Talk Dirt to Me
dirt is not soil
Sometimes in passing some citified slicker will claim to be working the dirt in his/her garden. I usually smile politely and edge away. Gardens don’t have dirt in them, they have soil. The difference lies not only in the connotation of “dirt” and...Cantaloupe
I have only recently begun growing Cucumis melo var. cantalupensis. A good cantaloupe delights me and monster #2. We sit an munch away at breakfast while monster #1 prattles on about pokemon or some such rot. The smell alone, the musk, can set my mouth to watering....Corn armor
I wish I had some armor for my corn. Some years ago I grew corn but didn’t wind up eating a single ear. All of the ears were consumed either by evil ear boring caterpillars or raccoons. Sweet corn is delicious and the varmints know it. Corn is also a big feeder;...Opiliones sp.
I spent the most recent on a secludedish island with several associates. We canoed out for a weekend of quiet reverence and prayerful vigils. Needless to say, the talk turned to daddy long legs, or “harvestmen” as wikipedia says they are commonly called....New additions
We have again expanded the animal population of the household. Apparently her name is Balance, because, according to the “gentleman” in the picture she’s “really good at balancing, no, like, really.” I might also take this moment to...Come on Irene!
Certainly I’m the first to make that allusion. As I write the rain gently falls outside, but I’ve been assured by some time tomorrow my dead bloated body will be floating down the Mill River as our town is ravaged by a category 16 hurricane. In preparation...Bucket of rain
Bucket of rain The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center just outside of Austin, TX has an assortment of rainwater catchment systems. These satisfy all of the center’s horticultural needs. Of course they only grow native plants, so the need is lower. Nevertheless,...Freezing beans and an unfortunate guest.
In my last blogulation, I discussed the hurried harvest brought on by Ms. Irene. When a lot of food comes in, I must do something with it: I dried basil in the dehydrator, I’m making tomato sauce (more on this later), I’m drying the potatoes and the...Want some politics with your hay?
I can’t say I’m exactly a devotee of the Ruth Stout method of gardening, but as with lots of other methods, I’ve picked bits I like. http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/2004-02-01/Ruth-Stouts-System.aspx Briefly, her method consists of...Founding Gardeners
Andrea Wulf’s founding gardeners has gotten a lot of play in recent months. By “a lot of play,” I mean I heard interviews with the author on “All things considered,” and the locally produced book show “Writer’s Voice.”...Terroir
I’m a recovering Catholic and as such feel guilt about most things. When I’m at work, I feel guilty for not being with my children. When I’m at home, I know I should be working because it’s difficult to avoid the children at home. Work has, for...Remembrance of things past
I’ve been disappointed by my tomato harvest this year. Initially I wanted to react as the two boarders do: sit down in the middle of the floor and cry or scream until someone makes me go to my room for awhile. The boss got tired of this behavior, so I have...Papas
My reader has sent me a question, so I thought I’d answer it. The question: “I planted some potatoes this year. The plants are now enormous and very exciting. Before I hacked up the seed potatoes, dried them out, and planted them, I listened carefully to...White people ruined the continent day
In spring, I’ve been told, a young man’s fancy lightly turns to love. This may have been true for Tennyson, but when I was a young man, my thoughts of love weren’t light. Now that I’m old I question whether Tennyson was really talking about a...Succession
My parents have fled far from civilization into northern New Hampshire. This ensures that they will see few people, a prospect which delights them. They mention it a lot when I show up with the children. Their back “yard” is really just a former potato...Circinate Vernation
circinate vernation An upraised is what one might call a “floating signifier.” One sentence and I’m already out as an effete northeastern liberal. If referring to semiotics makes me a liberal so be it! I know that in some contexts an upraised fist...Children gone wild.
We went to stay at my folks’ place up in New hampshire this weekend. They’ve kind of let the place go to seed. At least they’re showing their patriotism. A trip up to New Hampshire can sometimes be a bit trying for the indigent boarders. They are...Faith in the seed.
I have a neighbor who enjoys gardening but has been thrown out of her house this spring by contractors intent on making my house look crappier. I often time my plantings by hers. She feels the itch about the same time I do, but tends to be of a more hopeful spirit....Native Corn
I used to visit my grandfather in Narragansett, RI pretty frequently. In the summer, roadsides became dense with signs proclaiming the availability of “native sweet corn.” I’m not sure whether their claims to “nativeness” would stand up...Weed, Goats etc.
