A Great Gardening Day Delayed in the Wake of Two Cute Strays

What is the inner function which causes the hand to unconsciously move to an unseen, unfelt spot on the body and begin to pick at it? No noticeable sensation, no direct command of the mind - yet it is an action of higher intelligence. One for which I am very grateful.

I picked, and grabbed hold, not having a feeling of picking off an extension of my own skin. That satisfying sense of completion when its removed. Then the slow horror as the mind begins to wonder - what is that which was attached to me?

I remembered-- the dogs. Adorable loving strays, bright intelligence in their eyes, hopeful joy wagging their tails. Animals smelling of skunk, running wild through the woods and fields and ticks. TICKS!

So I captured the little speck, like a tiny crumb and placed it on a white paper under the light of my desk. So tiny, I had to find the magnifying glass. The word “seed tick” came to mind. But I thought that seed ticks were smaller than this little hard-shelled dot. Weren’t those legs seeming to stick out from the oval lump? Yes, I think it was. And I’m glad that it was removed so easily, not ingrained, imbedded or really stuck too deeply into my neck. Gone now, flushed away.

Normally I am very careful about bugs, how did this one get to me? Through the very cute strays that appeared today, opened my heart, and let the tick get under my skin.

The dogs were first spotted through the garden-facing windows. At first I thought she might be a fox with a short body, reddish fur, fluffy tail, and up-pointed ears. She was eagerly sniffing the ground as she wandered around the garden fence. Her friend, a beagly-looking mix with a white and black mottled coat, ranged through the field. Next time I looked, Foxy was settled down, curled up as if at home, near the door to the greenhouse.

Gingerly I opened the door to the deck above her spot. Usually I expect a stressful response from a stray, but she heard my movements and looked up with her tail eagerly waving, and jumped up to greet me. They both came to me like I was a favorite playmate, their joy wagging them, wanting to jump up and lick, with unbridled expectancy. Oh dear, I couldn’t help putting my hand on their heads, responding lovingly.

I knew they’d be carriers of bugs, and they’d been too close to a skunk fairly recently too. But their joyous loving beings could not be ignored. I wanted to keep the puppies. I wanted them to chase away the skunks, hedgehogs, snakes, rats, mice and armadillos, and keep me company around the yard. I could hardly let those little girl wants come through when my adult was cataloging the responsibilities. Shots, flea & tick combing, training, caring, poop patrol, water, food, oohh - there’s so much already on my to do lists.

Food is a really big issue. Many people around here are letting go of pets as they can’t afford to feed them - maybe not even themselves or their families. As the economy tanks, and supply lines fray, would we be able to get food for them? They are less likely to be vegetarian than us. I’m only growing vegies, not ready for the farm animal protein cycle of work. That is, chickens for eggs and meat, dog to protect the chickens, rabbits to feed the dog, cats to catch the mice that like the chicken coup. More grain to grow for everyone, and I would be a slave to my desire for protein meals, and a slave to the needs of my dog - which I wouldn’t want to touch because of insects.

Another awareness came which tipped the scales away from having a dog, when I saw the beagle-mix standing on top of my open compost bin, helping himself to the half rotten produce. Yich. I took big sheets of cardboard to cover the compost piles. I knew I wasn’t ready to have dogs. We like a simple, unstressed quiet peaceful life - which is not what dogs are about.

Then came dog noise. I had given them water and enjoyed my little fantasy of giving them the loving care they needed and their wonderful hearts deserved, when neighbors drove by and the barking noise began. I shut up my heart as best I could and let the little dogs know that NO was the word for the day. GO was the other word. It broke my heart to say it and try to mean it.

I’m sure they could tell I was giving them mixed messages. I had to go back inside so I wouldn’t be in range of their wide-eyed exuberant loving joy. I missed out on a warm and cloudy day which would have been perfect for weeding the garden, opening some ground or starting another project in the garden, because I couldn’t face their desire and my own. So I worked inside, my spirit sagging with sorrow. Later in the afternoon I noticed that they were gone.

