“There will be blood”At the end of June it is time for an ‘easy essay’ in the spirit of Peter Maurin
The month of June ends.
The endless war in Iraq continues.
But maybe now that the major oil companies are resuming control of Iraqi oil,
The end of the war is in sight.
All the reasons for starting the war, weapons of mass destruction, connection of Iraq to 9/11, Iraq’s nuclear threat, saving human lives, except one, control of the oil, have been proven false.
Ninety percent plus of the small Christian community in Iraq has been killed or gone into exile.
This is just one small example of the massive failure of the war that must end.
Blood for Oil was the theme of a recent hit movie and seems to be the reality of this war.
It was oil all along.
At Church this morning I noticed how important music is to good worship. Although I cannot sing I still enjoy the music. Our Catholic services is a Eucharistic meal and we call the altar a table and we share bread and wine as the body and blood of Christ. After the service we went downstairs to the Church Hall to share some coffee, juice and doughnuts. This is the time to socialize with friends young and old. After Church we went to a new urban market nearby to check out the local home grown food. Being early in the season there was not much locally grown food outside of salad greens and such. Some local craft vendors drew my wife’s attention while I wandered over to a group of three men in army green with guitars. They said they were called Guitars For Vets and their goal was to bring the “healing power of music in the hands of heroes.” They have guitar lessons for Veterans at the VA center and believe that music, as I do, is a healing power. Music at a local fresh food market seems natural. Sharing food and music go together like rain and sun go together to grow in a garden
Castings & Coir/CastingsOn this site there is has been much discussion about worm castings and coir, a sustainable substitute for peat moss. In the greenhouse at they are mixed for material for growing spouts or in the pots for plants. But for outdoor growing, Growing Power does not suggest using a mix.
They use castings to make tea or for sprinkling over plants as fertilizer, but not coir. For various reasons, like not having a major supply of castings as GP does, and reading that ‘peat moss’ added to castings is a good thing for growing outside, I have decided to mix the two for topping and fertilizer for outdoor plants. Worm castings are full of nutrients for plants while coir holds water for the plants. I do not yet have the scientific evidence of how this works, the mixture of coir and castings, for outdoor plants, but know from experience it works. Recognizing the value of this method is the first step in my renewed effort to focus more on the G.R.A.F. home model garden. I do not have a name for this mix yet but will report more on it as I learn about it and how it works.
One rose has appeared in my garden. It has thorns. I would like more roses to appear but that will mean more thorns. But that is the cost that I need to pay for more roses. I have three possible rose bushes in the garden so with some care and attention I can have more roses and thorns. In general this is how I feel about my GP home model garden. I need to focus more on it and give it more attention and care. I have been busy helping others like Dawn and Marna in the DMZ but neglected my own garden. There should be more production from my space. I have all the right things, mounds, worm condo, tea, worm depository etc., but need to put it together better for more production. For example, at Growing Power they say if you do a worm condo right the worms will increase by 4X. My worms do okay but I do not have that kind of production. The same could be said for my crops. I am not making effective use of my growing space and materials. With growth in production in my garden will also come some thorns, but that is okay. Growing like life means roses with thorns.
Today the spirit of the nonviolent worm, this site, took a serious blow when the activist US Supreme Count reinterpreted the second amendment to say individuals, not just militias as stated in the amendment, have the right to bear arms. In striking down the long established city statute of Washington D.C. about handguns, the Supreme Court struck a blow to all peacemakers. As many Police Chiefs and Mayors said today this new interpretation of the constitution will endanger lives and increase senseless homicides. Most guns in the home are not used for protection but for acts of domestic violence, to settle arguments, for crime and for suicide. The USA is already a world leader in gun violence.
