Daily Archives: October 4, 2009

Aging, Humanities

Curiosity

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Fall                                   New Blood Moon

“Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.” – Samuel Johnson

That may be, but I can tell you from experience that it can also lead one astray.  Since I was old enough to trek off to the library on my own, I’ve followed so many different paths, walked so many ancientrails.  The problem is this.  Each one leads to another one, or, somewhere in the midst of searching for material on liberalism I might find a remark about Greek ideas about justice.  That leads me in thought back to the Greeks, but instead of pursuing Plato I may wander off to the Iliad or perhaps to the  idea of the classics in general which might push me over to Ovid or, aware of the vast chasm between our Western knowledge of the Greek classics and any knowledge of the Asian equivalents I might get shunted off to, say, Confucius or Lao-Tse.  By that time I may recall a tour of Asian art I have on October 16th, feel a slight twinge and decide to  prepare for that.  And, where did all this start again?

This sort of meandering (I have seen the Meander River which gave rise to the Greek symbol so often seen in decorative arts.) does accrete knowledge.  It’s a slow process and the linkages may not become apparent for years, but I find now that associations, not obvious ones, come more easily.  Perhaps all those ancientrails had secret or frequent intersections that were not apparent the first or even the second or third times I used them.  I’m not sure, but there is a richness to thinking now that I don’t believe I had access to when I was younger.

Any of you have a similar experience?

Faith and Spirituality, Garden

Fall Tasks

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Fall                                    Full Blood Moon

The hunt takes on a seriousness in the fall, especially in the temperate climates like Minnesota.  Even if summer game had kept the family or clan fed then, fall has to do double, even triple duty.  It has to feed the family through the fall itself and sustain the family through the leaner winter season.  It also has to last into spring, when the animals begin to fatten up again.  Yes, this was in the time of the hunter/gatherers, but their rhythms are ours and in honor of them, consciously or not, thousands go into the woods in blaze orange.  This is a ritual as much as it is an activity, a time when we honor the traditions of our ancestors long dead.

The wild hunt has a particular place in my own developing ge-ology and it relates directly to the hunt as we still know it.  The wild hunt rides the skies at all times of the year though you may hear them more in the fall.  The wild hunt harvests souls, taking them from bodies as they ride.  It is said that if you hear the wild hunt that your time is near.  So listen with care to the storms of late fall if you dare.

Squash vines, tomato vines, left over bean plants, wilted potato plants all went into the compost pile this morning.  Now is the time to think about the spring garden, prepare the beds for a new gardening year as this one comes to a close.

In short summary this was a better year than I thought.  We have many potatoes, squash, carrots and a few garlic to last over the winter months.  We’ve eaten many meals already from the garden.  Kate has conserved tomatoes, grapes, green beans, turnips and greens.   There are still pole beans to harvest.  Even though it was a good year, it is still not where I want it.  Next year.

Bees, Dogs

Rigel Redux

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Fall                                            Waxing Blood Moon

After reviewing the stats for ancientrails, I learned something old.  During the time when Rigel and her sidekick Vega staged their break-outs readership went up.  My assumption is that conflict drove the rise.  Can man outsmart dog?

Chapter 14 or so.  Vega and Rigel have not escaped the yard since the electric fence went up with the one exception I orchardfence709mentioned where Rigel opened the truck gate.  There is, though, a follow-on.  While gnashing my teeth  about the escapes and to allow Vega and Rigel some outside time, I reversed field and put them inside the fence we put up to keep them out of the orchard.  Did you follow that?

This  only lasted for a few days while Kate and I gathered our strength and solved the larger problem, then we let them back out into the larger backyard.  Now, however, Rigel yearns for those days in the orchard.  So what does she do?  Yes.  She climbs into the orchard.  Do you hear those teeth again?  Right now I don’t know how she does it.

On another front.  The bees.  Mark Nordeen graciously set me in bee-keeping this spring with the loan of a bee suit as well as hive boxes and supers (for the honey).  He came over frequently at first, then gradually let me handle the bees on my own.  We are, however, in the fall and I need to make the bees comfortable for winter.

Since bees are warm climate critters, not even native to our shores, winters alone can kill an entire hive.  As  you can imagine, our winter puts a good deal of stress on a hive.  That stress plus some disease and pesticides contributes to Colony Collapse Disorder.

Elise, Kate’s colleague and Mark’s wife, got a new horse, an heirloom breed and a black mare.  While putting the horse in a trainer (Elise rides dressage.), the horse kicked Elise on the chin, threw her fifteen feet and knocked her out.  The kick separated skin from bone around and below her jawline.  She’s better, but still suffering head-aches and neck pain.  As you might imagine.

Anyhow that means the bees and I are on our own on this getting ready for winter deal.  A learning experience for me.