Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Trekkin' Time

Time to go for a walk. I have six days, and there's this 136 miles of uninterrupted trail north of here calling my name. Tomorrow night Julie will drop me off at Croton Dam and I'll be on my way north to M-115 northwest of Mesick by foot.

When I start, I'll be a day behind three friends. The plan is to catch up to them by Friday night, which should be immensely doable, provided they don't decide to walk any faster than planned.

One way to accomplish this is to travel fast and light. So here's a picture of what I'll be carrying.

No, I won't be lugging a can of beer. That's in there for perspective.

For a little more perspective, look at the map in the back mesh pocket. That map is 8.5" tall. So the pack itself is only about 20" tall.

But to be honest, the backpack as pictured is still missing my 1-liter water bottle (I'll purchase a wide mouth soda on the way up there), a little cheese, my credit card, driver's license, iPod shuffle and forty bucks.

And to be a bit more honest, I will be meeting Julie at a campground Thursday night and picking up another five days of food...so that little depression in the top of the pack will be filled too.

Needless to say, I like to travel light. My best guess is that the pack as pictured weighs about 15-17 pounds, and the pack with the five days of food should be in the ballpark of 20.

I'll fill you in on the hike when I get back.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Gardener's Holiday

We got some unexpected steady rain early this afternoon, so today is not a day for working in the garden. The break is welcome, but the real rain is even more welcome.

So if we can't work in the garden today, we might as well go check out someone else's garden. We went to Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, a local botanical and sculpture park. Julie and I have a membership from the gardens, something we have mixed feelings about. We love the gardens and sculpture and many of the exhibits, but the place is rather campy. We have a bit of guilt about supporting such a country club atmosphere, and really wish this organization would work harder to diversify its clientele, especially when it comes to creating opportunities for economically challenged families.

A rainy day is a good day to go to the gardens not only because it scares off 60% of the usual attendees, but because it also rejuvenates many of the plants. Their colors and scents seem much more intense following a steady rain.

Abbey fell asleep as we were walking in the sculpture park, so I pushed the stroller and read some Red Pine translations of Han Shan (The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain). Here's one worth sharing.

A greedy man who piles up wealth
is like an owl who loves her chicks
the chicks grow up and eat their mother
wealth eventually swallows its owner
spread it around and blessings grow
hoard it and disaster arises
no wealth no disaster
flap your wings in the blue

Red Pine footnotes, "The belief that owl chicks ate their mother was ancient and appears in Chinese texts as early as two thousand years ago. Its origin and basis, however, remain unknown."

I'm glad my neighbor Fred Meijer is not a mother owl. I'm glad he has chosen to share of his good fortune through these gardens.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Hoe Lee Mows Us

Okay, so it wasn't a garden tool named Lee that mowed us out, but it was somebody. The grass between the plots at Perkins had gotten so high that it was starting to go to seed, and it had become a challenge to drag hoses around, push wheel barrows through, etc.

But since Friday evening, someone had been out with a lawn mower and had cut a good share of the "common" spaces. It makes the garden look much more domesticated.

Abbey likes it because the grass is no longer taller than her, hiding snakes and other critters about which she is still unsure.




Friday, June 23, 2006

A Budding Gardener?

Tonight is the first day of our first weekend without Mommy. Abigail and I are hanging out at home while Julie goes off to play with some friends. Julie will be gone tonight (Friday) through Sunday afternoon.

Now to see if we can make it without Mommy...or worse yet...without nursies!

To get our minds off of the fact that our house was missing a mommy, Abigail and I buzzed over to Perkins to kills some evening hours. It was quite a busy night out there with eight other gardeners doing their thing. One couple was fighting off the newly emerged Colorado potato beetles. Their daughter was weeding her beans on the plot next door. And another woman had brought her adolescent son out to the garden for the first time and he did a bang-up job of hoeing her tomatoes in no time.

Addiction to nursies aside, one should never underestimate the maturity of a two year old. I decided to quickly weed the tops of my dozen squash mounds. As I sat by the first mound, Abbey said "weeds!" I showed her what I was pulling and she dove right in.

"This is a miracle!" I thought. A gardener with a two year old that knows how to weed and wants to help?

To top it off, her fastidious personality makes her a great weeder. She's not content with picking off just the top of the weeds and grass. If there's a remnant behind, she has to yank it out by the roots.

Maybe next year we should get her her own 25' x 40' plot.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Back in the Saddle

The DSL was out Monday through Wednesday, and last night was a little hectic, so I haven't been able to post for the past few days. But we're back in the blog business tonight. And I got back into the Perkins business heavy tonight too.

It's been mulch mania out at Perkins this week, as there's been a big, steaming pile of moldy woodchips and shredded leaves delivered by the City Forestry Department. Monday night Abigail helped me by riding on my back in her backpack carrier as I delivered wheel barrow after wheel barrow load out to the squash.

We named the chips "New Orleans Style Steamin' Chips." New Orleans style because they're hot, damp and full of mold and mildew.