On the Growing Power tour the other day Will Allen pointed out how there are hundreds of species of worms, seven alone at Growing Power, and how all the various worms, unlike human beings, work together. Even in my worm compost I find big night crawlers living side by side with little red worms. Worms do not eat or harm anyone. Heat and dryness can kill worms but worms, unlike humans, do not kill each other. Thus worms do not need guns or any other weapons to destroy each other.
One Drum - Wednesday, June 25, 2008
One DrumTonight Pat, my wife, and I went to a free concert in the park near St. Joseph’s Hospital to hear One Drum. One Drum is an eclectic world music ensemble performing “songs, stories, and dances rooted in the cultures of Africa, the Caribbean, Australia, the Middle East, and Americas, weaving a tapestry that illustrates the common cultural origins of music.” (From brochure) One Drum has more than one drum but the music is grounded in probably the first musical instrument in the history of the world, the drum. Pounding out a rhythm is very basic to humans. At one point one of the lead singers asked us to put our hand over our chest and feel the beat of our heart. Drum music is as fundamental to music as a heart is to a human being. Today I heard my adult son playing his drums in the basement with a friend on the electric guitar. Their sound, as my son’s friend called it, was ‘raw.’ Their music was like raw compost bringing together all kinds of sounds, like waste, into the grounded beat of their experiences.
MICAH Prayer Vigil TodayToday my day can be divided in three types of stops. Stop One: For the third time this month a car in front of me or in front of the car in front of me has slammed on its brakes for no good reason causing a chain reaction where I have been the middle car or last one in the chain. Fortunately none of these accidents was serious, but it has made me cautious about the distance to the car in front of me. I can understand a sudden stop for a child running in the road but this quick jamming of breaks have been for things like hearing a siren in the distance or a last second decision to stop and turn in a place of business. They do not make sense.
Stop 2: Today we had three MICAH prayer vigils for homicide victims. All three deaths were senseless arguments over some small matter that led to a senseless death. Life can be stopped, just like a car, for no good reason. Unlike the car stops these resulted in loss of life. These stops are senseless acts of violence, which, unfortunately, have become too common in our society. What used to be at worst a fistfight now is a homicide. These homicides are not natural.
Why? - Monday, June 23, 2008
The answer my friend
is blowing in the wind.Although we are always trying to learn why, how everything works in nature and life, it is sometimes unexplainable. Why does the war and occupation in Iraq, which is unjustifiable, immoral, and illegal as well as dangerous, go on? Why did my friend need to wait for nearly two hours for the police when her house was being broken into and she called the police, but police were immediately sent out when a woman called about a potential injury after her car was slightly bumped? Why did my digital camera suddenly start to work properly when I was sitting outside of the camera shop today?
George Carlin, the comedian who just died, used to often ask the question why. It has been asked by songwriters like Bob Dylan in the song “Blowing in the Wind.” Sometimes we have an answer for why, but often the answers are unexplainable. In the garden there are a lot of whys, some we can explain and some we cannot. As we grow older we learn that the answer to why does not matter much. It is asking the question that is more important than the answers. Having all the answers is a sign of a controlling person. Having lots of questions is the sign of an open-minded person. Working in the garden is a good way to live with questions. I am not sure of why composted waste turns into rich soil, castings, when it passes through a worm. I am sure there is an answer. But what is important is the information that it is true and the use of this awareness to benefit others and oneself. “The answer my friend is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind.” (Bob Dylan)
Rain Garden TodayBetween rain showers this afternoon we were able to work on the rain garden and produce some more castings from the first worm condo. I spread wood chips on the rain garden and my wife, Pat, sifted the castings. The rain garden has most of the plants in, but needs some work plus some growth. I need to hook up the rain barrel to the gutter and drain the water through the barrel and tea bags to the garden. Also we have a row of wild sunflowers to plant along the neighbor’s driveway and some blocks to put in place along our sidewalk. One nice thing I learned about rain gardens from watching one develop at a neighboring house is that they flower three seasons and are low maintenance. So diverting water from the overused sewage system to the rain garden is a doubly good green thing to do.
