' I haven't shown much of what I'm actually growing. Here are pics of my world. Evolution of the garden from April to June. Hee-yah!

kmtorpay's photostream on Flickr.

6/14/11 - 6/18/11

6/14/11
I need to get off the property. Living and working in the same place basically makes it so that I never really 'go home' from work. For a while now going downtown to the local restaurant/bar has been escape enough, but I tend to drink more than I 'd like to. If I stay up here at the cabin with no source of music, no housemate, and limited movies... I'm stir crazy. I really just want to explore the woods but feel incomplete ans unsettled without a dog, especially because the trails are made by deer, not people. Sounds chicken and retarded but it's true. I want to forage for rare plants and mushrooms but would really love a companion. If I could just borrow someone's dog I'd feel OK. I've been lost off trail bushwhacking and rested assured when I can just follow my dog whether or not they have any idea which way is the right way. Not to mention athat I like to walk solo in the woods... without other humans. A walk clears my mind, keeps it moving. I find that when I sit and think by myself my mind has more of a tendency to work in circles. I tend to stress out and worry. I think about work too much, all the things I have to do. At night I sometimes even have nightmares, waking in the middle of the night panicked because I need to harvest the cilantro before it goes to seed. Silliness.



6/18/11
I spent 3 much needed days in Jersey. I was supposed to stay only 2 days but I just didn't want to leave. I stayed at my friend Teresa's house. If we were in still in 5th grade I'd call here my BFF but I like to refer to her as my favorite person now that we're grown and have known each other for over 25 years. She's like mu other half. A soul mate of friends. We can't really seem to be mad at each other. There's no conflict ever and she makes me feel normal. She's the only person who doesn't have a problem with how I live or decisions I make. She tolerates me and accepts me for whoever I am and I do the same with her. She's silly and crazy so very caring. I love her! I spend my time in NJ with her. She actually had a lighter work schedule this week so we got to spend more time together doing stuff. Going out to breakfast, planting flowers,... the dog park. I love spending time at her house even when she has to work. It's homey and comfortable and she has great fuzzy pets.

















While I was there I found myself looking on Petfinder and sent an email about adopting a puppy- a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever/ Golden mix... a little girl. Exactly the knid of dog I would like to own next. She looks like a little bear! I approached my boss about getting a dog a couple of months ago and she indirectly, meaning through somebody else, told me no. Not because of anything involving me, but because the neighbors have an unruly dog that barks all day, runs away, and nips at people. They're afraid that if I had a dog their dog would behave worst. It isn't my problem that they don't control him. No dog of mine would act that badly. I believe pets are supposed to make your life better, not more stressful.

6/5/11

6/5/11
A few weeks ago I posted a couple of songs by the band Baroness when I was writing about loud heavy music and church. Somehow the bassist of said band read my blog and liked my style or writing calling it 'rude yet gentle', a top compliment to me. He was looking for a sweet place to go camping and Phoenicia seemed ideal. So last week he came up. He traded me sweet merch (including swamp green vinyl pressing of their first and second albums, named 'First' and "Second'.) for information about the area. I would have been happy to just to have met with him, yet the gifts were an awesome bonus. He camped and we hung out at my cabin. We got along really well. It seemed like I'd known him in a time before. We shared similar quirky thoughts, he was one of those people you meet that are few and far between; someone you meet and you don't have to try to get along with. It's just easy.
The irony is that he came up here to camp, but also wanted to meet the person who wrote my blog, extremely flattering. Yet normally it's the fan who'd love to meet the musician. No doubt I wanted to , but not entirely realistic that I might send him and email and pay him a visit. I was lucky.
After all that's been serendipitous or magical or good luck around here, this was the crescendo. growing up a rocker chick I would have gone to great lengths to meet a musician I admired. Being a teen fan with an intensity comparable to those screaming Beatles girls, if he would have paid a visit then, I'd have died from anticipation. But I'm glad that I'm not that young nor that crazy anymore because hanging with this 'rock star' was just like hanging out with any other supercool person. It was rad. We also share the same birthday, May 14th. It's got to have some kind of relevant cosmic meaning, they are such rarities. May 14 was also the day I returned his email. A holiday for sure.

