Wilderness Calls by Paul Berensmeier
Dirt First by Will McQuilkin
A Year in the Garden
Walking with Our Ancestors
I get a lot of questions about how to know when to time sowings and plant- ings. The truth is that most of this knowledge comes with time and repetition, but there is a general flow to sowing seeds and getting the most from your gar- den space. First on my list are overwintering brassicas (broccoli., cauliflower, cabbage, kale, etc.). I like to get a few beds of these slow growing, frost tolerant beauties started by December 15, which means sowing them into trays in November. These waxy-leafed, cold-loving plants won’t mind the extra short days and cold nights offered at the start of the year. My internal garden clock really starts ticking in February. This is the time to get busy in a greenhouse (provided you have access to one) sowing seeds for your summer garden. I aim to start sowing annual favorites like solanums (tomatoes, peppers and eggplant) and cucurbits (summer squash, cucumbers and melons) between February 14 and March 14 to ensure that they’re ready to go in the ground 6-8 weeks later in April or May at the latest. The busy sowing season continues as we seed more heat loving crops like win- ter squash, additional successions of cucumbers and summer squash, alongside direct sown veggies like arugula, carrots, radishes and turnips. Carrots take a long time, so we try and direct sow our first beds between March 15-April 15, to ensure that we can start harvesting around July 1. Throughout the summer we continue growing successions of quick-crops like lettuce and bunching onions, which are easy to interplant and can be on your sowing schedule more-or-less year round, given that they don’t mind heat or cold, and mature relatively quickly. Successions generally take place 6 weeks following the preceding planting. Garlic and onions are the last items on my crop plan before we button up for the winter. We sow onions October 1, and aim to have them in the ground November 15. Garlic also goes in the ground as a direct sown crop by October 31. My mind switches to cover cropping in the Fall, but you can continue to plant out cold tolerant plants like those in paragraph 2, which can also be sown again in September for planting in October/November for a wonderful winter garden. I aim to have all my fields planted with cover or production crops by October 31 to allow them to establish before the frost arrives in November. Of course, all of this is weather dependent, and subject to change each year, but hopefully this gives you a general idea of the flow of a year in the garden. – hardly any of it is good. I’m optimistic and I do have hope -- hope for the future and trust that this earthly starship that we are inhabiting will right itself. My hope comes from the voices of young people in my life, my daughter and grandchildren, and other young men and strong women who are very informed and are finding their voices. I have to keep reminding myself and others that it’s only been since 1920 that women have had the right to vote in the United States. I harken to the voices of women -- Frances Perkins, Eleanor Roosevelt, Hilary Clinton, Barbara Boxer, Elizabeth Warren, Michelle Obama, Rachel Maddow. And the voices of the women victims who have found the courage to come forward and speak out about how they, as children were lured into the trap of wealth and power created by the likes of Epstein and Company and all of his customers and associates. Women’s voices have been silenced for millennia. It is said that money talks. So I remind myself that it’s only since 1974 that women have had control of their own finances in the United States of America and it’s only been 52 years that women could own property and have credit cards in their own name without the permission of a man. I am encouraged when I see local women like Amy Valens, Wendy Kallins and Julie Egger stepping up, organizing effective social action political events and activities that help us to exercise our political strength. Strength in numbers. Women are coming of age and finding ways to amplify their voices. It’s not easy for many of us women, whose voices have been silenced for generations to now understand and exercise our strength power in the public arena. We need to continue to think globally and act locally. We need to organize, show up and speak truth to power. We want our grandchildren to know what we did, how we spoke out, how we stood up to the oligarchs during these dreadful times. We need to think of being Woke not as an insult but as a Badge of Honor.