Rain GardenWe have heard about bumps in the road of life, now hear about bumps in the garden of life. Today was the big day for the rain garden. Early this morning I went to get my plants at what I thought was the Metropolitan Milwaukee Sewerage District, where I had gotten my rain barrels from, only to find it was not the right place. (Bump 1). Asking directions from a biker I found the real MMSD headquarters and my perennials plants waiting for me. Back home I started to put in the plants in the rain garden, using a mixture of coir, castings and Milorganite around each plant in the rain garden. When I was about half way done, I decided to go to the hardware store to get a extension hose for the rain barrel, to take some tea to the DMZ community garden, and get some more wood chips there for the rain garden. After a successful trip to the hardware store I was heading to the DMZ when the car in front of me made a sudden stop. I slammed on the breaks and stopped before hitting it. But before I could enjoy my fast reaction I was hit by the van behind me and ended up hitting the car in front of me. (Bump 2) There was no serious damage to any car or persons so the police whom I called said just to take down everyone’s information and to have everyone file a report in the police station. This took some time so I decided to skip going to the DMZ and just get some comfort food, Chocolate Turtle Sunday Custard, at my favorite Custard stand that was nearby, file the police report, and return home. Coming out of the custard stand I got a call from Dawn of the DMZ saying that she and Marna were outside of my house. This was a pleasant surprise so I skipped filing the police report and came home to visit with Marna and Dawn, my friends from the DMZ. After finishing planting the rest of the plants in the rain garden I decided to take a picture for the posting tonight. Rather than go into the house I just used the digital camera on my phone to take the picture. I have done this before and the pictures have been good. However, tonight when I went to transfer the picture from my phone to the computer, the disk I used did not work. (Bump 3) Thus I used the picture on the side from the MMSD Rain Garden web page rather than the one I took from my own rain garden.
Violet leaf greenToday is the first day of summer and with it we, my son, wife and self, put the finishing touches on the front lawn that will be transformed into a rain garden tomorrow. The rain barrel is in place, although not hooked up yet; the ground is prepared and the red well we purchased for the middle of the rain garden (living on Wells st.) is in place. Tomorrow morning I will go to the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District to pick up the perennial plants, all native to Wisconsin, that I ordered. It is fitting that I go to Sewerage District office to get the plants since it is by diverting water from the sewage system that earned me half the cost of the plants. Also as a bonus I will get a 5 lb. bag of Milorganite Garden Care free. Milorganite is the organic fertilizer made from human waste. The cycle of waste to green goes on. Who knows, perhaps some of the plants will be edible like the edible weeds I discovered yesterday?
Tonight’s dinner salad with Raspberry Walnut vinaigrette was made with greens and herbs from the garden, raisins, apples purchased from Growing Power and violet weed leaves from my front lawn. I should probably have waited till later to tell my family about the violet weed greens since after I said that my son took just a bit. He said it was because of the apples and it being a “fruit salad” which he does not like. This is true. However, he normally is a big consumer of my special homemade garden green salads. But my wife who is a picky eater of my ‘creative’ cooking said it was good. I chose the leaves of the violet weed since that was an easy one to find and define.
Foraging for FoodToday I visited my friend Harvey Taylor’s house and learned from him and Susan how to forage for food from the edible weeds around the house and garden. This experience reminded me of a story I heard a long time ago from the motivational speaker Earl Nightingale. It is called Acres of Diamonds and is a true story about an African farmer who got weary of farming when he heard stories about other farmers discovering diamonds on their land. He sold his farm and for the rest of his life searched the continent looking for diamonds. He found none. Meanwhile the person who had bought his farm discovered a shiny object in the stream of the farm. It turned out to be the largest diamond discovered in Africa. The creek bottom was full of many other diamonds. “The first farmer had owned the largest diamond in all of Africa, but sold them for pennies on the dollar to look for diamonds in other places.” (Acres of Diamonds). I remembered this story because Harvey and Susan were picking weeds around the house for greens in the salad, ingredients for soup and a power drink. Harvey identified eight weeds for me that are nutritious food and we picked and put in small plastic bag examples of each. There will much more on foraging for food on the nonviolent worm since this is a true way to Grow Renewable Affordable Food. G.R.A.F. All we need to do, which the poor African farmer did not do, is to educate ourselves about what to look for. Weeds are all around us, and the difference between weeds and other food is mostly due to a lack of knowledge. We have “Acres of Healthy, Nutritious Food” all around us, if only we can see.
