A Gathering Storm...of sorts

from Will Perkins

With the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina upon us, I remember the myriad of feelings it wrought; the excitement of distraction from work as we waited for each National Weather Service update, the busy-ness of stocking supplies, storing or tying down items that would normally be leaning in the barn, stored against the greenhouse, or underfoot in the carport, the energy rush you feel when the barometric pressure drops and the winds pick up, the camaraderie and good times experienced when all the family came together at our house to ride out the storm…then, the sick feeling in the pit of your stomach as you realize that this isn’t “someone else’s” problem and it isn’t a matter of just cleaning up a few fallen trees or waiting for the power to come back on. The storm has destroyed what was our back yard, the beaches walked in summertime, the historic city visited in the spring and fall, towns where we once lived and had friends. Also seriously damaged was our family’s sense of security, our friends’ optimism, and to a degree our way of life.

We were one of the few areas in southeast Louisiana spared any direct damage from Katrina. We housed our whole extended family for a period, along with their dogs and cats. It was raucous, noisy, and nervy, but the kids headed back to their apartments as power was restored. Thais’ sisters found places to stay as their houses were rebuilt and roads home cleared. Our daughter, who bore our first grandchild two days after the storm, stayed extra time while my son-in-law and I cleared away some of the limbs from their house, cleaned their refrigerator, and carted provisions back to their recently-purchased home is Ponchatoula, La.

Of the less obvious impacts (to those residing outside of southeast Louisiana) from Katrina (and Rita), is the economic and population growth in the area surrounding New Orleans and Lake Charles. In particular, Baton Rouge’s population grew by one-third immediately following the hurricanes, and has settled into about 20% growth after some of the evacuees returned to the storm areas or relocated elsewhere. The Zachary area, which was already in a growth spurt due to the quality of life and excellent schools, is now in overdrive, with somewhere around 2,000 to 4,000 new homes planned or under construction in addition to the 3,000 or so completed in the last couple of years. When we move to the area seven years ago, there were six stoplights and, as we liked to say, one of everything – a grocery store, dry cleaner, pizza place, hardware store (2 actually), etc. Now, we have 4 (count ‘em, four) Chinese restaurants, a Chili’s, Home Depot, two supermarkets in addition to the super-Walmart, and two new 18-hole golf courses. The city is building 2 brand new huge schools and doubling the size of the high school.

Thursday night I attended a Town Hall meeting with the developer of the golf course that, two years ago, was constructed around and behind our little farm. The developer envisions a very upscale community of 600 houses on 70-100 foot wide lots. The number of houses being built will exceed all of the houses currently served by the road that passes in front of our property. Litter, noise, pollution, and opportunity will abound. This is not what we moved out here for. As Lyle Lovett said at one of his concerts, “I used to live in the country. Now I live in town…and I haven’t moved.” We have an eight-year plan that goes like this: pay off the house, sell, move further out, and start over. Nothin’ like a little incentive.

Late Summer afternoon

SO...check out the amazing grasshopper-dude. He was hanging out in a clump of weeds in the herb beds. I ran inside to get the camera...because I had to shoo him away...because I was weeding, and well...Actually he is much, much bigger than it may appear here. I'd sayhe was about three inches long. And check out those eyes! what an incredible expression! very elegant. I had been cooped up all day, and finally just got the garden gloves and a sweat rag (important piece of equipment, the sweat rag) stuffed into my pocket, and some clippers and just headed out. I felt like taking something apart - I thought I'd cut back at least one row of basil. Easy enough, and gratifyng. But there are SO MANY BEES. The big fat bumble bees. They're not aggressive, but they do not like to be disturbed, and they are very vocal about it. I wasn't sure whether they'd go home later in the evening and leave the basil to me, or whether it's late summer and they'd just hang around 24/7. They do that sometimes. They crawl onto the back side of a leaf (or flower) and just act totally drunk. Hanging on, bleary with pollen, and oblivious to everything, including you. If you grab a flower or leaf and aren't inspecting what you're doing, you're likely to just grab a very large bee into the middle of your palm. Not a good move. I've done that. In the end, I decided to leave them alone. As you can see, there are more basil flowers than there is actual basil. Cut back severely, there will be a fall crop. I can either do that, or pull it all up and just plant more. But it's kind of beautiful and there's plenty of basil to go around. I'll probably leave some and prune some. Spring is plenty of time for brand new basil, I think. So I pulled many giant weeds and threw them out to the edge of the garden, then carefully weeded my new bed of French Marigolds. They're not the showiest game in town, but I wanted some color...besides they're edible, even though Will can't understand why anyone would want to eat one, because he's not fond of the taste. In any case, they're dependable, and once they get going, will bloom until we have a frost. So that was fun. At least one new fresh-looking row at the edge of the herb garden. It gives one courage to wade into the rest of it and hack away, trying to restore some kind of order. The heat has lost it's scary power somehow, or maybe we're just more used to it in late August and we don't care so much. But it is becoming a little easier to work outside...maybe more garden news tomorrow.

