Gardening Eden

The late fall garden is a bittersweet feast.  It is always a pleasure to skip the endless planting, weeding, fertilizing frenzy of the summer and just harvest the bounty at the end of the season.   Cauliflower, leeks, broccoli, spinach, carrots, beets, Brussels sprouts and kale are still at their peak.  The potatoes, onions and other storage type veggies are in and ready to use.  The only problem is to decide what to cook.  The other problem is the inevitable freeze.  So far, even the galinsoga has survived with some damage.  The hardy crops can take quite a bit more cold weather, but several days of sub-freezing temps will put everything but the kale into a tailspin.  I am hoping to keep things going until the ides of November.  Time will tell.

On the line

With the mid-term elections only days away, the media frenzy has reached fever pitch.  Most pundits are sticking with the GOP wave theory which holds the republicans are playing on a favorable field and should easily retain control of the house and grab the senate as well.  The counter theory is the dems will get their voters to the polls and steal enough seats to keep control of the senate.  The stakes for the future are high.   If the senate rolls, the President will be unable to confirm the appointment of a dog catcher, let alone a Supreme Court justice or an attorney general.  Not enough is being made of this potential.  Let's hope the general public chooses wisely on election day.

Winter

I am told some people actually look forward to the four months ahead of us here on the NCR.  The idea of bundling up to walk the dog or check the mail, let alone turning up the thermostat or putting on the winter tires is enough to make me scream.  Maybe it is just age speaking, but I sure hope global warming improves the weather from November to April.  Unfortunately, the prediction is for snow starting next Saturday.  If November comes in like a Lion, perhaps December, et. al will behave more lamb like.   Meanwhile, the garden continues to grow.  Late spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots and beets are the mainstays, but there are also potatoes to dig and garlic to plant.  I hope the forecast for the weekend moderates as we get through the week.

The pull of cynisism

With the mid term elections just two weeks away, it is easy to give into the despair of anything good coming about as a result of this exercise of democracy.  Paul Krugman of the NYT is upset by the plutocrats pouring money into the system to generate the results they want.  Another columnist, Tim Egan feels the Supreme Court is to blame for this travesty.  Unfortunately, as others have pointed out, people get the government they deserve.  Low information and uninvolved voters have helped bring about this situation also.  I have spoken to people who consider it a badge of honor that they have never voted.  They blame the situation we are in on everyone but the person staring back from the mirror every morning.  Although it will never happen here, compulsory voting on the Australian model is one way to boost participation.  The other is for the unwashed masses to finally take back their democracy before it is irrevocably gone.  Oh, wait....

A contrast of cultures

Living as I do on the northern border of the US and having close contact with Canadians on a regular basis, the similarities between us and our neighbors are striking, but so are the differences.  For one thing, Canadians do not suffer from the delusion they are the exceptional people on the planet.  This attitude breeds a tolerance for difference which Americans could emulate to our benefit.  The other major difference is Canadians' reaction to crisis.  Within two days, two soldiers were killed by homegrown terrorists and the Parliament building came under gunfire.  If these things had happened in New York and D.C., America would probably be under martial law with mandatory curfews and soldiers patrolling the streets with live ammunition in their guns and orders to shoot first and ask questions later.  The lack of hysteria and calls for reflection and calm in the wake of these attacks in Montreal and Ottawa is admirable.  Of course the lack of a Republican party has something to do with this equanimity.  I won't be surprised if our American chicken littles start calling for Canada to lock down the border and get control of it's terrorists. 

Back in the saddle

After a brief trip to sunny southern California, it's back to the cloudy and rainy skies of the NCR.  While October is usually a gloriously sunny month, albeit chilly, this year has been wetter than normal.  As if to make up for the drier than normal summer, the rains keep coming.  The late crops have generally responded well.  Carrots, beets, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, etc. are now the best of the season.  As usual, there is more than the Divine Mrs. M and myself can eat, and my usual outlet at the farmers' market is unavailable.  I guess we'll just enjoy what is left as long as the weather holds.   November is the cruelest month, however, so it will probably be a short window.

This and that

I am presently sitting in the Phoenix airport waiting for the redeye connection to Philly.  Not my idea of fun on a Sunday evening.  I started this journey in Anaheim and will hit three airports by 9:30 a.m. Monday.  That will be followed by a 2 hour drive to Casa Monzeglio from Albany.    As Danny Glover observed to Mel Gibson , "I'm too old for this %$##@.  I am musing about the carbon footprint I am leaving on this cross country extravaganza.  It will probably wipe out all of my conservation efforts for the year.  It would be instructive for my fellow travelers if the carbon load each trip puts on the world was listed on each airline ticket.  If the government charged the appropriate carbon tax to remediate  the damage to the environment, most airports would become mausoleums overnight.  At least until fleets of vastly more efficient jets enable reasonably priced travel to resume.  Our modern society depends on cheap travel to function, but we have not yet priced in the continued burning of huge amounts of fossil fuel to the equation. 