Self Photo“Be All You Can Be” used to be the slogan of the Army. I was glad the Army moved on to a new slogan so now we can all use this one. Often we associate others or ourselves with what we do, not who we are. At times in my life when I was unemployed I would say, when people asked me what I did, meaning what was my employment, “nothing.” Often our work defines us rather than our being. A little labeling like someone being the “worm guy” is not bad but it can be used to dismiss someone. Dorothy Day, the co-founder of the Catholic Worker used to say, “Don’t call me a saint.” Although she is now being considering for sainthood by the Catholic church, what she meant was really do not dismiss me by saying my work with the poor or my peacemaking was only for “saints.” There are all kinds of tags out there, some complimentary and some insulting. But for me the only legitimate ones are ones that persons give themselves. For example when I was a youth minister working with youth who enjoyed rap music, I used to say humorously that I was a rapper. I even had a rap name “reject” and came up with a few lame raps. Now if someone calls me the “worm man” I accept it with humor. However, I resist if called a liberal, prophet or some not so nice names. To any name or stigma there may be an element of truth but no one is how they are defined. Persons with a mental illness are not mentally ill, no more so that a person with cancer is cancerous. We are who we are and if we are true to ourselves often what we do reflects who we are and what we do influences who we are.
Grape Leaves in yardToday working on removing the grass in the front yard for a ‘rain garden’ my thoughts turned to cosmology, an evolutionary spirituality. Digging up the earth my mind opened up to the wonders of the universe and creation, especially human beings. How all the parts of the human body relate to each other has always been fascinating. The wonders of nature are to me the best evidence of God or a higher power. From the lowly creature, the worm, to the top creature, a human being, one can see if we have eyes to see, the divine intervention that started with the beginning of the universe, the big bang, and evolved till today and will grow tomorrow.
One wonder of creation is the grape leaf from the grape vine that does not produce grapes. ‘Tis the season to pick these plentiful leaves, which grow everywhere and all over the world. My Lebanese mother, when we were children, would take us over to a park or in some fields to pick grape leaves. Although the leaves right here are coming in a little late this year, the best time of the year to pick grape leaves is June. Besides being fresh and clean, one of the wonders of picking grape leaves is that they grow back quickly. So if I pick the grape leaves off the vines on my backyard fence they will grow back again in a few weeks so I can pick them again.
New Worm CondoIn the Profit Free world of the nonviolent worm one of the greatest resources is to turn compost (word yet to be added to Glossary) into worm castings or “black gold.” Worm castings can be used to make casting tea, mixed with coir for plant bedding or used directly on plants as organic fertilizer. Worm castings are produced in worm boxes or worm condos. However, outside of Growing Power few urban gardeners make much use of this valuable resource. As I have mentioned on this site many times before, I am on a campaign to get home and community gardeners to use this “black gold” made from compost that is made from waste. This process of transforming waste into castings is the Alchemy of the Garden. Today I brought a second worm condo on line to benefit the DMZ garden and a few other friends who use this method of Growing Renewable Affordable Food G.R.A.F.. The other purpose of having this Worm Condo built was to fulfill a promise to people of Milwaukee Urban Agriculture Network MUAN to make available plans for building a worm condo to produce castings. Also with the work of Alex, the builder of this new worm condo, and Godsil, the peddler of Milwaukee Renaissance, we hope to make these affordable worm condos available to community and home gardeners in the city. There will be more details on the G.R.A.F. soon about the dimensions of this box, how to build one and how to purchase one.