6/2/11

6/2/11
After all that rain I complained about last month, the sun came out and hatched a running series of buzzing bloodsucking relentless insect monsters. First were the May flies, appropriately named, who are large enough to see coming and slow enough to slap and kill. Though if they do get a bite in it will swell and itch for days.
While the May flies were still present, Memorial Day weekend brought the no-see-ums by the millions. They just spontaneously came to life out of thin air, assuming so because they are also appropriately named. Little bastards can sneak through the holes in the screens! There's no hiding from them. Since they arrived in such great numbers I had no defense and was welted from their attacks. They also itched something serious. I think they get trapped in my afro and bite my head.
This week the infamous mosquitoes came to town and brought their shade loving friends, the loud big black flies. They may not suck blood but they love to vomit and suck your skin when you are sweaty.
To defend myself from constant bombardment I stock an arsenal of repellent. Natural, almost natural, not-so-natural, and death in a can. I start with the least toxic and graduate up the scale of toxicity hoping not to reach level 4, the 30 deet. I burn citronella on my porch and carry one of those clip-ons that seems to do nothing unless you're sitting completely still. lately my skin has been covered in a cocktail of sunblock, bug spray, sweat, and dirt. Talk about being uncomfortable in my own skin.
Maybe I should invest in some long sleeve cotton or start eating raw onions and garlic. Maybe make a juice from them and spray that on my skin. These bugs coupled with the high temps and humidity is a major reason why I lived west and also why I never wanted to visit the east in the summer.

6/1/11

6/1/11
Last February I noticed that it was a bad luck month for me. Not just 2011, but at least a couple of February's of the past also. Feb 6th seems to be an especially difficult day, even though it's B. Marley's b-day. I remember it as bad luck because it's usually the day I have had enough (of relationships, jobs, my car, crazy landlords) & I quit. It's a day of ending and in retrospect, always the birthing of something new.
Memorial Day weekend has played itself to be a good luck day and the month of May in total seems to bring great things. sunshine, flowers, family, friends,... and my birthday. In the last two weeks I have spent more time with people I'm either related to or relate to , than I have since childhood. Likely about 25 years.
On the day of reckoning my cousin go married. May 21st turned out to be a day of great expectations between the marriage of two people and the predicted apocalypse on the schedule. I hadn't been to a wedding or family function for that matter since I was just a wee small puff. Though I don't remember, I know I was there from photos. All the uncles and aunts were at the wedding as they were in the 80's family photos and my brother and I were again the only brown folks there. Of no matter, just something we realize when in large congregations of people; something to laugh about.
Lil' bro and I actually missed the ceremony (we were 15 minutes late) but did drive through the squall of a downpour that rolled through while the bride and groom were exchanging vows. A purifying blessing of water from above. Good luck right? I think so.
The wedding was beautiful and it was awesome to see the folks I'm related to and the funny thing is that even after not seeing most of them for over 20 years, outside of the graying hairs and round tummies, everyone looked exactly the same! Hardly aged. My cousin is from the Duff side (mom's) of the family. Not big huggers or dancers, but a kooky, hilarious, intelligent, and sarcastic clan that I'm glad to belong to.

The fun continued...

This past holiday weekend was the time which really should have been prophesy. A momentous couple of days in my life at least. Though the only way prophecies come true is if they aren't expected. Monumental events are never seen coming. They follow the black swan theory. If they are to happen they can not be envisioned. They must be kept a secret, never discovered in that ancient tomb, if they are to manifest. Though a prophecy attempts to predict the future, all that really matters is after the fact if it's fulfilled. My attempt to philosophize...
This weekend was like an aligning of distant stars when my all my siblings and fiance congregated here in the Catskills. The weather was a nasty hot humid mess welcomed after days of rain, but so very sweaty, especially when hiking. Saturday we walked the property and hiked one of the only marked trails on Menla's property. Though there were blue dots on the trees marking the trail, the path was nonexistent. Winter's melt and spring's rains washed out ant footpath that may have been. It was treacherous and I found it extremely difficult and unsatisfying having to climb up loose, unstable rocks covered in deep leaves. We never made it to the top.
Half way up I found a massive fruiting of oyster mushrooms. Fresh and pure white, like a lantern hanging on an old dead stump. I harvested maybe 5 lbs. and after convincing everyone to help me carry them down the mountain, made it back to the house and fried them up. Though scared of being poisoned or finding them disgusting, the family tried them and loved them! It was a great family moment harvesting choice mushrooms from the wild and eating them. A first but hopefully not a last.
We had not all been together since Dad's 60th birthday 5 years ago. I had an awesome time and am glad to be on the east coast closer to them and at a place where they can come and chill and nature out. "See ya next weekend!" hasn't been something I could say living out west, since my lil' bro was a pre-teen. Moving away when he was 12, I missed out on 1/2 of him growing up. Now we are buds.
My older bro is exactly that, the big brother. Though he may have cared for me growing up, (he's only a year older than me, almost to the day) he didn't really show it, neither did I. Now that we've made it out of crazy youth, I love hanging out with him. He's supportive and interested in me and my abilities. Feels good.
My sister is radiant as usual. beautiful, healthy, in shape, and happy! She always makes me feel so loved and seems so happy to see me. Zach, her fiance, is rad. he's smart, fun, and responsible... and he loves my sister. I'm really glad he'll be a part of the family... I think he kinda already is!
Now that they have all been here I expect they'll come back. I think this place is better than they had anticipated. Maybe later in the summer when the garden's bombastic and fantastic.

