Growth and Destruction

 Spring is trying to squeeze its way through the cracks in the clouds and I am here to say that our garden is halfway planted.

I know, I said no more gardens until we have our own place... I guess this is an exception. We are trying to go about it as cheaply as possible, though. So far we've spent only about $50 and unless I buy any starts, it will probably stay at that. I'm trying not to buy any starts (unless they're peppers? maybe I'll be some pepper starts?) because I'm trying to be a little less serious about the garden this year. It's the first time we've had a garden in a few years, and it's a house we hope not to be in for more than one summer (fingers crossed, we can buy a place of our own in the fall!). 

Still, we couldn't resist scalping the noxious weeds in the back corner and putting in some terraced beds, using cribbing cut from the downed branches we got after winter and spring storms. And I discovered a completely grown-over flower bed in the front that I likewise weeded and scalped and reestablished the bricks that edge it. And I made a little raised bed behind the bedroom window that I anchored the trellis in so that I can have a "green screen" of privacy and peas out my bedroom window this summer. Jack thinks I won't like the darkness, but I think it will add a green tint to the light and make it so that I don't really have to lower the blinds ever. This "bean trellis" plot, as I call it, has been planted already with peas, sunflowers, poppies, and marigolds. And in another couple weeks or so I'll plant some runner beans there as well, I'm thinking (hence my calling it the bean trellis). 

The front flower bed, which is already home to a flock of irises, some peonies, a rosebush, and a lone daffodil, has now been planted with sunflowers, poppies, carrots, onions, tatsoi greens, mustard greens, and basil seeds. Today I started soaking some bush beans to add to that garden by the end of the week as well. It may be a bit overcrowded for the space, but I don't think that the soil has done much besides grow grass for the last decade so I it won't be too crazy to flood it with flowers, root veggies, leafy greens, and bush beans!

In the back corner we've got three terraced beds, thanks to Jack's handiwork, and I spent a portion of the day going at it with the "Blister Maker" (hand rototiller tool) and working in some amendment for the clay soil. I'd be planting today, but the post office is holding our roll of weed-blocking paper (a much more palatable alternative to the black plastic that most places sell) hostage until we pick it up from behind the counter. In the past, I've put that roll down and then dumped tons of soil on top of it, but I'm trying to be cheap here! So we're using the soil that's there, plus a little amendment, and putting the weed blocker on top to keep the ivy, blackberries, and dead-nettle at bay. Then I'll plant it with all my leafy greens, more onions, carrots, beets, and perhaps some squashes or watermelons if I'm feeling frisky. (Our neighbor thinks it can't be done, which of course makes me want to try all the more!) I'll cut holes in it wherever I place my seeds and hopefully it will keep my weeding efforts to a minimum in those beds this year. Which is a good thing, because I've got my work cut out for me when it comes to plant destruction here.

What little yard this house has on two sides is bounded by a slope up to a road. It's thoroughly overgrown, a proper little woods. But it's also completely overrun by English ivy, the plague of the Northwest (and elsewhere - an acquaintance here tells me that in her homeland of Argentina they call it "yuyo"). This most noxious of noxious weeds grows up and around living trees until it chokes them to death. We have many large trees around us that I would prefer not to die and drop limbs on our little house while we're here, so I am making it my business to make an effort at reclamation. 

I've started by following the internet instructions and hacking away at the vines which go up the trees, disconnecting the upper levels from their nutrient source. Eventually these untethered vines will supposedly whither and die. We'll see if it's true. Further reading on the noxious weed material put out by the state says that, once dried out, ivy won't reestablish. So I think that a good portion of my time this summer will be spent rolling up carpets of ivy and leaving them to dry on a tarp in the sun. I would love to invest in some native plants to help encourage a take-back, but it is hard to spend that kind of money and tlc on something which is not your own and which you don't plan on seeing through a second growing season.

So that's where things stand in the realm of growing things. I will have my work cut out for me, in spite of my attempts at keeping it small. I will be thanklessly reclaiming woods from the tendrils of an evil invader vine, keeping flower beds weeded and watered while harvesting a bounty, and perhaps encouraging the growth of the volunteer strawberries I recently noticed on the part-shade side of the house... It's a good thing that even in April we already have daylight to 8:30 p.m. because I'll have lots of time to work on all this!