‘Rain Garden’ RemedyToday I received a Thomas Merton quote from my friend Jim Forest that spoke of the danger of activism and overwork, one of my basic problems. Also today I experienced a garden remedy for this problem. First the quote:
“There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist most easily succumbs: activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence.
“To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence.
“The frenzy of our activism neutralizes our work for peace. It destroys our own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.” — (Thomas Merton, “Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander”, Doubleday, 1966, p 73)
3-D Chalk Art by Julian BeeverThere is nothing like two grandsons, eight and 10, to keep one grounded and aware of what is important in life. As a grandparent I always considered it my special job to help my grandchildren keep their imaginations alive and well. Over the years my three grandchildren and I, like countless other grandparents, have created all kinds of fun loving, simple games involving little or no stuff like: “Do not wake Papa up”; “Try to take the prize from the water monster”, the international children’s sign of bringing your hand to your head, etc. As they are getting older there is more pressure from society to excel in school, sports, music, video games etc. Often the imagination plays a small role in such matters. One of the imagination places from my childhood is the Science Store on the outside of Milwaukee. I took the two boys there a few years ago and the creative science projects; simple toys and science stuff fascinated them. Today, since my wife was working, I had planned a bike trip on the Oak (Grape) Leaf Trail to pick grape leaves; going for frozen custard at Robert’s, and working in the garden. However, the first thing the two boys said to me today was “can we go to the science store?” I said maybe, but let’s do this other stuff we planned first. However, they were really hyped on the science store like it was some long-lost place of wild fantasy. Finally I sat down with the two of them and told them they were so fixed on the science store that either we had to go there first or not at all since their minds would be there while doing the other stuff. We talked about this and finally decided to do the bike trip first, go the custard stand for lunch and see where we were. We ended up going to the science store after lunch and then worked on the garden and on preparing the rain garden in front.
Promised EarringsAs promised in this posting the other day I put three Easy Essays by Peter Maurin on the Nonviolent Worm web domain. There are a number of other promises out there that I have made to others or myself that I need to prioritize and keep. My promise to help Marna and Dawn build the DMZ garden on a vacant lot has an end in sight. They have been dedicated in establishing the garden and my present role is mainly making raised beds and providing them with castings for fertilizer. There are only about four or five more raised beds to make and with my worm condo almost ready to sift and the new GP home model worm condo almost ready to put in operation this is one promise that I can keep by then end of the summer and move on. My role in projects like this and others in the past is to be involved in the organizing and establishing of the project and then move on. I have a number of other projects to move on to like finishing my pictorial essays on Venezuela, the promotion of worm condos for community gardens, the A.I.R. home insulation project for next winter, and on and on. There are many promises to keep, but before I sleep each night I need to remember my commitments to God, family and friends and self. These need to be always the number one priorities when making or fulfilling promises.
Food Quotes - Thursday, June 12, 2008
Today I ran up against a number of powerful food quotes. The first one was in an article about the world hunger conference in Rome and from Pope Benedict XVI “Give food to those who are dying of hunger because if you do not, you shall have killed them,” (Pope Benedict XVI). The other one was from an Essay of Peter Maurin:“To feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to shelter the homeless, to instruct the ignorant, at a personal sacrifice, is what God wants us to do.” In this time of world hunger we have no choice but to feed the hungry. The growing urban garden and farming movement is but one small choice in this responsibility. Feeding the hungry is what we must do. Yet cooking a healthy meal for my family tonight I realized that we take such a luxury and blessing for granted. I say this not to feel guilty, but to take an attitude of gratitude to the blessing of food many of us enjoy.