5/27/11

5/27/11

Two nights ago I witnessed the most spectacular thunder and light show of my life. The weather service issued a tornado warning for Phoenicia for late in the afternoon. Winds up to 60 mph, 1" hail, thunder, flash floods, and cloud-to-ground lightening. Sounds like what I thought the rapture would be like. I hear that if it did happen on May 21st as predicted, the apocalyptic epicenter was going to be somewhere in the Hudson Valley.) The warning was issued for 7-10 pm. A three hour window of prediction meant that was going to hit hard and fast. The weather had been unsettling, warm, humid, and that 'too calm' feeling; hot breezes would waft in. I've learned that severe weather follows. Just like the crazy gold color the sky turns right before a rainbow manifests from the clouds. (I always picture that color sky when I hear Bob Marley's 'Rainbow Country').
I went downtown to satisfy my craving for cheese fries w/ gravy and about an hour or so later while sitting on the patio, I heard a crack and rumble of thunder that stopped everyone in their tracks. I thought "I better get the hell outta here!" and ran for my car, which may not have been the best idea. (All I know is that tires are rubber and rubber is insulating. What would happen if a car was struck by lightening anyway?)
A sheet of a downpour hit, raindrops the size of of marbles, the lightening, and thunder waged a war of who-came-first. There was no counting Mississippi. The storm was right on top of us. It was like the 4th of July, the sky lit up with flashes so bright , strikes so powerful, there is no way they weren't touching ground. I began to see ghost flashes, trails of the last strikes while being bombarded by the next... and I was driving... very slowly. I made it home safely and went to bed feeling the thunder rumble through the ground. Like the man upstairs was clearing his throat, commanding the world's attention. I love storms like that. Sky shows are rare in the PNW even though it's known for rain, it's more like living in a constant fog.

5/23/11

5/23/11

I wish it would stop raining... I know it's needed to make the garden grow, but inly if followed by sun. At this point the week and a half of rain is just rotting my seeds. T-storms and upper 60's today but partly sunny 70-80's for the next two days. Hooray!

Later...
The sun came out something glorious today. A welcomed break after enduring 10 days of thunderstorms & torrential rains. A perfect car washing day... though I didn't get around to washing the El Camino. I could feel my seedlings sigh with relief for the sun and get to growing. I spent the day planting containers and window boxes with annual flowers. Though they are the short lived candy fluff of the plant world, they get the 'exploding color' job done.
Monday I'd gone shopping with Nena, Uma's mom, and had a blast! Though most employees here have a healthy fear of her, as I mentioned before, I see eye to eye with her and she likes my work. I've heard that past gardeners have not been trusted by Nena to do a good job, but I'm guessing she trusts my eye and my skills after seeing the work I've done in the garden so far. She let me know that she thought the garden was beautiful and thanked me; tow compliments rarely spoken by Nena. That's a big high 5 to me!
At the nursery we went aisle to aisle - annuals to veges to perennials to trees and shrubs - putting flat after flat on our carts of anything and everything that caught our eyes. I LOVE to plant shop! It really doesn't get any better. We ended up buying three, 3-tiered carts full of stuff plus a couple water lilies for the pond and some larger perennials.
I'm a pretty thrift gardener, knowing that harvesting from the wild (ferns, wildflowers, etc.) and dividing plants can save $ and fill a landscape for free. So when I have no budget like this day, I go crazy. We got spilling color with 5 types of petunias & calibrachoa, stature from snapdragons and 3 kinds of marigolds (I love orange flowers), and shade color with impatiens. (Yuck! Not my choice. I think they are the cheap hoes of the flower world.) We got trailers and fillers with lotus vine and black ipomoea batatas.
I dug ostrich ferns (ones who's fiddle heads are so tasty) from in front of one of the wooded cottages where I also spotted the elusive cobra lily (arisaema)... so cool! I planted the 3' tall ferns in stately planters framing the main entrance.
We also got an assortment of perennials to fill in gaps in the main flower beds in front of the same building. A couple of varieties of coreopsis, 'autumn joy' sedum, cranesbill, and a bad ass echinacea called 'hot papaya'. I filled in smaller areas in the back of the bed against the wall with cosmos and snapdragons nearer the foreground. Looks pimpin'!
Today I will finish planting the annual containers with the help of my assistant.* I think he'll be stoked to plant because he's been pulling weeds for days. I hope it doesn't rain.
I also harvested the comfrey, a plant ingredient in the compost tea I'm going to make. The recipe for tea calls for a combination of:

comfrey (Ca, K, P)
borage (vitamin C, K, Ca)
nettles (silica, Ca, also a compost accelerator)
alfalfa (N, P, K, S, Fe, Zn, & B... complete food)
Other plants such as yarrow and chamomile add nutrients too.
Good stuff! I put the comfrey in 5 gallon buckets, filled them with water, and weighted them down with a rock. It will quickly break down into a stinky slurry and I'll strain it and add some of this concentrate to my 55 gallon rain barrel. The other plants I'll dry and grind up then put in a muslin sack, like a giant T-bag, so that they steep but are easily removable. I'll put an aquarium bubbler in the bottom to aerate and add unsulfured molasses to feed the beneficial 'micro herd'. These are tiny organisms which help plants to fight diseases and pathogens and improve bad soil by supplying power to soil health. I'm excited to make my own plant food. It's inexpensive and harvested from the garden and surrounding woods. It's like mixing my own soil, it gives assurance to things working out well because I know exactly what's gone in. Not just the ingredients, but also the care and love to give them the best.

