A quick escape from the political
Carla Axtman
Even though I spend a lot of brain energy on politics and news, man (woman) can't live on current events alone. My mental and physical escape from these things is my garden.
When things feel overwhelming or the stress piles up, I head outside to the quiet of my soil and plants. I've found it to be a necessary outlet.
The video below is an initial demonstration of the fruits of this outlet. I took these photos this morning. The lighting is great in some of them, not so much in others. As per my usual MO, I didn't have the patience to wait until this evening for better light..heh.
Most of my veggies are going great (the peas are amazing) and some are kind of languishing (my beans and green onions are lackluster right now). You'll see volunteers of dill and cosmos, left over from stuff that went to seed in the beds last year.
The flowers are just starting to get showy. Irises are hitting their stride and the first of my roses bloomed this week. The clematis along my back fence is amazing. In another month or so, my dahlias will start to bloom. From now until September, I'll get fresh flowers from my garden in my house.
Garden-May 2009 from Carla Axtman on Vimeo.
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11:20 a.m.
May 24, '09
Gorgeous.
Part way through the words to Cat Stevens' began to scroll through my mind.
11:22 a.m.
May 24, '09
dammit... html isn't working.
...Cat Stevens' song "Morning has broken" began...
May 24, '09
I am not worthy.....
May 24, '09
Carla, ever looked into Square Gardening? I was introduced to it recently, though I don't do it myself.
Not that i'm interested. I detest weeding, lawnmowing and all associated tasks. That's what wives and mexicans are for... (jk)
May 24, '09
I've been gathering cattail fluff since it showed up in order to get fifty Big Drum sticks made to give away at Sundance in MT. I finally gave in and craigslisted after some neoprene waders, and I'm in HEAVEN. Hip deep in the bogs with the red winged blackbirds fippign back and forth on the fuzzers; and the meadowlarks well-hidden making liqidy comment. Then there's the geese, the off-gassing in the water... this area is a mecca of tiny, thriving wetlands pockets. Fully alive and in the thrive.
In the high wind I watched the rousted fluffs of my friendly crops begin to cance away to do their jobs. Sigh. The end of yet another season with a very entertaining Medicine. Back to the red willow fields - with my WADERS deep in the joy of the muck!
May 25, '09
Nice to think about really important things, such as growing plants and farming, especially in the week of only one US Senate Dem (Feingold) opposing the latest war funding (a bill which contains the Lieberman-Graham amendment, which would prohibit release of detainee photos).
Didn't Jeff Mekley, during the campaign, say he wouldn't vote for war funding that didn't contain a timeline for withdrawal? That promise has just been broken.
More Dems are now voting for war funding, now that the commander-in-chief is a Dem and Obama has requested the funding! The election of Obama has, thusfar, only served to make it easier to fund the occupations of Iraq & Afghanistan!
I feel like saying, bleep 'em all, and just think about agriculture, too.
4:52 p.m.
May 25, '09
There's lots of places to talk about politics, news, government, policy, etc. here, Stephen.
So why act like an ass on this one?
May 25, '09
Get a clue Stephen Amy | May 25, 2009 2:48:06 PM !
We planted tomatoes the other day, also squash and flowers. The iris are blooming, and the forget me nots are in season.
I have worked until I was sore pulling weeds out of the raspberries and elsewhere. I bought bark chips (not bark dust--the larger of the "medium" sized bark chips are maybe 2 inches square) and so far have put them around the newly planted flowers. As the weeds get pulled, those chips will be put on the ground around the plants so that water stays in and weeds are kept down.
Carla is right, Steven, your off topic comments here are the equivalent of weeds in a garden.
Find a topic here or on another blog where your comment would be appropriate. People can debate it there.
May 26, '09
Carla: seems to me that there are no articles posted about how the war funding is going through more easily now that there's a Dem president.
Also no articles about Obama's about-face on releasing the photos.
These are vital matters and it's strange that none of your authors has written about them.
Why is that?
10:28 a.m.
May 26, '09
Stephen: They're not "my" authors. They're not anyone else's authors, either. Everyone who writes here does their own thing.
There are oodles of blogs writing about the topics you're concerned about. I tend to write about the goings-on at the state and local level in Oregon because that's what interests me.
I find those matters just as vital as you find what's going on with Obama.
This blog post is titled "A quick escape from the political". In my view, it's vital to do that sometimes, too.
May 26, '09
Carla,
Beautiful garden you have. I recently ripped out some lawn and replaced it with raised beds, and I've been adding plants since my wife and I bought our house over a year ago. Gardening is also my escape, so we at least have one thing in common! :)
May 26, '09
Nice Carla! I love the wreath you're working on. Those succulent wreaths get me every time. Loved this peek into your garden.
May 27, '09
Here is a very helpful summary that was passed on to me by a friend.
May 27, '09