Profit Free - Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Profit Free, Peter MaurinDaily stories appear in the media about the urban growing phenomenon. Gardens are popping up all over the place, in backyards, rooftops and vacant lots. If I were back in my entrepreneur days I probably would be starting some green business, like manufacturing worm condos for home and community gardens. However, today I was glad to hear that a friend was interested in marketing and selling the model worm condo that Alex had made for me. Tomorrow, if all goes well, we will take delivery of it, get it ready to go and next week have it in production. When my friend, who will do the selling, mentioned personal financial gain for me in the sales I told him that the nonviolent worm was profit free. Any ideas you find on the G.R.A.F. site, Growing Renewable Affordable Food are free. After setting up the model worm condo I need to update the G.R.A.F. site and adjoining ones like on A.I.R. (Air Insulation Resource) system, glossary and others related to the GP home model.
Compost 06/10/08Growing soil has it ups and downs, takes human time and energy, but has its reward, is dirty and healthy. It takes time to collect the waste that goes into the compost. This rising compost pile behind my garage contains wood chips from the dump, leftover soil, garden waste, grass, kitchen waste, lots of coffee grounds and other stuff. All of it had to be collected and dumped on the pile. However, recycling waste to healthy soil is meaningful. Cooking the waste, breaking it down to compost comes naturally and takes no effort. With the right ingredients and with time, 75% of waste with carbon and 25% with a nitrogen base will cook by itself. Feeding some of it to worms will make this homemade soil more full of healthy organisms and make it enriched soil for growing. Growing soil from waste reflects one of the major paradoxes of life that something that seems wasteful can be made with time and energy to something meaningful and worthwhile. The least shall be the best. But like growing soil, life takes time and some heat to make it enriched. And like the garden with use of worms, we need the guidance of the least amidst us, like worms to compost, to make life enriched and healthy. The last shall be first and the lowly shall be the mighty. The paradox of the compost pile reflects the paradox of life.
Worm Guy - Monday, June 09, 2008
Worm Guy(I have mentioned in earlier postings my ambivalent feelings about being called the “worm guy” in church. After my visit to Venezuela and meeting the real worm guy and hearing his story I am now proud to be called the “Worm Guy.” Here is the story about this farmer in the developing pictorial essay called Risen in Venezuela)
When our Venezuelan-American guide Lisa learned of my interest in vermicomposting — the use of worms for growing food, she said I had to meet the “worm guy” in her agriculture area, Palo Verde in the state of Lara. I had that chance when we went to dinner at Lisa’s house and her neighbors and friends were present. Lisa called me over to meet this farmer, Pedro Segundo Garcia. He is more commonly known by his nickname, Polilla, which means termite (he liked to chew wood when he was a kid). He was there with his wife and family. He told us the story of how he got into organic farming and vermicomposting many years ago, before it was popular and many persons in Venezuela knew anything about this way of farming. His reason was, at first, strictly for health. He had some health problems and when he was tested it was discovered he tested positive for chemicals he used in farming. He had his wife and daughter tested and they too showed signs of this chemical poisoning. So for health reasons he turned to vermicomposting, which is really an ancient system of agriculture with a high yield by use of worm castings and without the use of fertilizers.
Garden Tea Bag When the rain stops the ground will be soaked deep down. When the ground is soaked deep down worms come up for air. Worms, like humans need air. This is why good compost has a mix of about 75% carbon (wood chips, cardboard etc) and 25% nitrogen (food scrapings, coffee grounds, etc.) Carbon offers air pockets to the soil. I will check on my worms in the worm condo and worm depository tomorrow but they should be okay. Since my garden has a lot of castings mixed with the compost you could not say it is a tea garden. Now with a little summer the garden will be ready for some serious growing. Also the water catchers below my vertical grower, the worm condo and the plant stand, that I just put outside as well as the rain barrels, should be full of organic tea. I will collect it tomorrow and use it to fertilize my seeds and plants even more. This “tea” like real tea and coffee with caffeine, has organic stimulants in it. It is Tea Time in the Garden.