*Since I type my entries from my journal i am always a few days behind. Turns out having my assistant help with containers wasn't such a good idea. He can stick to pulling weeds.

Lovin' this song today

Lloy Price - Stagger Lee

The first censored rock n roll record to be a #1 hit.

I wish I had a poodle skirt, some bobby socks, and a bad ass dance partner.




Now that's a card game.

5/20/11

I've watched the birds return along with the warming spring and trees flowering. Most I've initially seen here on my porch at the bird feeder - really a saucer for a plant pot, 12" wide and like 2" deep. Like I've mentioned, Jr. fills it a couple times a day and mad critters feed, likely sustaining life for at least making everyone a bit fatter.
Though the dove still fly away when I come out to the porch, most of the other birds, the chipmunks, and even the gray squirrels have become less intimidated. Reluctant at first, but then cautiously continue to the seed bowl.
The most timid was the red squirrel. Just blinking would send him running. While there are many chipmunks and a few gray squirrels, there seems to be only one red squirrel. I know this because of a battle scar he has on the right side of his underbelly. At first it was a huge nipple, but now I see it's the only one. (My neighbor told me a red squirrel built a nest above his ceiling and he put a live trap out and caught one. It got stuck in the rap's door and my buddy had to let him out. I'm thinking that's where the scar came from.)
When red comes to the feeder he clears the scene of all other life by chirping and lunging in each direction like a pit bull on a choke chain. Everyone scatters. He thinks he's the king of the seed. Just not down with sharing; not even with a chickadee.
This is the omnivorous squirrel. The egg stealer. After thinking he was the cutest rodent in the forest, I'd come to have disdain for him. Little hog... wants it all for himself. Mine, mine, mine! He even patrols the ground surrounding the porch.
I watched The Fighter the other night and was influence to name lil squirrel Mickey, the lil' red Irish scrapper. aka Mickey McSquirrel the Red. Little troublemaker. He's willing to go toe-to-toe with anyone regardless of size. His intimidation works.
One day after works I found myself talking to him. "Who the hell do you think you are?! Hoggin' the food bowl... Those gray squirrels are twice your size and those jays could kick your ass!... Fuckin' egg stealer!" I picked up a dried cob of corn Jr. had strewn across the porch, popped the kernels off, and catapulted them at him, like an exploding bomb... full of corn. A cornbomb. he hardly flinched. So I reloaded with more and pelted him again... and again. He stood up,barked at me, picked up a corn, and ate it. Well goddamn.
Little Mickey truly has no fear. brave lil' mother fucker. He stares me straight in the eye and doesn't give a fuck. I guess he knows he's faster. I'd never catch him... bet he's never seen a BB gun.
No. I have no want to kill the lil bully. I have made amends with his rudeness. He just wants to get what's his. His fill of easy seed with no competition. No one wants to meet his challenge and probably for good reason. He's a stand-up guy. A survivor.

5/19/11

It's been amazing watching spring waken things up here. I left Seattle in late March where the plums and magnolias were rockin' and the daffodils were on the way out. I feel like I flew back in time arriving in NY, with snow still hiding the ground, though I actually flew ahead in time.
The forest was naked You could see far up the mountains. Winds would roar through the forest like a freight train coming from over the hill behind my house, bringing sleet, freezing rain, and nameless other violent precipitation.
Then the red maples broke bud and spring was here. It's irreversible. Daffodils, other maples (I have yet to meet), wood violets, forsythia, the oaks, the elms, columbine, betulaceae, ash, magnolias, garlic broccoli weed, cherries, tulips, apple, dogwood, wild mustard, elderberry, and lilac have flowered... in that order.
There are fantastic thunderstorms and downpours rolling outside. I can't believe it's rained like this for 5 days and they expect another few. Maybe not as dramatic but nonetheless, I've experienced winter torn to spring on the east coast for the first time in 15 years and back then I hardly paid attention to what was going on with the plants.
It's excellent to have new trees, flowers, mushrooms, and animals to get to know. To be stimulated by nature familiar, yet unknown to me. There are always more species to encounter, to ID, and to appreciate. To cultivate and to use. A minute to learn and a lifetime to master, just like Othello.
And when an area becomes too familiar, I find a different ecosystem to feed my curiosity be it in day trips to the beach or a mountain meadow, or moving to the CA desert or NE hardwood forest. It's all new and overwhelming at first, but like good friends , you get to know each other, hear each others histories and fears. Understanding and feeling comfortable with each other. Being real and still having secrets to reveal.