P.S. - I haven't forsaken the garden tower. It's got an active vermiculture going in its central column, still, and currently I have two levels of dirt in it. I'm debating if I would like to buy some soil and fill it up more (or all the way). At this time, I'm considering just keeping it at two levels, maybe adding a third if I'm feeling it, and using it to grow my nightshades, since it will be nice and toasty warm. But as of yet, no planting in there. I've got to figure out what my best course of action will be.

Until next time!

Spring Reading Round-Up

 It's been awhile, my list has gotten a little long, so I thought I'd recap the books I've read or listened to of late here, in no particular order.

Blood Moon by John Sedgwick - this history of the Cherokee people, with an emphasis on the Civil War era, was eye-opening, disturbing, and had a lot more levels of nuance than I realized. I'd chalk this up to me being very unfamiliar with pre-Civil War American history, but since the emphasis was on the Civil War era... I can't say I have any excuse besides this part of the story not really being taught in my schools.

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick - I hated this book. I don't seldom finish a book that I detest that much from the beginning, but having watched the series to it's unfortunate non-ending, I wanted to see what from the series was present in the book. The answer is: very little. I would not recommend this book to anyone to read, unless female protagonists who don't ever seem in control of their mental faculties and racial stereotyping (ESPECIALLY IN DIALOGUE, UGH!) are things you enjoy.

Permanent Record by Edward Snowden - This was an interesting one as I realized more and more through the book that I really didn't appreciate just what was leaked with his leak, nor how he ended up where he did. It's a really fascinating story of how government bureaucracy works (or doesn't) as well as just how blatant our trust of the internet is and definitely worth your time.

The Pendulum: A Granddaughter's Search for Her Family's Forbidden Nazi Past by Julie Catterson Lindahl - Definitely worth the read! In a much more extreme way, she is traveling the path that many of us belonging to groups that have oppressed others are wandering around on these days. Such a mixed bag of emotions, such a struggle for uncovering the truth and allowing the terrors of others experiences to be acknowledged.

Winterlust by Bernd Brunner - I read this guy's book "The Mind of the Raven" a long time ago and found it very interesting. Winterlust was a pleasurable, snuggled-under-a-blanket-in-a-storm kind of light reading. I also felt that, unlike The Mind of the Raven, this book had almost no structure whatsoever. Chapters, yes, but within chapters it was practically a stream of consciousness writing exercise on whatever winter-science-history-cultural thing he had ever come across that was loosely related to that chapter heading... or to a random word from the sentence before. Still, it was an interesting read (would make a great bathroom reader) and had lots of good art plates that I appreciated.

Black Wave by Kim Ghattas - this is a book on Middle Eastern history with an emphasis on the countries of Saudi Arabia and Iran. It was very interesting, but I have to be honest and say that we listened to it at bedtime I fell asleep very quickly for this reader for whatever reason. As a result, I could only tell you the general gist of the thesis, which is that two different aspects of fundamentalist belief systems run both powerhouse countries, who in turn tug at the strings of everything happening in the Middle East. 

A Left-Hand Turn Around the World by David Wolman - thanks to this book, I've finally discovered that I can identify as left handed or "mixed handed" but never ambidextrous. It was an alright read, short, a little bit dated, and a tiny bit contrived at points (though the author admits to it when he's clearly up to something). If you're left handed and want to feel like that's something special, or find out that it might not be (some argue that us mixed handed people are the truly unique ones 😉), it's worth a read.

Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler - I listened to the latest edition of this seminal anthropological work on modern neo-paganism/paganism/heathenism/witchcraft/wicca/etc. It was very interesting to hear about all these different people doing different things, why they did them, and what it looked like, as well as her revisiting the people and groups from her original first edition in 1979 and noting the enduring presence or total dissolution of the same. If you're always interested in world religion studies like I am, this is particularly fascinating. And also if you have oodles and oodles of time, because this book is HUGE.

And that's it for now! 8 more books to add (or not) to your own reading list. I'm still prioritizing books I own and audiobooks at present (3 of the ones just reviewed were in my home library, the rest were audiobooks), but I'm starting to at least stretch into the realm of ebooks again so that I can keep making some progress on my list. Somehow the list ended up in the 90s once more... so much easier to add something to it than to take something off! At present, my audiobook game is waning a bit since craft season is passing away into the warmer weather. But perhaps I will get into a habit of audiobook walks or similar, as they really are the fastest way to reduce my booklist. Furthermore, if I need to start commuting for work (a pending possibility) that would greatly up my audiobook game!

Alright! I've got carrot cake that's starting to smell done in the oven, so I'll see  you next time!