A Metaphor for the Times

All Ebola, all the time seems to be the mantra the media has settled on.   Why miss a chance to cause a nationwide freakout regarding a disease that 99.99% of the population will never have to grapple with.   The same can be said for the terrorists who have made small town America their target...not.  However, if you listen to newsradio or are minimally aware of current events, you probably know more about ebola and ISIS than you ever wanted to.  Meanwhile, the population remains laughably ignorant of who is running for what office in less than 3 weeks.  While making calls for the Democratic candidate in my congressional district, I spoke to many people who didn't know who was running or what their positions were on major issues such as social security and health care.  If the media was as interested in educating the populace as it is in scaring us, we could make more informed decisions about the future.  Instead, as Halloween approaches, we are treated to one scare after another.

Changing the food system

Since I work on one of the virtuous parts of the food system, vegetable distribution, I read Marc Bittman's column this morning with amusement.   While he also gets to pontificate from a somewhat lofty perch as a food gadfly and cookbook author, he also gets into the weeds (pardon the pun) of the food system and diagnoses the problems.  Chief among them is the foisting of foodlike substances onto the population instead of food.  As he defines real food, it is something that was served 100 years ago.  What most people eat today is stuff that may or may not have been food at one time, but has been processed to the point it is almost 180 degrees from what food should be, namely nutritious.  What can most of us do about the big picture?   Elect better representatives, who will be responsive to people rather than corporations.  Eat better at our own tables.  Less junk food and more vegetables.  Eat a salad at least once a week.  While it may not sound like much, substituting an apple for a candy bar or a salad for a Big Mac is a tangible difference we all can make.

Bittersweet endings

Saturday was the final Farmers' Market of the season here on the NCR.  Some diehards will continue to sell at an indoor market for a few more weeks, but mid October is a long enough season for me.  There was still a nice harvest of fall vegetables (not veggies, as the Divine Mrs. M is quick to remind me).  Spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, beets and nappa cabbage were the highlights, but I still harvested a few heads of lettuce and bunched some basil from the cold frames, so Almena Gardens finished the season on a high note.  I still plan to cut back the offerings next year, and even the accolades from some regular customers are unlikely to change my mind.  There is something about interacting with the people who consume the crops you grow which is almost as important as the money which enables you to do it.  Let's face it, you have to be passionate about growing, because the financial rewards are meager at best when you do it as a part timer.  

The new moralists

In his latest column in the NYT, Paul Krugman rails against the new generation of moral preachers who feel debtors must suffer for their "sins".  Meanwhile, the entire economy remains sluggish to the point of recession again as these same debtors continue to reign in the spending which drives output.  As Krugman puts it, "your spending is my income and my spending is your income".  When either side of the equation is low, both sides suffer.  As millions of underwater homeowners cut spending to pay debt, the economy suffers.   The new moralists are unmoved by the suffering the world is enduring in the name of moral rectitude.  Similar medicines were prescribed after WW1 in England and a decade later the country was still struggling.  The real cure would be debt forgiveness, but around the world, powerful interests are lined up against anything which fails to punish those who in many cases got in over their heads with the active assistance of the same banks which now insist on repayment in full.   As Krugman suggests, another recession may force a reexamination of this policy, but don't count on it.

Be Afraid

That's the message the Republicans are peddling in the runup to the 2014 midterm elections.  The narco-islamo-Marxist-Kenyan-ebola carrying terrorists are coming for you.   Hide under your beds and vote Republican.   The world is a scary place and we need to secure our borders, bomb anyone who crosses us, especially if they are brown or black and restrict our own civil rights in the name of some elusive security.  How did it come to this?  When I was growing up, the GOP was the swaggering, macho man party.  Democrats were wimps and appeasers.  Now, Republicans are wetting their beds over terrorists and suggesting the Dems are naïve regarding the threat to "our way of life".  As far as I'm concerned, the biggest threat to America is the cowardice being encouraged by a deranged political party which has nothing to offer but fear and hate.  I hope the country I know and love roundly rejects this prescription and votes for courage and love.  I'll sleep a lot more easily at night knowing adults are in control.