The garden is finally feeling like a garden. I’ve got onions in on the far left. In the central of the three dark beds is a mixed bed: spinach, carrots, lettuce and some radishes. They’re all coming up from seed and pretty tiny yet. I don’t plant...Choppin Broccoli
In the mid 80’s I lived in a country without Saturday Night Live. It also lacked malls and all of the wonderful sights and sounds that these offered teenagers. In my mid-teens this seemed like an affront to my American personhood. I bitched about it quite a bit....Humble Bumble
The humble bumble I stepped out this morning to attend to my chores. The indigent boarders let the chickens out these days, but don’t feed or water them. If you don’t water a chicken it’ll dry up and blow away in the wind. So one of my chores is to...Mr. Stink
My corner of Northampton has a pretty diverse population of wild beasts. Bears sometimes stroll through on their way to the meadows. Herons fly over most nights returning to the heronry and at dusk the air fills first with swifts and swallows then with bats cleansing...Sparrow grass
Sparrow grass Shortly after moving into our first house I made a trench in the backyard and put down some asparagus crowns. The spot didn’t get enough light and over the next few years I never really got a satisfying harvest. The plants also got infested with...Advocate
Advocate Here at chez Rounds dinner is a routine affair. This stems largely from the finicky eating habits of the elder indigent boarder. Tonight we had black beans with rice. It’s his favorite. The younger favors split pea soup, again with rice. That’s...Transplanting is a terrible thing to do.
Transplanting is a terrible thing to do. When I was a youth my parents moved us around a lot. Frequently, they came withus. The common explanation given had something to do with my father’s profession, but since I never listened to my parents I have no idea what...Garlic
In the movie Goodfella’s the wiseguys in jail don’t live with the other prisoners. They have their own lock-up and it really doesn’t seem all that bad. Dinner in particular was a big deal: “Pauli did the prep work, he was doing a year for...Rain Day
I do think it’s appropriate that we’ve finally gotten some rain on earth day. I took advantage of the weather to transplant the broccoli, cabbage and brussels sprouts. This kind of weather is perfect. I added a whole lot of dried blood (4lbs/100 square ft)...Life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
In these officially if not philosophically united (adj) states (n, not proper), we have several “founding documents.” Amongst these, the two most often quoted are the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. To your average Joe (six-pack, plumber...Broody
Last April I succombed and bought some chicks. At first they kept me up at night because I made the mistake of keeping them in our bedroom: I was worried they’d get cold. A few months later they were living in the garage. Now they have survived a winter and seem...Mea culpa
Most scientists cling to the passive voice in the belief that it makes their writing more objective sounding. I’ve worked with a frequently mad scientist who believes he is one of the finer writers in the field. He contends that scientific authors should use...Omnivores
This spring I’ve had a series of new critters visiting Chez Rounds. I, well really some of the animals, have found 3 baby snakes. At this point they are four or five inches long and cute as bugs’ ears (as Grannie Rounds used to say). I’ve rescued one...More corn
The garden today looks a little bare to me, but when I look back at a post from about a year ago it looked about the same.I’ve harvested onions and garlic and some f the fall crops are still coming in. I won’t despair yet. Off to the far right of the...Who're you calling invasive?
According the the USDA’s website on invasive and noxious weeds, Massachusetts lists 147 different plants from the tiny to the massive as invasive and or noxious. Some like the Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) are staples of street side Massachusetts. Others have...Bacillus thuringiensis
In a recent blog post (https://valleyadvocate.com/blogs/home.cfm?uid=96) I wrote about some of the ferocious worms who compete with me for my corn. I can’t really blame them. All of that biomass must be irresistible. My plants are well over 7 feet tall now and...Tubers
The potato originated in the Andes where thousands of varieties are still cultivated. According to John Roach in “Saving the Potato in its Andean Birthplace” individual farmers may plant hundreds of varieties. This serves as a sort of insurance against...Food security
Like most people I have lots of bad habits. Also like most people I find my own bad habits entirely understandable whereas everyone else’s are deplorable. I don’t make my bed (sorry mom). I’ve always thought it was stupid and continue to. I also am...Ivy, Oak and Jewelweed
A year ago I wrote a blog post arguing that poison ivy should be declared the state plant of Massachusetts. I still feel that way. Poison ivy owes a lot to the big biped invasives. It doesn’t grow very well in shade, though it’s pretty happy with any type...Yardivore
I had a boss several years back who liked to establish arbitrary goals: “let’s have this project all wrapped up by the third week in July.” I imagine he was just trying to motivate me, but he had a tendency to forget assignments once given. Most...A theory on garden disappointment