Tonight I finished up most all of the bed by mulching the peppers and the tomatoes. It was a nice night, with colorful skies and dew in the air.

And speaking of business, Tom the garden manager had his first market garden sale table out tonight along the roadside. Nice piles of greens for sale and he made a couple of transactions. The restaurant next to his office agreed to buy his leftover greens for Friday salads.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Dads

I’ve been unable to write about Perkins or the home garden recently because my weekend involved an unanticipated surprise. On Saturday, my friend Frank called to see if a paddle was in order for the day, forecasted to have highs in to 90’s. I agreed, but that’s not the surprise.

Julie and Abbey agreed to shuttle us to the put-in, and then back home; but between the put-in and the take-out, the Mazda lost both of its belts. So while the paddle was nice, the evening was filled with shuttling all four of us home, plus all the gear, then getting parts, tools and trying to make the roadside repair. It didn’t help that home and the car were on opposite sides of the county.

Frank was a big help just carting me around and putting up with the unintended activity. We made good progress on the repairs, but just before dark we were stymied with a frozen bolt and inadequate tools for the job.

So this brings me around to the title of this post. As Julie and I returned to the car to finish the repairs this Father’s Day afternoon, I got to thinking how thankful I am that I have a Dad that took the time years ago to teach me a thing or two about how to turn a wrench and how cars work. I’m sure he had plenty of other things to do when I bought that old Pontiac at 16 years of age, but he sacrificed many an evenings to walk me through numerous repairs. That time was an intangible gift that has paid huge dividends over the years—not just in savings on car repairs, but also in giving his son confidence that many repairs and other daily tasks can be met head-on.

The tangible benefit to all this year’s Father’s Day activity was that we all stopped at Sears on the way to the car to fetch a better wrench for that stubborn bolt. Given the day and the big sales at Sears, I was given adequate liberty by Julie and Abbey to purchase a few extra tools to upgrade the toy-like sockets I have been using since I bought that Pontiac. I have learned over the years that the right, quality tools make life immensely easier.

So $50 in new tools and $20 in parts and we now have a running Mazda. My guess is that a tow across the county and repairs from a shop would have cost me at least three or four times that. While I like saving money, that feeling pales in comparison to the satisfaction of knowing my daughter’s reaction. As we were getting ready to leave, she said to Julie, “Daddy…did it!”

Saturday, June 17, 2006

End of an Era

Last night I finished removing the carpet of sod from the Perkins garden. The entire bed has been weeded once and it's good to have all that work behind me.

As I worked my way across the bed the last 10 days, I've gotten a chance to closely inspect all of the plants. All seem to be generally well. The tomatoes and peppers are a bit shorter and stockier than the ones planted in the sandy soil at home. After a mulch of bark compost and wood chips, the cutting flowers are quite happy.

Corn and squash are coming along, but the beans are struggling a bit. It seems as if some kind of small critter or insect is nipping away at them. Some have missing tops, others just a missing leaf or two. By the numbers, however, I should do all right and still have some picking to do.

As I was weeding out the last of the garden by the beans, I unearthed a ferocious looking ground beetle. They really are quite daunting critters, nearly an inch long with shiny black armor and large, ragged mandibles. But he just trotted off towards the neighbor's bok choy.

Pests seem to be minimal. Other than the bean mystery, it seems as if the biggest challenge will be keeping down the perennial grass that has deep runners that stay behind when hoeing.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Elvis Sighting

A toad named Elvis? Well, that's what happens when you're out hoeing the garden on an 80º evening. You start talking to the animals.

I spotted this guy (gal?) as I was dumping a load of mulch near the squash. He was perched up on one of the squash mounds, looking like "the king" of the hill. Hence the name "Elvis."

In the picture he is with the corn I planted eleven days ago.

He kept me company all evening, and later one of his little friends came and joined us

It's good to see these guys about. They do help eat some of the nasty critters that otherwise would feast on my plants...although they are admittedly equal opportunity feeders, eating the beneficial insects and worms as well. It does, however, say something good about the garden ecology to have a toad or two around.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

"Hey Mom! That guy just put our trash in his Jeep!"

Having a big garden in a small yard has its upside in beauty, produce and not having to mow the lawn more than a couple of times a year. And when the lawn has to be mowed, it just takes a few minutes.

The downside is that you have no grass clippings for mulching in the veggie garden to hold in the water and hold down the weeds.

Fortunately our city has a lawn waste recycling program and has priced trash high enough (and recycling low enough) that plenty of people in the neighborhoods with the big green expanses of grass curiously collect all their clippings. They then neatly package them for gardeners like me to pick up...if we can beat the recycling truck to their curbside.

So tonight I made two quick trips out and picked up ten bags of clippings. Six went into the home garden, and four will go out to Perkins.

When scrounging the neighborhood for grass clippings, I have learned to properly molest the bag before deciding to take it home. The bag must be nicely heavy, but not too heavy. It must be soft and not pokey. Most importantly, it must be warm from the composting grass clippings inside.