ok, everyone...remain calm

Tuesday (August 29th) is, as we know, the 1st anniversary of 'Katrina'. This is an example of an occurrence we in the south like to refer to as 'The Recent Unpleasantness'. And here we see the week ahead:
Everyone just hang in there. As we know, anything can happen, and probably will. I'd love to think about the Fall garden, and we'll probably do some work this weekend. I'll be sure to post something positive tomorrow. This is a good time to work in order to provide needed distraction. Hey - the way I figure it, maybe we'll get a whole bunch of rain and it will fill up the pond....right?

I think we can agree...

Sadly, it is time for the zinnias to go....but, hey; that's ok because if I don't yank these up, then I can't have even more zinnias! I had planned to wait until now, Friday evening, because tomorrow is Saturday and I don't care if I go out and get all nastified and tired. So I got the truck and pulled it into the yard; put on some gloves and started yanking and throwing. But not before I picked a few...but this is all I got, and that's from both sides of the fencerow. Hey, better than none. I made it a little more than halfway down the row before I hit the infamous and expected wasps. I was actually surprised it took that long. But no matter. I was exhausted anyway. Half the truckbed was full. Will had come out to see how I was coming along, and all the animals were there, becasue it was dinnertime. The CrazyCat checked the truck out: then he decided that if he was cute, maybe he'd get his food a little sooner...I was SO hoping I wouldn't have to get up in the morning and do this some more; but I'm not finished. And that's only one side of the fence. But I want Fall flowers, and this is the only way to get them. We have more 'pelletized fertilizer', otherwise kown as 'chicken ***' and if I can get this done, Will can spread some and till it in. Planting is not a deal. So easy. But this is all I have in me for one evening; so more later...

Ending and Beginning

And so it is Fall, but not really Fall. Not down here. The weather says no, but the season says yes. Here are Ibis passing over the farm today, on their way to somewhere...we call this a 'bird group'. So we can say "bird group!"and I know that's hard to see, so here is a lonely Ibis...a very large and beautiful bird. We have a lot of large and beautiful birds down here. One sign of Fall, yes - those bird groups - but there are many. Flower beds to re-plant and, as you have seen here, many battles to fight as things begin to look weary and weedy. Will was in Mississippi, and picked up a ton of chicken *****. Let us see now, he calls this 'pelletized fertilizer'. My oh my, it is fragrant. It comes in a giant plastic sack, strapped into the bed of the truck. He borrowed a cone-shaped spreader from a friend, and went through the field spewing it everywhere. Now, some may think that pictures of dirt are boring, but if you know the ground has just been plowed and spread with 'pelletized fertilizer', it is a very satisfying sight indeed. If you look at that picture very closely you can see Dude the Dog out there, in the dirt. Although it looks like he's keeping watch, he's just following us around hoping for dinner. All season we've been piling up the vegetable matter...plants pulled from rows, compost from the kitchen, etc. The compost pile looks happy. In the middle you can see two old watermelons from a couple of months ago. It takes a while for things to break down in a compost pile: We're getting ready to 'pull up some rows' to begin the fall planting: At the very beginning of this blog, in May, what we had was an overload of lettuce. That's always the first thing to come in, Spring or Fall. So the lettuce will be planted first, and of course Red Beans for Fall. The trick with red beans is always to harvest them before the late fall rains begin. There will be a folk festival here in early October, and we are responsible for growing some of the veggies the campers will partake of during that weekend. So, we had better get busy! Some things refuse to quit, like the eggplants; and then there are the late-starting but ever-increasing loofas. And, I am sorry to say, the 'black-eyed peas but who cares we are so sick of peas'. There, I said it. But that's ok. You can't be gloriously happy all the time with every garden event.