I missed Foxy then. Now I know the other one’s name, Bobby McGee. He’s lookin’ for that home and I hope he finds it.

And I found the tick they left with me, soaked my fears of ticks off in the bath, and all is peaceful quiet here again. And I have a bitter sweet story to share.

Digital Garden Record-Keeping Tools

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Garden records, for example:

• when was that seed planted,
• when did the sprout come up,
• when did it start to wilt, brown, or
• when fortune smiles upon us, when did it flower?

All these questions can be answered with Garden Record Keeping. Certainly this is not an easy or simple task. There is so much data to track.

I remember trying to keep track of life when we used those little sticks of wood and graphite and dried sheets of wood pulp to make records. Then we’d have to leaf through all these pages to find what we wanted to know and correlate data both manually and use up valuable brain cells to think it through.

Now I rejoice in all the digital record keeping tools at my fingertips. Here’s an example:

One of my gardening friends, upon visiting my greenhouse wanted to know when the growth of the lettuce (at this point, I’m forgetting a word she used to describe the growth pattern. Let me digress to investigate. We corresponded by email, so I go to my email program to do a search on mail with her name in it. I didn’t have to go far, only to the next item on my dock - yes, I’m on an Apple, but don’t worry -even Windows users have these cool tools.) accelerated.

Hmm, I said. I don’t know. Let me consult, not the oracle - but the visual record. Moving over to my Photo database, I created a folder and labeled it “lettuce growth”. Then scanning through the photos from the time the lettuce seeds were planted. Oh, how did I know the date?

By consulting the calendar program. I have a calendar which shows up in a different color for each of my life paths (all integrated on one monthly page). Recently I’ve added several to accommodate all the gardening areas. My favorite one is for yearly activities. I set each item to be repeated once a year, so as I learn what needs to be done, when, in this Ozark environment, my trusty computer can let me know when its time for what.

Yes, I’m giving a computer a lot of responsibility, which means I have to BACK UP frequently. I’m sure that my rusting brain cells can remember to do that. Much better than they can remember all the details of everything I’m planting and growing and having to do to keep the garden growing.

Back to the Calendar program, input in search field “lettuce” and I can see when I planted them, 12/31/08. Back to the photographs at the beginning of the year to see more details and place representative pictures of the lettuce growth in the folder marked “Lettuce Growth.”

I love photography. But in the old days, though I had a good camera, I didn’t feel that good about the cost of film and development. And I never liked the date burned onto the photograph. However, I love the date that comes with digital photos! And the ability to label each one and sort them into folders.

Frequently I take the camera with me into greenhouse and field just to note what is going on, so when the questions come up later, there’s the answer!

I planted too many different types of seeds into one tray yesterday. I have little mini popsicle type sticks as the labels that fit in the tray. I know that they can easily be dislodged. And I’d really like to know what variety and color of which plant each seedling is. To keep it straight, I photographed the labels in the tray in order so I will be able to put the puzzle back together if it falls apart. Digitally assisted gardening!



Back to the lettuce - Wow, they were transplanted into the greenhouse bed on 1/5/09 (photo below). That’s fast!

Then (below) the lettuce plants started to overlap on 2/6. (That’s probably when I should have started to thin them, but my “right to life for plants” perspective is not today’s focus.)

I find great beauty in the unfolding leaves.

And below, complete overcrowding occurs on 2/20. My friend received a couple of photos and the answer in her email! Another example of digital recording keeping: I’m preparing a post on a comparison/review of two brands of watering cans. I couldn’t remember one of the brand names and the photo did not show the logo clearly enough. Back to my digital records in the Mail department. I did a search for “watering” in the body of the emails and came up with the email receipt for each item, including model number and brand name. Hazaah! No wonder the Baby Boomers and the Digital Age are such good friends! Whatever my little mind forgets, the super-big hard drive kindly remembers. I just have to recall what word to search for... However you garden, May you have joy in both the remembrance and the forgetting!

