Daily Archives: September 25, 2013

Anoka County, Myth and Story, Writing

Interlibrary Loan

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Fall                                                                  Harvest Moon

Certain last century, even last millennium information transfer methods still have traction.  After a frustrating search through various book selling websites, Loki in Scandinavian Mythology was not available.  There are also no e-books of it online.

A library search did turn up a copy in the University of Minnesota Wilson Library.  But Andover occupies the exurban fringe, so close to the cornfields, so far from the U.  At first reading it at Wilson seemed like a good idea.  No.  Too much driving.  Hmmm.

Aha.  Interlibrary loan.  Sure enough, I went on the Anoka County Library Website and located a way to enter a request for this book from Wilson library.  The system, for free, delivered it to my local library, the Rum River Library and on Monday I went over and picked it up.  It has to be back in three weeks, by October 14th, no renewals.  Doesn’t matter.  I’ll finish with it well before then.

Let’s hear a cheer for physical copies and librarians.

Yes, but.  Let’s hear another cheer for the folks busily scanning books in to great digital depositories so maybe the next time a hard to locate book is needed, it has a copy in the Great Library, the one in the Cloud.

Garden, Great Work

A Good Year for the Crops

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Fall                                                                       Harvest Moon

Got my soil tests back and the recommendations for next year’s garden.  This time I asked IMAG0650cropped for specific information about beets, allium crops (onion, garlic, leeks) and tomatoes.  I will use a broadcast for all the beds but use special supplements for these three crops.  That way I can keep them in the same beds year after year unless some kind of disease problem occurs.

This time I included soil samples from the orchard, so I have recommendations for broadcast and sprays for it, too.  With a winter pruning that Javier and company will do we should have a better and more consistent fruit crop next year.  This year the cherries, currants, honey crisp and sweet tango were good.  Plums and pears and blueberries not so much.

Since I decided a couple of years ago to get more and better crops from our limited space, I’d rate this last year a definite step in that direction.  It was IMAG0689a weird year weatherwise and I have no way of knowing how that helped or hurt us, but the International Ag Labs feeding program did help.

A key aspect of the International Ag Labs program is its movement toward biosustainability so as I use their products my soil becomes better and better, not poorer and poorer as happens in much of U.S. agriculture.  There are two primary goals here: soil made better by our growing and the production of higher nutrient quality produce.  That’s a solid win for us and the planet at the same time.  It is the Great Work in miniature, right here in Andover.

Given the outsized (for us) honey crop this year I’ve also decided to scale back my bee plans.  Provided this colony survives the winter, and I think IMAG0873it will, I’ll just divide it next year and not buy another package in 2014.  Maybe in 2015.  2015…geez.  That still seems like flying cars, shuttles to the moon and computer created meals at home.  Guess I’m now the 20th century, second millennium guy anachronistically positioned in the future.

Kate uncapping the honey.  We’ve developed a rhythm, a working partnership when it comes to caring for the land and our plants.  We share the space and the work with bees, the living organisms of the first six inches of the soil and the dogs who keep critters out of our garden and orchards.