Mow Mow Mow...

Everything
Is
Mowed


Yeah. well that lasted about 4 days...time to get back out there and decide where to start, because it's time to do it all over again. And to think that in a few months we'll actually put the mower up for the 'winter'. We've been pulling stuff up and mowing and plowing. Some things I just hate to pull, but that's just a shortcoming of mine...I suppose it's related to that thinning problem I also have. As much as I love the zinnias, they have to go. I mean, you can't have MORE zinnias if you don't pull these up first. Will is bringing home a truckload of fertilizer (chicken-related) and I want the flower beds to be ready. I worked like a dog on the old Cosmos bed last week. That was a scary project. It was a jungle in there, lots of nettles (ouch) which have to be chopped. They can't be pulled, because they're full of nasty thorns. But I got it done. It will have to stay this way until the ground is prepared again. Like every other August, it's hard to believe you can (and have to) plant in this heat. If you don't it will just be too late. It works out...I have Dianthus seed I want to start, and Pansies can be put in as soon as they're available. It's not all rip and tear, however. There are a couple of things just coming ito their own. If you can stand another loofah picture, here is an update. I love these big yellow flowers. And, as you can see, things are coming along nicely. There are plenty more, but here is an example of how fast these grow: Well, I put in my early morning time before the heat. I left buckets in the field, because I meant to pick purple hull peas. I would have done that, even in the heat, but they were still full of dew, and hauling in peas when they're wet is a dangerous proposition. They will mold before you can shell them. I'll just wait until later today. If it doesn't rain, they'll be dry by this afternoon, and I can wait until the relative cool in the evening. Or, if things look stormy, maybe I can get to them before it rains. Oh, and this is cool; we had a very nice family come up here from way south Louisiana a couple of weekends ago. They wanted to know when the limas were ready, and they'll be coming back for them maybe Saturday. We're going to trade veggies for fresh crabs. We're really excited about this. I must say, living in Louisiana does have it's advantages.

Head's Up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Time for the Perseids Meteor Showers! Best night, fortunately, August 12th. Recommended snacks and beverages; boiled peanuts and wine; take a nap during the day, because the best meteors are way after midnight. In the Northern hemisphere, here's a map... I am posting this non-gardening event, because it is not to be missed! We've watched these meteor showers every year for probably 30 years or so. Invite your friends. Find a dark spot away from town. Bring the bug spray (read the labels - find the least objectionable) and a blanket. Works best if you have (1) a pickup truck (2) a picnic table, or (c) a reclining lawn chair. Also good...when someone goes inside to the bathroom, everyone should say WOW! DID YOU SEE THAT ONE? ha.

Loofah Update

I really truly thought at one time that Loofah sponges grew in the water. I didn't know they grow on vines and, not only cn you plant them but they produce like crazy! After we ripped up the cucumbers, I set out some loofah seedlings I had started a month ago. Mid-July they looked like this: Two weeks later, we have this: In this third picture, if you look closely, you can see a yellow flower of the vine, and attached to it is a tiny baby looafah, soon to become a really long husked object, which, when totally dry on the vine, can be taken off, the outer shell peeled, the loofah cut in half, and all of the seeds removed; and let me tell you what, there are a LOT of seeds in each and every loofah. And in the end, you have a wonderful stash of loofah sponges, which as we know, we pay a stupid amount for in the beauty section of the 'whatever' store. My great aunt told me that, before those colored cellulose sponges we get in the grocery store, people used loofahs to wash dishes. Of course, how sensible is that? Here is the end result. These are fomr last year - it's what is left. If all goes according to plan, there should be plenty more sometime in October.

Things You DON'T Want To See...