Just think, all that slow-feeding nitrogen and cozy heat going to the landfill when there's a mound of zucchini on Sweet Street hill that would love the hug of a pile of mulch.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Meditation

While waiting for me to come home from Perkins tonight, Julie posted a comment that about says it all.

"Lost in meditation? It's 10:09pm on a Tuesday night. The dog, fish and toddler are all asleep. Strawberry rhubarb crisp is ready for dessert. The house tidy and quiet. But where's my husband? At the Perkins garden. Can he even see the weeds at this hour?"

Well the cutting flowers are all weeded, side dressed and mulched, but it was a long day.

As I bowed down to weed and thin the zinnia seedlings, the following meditation came to mind.
"Praise God, from Whom all zinnias flow;
Praise Him, all seedlings here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."

Monday, June 12, 2006

Crummy Days Happen

When I got home from work tonight, I learned that Abbey still hadn't taken a nap. This came on top of the cold she had been nursing for the past few days. Monday turned out to be a pretty crummy day for Abbey.

Julie had to get to a meeting, so I gave it my best to cheer Abbey up. I offered a few suggestions like "do you want froggie?" "do you want a blankie?" and "do you want me to leave you alone?" Finally it dawned on me that there's one question that usually works with Abbey. "Want to go outside with Daddy to check on the garden?"

Bingo! Tears stopped and she offered me her arms.

Earlier in the day I noticed that the fava beans had started blooming, so we went outside to take a picture of Abbey by the fava beans and peas.

If you haven't ever grown favas, they're worth trying. They are rather easy to grow, are elegant plants, and few things compare to freshly picked fava beans sautéed in a little olive oil with garlic and served over crostini with chopped tomatoes. The flowers aren't too shabby either.

According to www.oceanmist.com, "Fava beans (Vicia faba), are actually a member of the pea family, and are one of the oldest known cultivated plants. Frequently dried, fava beans have been a part of cuisines all around the Mediterranean and the Chinese have eaten them for more than 5000 years. They've been found in some of the earliest known human settlements and are referred to in legends and lore throughout recorded history." I just happen to like the taste and think they're beautiful plants.


But back to Abbey's crummy day. It turns out that "checking on the garden" is good for what ails you. After posing for another picture by the lettuce and the carrots, Abbey was in much better spirits and ready to sit down at the dinner table with her mom and dad.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Pickin' and Grinnin'

It's not too often that we get sunny June days with highs only in the mid 60's and cool breezes out of the north, so I took advantage of the pleasant weather and a day off from work to chip away at the green carpet of crab grass at the Perkins garden.

As you can see in this first picture, I had already removed the sod from the squash patch and rows of corn, with a little additional progress by the pole beans. The tomatoes and peppers are still growing in the midst of a lawn, but today I decided to tackle the cutting bed (bottom of picture).

It's rather meditative work, getting down on one's hands and knees and focusing on a row of 1" seedlings to pull out the weeds. As I slowly backed down the row, I listened to the birds signing and thought of...well, absolutely nothing. Like I said, meditative.

This second picture shows an hour and a half's work. One row completely weeded, and another half done. I went back later in the evening to do another row and half, so just have another two hours of thinking about absolutely nothing left for later this week.







Saturday, June 10, 2006

Sod Farming

Tonight I spent two hours out at Perkins Garden. Perkins is a community garden where Julie and I have rented a 25' x 40' plot this year. We've been wanting to grow more vegetables than we can fit in our yard, especially squash and pumpkins, so we paid the $40 rental fee and took the plung.

Much of the garden was planted Memorial Day weekend, after the home garden was in shape. Out there we've planted the following:
- 3 mounds of acorn squash
- 3 mounds of butternut squash
- 3 mounds of buttercup squash
- 3 mounds of Conneticut field pumpkins
- 3 weekly plantings of about four dozen corn plants (two 8' double rows each)
- 2 plantings of pole beans (6' each, double rows)
- 1 planting of bush beans (6', double rows)
- 9 leftover tomato plants
- 13 leftover pepper plants of various varieties (hot, chile, sweet)
- Cutting flowers (100' of various zinneas and 25' of short sunflowers)

The work of late has been hoeing. The garden had laid fallow for the past two years since Grand Rapids Public Schools abandoned the program. The West Michigan Environmental Action Council has picked up the project, and now many of us feel more like sod farmers than vegetable growers. In the past two weeks, the crabgrass has basically carpeted my well-tilled bed. Yet the plants are growing well and the pests seem to be minimal...but it is early.

Tonight when I came home and was sharpening my hoe (an important detail when you have 1,000 square feet of hoeing to do), I noticed these daisies floating like flying saucers in the dark along side the driveway.


Friday, June 09, 2006

Daddy's Little Flower


What better to start blogging about than your own flesh and blood. In April, Julie and I went to Washington DC. While we were in the National Gallery, Abigail posed by some beautiful blue hydrangias.

As a gardener, I've been blessed with a daughter that is drawn to flowers and other plants. Slowly but surely she is learning the names of all the produce we grown in our garden at home and in out community garden lot at Perkins.