temporaryreality | Entries tagged with gardening

I had a flurry of work over the last two weeks and now have at least a day or two off, so I thought I'd post an update of the various goings-on and revisit them in my downtime.

The trivium project: I had to give in and order a hard copy of Hawkings A Brief History of Time. Having to wait for available library ebooks coupled with the hard two-week deadline meant I just never had the book at the right time. So, a real book has been duly ordered. I continue to make my slow way through The Cosmic Doctrine, and haven't touched any other creation stories, though the few books I have that are relevant still sit in a pile in the living room. There won't be much headway until I make headway through this cosmogony section. I'll probably post, though, something on what I'm reading and what I think of it. Feel free to ignore :)
The sonnet project: this also languished over the last two weeks, so I've written a grand total of one sonnet and one additional (mediocre) quatrain.
The elemental divination project: This is newly upgraded to actual project-status! This last Monday, I finally 'fessed up that I'd not been following the instructions as given in The Druid Magic Handbook and much to my delight it turns out I'd found an acceptable loophole in the directions and wasn't going rogue! So, right now my daily meditation theme is focused on determining if there's a schematic/emblem onto which I can set each of the elemental correspondences as a kind of "map" or conceptual framework that expresses some of their relationships. I might be way off the mark or way too early in the process to be successful at this part of it. In the meantime, I've been typing up my handwritten notes and will probably have something to share at some point down the line.
The garden project (not exactly related to this here blog, but might as well report on it since I've talked about my garden in the past): This is not going very well! We had two scorching heatwaves, regional fires, and I was busy when we did have tolerable weather. The vegetable garden is what I'm trying to establish and right now it's a dry barren plot. At least the fruit trees aren't dead, but I am late to get a load of compost (need to really enrich the soil), not to mention start seeds. I do have a few cabbages and kale seedlings going, but... seriously, it's been a dispiriting weight on my mind. Also, we lost a chicken in the heat and ended up giving away the remaining bird when I couldn't find any adult hens to adopt-in.

Current Location: in full view of the barren garden

After reading my earlier post about growing olives and the ways I've thought of using them,

methylethyl mentioned the type of oil lamp that can be made out of a glass jar (usually using a metal-wire thingamobob to hold the wick up above the oil's surface) as an option for me, should I ever press my olives for oil. I'm still rather attached to my traditional style pottery oil lamp, though - the one that I said makes me think of doing pottery so I could learn to make such a thing (and really, that interest is not fueled by any other object!). It's a replica of an ancient lamp (maybe Hebrew?) that my mom bought for me at a museum in southern California.

Just because, I thought I'd post a picture of it.

Just for good measure, here are more, found on the internet - so beautiful! - and to me they seem a fitting addition to an altar.

That reminded me that I hadn't updated my olive-using progress. I brined some around December, following one set of instructions, here. This time the mold was not an issue. I changed the salt-brine a few times and while the pits are definitely big, the meat of the olives is tasty.

I'm introducing Athena into my SOP and my olives were placed on the altar as an offering.

And, (like I said, these are "some indirectly related things") here's the latest incarnation of the front yard, yesterday evening.

Current Mood: anxious

Speaking of "doing the right thing in your corner of the world," and continuing along from my earlier post, here are some of the plants with edible parts that I've planted in my front yard.

This is an extremly paltry list of plants that can double as food sources and ornamentals - I leaned heavily toward the medicinal and culinary herbs in this part of my yard, so edibles kind of got short shrift. What I have, though can be chalked up to the more drought and neglect tolerant of the edibles one might plant in a Mediterranean climate. I have a somewhat tough-love approach to gardening (which is why I'm, thus far, a vegetable gardener of middling ability. I tend to under-water and that consigns many of my plants to a hardscrabble existence) and that influences what survives and what thrives.

Pineapple Guava or Feijoa (Acca sellowiana) does really well on the central coast of CA, where I first encountered it. It seems to tolerate the heat of the Sacramento Valley, though it does appreciate adequate water to help it keep its fruit. It's got a spicy sweetness, slightly gritty flesh, and is almost never available commercially. I'm wondering how the dried sliced fruit would be added to other herbs for a tea. That may be the next experiment I undertake with fresh-from-the-garden produce. Fruit ripens in winter. In the spring, the pink and white, showy, flowers can be eaten. The petals are succulent and sweet.

