Lughnasa Waning Harvest Moon
Kate took her ailing sewing machine up to St. Cloud. She bought it there. On the way home she brought maid-rites, a taste of Iowa burger. Maid-rites have a crumbly hamburger instead of a patty, a little bit like sloppy joes without barbecue sauce. Kate had not been far from home for several days with this illness. She’s on the mend now.
The new plantings, shrubs and trees, need water these next few weeks, before it gets cold. Their roots will uncurl and extend into the soil, go deeper and wider. By next spring they should need no extra care. That’s part of the idea behind permaculture, a maintenance free or low maintenance landscape. Permaculture achieves this in several ways. Plant guilds, plants that complement each other planted together, and plants native to the eco-system are two primary strategies for achieving this goal. Productive plants, aided by plant guilds, and native to the region make them naturally disease resistant and adapted to the particular moisture and soil requirements of your site.
Even so, they still need to get established, just like all those college freshmen throughout the land, uprooted from home and having to become part of a new place.
All this meant really long hoses since we have now begun to plant beyond the range our irrigation system. Since these plants won’t require additional water in the future, it doesn’t make sense to provide new irrigation.
A few limbs and one tree also had to come down to make sure some of the new plants thrive.
I checked the bees today, too. Still little honey. I’ve provided the hive and the bees have worked all season, so I’m not unhappy. Even so, I hope next year I can get some honey. Don’t know right now what I need to do differently, if anything.
A good part of the afternoon I’ve spent reading Politics In Minnesota weekly reports, a subscription service focused on the ins and outs of Minnesota politics, especially at the state level. On Monday I’ll attend a Minnesota Environmental Partnership meeting that will try to assess the political context for environmental issues at the legislature next year. I’m reading ahead. The context is critical when considering electoral and legislative politics. Not so much when pushing issue campaigns, at least not in the early stages. To win, though, requires sensitivity to the political context in which the issue must be resolved.
