The deer has plans

Today as I walked out to dump the compost I saw that the peach tree we planted this year had been a nice side salad for a deer earlier in the day. I was frustrated, noticing the blood rushing to my head and my shoulders tensing. How dare this deer do this! How dare he/she walk into my yard and...do exactly what deer are supposed to do. What an asshole that deer was, to eat. Some nerve.

Okay, so when I started to think about it that way I calmed down a bit. The deer and I aren't at war. The deer and I sometimes have competing interests. Other times we're cool. I doubt the deer is ever pissed and frustrated with me, though they'd have a lot more reason to than I do with them. After all I'm using a hell of a lot more resources than they are, and the land my house is on was their woods a century ago.

The reason for my anger is that I have plans for this land, I have a vision. This deer wasn't a part of that vision. That makes me a poor visionary, it doesn't make the deer an asshole. I have plans for this land, but so do the deer, ground hogs, finches, butterflies, and worms. The thing is, the thing that the deer and groundhogs are teaching me, is that a plan isn't a real thing. It's bullshit, it's subjective, and if it doesn't function it's flawed. It's not that the thing that caused the plan to fail is flawed, the plan is. Nothing is ever finished, plans are always subjective, and just because I say let there be a tree here doesn't mean it will stay there.

Before this season I didn't even know there were deer in the woods behind our house. Now I know. This winter I will amend the plan. This winter I will install a fence at the back of the property and plant wild deer treats all along the back of the fence. I don't know if this will work. If it doesn't I'll change it. Thanks for the lesson, deer.

Really There (Really Here)

I exhale as I walk to pull a tomato from the vine in the backyard. That's the carbon footprint of this tomato. Well, maybe that's an overstatement. I hauled the soil to the yard with my truck, but still, that soil will be in these beds for many years so that impact will balance out over time. 

There's nothing like walking out back to pick your next meal. Looking closer to home to meet my needs is teaching me a lot. The smallest spaces contain the universe. The smallest yard shelters insects, birds, and beasts that we too often distance ourselves from. I've got, at best, about another 70 years on this earth. The soil here grew peaches and apples a century before I was born. The offspring of these groundhogs will probably be battling some well meaning gardener long after I'm gone.

This garden helps clarify that everything we're looking for out there isn't out there. Laying in the hammock in the tree in our side yard can feel like a hammock in Guatemala or Costa Rica. The relaxed mind that I had in those places wasn't a product of those places. The tomato isn't exclusively grown in Mexico, or spinach in California. And laying in a hammock in South Jersey with the sun filtering through a magnolia feels just as good as being under a palm in Panama, as long as you are really there. 

I will wake up tomorrow and not be superhuman

Most nights I go to sleep with undone tasks weighing me down. I trick myself into believing that the next day I will wake up at 3:30 in the morning and be superhuman. Tomorrow none of my insecurities will stop me form doing what's best, I won't be lazy, cranky, tired, or allow hunger to make me irrational. I will move from task to task, happy and productive

In reality the next morning I wake up, frustrated with myself from the day before. Frustrated with the jerk who piled all of this weight on my back, and resentful. Out of spite I ignore the list that this ogre of last night has made, and instead I groggily distract myself on Facebook or read a blog. I eventually stumble out the door, a few minutes late for an appointment, and pissed at the me of twenty minutes ago. 

I face the same troubles in our garden. In Walden, Thoreau talks about how a small garden plot can serve you, but on a large farm one can serve time as if it's a prison. When planning my garden this year I convinced myself that I would be excited to get out there every morning and tend to it. I made too many beds too quickly and planted some things that I regularly use too far back on the property. Some days I am excited to get into the garden before the sun rises, but often my ever changing moods  turn against me and our garden. I am learning though, however slowly. Next year I may go a bit easier on my future self. 

Slowly I'm learning that wisdom is not always some ancient esoteric knowledge passed down on stone or papyrus, but is often the simple realization, after years of banging my head against a wall, that banging my head against the wall really hurts. Tomorrow morning I may wake up at 4 am, stoked to pull weeds under the rising sun. It is an amazing experience! Other days though, I will hit snooze until 10 minutes before I walk out the door. I will stumble through the house, confused, rushed, and utterly human.

Gas station gardens

For some time now I've noticed a trend of gas station attendants creating food gardens.  

Swoon.

It's not widespread.  Plenty of gas stations are landscaped with strictly ornamentals.  I took a quick drive this morning to pass by several of the veggie gardens I've noticed in recent years.  I pulled over, in the first instance got gas, spoke to the gardeners, and with their permission took some photos.

