Category Archives: Our Land and Home

Two Little Peppers and How They Grew

November 19, 2008 Charles Leave a comment

34 bar steep rise 30.05 2mph W Windchill 31 Samhain

Last Quarter of the Dark Moon

The big news! I have two peppers emerging in my hydroponic garden. That means the fertilizing I’ve done has succeeded. This is the first fruits I’ve been able to coax out of the hydroponics. But, not the last.

More time on the forest’s edge. Whacking down tall weeds, cutting down acacia new growth, a little pruning and general clearing. One more major project before laying down the plastic and mulch: cut up, move and burn a tangle of vines, small trees and branches cast off during a clearing operation in this area last fall.

Working outside when it’s cool appeals to me. The work heats me up and I can strip down to whatever level of clothing fits.

Garden, Our Land and Home

Crash Under the Blood Moon

October 23, 2008 Charles Leave a comment

46 bar falls 30.22 6mph ENE windchill 43 Autumn

Last Quarter of the Blood Moon

It looks like the most violent moments of the credit crisis, stock market crash will have come under the aegis of the Blood Moon. Coincidence? I think so, but it’s still metaphorically powerful.

All the trimmed hemerocallis in the back have been tucked away in piles to decompose for the good of the land. The umbrella for the patio table has been deconstructed; it broke during a powerful windstorm in August. We will use the skeleton of the umbrella as a tutor for some climbing vegetable next spring, probably beans.

There are no more major fall clean-up tasks. The orchard has fall tasks, but I’ve only begun to learn about them, so I won’t do any of them until we come back from Colorado.

I also need to clear a fifteen foot edge on the woods, then cover it with black plastic and hay. That one I’m going to let nature start by killing back the existing plants. Once we have some snow on the ground I plan to burn two large brush piles in the way. A couple of other areas need black plastic or newspaper and hay, that I may start tomorrow.

Kate and I have our business meeting now. Tomorrow we have to get packed, finish up the usual pre-trip stuff. Later.

Family, Our Land and Home

A Good Shed, Cleaned

October 20, 2008 Charles Leave a comment

You know that garden shed that appeared in some of the orchard pictures? Jon built it for us quite a while back and a good shed it is.

Like most sheds and their smaller inside counterparts, closets, the stuff fairy goes around sprinkling this and that until one day, ten years later, you discover a no longer usable space. In and out of the shed for the last couple of years I have thought, clean this up.

So, this morning I did. I hauled out old garden implements, discovered a big pipe wrench nearly dissolved by oxidation, pitched various sorts of garden detritus and opened up a large space in the shed. I needed to store the six bales of hay I bought last Saturday. Room to spare.

My right hand has a large bruise where the IV went in for my anesthetics last Wednesday. As I look at it, it reminds me of hospital patients I visited during my days in the active ministry, especially older patients whose skin seemed to take a bruise and keep it awhile.

Our Land and Home, permaculture

Before Site Prep: The Orchard

September 23, 2008 Charles Leave a comment

66 bar steady 30.00 0mph WNW dew-point 65 sunrise 7:02 set 7:07 Autumn

Last Quarter of the Harvest Moon rise 12:10 set 4:34

Orchard schematic from same orientation as photograph below. The large circles are trees, the smaller crenallated figures are shrubs and the small circles are perennial plants.

The kitchen bay window is at my back as I took this photograph on the same orientation as the plan. This looks west.

This is the opposite orientation from the photograph above, looking east from the access road toward the house.

Garden, Our Land and Home, permaculture

Peace and Calm

September 18, 2008 Charles Leave a comment

64 bar steady 30.16 0mph NW dew-point 56 sunrise 6:56 set 7:17 Lughnasa

Waning Gibbous Harvest Moon rise 8:32 set 11:01

September will be a full out garden and landscaping month. I have bulbs coming from White Flower Farms, a tree to finish cutting up, then two trees to mulch. Then I’ll be working with Eco-Gardens to plant and install our new orchard and near kitchen window plantings.

Again, on the economy. Peace and calm. Fear kills.

Garden, Our Land and Home, Politics

Lumberjack: The Home Reality Show

September 17, 2008 Charles Leave a comment

57 bar rises 30.17 2mph NNE dew-point 51 sunrise 6:54 set 7:19 Lughnasa

Waning Gibbous Harvest Moon rise 8:02 set 9:41

Enough ranting. The fiscal world will go about its business; Kate and I made our decisions and have commitments that make sense to us. In the political realm Obama has gone from looking like the candidate for change to staging a disappearing act in the media. Will the economy help him re-emerge? Don’t know. Neither candidate seem compelling on financial matters. Obama’s good luck is that he’s a Democrat with a tanking economy run by Republicans. Sometimes luck is all that matters. Napoleon famously wanted to know if his officers had good luck. He promoted those who did.

Another episode in Lumberjack: The Home Reality Show today. The second acacia has to come down and I have to drop it in a narrow space. I’m feeling confident. I’ll let you know how it goes down.

Cinema and Television, Faith and Spirituality, Family, Friends, Great Wheel, Our Land and Home

Chop Wood, Carry Fencing

September 12, 2008 Charles Leave a comment

After years in urban ministry, economic development, affordable housing and responsbility for urban congregations spread throughout the metro area I thought I knew Minneapolis.