5/12/11

5/12/11

Soaked and labeled two dozen or so seeds in ziplock bags & brought the arsenal down to the garden for mass planting. Coupled with the flats of starts which were delivered, there were probably 30 varieties of vegetables and over a dozen different flowers. The sun was hot in the sky. I got a serious tan. I went from white to black in a morning. Heeyah!
While I work in the garden people walk by, give compliments through the fence, but nearly never walk in. Last night I gave a Hopi elder named Harold a ride home from the Kogui's cabin, where most people have been congregating when the day's work is over. Harold's cabin is on the other side of campus. A dark walk. We talked briefly; mostly about my El Camino. I felt privileged to have him in my car.

This morning they walked past my garden and waved. They paused and decided to pay a visit. Five minutes earlier I spotted a garter snake in the garden popping his head up from the leaves in a row. I thanked him for coming and told him to bring his friends and eat as many slugs as they find. I pointed the snake out to the elders and Harold told me that many times he had passed the garden and saw me working hard, watched the building of the garden; but was called to come in this day. He believed that the snake had come to give him a a message.
Back in Arizona his wife was visited by 3 bull snakes in their home. They are one of the largest snakes in the country and are infamous for their 'bad attitude'. They are constrictors. A gang of bull snakes. Two male and one female. If Harold's wife had been harmed, he would have had to cut his trip short to be with her, not completing the work he was doing here with the other first nations people. The work trying to come up with a solution for the worsening state of mother earth. Work to preserve our cultures and our people. This lil' garter snake came to tell Harold everything was okay. That his wife was safe and he could continue without worry.
These two Hopi elders performed a blessing and gave thanks. Wow. My garden was blessed by Hopi elders.
They were also really interested in how I was growing the garden. They checked out ziplocks of seeds and marveled at how many different varieties I could grow. Tons of beans and squash. Peas for food and cut flowers. Six types of greens (not lettuce). Plants for fun like loofa and love lies bleeding. And varieties of flowers to encourage pollinators to visit often. Not to mention the dozens of tomato starts who actually made it through the greenhouse tragedy.
They asked about the soil & irrigation and were so happy to know the food flowers, and herbs would be harvested and used to prepare meals for our guests throughout the season. They were impressed bu how much food a 1/2 acre could produce.
Harold told me that he had wanted to build a community garden for the past couple of years and that they needed help. Clearing a space, fighting invasives, and harnessing water from a spring. He told me that what I was doing , growing food organically, was the answer. I got goosebumps and felt elated because that is what I believe.
The night before I'd sat and talked with some people about what the elders, specifically the Kogui's message was.What was so important they'd left the mountain and flown for the first time, to NYC of all places? The message was that we have taken too much from our mother earth without giving back. They came here to meet with other first peoples; the elders of N & S American nations and later at the Peace Summit in Newark, the Russian/Siberian elders and elders from China/Tibet. They offered them all bundles of the elements (shells, stones, seeds, sweetgrass, etc) to each of the elders and also brought them to sacred sites nearby Phoencia. A beautiful way to get their message out and have it understood around the world.
Jr. gave a bundle to the Kogui. One of the gifts it contained were a bunch of seed packs I picked up at the store from a local Hudson Valley seed supplier. They feature NY artists' work printed on a revolutionary folding & resealable sweet little package. The seeds are harvested from varieties acclimated to our area. Varieties that have been grown here for years. The plants I chose will probably grow even better where they live, near the equator. I hand selected 9 varieties. They consider it a lucky number. I'd like to think they'll plant them... in the high Sierra Nevada mountains of Columbia. Such a sweet, fulfilling thought.

Next time it's all about Mickey McSquirrel the Red and how we've made amends after a rocky start.

5/11/11

5/11/2011
Tuesday i visited a OG juice bar/market/nursery in Woodstock under the advisement of our chef and purchased a dozen or so flats of replacement seedlings. Grateful they could provide help; accomplished their seedlings weren't as nice as mine were. Glad to know that though they're gone,, I done good. I collected the seeds I had and purchased a few more big seeds (cucurbits, corn, beans & peas); easily soaked & quick to sprout. So I'm only really set back a week or two in the growing season. Of the seeds that perished, many were slow growers (peppers, cilantro, collard greens, marigolds). The nursery was able to supply all these. Problem solved.

That's relieving. My job here is to produce food for the kitchen to feed to the guests. My mission is faceted:
-to produce more veges, herbs, & cut flowers than ever here... with greater variety
-to feed the soil for next year by growing as many legumes as possible, composting, and mulching the rows with leaves and straw
-and to master hot summer solanaceae
I'm sure I'll add more to the list. For now, these keep me busy.