Exhibit A.  My new friend is Nepalese and planted these squash and cucumbers.  Obviously, his patch is highly productive, but adjoining a major highway-- not to mention the nearby pumps.  He shared that this is a long-term practice he's carried in his global migration.  Seeing these resourceful beds reminded me of Vietnam.  Especially in and around Hanoi, I saw people garden everything.  Literally.  Food growing on highway median strips, out of cut milk containers on balconies, in old cups on steps.  I had never seen such persistent food growers and greatly respect the inclination to tend plants.

By the pumps, this gas station gardener had tomatoes, marigolds, and even some roses growing in large containers.  This brings me to my concern: is there potential contamination to the food?  What is the soil like in and around a gas station?  How does the air quality affect the plants?

Secondly, if there is contamination, given the issues with so much of our store-bought produce, is this still worthwhile given the risk?

I reached out to the wise interwebs.  A few friends said that strict environmental regulations usually mean that the soil is safe from gas, however, they worried about lead contamination from paint and from the massive amounts of car exhaust.

I headed to another gas station garden.  This gardener told me he emigrated from north India.  He said that he too gardened this way at home.  He had set up a bed behind his gas station, adjoining a neighboring business.

I could tell that the garden, on a raised bed, was highly productive.  So what about those lead contamination concerns?

On the one hand, I really respect these gardener's inclinations.  Many of these workers are on site more than 80 hours a week.  I respect that they use some of that time to also grow food.  Plus, gas stations are inevitably an environmental blight.  Plants are often the most powerful forces to clean soil and air.

I just wasn't sure about these plants...  I turned to Kevin & my internet crushes at Root Simple.  After sending away soil samples, it seems that the Root Simple gardeners may be dealing with some lead contamination, likely from paint in the 1950s.  They researched ways to safely grow.  The first suggestion is raised beds!  Go gardener #2!  The most labor intensive method is simply hauling up the contaminated soil and replacing it with new, safe soil.  However, each of these gas stations would likely be re-contaminated given their locations and services.

Phytoremediation, or introducing plants that pull lead out of soil, is another fantastic solution.  Guess what plant does that well?  Sunflowers!

 Gas station #3.  This Nepalese attendant lined his station with sunflowers.  Smart gardener.

From the interwebs, our friend Mike shared his thoughts:  "I definitely love... to think that we can reclaim and transform all these 'damaged' spaces with vibrant and potentially edible spaces-- but the reality is that the soil/plant uptake of certain chemicals is definitely a real concern...  Arsenic or lead and some other heavy metals of VOCs and dioxins are unfortunately a whole lot  "stronger" than... plants like a tomato [in terms of] cleansing soil.  Underground storage tanks leak often, things spill, and stuff like lead has a significant half life with its neuro toxicity, [meaning it] hangs around a long time... In certain areas, the toxicity downsides outweigh the benefit of some local produce.  That being said, you can improve the health of a location aesthetically by planting non-edibles."

I would certainly love to see fewer gas stations and healthier job opportunities for my new gardener friends.  In the immediate future, I love their resourcefulness and will continue to watch their gardens grow.  I'd love to become better versed in plants that beautify toxic sites.  If any readers have research or links to sites that have experienced renewed health thanks to plant-life, or a combination of efforts, please share in the comments section.  Plants are powerful-- to the imagination and to the physical world.

Shout out to local business! MOORE BROS. rocks our world!

We have happily found a source for wine bottles to frame our raised beds as well as those of clients.  Moore Bros Wine has been so generous & kind in storing wine bottles for us post-tastings.  I unloaded a few hundred in my basement just this morning.  Rooted may need a wine bottle shed soon... the landscaping take on a wine cellar.

Small business collaboration!  Re-purposing!  Artful design!  Exclamatory statements!

Nap outside

Now.

It's really good for you.

We often hear from clients that their yards stress them out.  They find it challenging to maintain them, are irritated by insects, or can't find beauty in their properties.

I hear you.  It's a challenge.  There is a lot to keep up with, but there are many ways to build efficiency, function, low-maintenance, and pleasure into your property.  Sometimes it requires some initial effort but over time you can find that your property becomes much more manageable.  (We can help!)

Our property felt really out of control.  We had trees that were ready to fall on our neighbor's houses.  The first big effort was felling those trees.  We were sad about it, but we had to be pragmatic about being responsible home-owners.  The up-side is that the loss of the trees created ample sunshine to feed our now bountiful garden.  We kept the trees on the property by using the logs to create raised beds.  That way we didn't have to pay to haul them off-site, but could keep them around.  The soil was so compacted from rescue dogs that used to trample it and all the tree roots, that it would be years before we could have had a successful garden directly in the soil.  Now we have a productive garden, thanks to the service of the trees framing out raised beds.