Onions, garlic, shallots and jiu cai (Allium tuberosum), which is a Chinese variety we call garlic chives, the leaves of which are traditionally sautéed or added to dumpling filling - it's strongly flavored, but tasty. As these are all in the Allium family, it might be wise to not allow these to regrow every year in the same spot, so as to prevent the fungal problems that some alliums are prone to. Of course, with A. tuberosum being a perennial, I may just let them stay where they are. If I lived where it was colder and wetter, I'd plant Bärlauch or the North American analog, ramps.

Soaproot (Chlorogalum pomeridianum). This is a native plant, used widely throughout the region prior to European arrival, for a great number of things. The bulbs are covered in a "mat" of course hairs that can be made into brushes and the inner flesh of the bulb contains saponins and other compounds - the products that can be made or derived from the bulb include soap, glue, fish toxin (for stun-fishing), medicines, and, when well-roasted, food. I've seen mentions that young leaves are edible as well. I've not tried it (yet) but perhaps I will when I have more than just one plant. Given how prolifically it bloomed this year, and how many seeds set, I may have several next season. This plant is an evening bloomer that's beloved by carpenter bees and bumblebees - and it's the preferred overnight spot for the sweat bees and several species of small wasps who inhabit my garden. This article provides a good introduction to the plant: https://baynature.org/article/versatile-bulb-many-uses-soaproot/.

Goji (Lycium barbarum). Technically the variety I've planted is Himalayan or Tibetan Goji - there seems to be some confusion among suppliers in the US (intentional or accidentally, I can't tell) and they're conflating the two available Chinese boxthorns we call goji. Online, photos of one are often listed under the other's name, and since everyone's hopping on the superfoods bandwagon retailers are vague about what they're selling. I bought my starts from Baker Creek Heirlooms and only after I'd planted them and tasted the fruit did I go back and find they're not being sold under their Latin name and that they've been re-branded with the common name of "Scarlet goji berry." If you taste a ripe berry (or dry it and taste it) and it's not remotely palatable, you've probably got Lycium barbarum. If you taste a packaged (imported from China) goji berry, there's a pleasant sweetness that Lycium barbarum doesn't have. Even Plants for a Future mentions a "mild sweet licorice flavor" for L. barbarum. So, buyer beware - nobody seems to know what they're talking about. I frankly have no desire to consume the berries from my plants. In fact, I cut them down last year, thinking I'd not waste time or space on the "wrong" plant. Of course, plants are who they are, and this plant re-sprouts from any root pieces left behind. Not knowing that, I just chopped it off at soil level. Therefore, I still have L. barbarum. :) Why do I add it to the edibles list if its berry flavor makes it inedible? Because you can actually eat the leaves! When it re-sprouted in spring I decided to give it another try and that's when I realized I'd overlooked the leaves' edibility. I admit, I've cultivated a fondness for bitter greens - something that's necessary if you're going to eat goji leaves. I found it enjoyable. I have not done much research into whether both varieties have been used medicinally in China, so can't claim L. barbarum is the same as L. chinense (or vice versa) in that regard. One last note - it's drylands "tolerant" but I can tell it'd be happier if I watered it more.

Olives (Olea europa spp.) I picked varieties (Arbosana and Arbequina) that are known for being dual purpose (oil and table olives). I tried brining some last year, but they were small, their pits were big, and the brine got moldy (typically that might not always stop me, but the olives were still tannic. I re-brined them, it still molded, I still have them... I might just toss them as we're approaching another harvest). I've not yet decided if or how I would process them for their oil. I have a romantic notion using it in an oil lamp on my altar. I don't think I'm quite there yet... that same daydream includes me learning basic pottery techniques to make oil lamps. But I'm also known for having a LOT of ideas and projects so... anyway, back to the edibility of olives... I have brined olives successfully in the past but they were Mission olives - the jury is still out on the Arbosana/Arbequina varieties (they pollinize each other so I planted one of each).

As I evaluate things and remove what doesn't work, I'll end up with more space. I'll try to add a few more "ornamental" edibles in the future.

