Monthly Archives: November 2024

Grow Your Own

gardening, ,

My summer garden was largely a bust from drought and critters. I did get a nice harvest of onions, garlic and ginger. In fact, there are still onions in the raised bed as the warm weather is encouraging second growth and blossoms. And, with Thanksgiving just days away, we haven’t had frost yet to make the collards sweet and tender. Gardeners and farmers are watching the climate change a little bit each year. Someone on a podcast recently–maybe Jon Stewart–reminded us that the canary in the coal mine dies. Not sure why that has stuck with me. Warnings are just that and we ignore them at our peril.

This post wasn’t meant to be about climate change but sometimes I let my subconscious do the writing, like my own private AI bot. I nicknamed her Rhetorica when I was in graduate school. Perhaps TMI?

This post was meant to be about was the joy and ease of growing your own food, at least in small batches. My goal this fall was to replace those plastic tubs of lettuce mixes that I was buying regularly. Heads of lettuce–think iceberg and romaine–can be challenging to get to maturity without losing them to bugs and varmints. But, those tubs are filled with baby greens, and they are easy to grow, especially inside. Throw a few seeds in the dirt, give them sun and water, and they are ready to start harvesting in a few weeks. I have been clipping leaves from my first planting in October and put in a second go in early November that is about ready to be transplanted. I started with a collection of 10 different varieties but you can start with a mix of seeds, too.

There is something satisfying about eating food you have grown. I also enjoy a bit of gardening in the winter months. Just a couple pictures: I love the view of the pole barn through the porch door in the second one.

Lettuce Seedlings
Seedlings & Pole Barn

Hot Takes

books, Education, reading, Religion, thinking out loud, , ,

I am working on a longer post about my recent road trip read, Robert E. Lee and Me by Ty Seidule. But, I didn’t want to miss a few quick items that might be of interest.

    While there is some question as to whether the examples in Alanis Morissette’s song, Ironic?, are actually ironic, there is no question that the Superintendent of Public Instruction in Oklahoma has provided a classic example. The first act of his new Department of Religious Freedom and Patriotism is to force schools to show his prayer video to every student, teacher and parent. Most schools have refused and the Oklahoma Attorney General has said he overstepped his bounds. (His one concession was that he only encouraged, rather than required, the students to pray with him.) I hope the teachers tasked with teaching irony as part of the Oklahoma standards take note.

    Search, by Michelle Huneven, uses the story of one Unitarian Universalist congregation’s search for a minister as an exploration of the relationship between community and organization. Since the narrator is a food writer by day, the novel is full of wonderful descriptions of meals and includes recipes at the end. The book is funny, poignant and authentic, based on my own experience with the UUs, and, I should say, with other community focused organizations. Decision making becomes more challenging when it has to be made by people who supposedly share certain values and have equal say over the process and outcome. Huneven also explores the changing landscape of churches as they struggle to connect with younger people while maintaining the shared history and culture.

    Astrologers have been excited about today’s big move: Pluto, planet of death, destruction and transformation, moved from Capricorn, where it has been for 16 years, into Aquarius where it has not been for 200 years and where it will stay until 2043. Big changes are coming according to People magazine. We have to look at the abyss before we can rebuild the world. My astrologer of choice is Chani Nicholas, in case you were wondering. This, by the way, has nothing to do with the Age of Aquarius. But I’m including the song anyway for your enjoyment.

    Largely Forgotten

    art, history, , , ,

    My husband and I found a few open days and drove up to the Shenandoah Valley. We poked through small towns, chasing LOVE signs, history and apple cider along with some peace and quiet.

    In Fishers Hill, just south of Strasburg, Virginia, we happened upon a new historical marker commemorating The Creative Women of Fishers Hill: Bertha Von Hillern, Maria J. C. a’ Becket, and Emma Howard Wright. The Wikipedia entry for Wight mentions the Fishers Hill studio she shared with Von Hillern.

    Largerly Forgotten

    The Northern Virginia Daily published an extensive story about the women and the attempts of local historians to tells their stories.

    It was the comment in the first line–largely forgotten–that struck me as the story of so many women, and some men as well, even those who achieve some level of prominence in their life times. Times and preferences and fashion change and without champions to keep them alive, artists fade into the timeline.

    These kinds of local history projects are perfect for involving young people. There have been several stories of students submitting historical markers for approval. Virginia’s historical marker program is the oldest in the country and the site includes a searchable database. The Historical Marker Database is more extensive as its includes all sorts of markers.