5/10/11

5/10/11
The weather was absolutely fantastic. Sunny, 75, with a kissing breeze. Hot enough to wear a tank top but with enough wind to cool the sweat on your body when working in the sun. The elders from the Kogi and Hopi tribes are still here after a weekend of pow-wow with the other tribes who have now all gone home. During the past week the staff has been welcome to participate in the opening ceremony at the fire pit hosted by the Mohican tribe or be audience to the many elders' talks in the conference center. This meeting of elders from N & S Americas was monumental, possibly a first. And if not a first, many moons have passed since they have last spoke. Something to be witnesses, yet I stayed away and busied myself in the garden.

Kind of scared or nervous, believing that there was something sacred about these meetings, I did not attend. Talks among first peoples, a group for which I do not belong. I felt that whatever was going down in those talks was none of my business, even though they were talking about the state of my earth too. The inner circle was made up of elders and the outer made of those not allowed to participate in the conversation... to only listen, the non-natives.
But I could not just sit and listen, I would have to hold my tongue and keep my thoughts to myself and I find that very difficult and quite unnecessary, actually. Why is my genius and wisdom not allowed to join the club?
I was struggling to be a part of what was happening without compromising my belief that we are all sacred, not just those with ancient cultures. I felt crazy for thinking of bringing it up in conversation, to seem disrespectful; but it was all I had to say. I felt it in my gut and that's never wrong. I needed a way to relate with the elders without having to be opinionated. In a way less business, and more play. They had been here for 4 days and I hadn't even met them.
The anxiety of wanting something so bad, yet not knowing how to get it was paralyzing. I was in that stretch of learning something new, where you search everywhere for the answers, but cannot find them, stressing out with worry. It's that wonderful moment of clarity that comes after you've thought of everything... the levy breaking. That sweet release when you surrender and let things happen as they will. This I live for. I did not need to figure out how to communicate with the elders, it would just happen.
My housemate Jr. has been the Kogi's go-go. He drives them around, feeds them, makes sure they have what they need. At the end of his long days he comes home and we talk about 'what the natives did today'; what they spoke of. The Kogi live at high altitudes in the Sierra Nevada mountains in Columbia where the snow pack is recognized as the life force. Everything below is fed by the melting snow via rivers and springs. Lately the pack hasn't been as abundant, the valley below drier than in the past. The weather is changing.
They have come here to NY with a message to the world that we are taking too much and not giving anything back. This isn't hot off the press news. Any logical, well adjusted, conscious person can see the rapid pollution and destruction for profit. The greed. The planet rape. The slash and burn of lands as well as it's people for centuries. Why have they chosen now to bring this message? Is it 2012? Is the shit really going to hit the fan soon? Who knows. I do know life has shown me the same answer as the elders bring, to give back. To return the earth's offerings to her.
And that's exactly what happened this afternoon. It was still a beautiful day. I had set up the rinky dinky greenhouse bought for me. Cheap 'made in china' pole framing covered by what closely resembled two shower curtains zipped together. Crappy, but suitable for housing my seedlings trays. A great space to harden them off, acclimate them to the outdoors after growing indoors under florescents in a windless room with controlled heat since their birth.
So I staked it down and filled the shelves with trays filled with hundreds of seeds I grew. I checked on them this morning, opened the zippers for air flow, and again at lunch.
After helping out in the kitchen all day, I returned to my garden to find the wind had uprooted the shanty greenhouse and tossed it into a crumpled mass of plastic and bent metal. Snapped plastic, and of course an army of dead seedlings half buried a pile of soil, lay up against the fence.
At first I felt like I was being punished. For what I am not sure, but I was sure I deserved it. I almost shed a tear, took a deep breath, and salvaged what I could which were mostly tomatoes, peppers, and sunflowers. I took this as a sign that these were the chosen plants. The ones that survived and were ready to kick some ass the season. Hee-yah! I had to find reason in the wind's madness. Why my garden was the wind's sacrifice to the earth or St. Francis. Acceptance. Just another bump in the road. It will only make me wiser and more beautiful. More patient, inventive, and crafty. I'll even thank the wind for the challenge. Gracias viento.

As I spoke to others on 'campus' later they too had felt the wind. Just a single gust that blew the curtains and rattled the blinds. It howled through the trees and swept pollen through the valley and back up the mountain. This gust was noticed by most, unlike the other winds today.
While this wind was blowing, the natives were speaking of the concept of giving back to our mother... I am honored to have such a special wind take my seedlings and give them back to the earth. I will recover and the garden will go on.
Giving back by being a gardener is my answer to heal nature, and we are a part of nature, not separate. To turn the soil, plant the seeds, and grow. A magical perfect cycle. Complete, sustaining, and self-sufficient. I only nurture the process. I am lucky that my passion is my work and vice versa.

