Daily Archives: January 5, 2013

Bees, Garden, Great Wheel, Great Work, Our Land and Home, permaculture

Considering the Lilies of Our Fields

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Winter                                                                  Moon of the Winter Solstice

Greens.  Peppers, especially those sweet hot peppers.  Leeks.  Garlic.  Onions.  Shallots.  Beets.  Collard greens.  Tomatoes.  Carrots.  Herbs.  Then, we’ll have the apples, plums, cherries, pears, raspberries, strawberries, goose berries, currants, wild grapes.  And honey.  That’s our plan for next year.  Most of it anyhow.  We’ll probably sneak a few things in just to see what happens.

Three or four years ago we began a gradual winding down of the flower beds as annual events, turning them gradually toward perennials following one another, growing on their own.  We have to do some major work this spring along those lines, especially the garden bed on the house side of our front path.  That one I’ll dig out, amend the soil, and replant altogether.  Gonna take out the Viburnum.  It’s never done well.

We have pruning to do yet this winter.  And I still have more trees to fell.  Winter’s a good time for both.

There is, too, the fire pit and its immediate surround.  Mark helped us on the fire pit when he was here.  This year it will become functional.

Indulging the mid-winter sport of garden planning.  An indoor prelude to the outdoor music of the growing season.

Great Work, Weather +Climate

The TLF Maintains Its Presence

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Winter                                                             Moon of the Winter Solstice

On the way back from buying groceries I encountered the TLF again.  The TLF long time readers of this blog might recall is the Turkey Liberation Front.  I gave this rafter or gang (look it up) their name when I encountered their predecessor several years ago returning from the same store with additional butter for the Thanksgiving dinner then underway.  That first rafter was smaller, less than 10, but this one had perhaps 18-20, mostly adults, but a few young adults.  Their feathers were a rich dark brown, lustrous.

(Great Northern Sky)

Round Lake gathers enthusiasts of various sorts, some with more common sense than others.  The ice fishermen are staid, quiet types.  Ice houses or small tents covering their holes, they sit still, waiting for something to happen.

The snowmobiles you would expect though there’s been fewer of them than normal this year.

This year has drawn several ATV drivers and, to my surprise, one dirt biker.  The first I’ve seen though I know it’s done.  I heard the noise, the steady drone of a small engine, looked out over the lake expecting to see a snowmobile when what to my wondering eyes should appear but some kid on a motor bike riding in circles, defying the friction defeating ice with the occasional part sideways skid.  Nobody’s out there with their truck or car this year.  Wise.

(I picked this up from a national weather website.  But they’re using our DNR’s illustrations.)

Last week I read in the newspaper the following advice for the cold weather over New Years.  Keep your gas tank half full.  Pack winter boots and warm coats.  Call ahead and let people know when you plan to arrive.  That sort of thing.  We’ve also had the illustration showing what thickness of ice can bear what kind of weight.

Minnesotans take this kind of thing for granted, part of the season.  But imagine you were a visitor here.  Reading this stuff.  With a rental car.  No wonder people don’t move here in droves in spite of the great cultural and political life.