Let Us Up - Saturday, June 07, 2008
Lettuce and Herb Salad MixToday I picked some of the herbs in the garden that make excellent compliments for a lettuce salad: basil, mint, parsley, arugula, green onions and chives. All these herbs add zest and flavor to a salad. The problem is the lettuce is not up yet. With all this rain the lettuce is starting to grow but nowhere near the size for a healthy salad. So for now this herb mix needs to wait or be used with store bought lettuce. Since all the herbs above grow back again when picked we will probably use them before the garden lettuce is up. When it comes up we can pick the complementary herbs again. In the garden as in life it is usually beter to use what you have than wait for something else to grow up. This is even true for the DMZ garden. Now that Dawn and Marna are connected with Growing Power and have invested so much in the DMZ garden it is time for me to diminish my role. Except for getting the worm condo up and running my role for the present is to work with youth to build the rest of the beds. It is hard to accept a diminished role but I always preached that once things got going, like the lettuce sprouting up, it was time for me to step back and move on. Practicing this preaching seems harder with the DMZ than with other organizations and groups I have helped to build, like community organizations and youth groups, and then let go. I will for the foreseeable future still help with the DMZ garden and record in pictures and words its progress, but Marna and Dawn have made it their own and now just need me for some sweat labor. We got a load of compost today from Growing Power so there are a number of raised beds to go up.
Where Are the Grape Leaves This Year?
June 10, 2007I checked the Worm Condo today, and the compost still had not been completely changed into castings by the worms. It takes about eight weeks for the worms to eat most of the compost and make it rich organic fertilizer. The castings should be ready in a few weeks to spread on the garden as fertilizer and to be used to make tea. While waiting for the worms to work their magic in the box I need to sift some of the soil in the worm depository, worm-enriched compost pile, and use that as fertilizer and tea for the plants. I think lack of spring weather (since it has gone from cold to hot very rapidly) has slowed growing down in the garden. Even the grape leaves on the vines along the fence are coming in slowly this year. Usually by now, June, is prime picking time, but this year most of the vines are bare yet. We got the rain we needed the last few days, now maybe the sun can come back for an appearance. The right mix of water, organic fertilizer (castings) and sun is what the garden needs to do well. We cannot control the sun, but can balance the water and the fertilizer. The hot and humid weather made garden work more difficult, but it has to be done to keep the balance. So once again nature teaches how to know what we can change and what we cannot change and how to know the difference.
We humans, as Pogo once said, are our own worst enemies. I often create problems in my own mind and then worry and fret about them. The alternative would be to just go with the flow. I was thinking about this working in the DMZ garden today, and tonight again at dinner with my son. I often joke about how well I get along with young persons and older persons but have problems with adults in between. Young persons and some old persons usually say what they think, like I do, while most adults, for better or worse, are more careful about saying what they think. I was thinking about this working in the DMZ garden today since I noticed how the dynamic seriously changes from when I am the only adult working with the youth to when other adults are there. Something changes. The best analogy I can think about right now is how an old time gardener or a young child is in the garden. The garden is full of mystery, change and excitement. Old timers or young persons just flow with the nature around them. Adults are more careful, instructive and want to capture or freeze the moment. After one of the adults today planted a row of plants with a few of the children, she called for a group picture of all the kids along the row. The children posed for the picture. Children, like my granddaughter, when they see an adult with a camera often automatically pose for the picture. My granddaughter used to say cheese all the time when she knew her picture was being taken until adults told her not to do that anymore, just turn to the camera and smile. Nature never poses for a picture even though some of the great photographs of all time are of nature. Simply said, we adults are often our own worst enemies because we think too much. I am not talking about reflecting on life, the key to wisdom of many elders. I am talking about the kind of thinking we adults do, worrying what others may think or say about us. I need to resign from the over-thinking society and be more present to where I am (Zen?) and reflective of where I have been (consciousness?) and more spontaneous and natural about where I am going (worm like?).