5/4/11 - 5/6/11

Tore up from the floor up! That's what my body is telling me. The garden is amended, cultivated and dug into rows. Most of then are straight, running east to west, but one is concentric triangles and another... free-form. I mulched the paths between the rows with leaves and hay. It looks beautiful. I'm so eager to plant my first outdoor sown seeds; apart from the excitement I have for planting the hundreds of seedlings I started inside last month. Some seeds appreciate being planted in their permanent home, rather sewn inside early and transplanted later. Kinds like people. The later is more resilient and likely to recover than the former.
Beets, carrots, fenugreek, peas, and spinach. Though I know people on the west coast are harvesting beets right now, the seeds are sown a couple weeks before the last frost, which here in Phoenicia, is early may. The cherries haven't even bloomed yet. When I left Seattle in late March they were just breaking bud.



5/6/11
Today I woke up alone. Just as I do every other day here, but today I felt lonely. I miss my old pup. I miss waking to find her taken over my bed, sleeping longer than me, rolled on her back, and stinky kisses on my nose. A good morning. I miss her fuzziness & her sweetness, but most of all I miss her constant companionship. I miss her thinking that I'm the best person in the world to be with. I miss her wanting to be with me at all times. I miss being loved.

5/1/11 - 5/2/11

5/1/11
I cultivated the garden this weekend. It finally stopped raining thunderstorms and the sun came out. The soil really does look like black gold. I'm excited for a super growing season. After all, it does all start wit the soil.

5/2/11
Spring has hit and everyday progresses before my eyes. The spring brings, warmth, rain, wind, and length of daylight. Nature wakes up and gets busy fast. The color of the hills change from morning to evening with the swollen flowering buds and unfurling hardwood leaves. All the fuzzes are collecting seeds along with the return of the birds. This one's for them.

A list of my neighbors with flight who have shown up already:
(clicking on the link will just show pics randomly found on the web)
red winged blackbirds
juncos
blue jays
cardinals
red-bellied woodpecker
pileated wood pecker
sparrows
chickadees
titmice
wild turkey
rose breasted grosbeak
crows
grackles
swallows
brown headed cowbirds
morning doves
robins
northern flicker
canadian geese
hummingbirds

and my current favorite and long awaited... the oriole. I love orange in nature and their sound is bittersweet. I wasn't sure if they'd leave their beloved south for northern delights, but there he was singing in the trees. Only till the next day did I actually see him.

Bad Brains Banned in DC @ CBGB's 1982

4/28/11

I've been finding it hard to get excited about my morning journalings. They seem, well, boring lately after reading the past few. Wanting something juicier to write about, I realized I haven't said much about where I am exactly.
I am working in the Catskills at a place called Menla Mountain Retreat. It's affiliated with the Tibet House in NYC, a non-profit run by the Columbia professor of Tibetan studies, Robert Thurman. (he was the first Westerner to be ordained a Buddhist monk!) Rubs elbow with the Dali Lama. Menla is like Tibet House's second home getaway up in the woods. A place to hold functions and seminars put on by Tibet House as wells non-affiliated speakers, yoga specialists, nature guides, meditation teachers, ... spiritual gurus of all sorts.
It is best described as a resort for spiritual events located in Phoenicia, NY on over 300 wooded acres. It lies in the valley Panther Mountain where Esopus River winds. There are springs all over the mountain creating waterfalls and streams (with the help of all the spring rain). It is surrounded by state park and recognized by the Audubon Society as being an 'important' bird area.
The facilities and amenities include a conference center, yoga center, meditation sanctuary, tennis courts, pool and cabin-like buildings of varying sizes to accommodate guests. Like cabin/hotel rooms, each sleeping a different # of people, they are scattered around the property. There's also the inn where the business goes down, front desk, dining hall, massage rooms, admin offices & 2 upper floors with guest rooms.
There are also two main trails; one leading to a look out on the ridge and the other cutting through the core of campus, satelliting to the buildings.
The river has a low dam, probably built well over 100 years ago, maybe for tanning operations. It creates a shallow tranquil pool, big enough to put a lil' row boat in, but not big enough to go anywhere. A great spot to lay in the grass, listen to the rushing water and watch the clouds float through the sliver of sky framed by the riparian maples, ashes, and elms. On top of all that there are expansive woods to explore, where you can make your own path.
There's a skeleton main crew who work all week and multiple part time staff who volunteer when there's a function, getting room and board and the invite to participate in whatever function's going down. Functions usually happen on the weekends, 2 or 3 a month. A handful of us live on the property in sweet cabins, while most other live locally.


The whole place is run by Robert Thurman's wife, Nena. She's a tall Swedish woman with a commanding (& demanding) demeanor, who's astrological sign is Capricorn & who's sister shares my name and spelling. She is feard by most coworkers because she knows what she wants and cares nothing about the frivolous. She doesn't give a fuck because she's confident in her own. She may seem rude to some, but I think she'd rad. Though my belief in astrology in fair, I do notice I tend to get along with certain signs better than others and some stereotypical sign's traits reign true. Is it just coincidence or truth? Who cares, it's entertaining and sometimes a good rational ("Working with that guy sucks! It's because he's an Aries...") I get along very well with Capricorns, always have. They have a patience I admire and besides, they have a tolerance for my Taurean headstrong tendencies.
The point is that Nena likes me, so I'm told, and that rocks. She was super-fine in her time, a 50's fashion cover model and had some awesome friends Salvador Dali, Charles Mingus, Velvet Underground, and Tim Leary to name a few. Nena and Robert Thurman are also Uma Thurman's parents. I hope she will invite me over for dinner sometime.
Before I came here I was a bit nervous about what to expect. Though I am not a Buddhist, let's just say I spent my time with the spiritual hippy lot and understand. Not that I am enlightened, but I have a good understanding of myself, I usually feel confident in my role here in this crazy world and know that your must search your soul for answers to life.
I had visions of a bunch of placid, flaccid people running around saying 'hey sister' and not ever feeling anything but 'all good'. That I'd be in a hornet nest of hippies and either be forced to give up sarcasm and convert or be drugged with calming herbal tinctures until I surrendered. Surrender to what I'm not sure, but I was scared I'd be the brash Jersey girl with the potty mouth who smoked cigarettes and drank too much. The bad one.
Much to my dismay and relief, the people here are like people everywhere... imagine that. And sarcasm abounds, after all we are in NY even if it's upstate. But the wit is balanced by a genuine and honestly displayed care and love from the folks here. I love it. Real people trying to live honestly. Well adjusted, a word opposite what I had envisioned.
Back to the fame... for there are many others surrounding. My direct manager's history is kept a secret even though everyone knows about it, and pretends not to. Remember Client 9, when ex-NY state govenor Elliot Spitzer got busted with the hoe? My manager was his hooker-booker. I think she's got some serious cojones, she just got caught that's all. Nothing to be ashamed of or to hide. It must be a burden not to be able to laugh at yourself for that one.
Now I sound like I'm just spreading gossip, but I've haven't worked with many people who were considered scandalous... kinda how I almost feel my life has been just without the audience care enough to put it on the front cover. I am a rock star, of the plant world. Plants are my instrument and I kick ass. My work is appreciated and eaten. People from around the world have taken pictures with my work, but my maker's mark is more difficult to read and my work is alive, growing, constantly taking new shape.
Bad Brains live down the road in Woodstock as I am sure do a few other artists and musicians, this area seems to be the NYC under-2 hour-drive-getaway and it's freakin' beautiful and actually quite inspirational. Let's not forget about magic. I found out about Bad Brains after mentioning them to my buddy, who apparently slept with one of the member's wives over 20 years ago. He grew up here in the 70's & 80's when the hardcore scene was birthing. He wasn't into hardcore, more of a classic rock type o' dude, but says BB played in the little local bar all the time. What I would have done to grow up in a town Bad Brains played the local dive every Friday. Sheesh.

4/26/11

4/26/11
For the last half of yesterday I raked the wooded trail running from the main guest lodging to the yoga and conference centers. I had walked it the day before and remembered it being just a few leaves and sticks, nothing major besides a slim downed tree across the path, easy to maneuver. When I actually brought my rake up there the work turned out to be much more. Not difficult exactly, just enduring. But there's something about trail maintenance & raking in general. Of all gardening tasks, it is the one I enjoy the most. You only need a good spring rake, (& occasionally a chain saw) and that's it. There's no heavy lifting, or bending for that matter. A constant repetition with both hands who's work can be focused in your core, to rest your arms though continuing to rake.
The path was bordered on each side by a line of rocks. Uncovered by leaves it exposed a path that was about 5' wide, enough for two people to walk side by side. The path's rocks went around the trees adjacent to the path, including them, the first I've seen. A tree-hugging yet wondrous idea. There's something about clearing a path free of all debris, leafless; and looking back through the woods dark rich dirt cobbled with stones, Defined and curving.
I got my upper body work out for the day... or so I thought. Later in the day I helped the maintenance guy, my buddy, collect burnable debris from around campus*, mostly wet, soaked boards and logs that became eye sores. The 'unusables' people throw 'out back'. Where they start out as being a "perfectly good 2x6" and never get used, just begin tho rot. We collect a pick-up's worth and lit it up. Wet on the outside but dry on the inside (there were a few pressure treated boards in the mix... sorry mother nature!). This fire burned hot. There were also 2 old shit houses in the burn; ancient outhouses (1970's?). After my buddy loaded them one at a time onto the pick-up, he manhandled one onto the fire. Though we thought it might just smolder, everything went up like a volcano! 20' flames, a fire as hot as hell. Hot as a shithouse on fire. (The small tar paper roof may have accelerated things, the white trash in us coming out. Lo siento.)
* A term I use in exchange for 'the property'.

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/