Tags: history, lettuce, data

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Digital Photos as Gardening Log/Record

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Garden records, for example:

• when was that seed planted,
• when did the sprout come up,
• when did it start to wilt, brown, or
• when fortune smiles upon us, when did it flower?

All these questions can be answered with Garden Record Keeping. Certainly this is not an easy or simple task. There is so much data to track.

I remember trying to keep track of life when we used those little sticks of wood and graphite and dried sheets of wood pulp to make records. Then we’d have to leaf through all these pages to find what we wanted to know and correlate data both manually and use up valuable brain cells to think it through.

Now I rejoice in all the digital record keeping tools at my fingertips. Here’s an example:

One of my gardening friends, upon visiting my greenhouse wanted to know when the growth of the lettuce (at this point, I’m forgetting a word she used to describe the growth pattern. Let me digress to investigate. We corresponded by email, so I go to my email program to do a search on mail with her name in it. I didn’t have to go far, only to the next item on my dock - yes, I’m on an Apple, but don’t worry -even Windows users have these cool tools.) accelerated.

Hmm, I said. I don’t know. Let me consult, not the oracle - but the visual record. Moving over to my Photo database, I created a folder and labeled it “lettuce growth”. Then scanning through the photos from the time the lettuce seeds were planted. Oh, how did I know the date?

By consulting the calendar program. I have a calendar which shows up in a different color for each of my life paths (all integrated on one monthly page). Recently I’ve added several to accommodate all the gardening areas. My favorite one is for yearly activities. I set each item to be repeated once a year, so as I learn what needs to be done, when, in this Ozark environment, my trusty computer can let me know when its time for what.

Yes, I’m giving a computer a lot of responsibility, which means I have to BACK UP frequently. I’m sure that my rusting brain cells can remember to do that. Much better than they can remember all the details of everything I’m planting and growing and having to do to keep the garden growing.

Back to the Calendar program, input in search field “lettuce” and I can see when I planted them, 12/31/08. Back to the photographs at the beginning of the year to see more details and place representative pictures of the lettuce growth in the folder marked “Lettuce Growth.”

I love photography. But in the old days, though I had a good camera, I didn’t feel that good about the cost of film and development. And I never liked the date burned onto the photograph. However, I love the date that comes with digital photos! And the ability to label each one and sort them into folders.

Frequently I take the camera with me into greenhouse and field just to note what is going on, so when the questions come up later, there’s the answer!

I planted too many different types of seeds into one tray yesterday. I have little mini popsicle type sticks as the labels that fit in the tray. I know that they can easily be dislodged. And I’d really like to know what variety and color of which plant each seedling is. To keep it straight, I photographed the labels in the tray in order so I will be able to put the puzzle back together if it falls apart. Digitally assisted gardening!



Back to the lettuce - Wow, they were transplanted into the greenhouse bed on 1/5/09 (photo below). That’s fast!

Then (below) the lettuce plants started to overlap on 2/6. (That’s probably when I should have started to thin them, but my “right to life for plants” perspective is not today’s focus.)

I find great beauty in the unfolding leaves.

And below, complete overcrowding occurs on 2/20. My friend received a couple of photos and the answer in her email!
Another example of digital recording keeping: I’m preparing a post on a comparison/review of two brands of watering cans. I couldn’t remember one of the brand names and the photo did not show the logo clearly enough. Back to my digital records in the Mail department. I did a search for “watering” in the body of the emails and came up with the email receipt for each item, including model number and brand name. Hazaah! No wonder the Baby Boomers and the Digital Age are such good friends! Whatever my little mind forgets, the super-big hard drive kindly remembers. I just have to recall what word to search for... However you garden, May you have joy in both the remembrance and the forgetting!

Tags: lettuce, history, tools, data

0 Comments