Dark . . . night . . . something stirs . . . guides . . . “Write from spirit.” How? Arise . . . quiet. Tiptoe . . . outside. Stars . . . owls . . . silence. Listen to the creek. Move with your spirit. Remember . . . Nakai stands before me with native flute. “We are the very tip of this great thing, of countless generations that have given us life. We are the nerve ending of this power. This great being. So it’s important to lead your life in a manner whereby the power will know that this is a good place to be in. When you were born, you scripted a note to yourself. This is what I will do here. It’s in the closet of your mind. Play your flute . . . it’s a key. Let it carry you in the recesses of your mind to that closet. Open the door, dust off the note . . . and remember why you’re here. You were born here with a very special journey in mind.” Messages . . . we walk in the footsteps of our ancestors . . . we are part of them through blood memory. Let’s remember. The scene changes . . . I’m transported . . . see images. My native teacher appears . . . looks into the sacred fire . . . “Remember, the greatest teacher is the natural world.” Let’s go into nature . . . slow down . . . pause . . . connect with our ancestors . . . let them guide us . . . remembering why we came here. Let’s go . . . and do . . . and be who we really are . . . “For,” he said, “The benefit of all beings.” Let’s be of benefit here! It is a good time now . . . to pause . . . slow down in nature . . . remember why we came here . . . and make this a better place for us all. Owl calls . . . Nakai plays his flute . . . patterns playing these teachings into my being. I float with them. Remember these patterns . . . so you can bring them as a gift in your own playing. We are these great beings . . . the very head of all our ancestors. Buoyed by countless generations . . . now in the lead . . . we can do wondrous things! So I walk with the ancestors . . . in Valley nature . . . leading the way today. Memories . . . Dad the artist smiles by my side editing another Valley nature movie. Grandpa ’Santa’ says, “Live life to the fullest!” My Mother of the Valley says, “Yes, you can . . . with the Three T’s . . . Timing . . . Technique . . . Tactic.” An image . . . she rises early again . . . the time of prayer . . . on Mt. Barnabe. The sun is flooding the Valley . . . it warms everyone. She is offering her hand. Let’s hold it . . . walk with the ancestors . . . in nature here. Let’s pause in this peaceful place . . . and remember to complete our special journey. . . . Editors note: Paul wrote a special flute piece (“Nakai Muse”). A gift of this music. It’s on YouTube (combined with Valley nature scenes!). Go to “Paul Berensmeier YouTube channel”. Click on “Nakai Muse.” Reflections continued from page 14 But for many people my age and younger, the computer age has become a source of frustration and social isolation. When it comes to informational technology, we are in the midst of a generational digital divide. For lots of oldsters, computers and cell phones are baffling. Some of my friends don’t even own cell phones and I do worry about them. What if they fell or needed help? What if something terrible should happen? I also worry about the addiction to our phones that many of us are experiencing, myself included. First thing in the morning, even before I get out of bed, I reach for my phone. All throughout the day I check my iPhone or my computer for the latest news flashes, reading text messages, erasing a barrage of useless emails or attending Zoom meetings, medical consults and everything else – you name it. We have created a society where there are fewer and fewer opportunities to be together in community. It’s harder to get around especially for older people who can’t drive anymore and even for those of us who are still driving – going out and driving at night in stormy weather is not a good idea, I spend a lot of time alone. Most of the time, I don’t turn on the TV, or listen to podcasts or music. Mostly I just bumble about the house doing this and, avoiding certain tasks and intentions. I think about doing chair yoga but then I don’t get to it, and then I think about the endless sorting of papers, old files, and photos and stuff. I spend time contemplating trying to decide what I still need and stuff, old clothes and papers that that I need to get rid of. I don’t make a lot of progress. I often try to step outside on a nice day to sit and catch a few rays of sunshine and vitamin D when it’s not storming. Some might call it procrastination. Another way to think of it is meditation. Very Zen. Chop wood. Carry water. By about 6 or 7 o’clock on most winter evenings, I turn on the TV for the news. My mother used to say “No news is good news”. Today we are bombarded with news
SGV Community Center Stone Soup Page 15
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator