thinking of family

just finished sowing cucumber and summer squash seeds and thought i'd take a short break.  the weather is beautiful---sunny, warm, a slight breeze through the wind chime.  i'm lucky.  very.  i don't know how it all happened but i'm grateful.  i live in a beautiful place with an amazing person.  my life is quiet and self-paced.  i have a lot of time to think and reflect and i often think of family (to me family is everyone i care for---related or not).  a big part of why i like to garden is being able to grow good food and feed the people i care about.  i probably think most about the person who's fed me the most in my life and how i'd like to do the same for her now that i can.   i love living where i do---the only thing i don't like about it is not seeing my family very often.  i get to missing them sometimes---and even though i'm grown i especially miss my mama.  

taking a little break in the garden

spring

yesterday was the first day of spring.  it was a busy one for us---we spent much of the day running errands in mariposa but we did take a little walk on our 6 to see what was blooming...

gooseberries

mahonia

shooting star

indian warrior

 

buttercup

redbud

lots of rushing around while we were in town but we stopped to relax and had a nice meal at the sugar pine.

 happy spring, everyone.

lucky

a few pictures in honor of st. patrick's day...

new zealand white clover

not too likely there are any with four leaves in there but they make a lovely ground cover in the garden.

occasionally it'll put out clovers with red leaves

 

the clover may not be lucky but this guy was...

 

i found this little guy (a pacific tree frog---never once have i seen one actually in a tree) hanging out in the end of my watering wand.  he's lucky i found him before i attached it to the hose.  he was kind enough to pose for some photos before exiting the wand.

happy st. patrick's day.

three days in the delta

three days in the delta,
a three-hour drive from 3,000ft to 3,
we wind down out of the mountains in a rented truck,
leaving our little house in the pines,
leaving the oaks and rust-red road cuts,
and fall in line along the deep slit of 99,
cutting it's way up the valley,
tract homes and malls and industrial parks crowded along its flanks,
the smell of fast food and car exhaust in heavy air,
and the palpable jangle and frenzy as we rush past it all,
somewhere along the way my eyes begin to feel swollen and itchy,
there's a constant tickle in my nose,
and a haze settles over my brain,
after nearly three hours on the road, we pull onto 12 and the scenery shifts again,
orchards and fields,
sloughs and canals full of cattails and flocks of waterfowl bobbing or wading,
the delta smells of mud and decaying vegetation and salt,
a sort of living brine,
distinct and damp and not unpleasant,
we cross bridges, then drive along the river as we near our destination,
i try, but am unable, to clear the haze from my head,
there will be a lot of work to do when we arrive,
at the far away house from a far away life,
but somehow (for me, at least) the drive feels like the most wearying of it all,
i don't mind the packing and lugging and cleaning up,
it's harder on you,
not the physical work,
at nearly 70 you've still got the strength and stamina to put in a full day,
and your son has come to help,
it's the emotional strain,
there's a psychic toll paid when one comes into contact with a past life,
sorting through the belongings of some former self,
the memories evoked by each relic,
the questions,
the decisions,
it wears on you,
i do what i can to help,
packing boxes, cleaning up the house and yard, taking care of meals and dishes,
i don't feel like it's enough,
but i don't know what else i can do,
the house was your home,
where you lived with a love now passed,
and children now grown,
the decisions are not mine to be made,
and so it falls to you,
though i'd gladly bear the burden of it all just to keep that shining smile on your face,
but i suppose we don't get to choose these things,
our trials,
we do what we must,
and the lessons become apparent at some point,
which is something worth the difficulty,
something to be grateful for,
i admire your strength and resilience,
as we rummage through the past,
packing it in boxes and loading it in a truck,
parts of it will merge with the present and our life together,
parts of it will be cast off,
there is some nostalgic spell hanging over it all,
broken by practicality and immediacy,
and so we finish loading the truck,
and get back on the road,
the road to our home,
the road to the present,
we drive through the country for a while to avoid the worst of the traffic,
we pass orchards in bloom,
and little farmhouses,
with little farmhouse porches,
and screen doors that squeak (probably),
like the ones we used to dream about before we got our place,
then back on 99,
nothing but a blur this time,
finally we reach 140,
the scenic two-lane that will take us winding back into the foothills,
back to our little house in the pines,
and as we ascend i feel my head start to clear

homecoming

staal's 1934 ford flatbed came home today.  he had a guy bring it over from isleton on a truck.  it's  beautiful and it looks like it belongs here.  staal was excited and happy to see it today.

staal took me and zane for a little drive around the property.  it was fun.  zane loved it---he was hanging halfway out the window taking in the sights and smells.

the happy motorist

they look good in there

once it's registered and insured we'll have to cruise into mariposa now and then.

soil blocks

today i made a bunch of two inch soil blocks so i could give some baby greens and lettuces a bit more room to root and leaf out  before they get planted out in the garden.  the seedlings i shifted were from seeds sown into 3/4" soil blocks last month.  i like planting in soil blocks---the plants develop really nice root systems from being air pruned.  the blocks also make it really easy to transplant and i don't have to deal with a bunch of plastic cell trays or containers that just end up as trash.  the blocks do tend to be a bit on the heavy side since i put actual soil in the mix (along with compost or rotted horse manure and sometimes some organic potting soil).  regular plastic propagation trays don't take that kind of weight very well and will twist and crack when they get moved around.  a couple of years ago i built a bunch of wooden propagation flats with wire mesh bottoms (shown below) so i wouldn't have to keep buying the plastic ones.  they've held up very nicely using them with the soil blocks and i've found they work well for drying fruit and herbs too.

2"soil blocker and flat partially filled with 2" soil blocks

my 2" soil blocker (shown above) is fitted with plugs inside that make 3/4" impressions in the tops of the blocks.

inside of 2" soil blocker showing 3/4" plugs

here's a short video of how it works...

i shifted close to two-hundred seedlings this afternoon.

made a couple of friends while i was at it.

a pill bug i rescued from being encapsulated in a soil block

sneaky cut-worm snoozing between soil blocks

it was a great afternoon.

sage

i was out in the garden and noticed the sage plant was looking a bit rangy so i whacked it back this afternoon.  i've had this plant for a few years and i cut it back pretty hard in early spring each year to rejuvenate it.  sage is an easy herb to grow and has a flavor that goes well with lots of foods.  it's quite aromatic which makes it unpalatable to a lot of critters---haven't ever had any insect problems and the deer don't seem to find it attractive either.

pre-prune

post prune

i brought the prunings into the kitchen and stripped off the leaves.  i left leaves on the tips of some of the straighter stems and kept them for cuttings so i can get some more plants going.

cuttings left, leaves for the kitchen on the right

i ended up with way too many leaves to be able to use them fresh so i spread them out to dry on propagation flats lined with paper towels.

by the time i got done my hands were pretty well seasoned and i smelled quite delicious.