Life goes on

Driving into work this morning I experienced a frisson of fear listening to reports of the spread of the ebola virus.  With a 50% fatality rate, it is as near to a death sentence as you can get.  Until recently, the disease was something "those people" had to deal with.   Now it is something the rest of the world must reckon with.  Since two of my daughters are nurses, I am even more concerned than most.  Trying to diagnose masses of people traveling internationally is probably harder than herding cats, so in the long run the entire world will be dealing with ebola.  In the meantime, life continues to happen and aside from that jolt this morning, I'll continue to do my thing unless/until the virus gets measurably closer to the NCR.  The Divine Mrs. M is attending a confab of Jane Austen devotees in Montreal.  All I can say is to each, his own.  I'd rather play golf....

Legacies

Mario Cuomo would probably profess nothing but pride in his son, Gov. Andrew Cuomo.  I doubt those are his real feelings.  Elected in a dark blue state, Cuomo fils is as far to the right as possible and still be called a Democrat.  His actions in the fracking debate and a little known push to mine in an upstate wilderness area are perfect illustrations of his ignoring the ideals of the party he supposedly represents.  It is abundantly clear his administration is just waiting for the election to be over so it can approve fracking for natural gas in the state's southern tier.  Despite plenty of evidence of harmful effects on land and water, the governor has remained mum on the question of his support.  His  enabling of test drilling for the mineral wallostonite in an upstate Wilderness Area (not far from the NCR) is another indication of how far Cuomo has strayed from his father's legacy as a protector of natural resources.  I am a lifelong Democrat and usually eschew protest votes, but I think I will be voting for the green candidate in the coming election.  Mr. Cuomo needs to know his policies are not in keeping with the mandate he was given four years ago.   He needs to remember the liberals in his party's base are not to be taken for granted.

The rise of equality

With the Supreme Court's decision to not hear cases regarding gay marriage, it is only a matter of time before regressive state laws are overturned and everyone in America enjoys equal rights to marry the person they love.  It is amazing to me how fast the change has been from a barely whispered longing to full out protest to public weddings.  I would guess the change flows from the fact everyone knows someone or is related to someone who is gay.  It is not a lifestyle choice and people who through no fault of their own are attracted to others of the same sex deserve the same privileges and protections the rest of us take for granted.  Unfortunately, although everyone knows brown and black and yellow people, the same march toward equality is not so obvious.  There is an atavistic terror of the "other" lurking in almost everyone.  This deeply rooted bias was probably once a survival trait, but in a global culture it is distinctly out of step.  The quicker we integrate everyone into society as equals the better off our culture will be.  I hope when my granddaughter is my age we will be measurably closer to that goal.

Finally

We got over half an inch of rain on Saturday and by this morning the garden was shedding the dusty dry look it had acquired over the last month.  Despite the light frost, the hardy crops are loving the moisture.  The cauliflower and broccoli should be ready for a good harvest next Saturday at the final Farmers' Market of the season.  Spinach is coming on strong also.  There is no really cold weather predicted for the next 10 days, so the harvest will continue.

Better weather

It looks like we will finally get the soaking rain I have been looking for this Saturday.  Being a glass half full kind of gardener, I'll say it is a little late, since the fall crops can't take full advantage of this bonanza due to short days and cooler temps, but the spinach, cauliflower and broccoli will gain from the moisture.  Even the last of the summer squash and lettuce should mature before the farmers' market ends next week.   If we had not had the couple of frosty nights two weeks ago it would still feel like midsummer here on the NCR.  Except of course that it gets light later and dark earlier.  October is still my favorite month in the garden.  Very little weeding and diseases, no planting and plenty of harvesting.  It almost makes you forget the Chinese fire drill of the previous 5 months.  But not quite.  Next year will be the year of the cutback.... I'm pretty sure.

Responsibility

It seems everyone should be happy now that the head of the secret service fell on her sword and resigned in the wake of numerous incidents where the safety of the President or the security of the White House were compromised.  I doubt very much the situation will change much, especially since the disgraced director was on duty for barely more than a year.  That is time enough to change the carpet in the office, but certainly not the culture which condoned the "wheels up, rings off", motto of agents assigned to foreign destinations to protect the President.  Or the lax security on the White House grounds.  This is an ingrained problem developed over many years.  It will probably take many years to change, and it will take many more resignations and firings among middle and upper management positions to accomplish that change.  Will the new director have the stomach for it?   Probably not if he or she is a veteran of the service.

Almost Perfect

With just a modicum of precipitation this could easily be one of the best fall gardens in my memory.  A light frost a couple of weeks ago has been followed by consistent temps in the mid to upper 70s and plenty of bright sunshine.  The only missing ingredient has been rainfall.  With less than half an inch during the past 30 days, the late plantings of spinach, cauliflower, broccoli and other fall crops have stalled and may not mature before the real cold sets in.  I've even watered some plantings by hand to try and speed things up, but the soil is so dry at this point it would take a pretty good rain to get the soil moist.  There is prediction for rain on Saturday, but at this point I'll believe it when it happens.