Guy Clark sings that “there are only two things that money can’t buy….true love and homegrown tomatoes.” I doubt it. Let’s see you buy some giardia. But there’s one thing that comes free with life, and tomatoes: disappointment. In...Coconut
I favor twitter over facebook as I don’t know the majority of the people I follow. Some are puerile, others knowledgeable in areas that I am ignorant (corporate law), some just funny. No one speaks to me directly, so I can ignore it or pay attention as I choose....Chicken Talk
We used to have an earthy, ranch-owning president who was connected with the common man. It was said that you might want to have a beer with him, even though he was a teetotaler. As an effete liberal elite, I never wished to spend time with him, nor did I buy his...Anxiety Dreams
I am not an easy sleeper. I am reminded of a quote attributed to Colin Powell when asked whether he, like his boss, was “sleeping like a baby” on the eve of war. He agreed: “I’m sleeping like a baby, too. Every two hours, I wake up,...Late blight
Phytophthora infestans is no run-of-the-mill plant pathogen. Given the right conditions it can down a field of tomatoes or potatoes in days. That’s what we saw here in 2009. It did much worse to potatoes in Ireland in 1845. Before the mid-1800’s P....West Nile Virus
In the hour around sunset standing on my lanai looking south the sky is filled with birds and bats. Nighthawks, swifts and swallows swirl through the air collecting insects. I don’t like mosquitoes, but I’m sure that they provide a good diet to the birds....The hard way
The elder of our two indigent boarders is a “hard-way” learner. Certain authority-type figures in our household have argued that he comes by this naturally and that I might benefit from “just doing what other people do instead of always trying to...Varmints
One of our indigent boarders has reached an age where he can read. He has taken to reading Captain Underpants graphic novels when he’s not busy working. He works about as much as our cat, so I find these novels strewn throught the house. Most recently I happened...Black Beans!
Last year I grew dry beans for the first time. They tasted great, but in the end I think I netted about two pounds of dirty beans. The boss was not convinced. This year I planted what I thought were bush beans; they grew into pole beans. I’m not sure if I...Beet history
Swiss chard may have been the first plant I grew successfully. I lived in Austin, TX at the time and had started a garden because it seemed like the thing to do. After almost two decades of growing vegetables I look back on my ignorance then and think, “I sure...Peace in the Barnyard
We know now that, accepting the loch ness monster and Todd Akin, there are no dinosaurs left. However, paleontologists agree that birds evolved from dinosaurs. When I watch my chickens I wonder how much their behavior resembles dinosaurs. Did dinosaurs make throaty...Asters and Eating
My ride to work has become much more beautiful in the last few weeks. The leaves are turning of course, but the show that really grabs me goes on a little lower. The fall flowers are bursting out everywhere I look. Little surprises like the white wood asters...Fixers
We all need the most abundant element in the atmosphere, nitrogen. DNA and protein are both chock-a-block with nitrogen. But atmospheric nitrogen, N2, is entirely unusable by multicellular organisms. Animals get their nitrogen from plants (by eating plants or another...A perfect melon.
I’ve read a lot of gardening books and looked at a lot of gardening blogs. The images that are included usually suggest perfect harmony with nature and abundant food production. I tend to doubt that even the superstar small farmers manage to escape the...Frogs vs. plants
Many of our crops must live their lives bracketed by the last frost in the spring and the first frost in the fall. Some years that first frost just coats the plants with icy beards before giving way to another week or two of frost free nights. With the exception of...Garlic: Seasonal syncopation
Around Europeans ruined two continents day we allium lovers of the northeast tuck our garlic in. I plant mine staggered throughout a bed so that each one gets about seven inches in every direction. They do fine that way and as a result I get a whole lot of garlic out...Fungal partners
When Moses bugged out of Egypt with the Israelites, he was in such a rush that they didn’t let their bread rise: they baked it flat. Apparently no one thought to keep a little starter on the side. On Passover Jews commemorate this event by avoiding leavening:...Zombies
The flesh is weak and prone to error. For example, I watch bad TV specifically “The Walking Dead.” Though the characters suffer from a tragic lack of development, many of them are nice to look at and sometimes deliver good lines. I can’t think of any...A Tankard for Gas
Massachusetts apples came in early this year. Apparently warm weather in March and April encouraged an early bloom. For many orchards the harvest was good, it just came at the wrong time. This impacted the pick your own operations as farm tourists aren’t...Sleeping the cold away
The eldest indigent boarder has taken on a job this year. I suppose some might argue that this means he is no longer indigent. When he starts paying rent we’ll talk. At this point he is paid a dollar a week to let the chickens out in the morning and seal the...E-Edition
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