Good Vibrations

Pretty Girl

The long, leaning process

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“It does not matter how long you are spending on the earth, how much money you have gathered or how much attention you have received. It is the amount of positive vibration you have radiated in life that matters,”    ― Amit Ray

Now I really believe this quote. I think it is at the root of what we are doing here, everything that goes on. I have days when I approach a marginally OK version of good vibration ( Wait, I hear the Beach Boys ) And other days when I am surprised plants don't wilt as I approach.

I think it applies to everything on the planet, The plants, the animals, all of the minerals, And especially the made made objects. They are after all an extension of us, and we are creating reality as we go.

Creating a good vibration in your environment means that people come into your space and feel better. That creative energy is somehow transmitted to them. With the arts you extend your vibration to your work. With food, it is in what you cook. Music speaks straight to the soul. I am reconsidering a number of things of late. I have a lot of creative energy, but am not using it. That just seems wrong.

I read something, a few times by different people that boiled down to there are two emotions: Love and Fear. I would venture to say that positive vibration is really how much love you have put into everything you do. Now when I find myself getting angry, or upset, or feeling a "negative" emotion I have to stop and ask myself what I am afraid of. It sounds pretty easy until I am furious with the dog for having peed on the corner of the bed again. That one always stops me in my tracks. What am I afraid of then? Fear of Dog piss and all the work it represents, and how my time will be side tracked while I clean it up? In truth, why does it matter if I can do it with a good feeling in my heart. Uh-huh.

On another note. I have had a colossal failure in my garden, this time of my own doing. The corn has ripened without my knowledge, and I have now more than a few ears of too ripe, firm and somewhat tasteless corn. I am going to boil the ears and save it for chowder. But this is like the most embarrassing thing I have done in a while, and I can definitely relate this to not providing them with enough love, attention and water. I just didn't see the ears, and didn't know they would do this. ARGH. A week ago the sunflowers toppled at about four feet taking some of the corn with them. For those not aware of what I did, I tried Three Sisters, and included sunflowers, But when we had that really hot weather the corn and sunflowers took off, shading the beans and squash. I spent this afternoon cutting down all the corn to three feet. Whacking back the sunflowers to where they had bent over. The beans are in there, and I saw some squash. We will see. I hated to see the sunflowers go. They brought such joy into my life. Positive Vibration. I believe each photo will enlarge if clicked on, the leaning photo is difficult to see.

Fall is right around the corner. I don't smell it, but the leaves have a slight yellow cast. Time to think about a second crop of onions.

Harvest

Onions and beets

Yellow onions in the ground

Black berries ripening

Care less for your harvest than for how it is shared and your life will have meaning and your heart will have peace.
Kent Nerburn 

I like this quote a lot. I try to share what I grow. Whereas my red onions were a dismal failure, the yellow ones have been a great success. Good size, all healthy, not too hot. They fell over about two weeks ago, and I have just now had time to pull them . The beets are an ongoing harvest but some were getting a little bit big. The smaller tender ones went to my landlords', while the larger ones were steamed and put into a batch of pickled Eggs and Beets for a friend. I have been picking and freezing black berries for a month now. I freeze them on a cookie sheet, which keeps the berries separate, and easier to work with. The black berry bushes are a nuisance, they grow everywhere, and require constant pruning, but the taste of a warm black berry is divine. They have more antioxidants than blue berries. The dog likes them too. 

The Sunflowers are easily 12 feet tall, and the corn has ears. Remember the beans and squash I planted with the corn? Well for all my earnest efforts, they are struggling for sunshine. So "Three Sisters" has not worked well for me. My peppers are starting to produce. The basil is trying to flower, Ha! I am too quick. I have found I like it chopped in salad. I have been enjoying the collard greens now for a couple of weeks. I am going to have a lot of fennel seed. The lettuce did well despite the extremely hot weather. That was nice. 

I love having a garden. It is everything that is good about life. 

Happy Summer!

Summer 2013, Resilience

Echinacea species

Echinacea species with bee

Sunflowers and Corn Tassels

Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it's less good than the one you had before.

Elizabeth Edwards 

Everything is a month early. The fields of Sunflowers on San Juan Rd. here in Sacramento, have responded to the early heat by being only three feet tall with full heads. They are now bent over and dry. Too much heat, too soon. But they still did their job and did what they planned on doing. They grew, they made flowers, they made seed and now they are dying. Not what the farmer had planned, but the best the Sunflowers could do.

Plants and flowers are resilient. They have to be. They are survivors. And it really takes a lot to kill a plant. The Echinacea aka Cone Flower, is actually a wildflower that has been bred to be pretty too, in all sorts of colors it never dreamed it could be. You can see why it is called cone flower if you look at the different flowers in the left photo. As they mature the center turns into a bristly cone on seeds. This is a wonderful plant, beautiful, medicinal, and the bees love it. They have been hovering around this clump for two weeks, gleaning every bit of pollen. I am hoping this year, because of the bees, I will get some really viable seed. I save seeds for everything. I wait to cut these back until they are way dead and dry. For this plant the survival mechanism is two fold: they produce seed, and they have a clump of roots that just takes a long snooze when the flowers are through. This clump as been through a flood that put 3 feet of water around the lower portion of my house for two weeks. While I was getting my second degree, I didn't always water as much as I needed to. Did they care? NO! Wildflowers love harsh conditions. They are the ones telling God  "Bring it on, I can take it." The 110 degree weather, even though I watered very well, that is still very hot. I could hear the Echinacea laughing. 

The Sunflowers and Corn have a little bit different story. I am sure this is some sort of "Monsanto" Monster Corn  variety. The Sunflowers are a hybrid grown mostly for the flowers. ( Yes, I will save the seed ) I grew Corn once when I was a kid, and once here. I am doing something wrong because it never does very well for me. Dug in a whole bag of manure. This is a four foot long by 2 foot wide bed. They are very tall - this picture is showing flowers and tassels a good three feet or more over my head. The Sunflowers seem happy. The Corn not so much. I did a Three Sisters planting this year. "Plant the Beans and squash when the Corn is a foot tall. Plant sunflowers to provide extra support. Too late. The corn and sunflowers took off like a shot, shaded the beans and squash. Then the corn stared falling over. This is one of those disasters I would rather not share, but who are we if not our failures too? But this brings us back to resiliency. The corn are all producing tassels, and I may get a few ears of corn, with maybe a kernel or two. I will take photos and share them when it happens. I am not expecting Farmers Market corn here. 

When I have days of self doubt, feel like the long bout of under employment is taking it's toll, I walk in my yard, I look at the river. I remember I am very fortunate to live here, I am very talented, and that I am also very resilient as well. I always do my best, anything less is an insult to my garden.