We tried to keep as many trees as possible and we also planted new fruit trees along the creek bed at the back of our property.  They'll help prevent erosion of the soil and they're far enough away from the houses to not pose a threat of falling in a storm.  Plus, fruit!

So now for taking pleasure in our surroundings.  Years ago we purchased a hammock in Panama.  We simply loved the woven hammocks that we continued to find in Central America.  We knew it wasn't practical for us to hang a hammock at that point, but we figured we'd hold onto it for whenever the right circumstances emerged.

This year we kept looking around.  Where was it going to go?  Obviously, we want shade, and we now have less shade.  We wanted some privacy.

A friend posted a photo of a hammock strung between the V branches in a tree.  Yes!  Now I started looking more closely at our trees & we identified the perfect spot.

Under the magnolia!!!

No nails.  Kevin cemented in a post & hook.  He then wired together a few pieces of bamboo to slide in the V of the branches.  The magnolia was not harmed in the process of hammock hanging.

This hammock is woven, so we store it in a waterproof box under the bush.  Safe from the rain, inside during the winter, & easily accessible on a warm day.  (I can't wait to purchase a few more hammocks as back-up when I go back to Guatemala this winter to lead a yoga retreat!)

And the view.  Sweetly enjoying the lovely land around me.  Finding pleasure.

One day I opened up an instructive YouTube video from a permaculture specialist.  I expected to find a lot of content on maintaining mutually supporting systems in a garden.  This highly lauded permaculture specialist walked the viewer to the little havens he had created in his garden.  He laid down by a swale and began plucking berries off a nearby bush.  He shared that here he could hide from his chores, and his wife, a little while longer.  I was so happy.  It is credible content to think coherently about enjoying the space that you inhabit.

The Groundhog Chronicles

October 22, 2012

Humans are in the house.  Maiga looks out the window as Superstorm Sandy approaches.  A fat, happy groundhog munches on her arugula and spinach.  Blast.

Several more groundhog sightings follow.

Kevin is adamant that a groundhog can take out a garden.  He begins watching YouTube videos.  Friends compare him to Elmer Fudd.  He buys a Hav-a-heart trap.

The groundhog scoffs.  

This becomes battle royale.  Kevin catches several feral cats, squirrels, opposums, and a raccoon in the Hav-a-Heart trap.  Maiga becomes convinced that the groundhog is orchestrating this all safely from his forest den.  

Here, Maiga & Kevin's life long animal rights politics clash with their desire to eat out of the garden.  Maiga advocates meditating on the groundhog, coexisting, sharing.  Kevin claims that's all rather naive.  That they've invested too much time and effort into the garden to lose it all.  

Tensions flare.

June 2, 2013

Two nights after a skunk sprayed and knocked over the trap (do we not have a master-mind groundhog at the helm?!) Kevin finds that vanilla extract on the cage and baiting with strawberries does work.  On this historic date he catches a groundhog.  Once caged he sees that he's indeed an adorable little rodent.  Confused, he eats several coconut popsicles while taking the groundhog to woods several miles away.

June 16, 2013

Another groundhog has ravaged the peas and lettuces.  Re-baiting the trap, this time the hog is caught quickly.  Is it the same?  Is it another groundhog?  Kevin asks me to identify him as though he were in a police line-up.  Yes.  He looks like the shapeless ball of fur that has been eating our veggies.  He too goes the way of the woods.

Meanwhile, I have been conspiring with friends to advocate for our groundhog brethren.  Our designer friend, Oskar Castro, creates a groundhog image inspired by Subcommandante Marcos, spokesperson for the Zapatista movement, EZLN.

Our friend, Mike, uses this groundhog image to turn the tables on Kevin.

Accompanied by this communique:
A communique from the Groundhog Liberation Front (Mike translated from Groundhog)- 

"Welcome to the struggle of all species to be free.
The war of greed over food ravages the earth and species die out every day. GLF works to to scare the rich and greedy oppressors and to undermine the foundations of their speciesist society. For too many years we have sought to simply feed our family and have been treated as second class animals to that puffy white cat. We have to show the enemy that we are serious about defending what is sacred. Together we have teeth and claws to match our dreams. Our greatest weapons are imagination and the ability to strike when least expected. We are practically invisible. We have no command structure, no spokespersons, no office, just many small groups working separately, seeking vulnerable targets to strike back for food equality. Find your family! And let's celebrate as we make ruins of their precious garden.

You cage us, we cage you."

End communication.
You cage us, we cage you." 
End communication.


Kevin feels truly mixed up.

Luckily, it gets better.

I had these tee shirts made.

Epilogue:

Groundhogs continue to roam the woods behind our house and eat our vegetables.  On Sunday, we sighted a deer.