Current Mood: hungry
Current Location: under the radar

Though my front yard may appear, to the casual observer, to be a purely secular space that likewise makes no reference to political economy, there is nonetheless an intention being expressed in a way that, I hope, looks simply like an aesthetic choice. In other words, what looks innocuous and unassuming is making a statement that can be understood by anyone without using any controversial or exclusionary vocabulary. Basically, the statement is: Things to eat, smell, share, and with which to heal and honor are beautiful and available.

We purchased a house with a lawn. As quickly as possible, I worked to make the land available to productive and beautiful plants and their associated critters. We removed bermuda grass by hand (knowing it would attempt to return, but being ok with future maintenance in that regard), dug "basins," mulched with wood chips (local tree-trimmings) and planted a variety of plants.

My goals were to plant plants in the following "categories":

edible
medicinal
aromatic or culinary
ritual or sacred
pollinator forage

Additionally, all plants had to be climate adapted - in my case, that means CA natives or their analogs (Mediterranean-climate adapted plants) and those tolerant of wet, cool winters and hot, dry summers with minimal (but some) summer irrigation.

Here are before and after photos:

If you're not familiar with plants, it might not be obvious, but this garden won't feed a family on the "daily meal" level. At most, it can supplement a productive vegetable garden, but at least it passes neighborly censors and flies under the radar of garden snobs who might object to food in the front yard.

Later I'll post a plant list and mention some of the uses.

Current Mood: satisfied
Current Location: on the front porch, enjoying the view

I'm a freelancer, currently between jobs and not actively looking for the next. Thanks to my husband, whose more intensive work brings in more income, I have a bit of luxury at this time to engage in several courses of self-study plus some continuing education in my field and in other subjects.

The continuing education is related to gardening, animal husbandry, and editing. This last weekend I took a one-day course on the basics of beekeeping (I hope to have a honeybee colony at some point) - it included hands-on work, which was a thrill.

Starting next month, I've got an editing course and fall tends to be a time when clients start contacting me to edit manuscripts, so that work will probably pick up.

I'm also hoping to take an IPM (Integrated Pest Management) course in October as well - offered in conjunction with the local university extension that organizes the master gardener program I'm affiliated with.

Meanwhile, on the self-study front, I'm working on the Order of Essenes introductory lessons. I decided to do that course of study in an effort to sort out my motivation/approach to of my "pastime" of choice, which is writing. I'm in a slump, or a quagmire-ish moment that's a result of old habits of thought that I somehow picked up while young and that do me no good. They've dogged me for decades and they need to change or I risk being irretrievably pulled into this soul--sucking glop of blah and letting oblivion win the day.

Additionally, I'm a bit more than one year into baby-steps Druidry practice. (seriously, small-steps seems to be my cosmic middle name). Thus far, I've committed to (as in, I successfully practice) a daily banishing ritual, the Sphere of Protection. One version is found online, beginning here (subsequent sections of the ritual can be found by clicking on the "sphere of protection" tag at the bottom of the first post). The other two parts that constitute a practice in this tradition are meditation and divination. I did a daily divination for the first six months of my initial year and the results were a spectacular, echoing silence. Somehow at that time, the Ogham and I did not connect. As I've mentioned before, I've had really good results (and developed a trustworthy relationship) with the Yijing (I Ching) - so the Ogham bellyflop into nothingness led me to suspect I'd not learned its language on an imaginal level. So I pared everything back to just the SOP - because at least THAT was working.*

I've had the whole ritual memorized for a few months, but not being ready to face the Ogham, I only started introducing meditation into the mix. It was do-able while I had two weeks to myself (with family traveling I could indulge my inner hermit) but as soon as the "hermitage" reverted to real life, I found it really difficult to continue.

Frankly, I have an untrained mind and am challenged with some aspects of concentration. To that end, I'm following

dfr1973 's lead and looking into William Walker Atkinson's The Power of Concentration. I want to consistently meditate my way through the SOP and as four of the gates of the SOP (the cardinal directions) relate to the Ogham fews, I want to use the meditations as a path to re-enter the Ogham realm.

That, in addition to journal explorations about sums up the various aspects of my practical-life and my inner-life curricula.

Looks like I've got plenty of work ahead of me.
---
*by working, I mean - I like it, it uplifts my day, it makes me feel good, and my life has improved in the time I've been doing it.

Current Mood: studious
Current Location: under an ash tree newly diagnosed (to me) with ash borers :(
Current Music: silence after the arborists were here

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