Sunday, September 28, 2014

Fork it!

And now, a short station break to pay homage to my favorite gardening tool.


The fork.

I was introduced to this fabulous piece of garden equipment during a meditation class at Esalen.

My dream garden.
During the class, we did some meditative gardening. I was assigned to harvest green onions with a partner, but we were a little too enthusiastic and efficient. (The next day, we ate green onions at every meal.) So, they set us to turn under a bed of tired kale, and I spent a half-hour in peaceful contemplation of the fork.

It was a revelation.


As a bed-turning tool, the fork is infinitely superior to the shovel. It mixes while it turns and it's a lot easier on the back. 

At the Beet Ranch, our native soil would give a potter fits of delight. It's all clay with a rock thrown in here and there for variety. When we dug holes for our trees, we started with a pick axe, and progressed to a jack hammer. 

I've mixed a fair amount of compost into our beds, but the clay persists. A shovel is hard to drive through clay. I've ripped the bottom out of more than one pair of garden shoes doing the shovel-stomp. Plus, the shovel compacts as it cuts, bringing the soil up in hard shovel-shaped bricks. I've halved a lot of earthworms hacking up shovel pucks. 

The fork, on the other hand, dives easily through clay, and mixes without compacting. 

But is it really that beneficial to turn over soil in planting beds? 

I was feeling a little lazy last month, so I did a little at-home experiment. I forked over half a bed, left the other half un-forked. I sowed buckwheat equally over all and sprinkled a small layer of compost over the top.

Forked (left) v/s unforked (right)
The results, as you can see, were significant.

The buckwheat on the unturned side did sprout eventually, but never as thickly as the buckwheat on the forked side.

My verdict: forking - worth the extra effort. 

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Clydiebunny Sets Out

I took a break from the blog for awhile, because I didn't want to write this post.

Clyde passed away in December. She had aggressive lymphoma and we made the hard decision to put her to sleep.

My poor, tired girl.
We miss her so much.


I have a lot to say about Clyde, but so far I haven't found words to adequately express how wonderful she was and how much we loved her.


Right to the very end, she spent her life loving us. We are so thankful for her, for the way she looked after us.

Heart to heart.
I believe she has gone home to the greatest love, the one we will all return to in the end.

I hope, someday, when my time comes, I will meet her again in that happy place, in the bosom of the One who sent her here.

And my heart says:

Thank you God for the ones who love us with everything they have. Thank you God for Clyde.