Not so. When I drove over to ecological gardens, Paula’s home at 4105 Washburn Avenue I discovered north Minneapolis, the one that includes Shingle Creek, the Humboldt Greenway, Victory Memorial Drive. This is a quiet leafy chunk of the city that seems somehow separate, another urban entity, neither suburb nor city.

Delightful. I love to drive around in the city, on city streets, to places I’ve never been. That chance came to me today and I had a great time.

Back home in time for the nap, but no sleep. A family I know has a terrible weight on them right now and I couldn’t get it off my mind. What can I do. What will they do.

So I got up and moved old wire fencing Continue reading Chop Wood, Carry Fencing →

Faith and Spirituality, Garden, GeekWorld, Great Work, Our Land and Home, Politics

Change and Changes

September 9, 2008 Charles Leave a comment

68 bar falls 30.06 0mph NNE dew-point 38 sunrise 6:45 set 7:34 Lughnasa

First Quarter of the Harvest Moon rise 4:49 set 12:17

Corn, Bleeding Heart, Impatiens, Beets and Beans at 3pm

This morning I got up, ate breakfast and went straight outside. Posting in the morning has begun to interfere with other projects. Even so, I like to do it. The posting gives a start to the day. Just too long a start sometimes.

Till noon I cleaned up old wire fencing so we can recycle it on Saturday. At noon I began the sun/shade survey for our ecological gardens project. Instead of shading in a map I decided to use the digital camera and print contact sheets of prints shot at 9AM, noon, 3pm, 6pm. I stand in the same location for each shot. It takes about 20 images to cover the whole yard.

After the nap I went out into the wide world to collect meds and some ink for my Canon color printer. This is the first time I have purchased ink for this printer, in fact it’s the first time I’ve purchased ink for any printer other than my HP L4 since 1991. The cost of color ink impressed me. High. Ouch.

About a year ago right now Kate and I attended a conference in Iowa City, Iowa. Focused on climate change and the issues involved, I came away convinced I needed to get involved in some direct way. I made a list of things to do at the conference, but as the year has gone by I realize I have gotten a much better handle on personal action. Continue reading Change and Changes →

Faith and Spirituality, Garden, Great Work, Our Land and Home, Politics

Ecological Gardens

September 3, 2008 Charles Leave a comment

64 bar falls 30.11 4mph N dew-point 45 sunrise 6:38 set 7:46

Waxing Crescent of the Harvest Moon rise 11:00 set 9:02

The morning. More gazpacho. Another triple batch. This time Kate will can it. We had a blind taste test and found we liked the canned gazpacho even more than the fresh. Go figure. Making a large batch is not difficult, but it does consume time. A lot of steps. Cut. Mash. Pulse. (cuisinart) Dice. Blend.

This afternoon. Kate wanted to see what we won on a scratch game card that came in the newspaper. So I called. The result was a canned patter by a nice young woman who wanted to sell us a $4,600 vacuum cleaner and air freshener! Geez. We stopped the pitch in mid-stride, she gathered up the Defender and the Majestic and walked out of house. Whooo.

At 3 Paula Westmoreland and Lindsay Reban of Ecological Gardens came. They will develop a phased plan for us that will stretch out over 4-5 years. Their work has Permaculture as its basis, so they will help move our property further in the direction of sustainability. I plan to document the process on a companion website to AncienTrails. I have no name for it, but when I’m ready to get going, I’ll let you know.

I liked Paula and Lindsay. They seemed like the kind of folks I understand. The first product from them will be an orchard plan, then a more comprehensive plan for projects spaced over time. It will be fun and will take our property into another zone.

Garden, Great Work, Our Land and Home

Football and Iris, an Excellent Saturday

August 23, 2008 Charles Leave a comment

57 bar rises 30.06 0mph N dew-point 50 sunrise 6:26 sunset 8:05 Lughnasa

Last Quarter of the Corn Moon

The weather has gotten cooler and dryer. A taste of autumn today. Most Minnesotans enjoy fall the most with winter second.

Read my lily culture book this evening and got the information I needed to dig up the lily bulbs. They will go in amongst the iris. Later this fall I will plant daffodils in amongst them, too.

Paula Westmoreland from Ecological Gardens got back in touch with me today. We’ll connect on Monday. Kate and I want her to come out and help us with a site plan and assessment of our potential for permaculture. She can give us concrete next steps to take: plant lists, landscaping advice, energy conservation and capture ideas, perhaps even some modest income producing possibilities. This will give us a set of goals and objectives against which we can work.

I can do much of the work myself. What I can’t do we’ll hire. Exciting.

The Vikes looked pretty good. The defense did a great job. The offense sputtered, chugged, then hit on all cylinders for a few beautiful plays, then sputtered again. The announcers made a good point. At this time in the season the defense has its act together better than the offense. Offense relies on split second timing. Frerotte is our second string quarterback so in spite of a good game from him, the offense played with out its key player, Tavaris Jackson. His year will probably end up being our year, so here’s hoping he comes on strong after the knee injury.