Now I Can See - Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Three Amigos in DMZLast week when I wrote in my on going pictorial essay Risen In Venezuela about a young man who was blind and, thanks to Cuban doctors, now can see, I never thought a minor miracle in my own sight was in the works. Yesterday when I was working in the DMZ garden I noticed that I did not have my glasses, which I need for reading. I thought I just lost them at home, which frequently happens. When I returned home and did not find my glasses I returned to the DMZ and looked again. I could not find them there or back at home. Working in the garden today at our schedule time 3–5 pm I was joined by three of the youth that helped us, two brothers who live in the house next to the garden and one youth who lives in the house behind the garden across the alley. I nicknamed them the “three amigos” because they are good friends and work well together. Their actual nicknames are Baybay, Dee and Dayday. As we were sifting soil and building raised beds today I mentioned to them that I had lost my glasses yesterday. The four of us kept changing roles, one sifting, two filling the wheelbarrow full of compost and one raking the raised beds. Near the end of our time there I was out raking the mounds when one of the youth shouted out to me and came racing to me with joy in his voice and my glasses in his hands. The glasses were dirty but not broken. I was overjoyed and so grateful to the three of them. Now I can read and write again clearly.
Sifting - Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Sifting Com;post at DMZToday we built three new raised beds or mounds at the DMZ garden and sifted through a batch of worm-enriched compost to make a box full of fine soil for planting seeds in the raised beds. Tomorrow we need tp do more building, sifting and maybe some planting. Sifting is important to make the soil fine and easy for the seeds to take root. It would be nicer if we had a worm condo or soil in a worm depository to sift through. It would be finer and produce a fine soil full of castings. But we do not have a worm condo or worm depository now so we make the best of what we got. As readers of this posting know I am a strong promoter of worm boxes or condo. The real secret to the growing power model of growing is castings, compost digested and passed through by worms or worm poop. (I just realized that castings is not in the GP glossary and will add it tomorrow.) Castings are well known world over. In Guatemala I saw coffee growers use casting to place at the base of coffee trees as fertilizer. The “Worm guy” of Venezuela told me of his extensive use of castings in his organic farm. At Growing Power there are so many worm condos or boxes and sifting through all the soil was such a major project that one volunteer took an old cloth dryer, took out the heating coils, and converted it to shaker. Worm enriched castings go in, get shaken in the dryer and come out the other end as fine soil, castings or black gold
Waiting - Monday, June 02, 2008
Waiting RoomWith the appearance of spring and the end of planting we enter into the time of waiting for the garden to grow. I watch daily as the salad greens and kale in my garden slowly grow. When waiting, one never knows if one’s efforts have been successful. In life, we all, especially if one is poor, do a lot of waiting. Just today I waited in my car when I drove my friend on some errands. I waited in line for Brewer tickets. Being good at waiting is difficult. But with practice, waiting can be a good time, a time to read or reflect, to listen to music or news or a time to simply relax and do nothing. At least this year while I wait for my own garden to grow I have the DMZ garden to build and plant. But still I am impatient and want things done now on my time schedule.
Three Free Three Year OldsSpring is finally here. Some leaves are starting to appear on the grape leave vines in the backyard. It is safe to plant the tomato plants; danger of frost, snow and cold is gone; flowers are blooming and the pole beans are sprouting. Our Faith In Recovery group at Blessed Trinity had an open meeting today about being a Caring Community for persons with mental illness, and minds were opened. The Milwaukee Brewers are on a winning streak. The DMZ community garden (pictures web page is being built. All these are signs of spring. Spring is late this year. Today is June 1st but being late is better than not being at all. So from the depths of winter rises the hope of spring that will flourish into the heat of summer only to fall again. As the cycle of the garden goes on so does the cycle of life.
