Here we go again

As the media and political pressure mounts for some sort of retaliatory strike against Syria, I hope the president ponders the words of Martin Luther King who spoke in Washington 50 years ago today.  King never avoided confrontations, but usually defused them before violence broke out.  What if blacks had confronted Bull Connors and his police dogs and water cannons with AK-47s.  I can't think the Civil Rights movement would have been advanced.   The Arab League condemned Syria, but won't condone an attack on the country.  Israel is caught in the middle and would likely be attacked by the Syrians which would draw the Arabs in on their side if the Israelis retaliated, which they would certainly do.  The best thing we can do is let the  U. N. weapons inspectors do their job.  If they find evidence the Syrians used nerve agents, then let's lead a coalition in the U.N. for a worldwide condemnation of Syria and for a U.N. force to bring peace to Syria.  I think that is what Dr. King might have proposed.  Let's hope we have grown enough in the past 50 years to live up to his legacy.

The pleasure of late season gardening

We got a good 3/10 inch of rain last evening and this morning it was a pleasure to survey the late planted garden.  Aside from the porcupine I surprised and the deer tracks in my lettuce that is.  All the weeding and fertilizing I did over the weekend, along with the transplanting is poised to reward me with a bountiful Sept.  Kohlrabi, swiss chard, broccoli, cauliflower and spinach will be the stars of the coming month.  The lettuce continues to thrive and the late planted bok choy and nappa cabbage will be prime if I can keep the flea beetles at bay.  The weeds keep coming, but they are not overwhelming at this point and the forecast is for enough dry weather to keep them in check with judicious use of the wheel hoe.  Meanwhile, the crops of summer are not major producers, but tomatoes, peppers, basil, cilantro, summer squash etc. are continuing to fill containers.  And of course the carrots and beets brighten up the tables at the Saturday market.  It's a fine day to be a grower.

The new possibilities

I'm reading a series of sci-fi novels set in the far future.  The dominant society in the galaxy is call the Culture.  Money has no meaning to the people in this society since the machines they have created have produced so much wealth the human members can pursue whatever jobs they want to or not.  Some people specialize in playing games.  Others pursue planetscaping.  Still others help the machines run the galaxy.  As opposed to the terminator vision of the future, machines are benevolent and view humanity as a feature, not a bug.  What fascinates me is a future where you are not forced to chase dollars at the expense of what you may perceive as your true vocation.  Which brings me to the article in today's times saying the middle class must educate its way out of the current lack of middle skilled jobs.  If productivity is so high, why do we have to dream up new ways to make money.  Let people pursue their muse and see where society goes.  Of course there will be some who decide an 18 hour day watching ESPN is there idea of productivity, but some are already doing that.  Let a million flowers bloom and there will be enough bouquets for everyone.  We may be approaching the ability to make money superfluous. 

Limping toward the finish line

Got a quarter inch of rain yesterday.  That's fine short term, but in a perfect world we would have gotten a nice slow inch of rain over the course of the day instead of a quarter in about 10 minutes.  It would seem we only get precipitation fast and hard these days.  I won't have to water the spinach plantings to get them up.   My fifth planting made on the 17th is up this morning.  The lettuce continues to thrive and the blast of heat early this week is bringing on the tomatoes and peppers.  The fall greens look good also.  The market should be well stocked this weekend.  I hope the shoppers are looking for cooking greens and salads.

World Views

Concentrating on summer pursuits, either selling, golfing or gardening.  Every once in a while, the world intrudes and demands some thought.  The situation in Egypt and the middle east as a whole is volatile and important to us, but perhaps not as much as 10 years ago.  With the boom in fracking and Canadian tar sands, we can meet most of our energy needs without the Arabs.  Of course we are speeding down the road to an uninhabitable planet, but I'll put some trust in science and capitalism and hope for the best.  The whole democracy thing seems questionable at this point.  We preach to the world about how wonderful our system is and meanwhile prosecute people who speak out and try to make the government transparent.  No wonder the majority of the world's population is ruled by authoritarians. If the "shining city on the hill" can't get this democracy thing right, how can we expect the third world to come along.  When getting enough to eat is a daily struggle, self rule can seem pretty futile.  Maybe that's why we are having some problems with government.  Up to 30% of US population experiences hunger on a regular basis. 

Staving off the inevitable

As I watered my fourth planting of fall spinach, I realized why I keep planting despite the calendar.  I will probably plant at least two or three more beds of spinach before retiring the planter for the season.  Chances are the final planting will not be harvested this year and maybe not even next spring.  But those little green sprouts at summer's end keep me focused on the garden.  There is plenty of life out there, but the temptation is to slack off when planting stops.  Weeds, disease and insects are ready to step in and devastate the fall crops.  By planting late, I'm keeping interested in what is going on out there.  When it is too late to get spinach to germinate, the only weeds still coming up are chickweed and the dread galinsoga.  At that point, the garden is on autopilot with only a little fertilization  and cabbage worm control necessary.  Then it is on to garlic planting and cleanup.   All possible thanks to the humble spinach plant.

Warming trend

It began to feel like August this past weekend.  The temperatures at least came close to the 80 degree mark for the first time in several weeks.  A welcome thundershower Friday evening provided enough moisture to keep things growing.  Made some more lettuce plantings on Saturday along with kale and kohlrabi.  I have 4 more lettuce seedings to transplant, which if the weather cooperates will take me all the way to November.  I have continued to plant spinach with the seedings getting closer together as the days shorten.  As I wrote to a friend, this has been one of the most challenging gardening seasons I have experienced in over 30 years of getting my hands in the dirt.  I wonder how many people will give up their backyard plots after this season.  It makes sense to spend time and money on gardening if you get a return on your investment.  To put seeds in the ground and get relentless rain and/or searing heat and drought is more than many of us want to experience.  The wired generation has by and large given up the idea of gardening and many of my generation are getting tired or fighting the wild swings of weather.  Climate change will make us more and more dependent on commercial growers who are also under increasing pressure from weather.