Like this...yikes! I followed them (with my eyes - I'm not a fool) because they were bothering my clothesline and I wanted to know where they were nesting nearby. Wasps love the cellulose on clothespins. Sometimes one gets beligerent, like today - and I shook the line and flapped the sheet and that sucker was clinging to that clothespin for everything he was worth. Anyway, I finally shook him off, and he flew here, up under the roof of the wood-pile structure at the back of the house. They look pretty wicked, don't they? And to think I've been mowing right up against there...
Then there are things you DO want to see...but they're hard to get a good look at. Since we scooped out our 'bog' or 'wetland happening', and dug a pond, suddenly we have these odd frogs. We've always had frogs there, lots and lots of them, bullfrogs too; but these are a type I've never seen before. They are very large, and very very green (you see that when you happen upon them suddenly ). Of course, when they see you coming, they jump right into the pond. But Will told me that when he mows, they, for some reason, don't jump - but let him come really close to them. I don't know what that's about. So I got the camera and got on the mower. This is as close as I could get, because I'm a sissy about going all they way down the slope. I'm just sure I'd keep going right into the pond. Anyway, here they are...

Busy End of the Season

yes, it's been a few days...it's gets harder and harder to get to this blog, but it's because we've been so busy...not just pulling in the very last of the produce, but also engaged in complicated garden tasks; and each comes with it's own unexpected problems, of course. Will was hosing off the bush-hog today, which was attached to the tractor. When he was finished, he cranked up the tractor and, in a very un-Willish moment, forgot the tractor was in gear. So it took off and rammed the fence! Good thing there's a big Jasmine vine there - the destroyed fence will be kind of hidden until winter, when it can be attended to...(Sorry, Will, for telling on you, but it's a good story). And all of my projects seem to be cursed with wasp nests! I knew they were in the thyme bed because they're in the thyme bed every year, no matter what I do. But I had whacked the bed all over, and thought I was in the clear to weed everything. So I raked all the hay off, and took a good look at the problem. Nut grass is one thing, but bermuda is not to be tolerated! Everybody hates bermuda grass. It's a royal pain! But, you just get the hoe and get to work...as early in the morning as possible because the work is hard and it's too hot for this kind of thing after 8:30 a.m.! Well, I made quite a bit of headway...then I was pulling Bermuda out from the Thyme and I heard them...I actually woke them up! bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...and up they came. I backed off and stood there and looked to make sure I knew where the nest was...it's somewhere in there. I had to wait until Will could locate it late in the evening, because you have to wait until they all come home for the night, to make sure you get them all. It took two days - he wasn't sure he had killed the nest the first evening. Well, I finally was able to get back to this job. Got all the weeds out, dug around the edges to make sure there wasn't weed-creep, wherein the bed just gets a little smaller each season. When all was said and done, I raked the hay back onto the bed. This hay has beenthere since March, so it has broken down quite a bit, and is good for the soil, which in this bed is pretty poor. This is all I can do for now, because there are so, so many cleanup jobs to be done. It's that time of year. The weeds win out, in the end, and you give over some parts of the garden and yard to them, even if just temporarily. Yes, the earth laughs.

8:00 p.m. and too hot to work

so I just picked flowers instead...

Things I Hadn't Noticed...

Really. It's been such a busy season. These are the types of things you'd think you would notice! But there's so much to keep up with...
we have pears. Actually, we have LOTS of pears!The Loofah vines have taken hold in the old cucumber row...they were looking spindly when I weeded this row on Monday. What a difference for a couple of days with no weed-competition and some rain.




When there's not as much vegetation in the field, it's much easier to spot something with THIS outrageous red color. You wait so long for red bell peppers, that you sometimes forget there's going to be some later in the season.
The okra is finally tall enough to not have to bend over to pick it. yea! (yea for Will, that is...I admit I'm not the one that keeps up with this almost daily task...)
More purple hulls! More purple hulls! I'm trying to psyche myself up for the work part...I was wishing the weather would cooperate and the second row would make. There never seems to be enough of these little babies. The finest of the beans (if you don't count the red beans, of course). There's more in the 'wake up and look around' department, but it was hot, and I had a job I wanted to begin tackling this morning. More about that later...

Volunteers in the Garden

Does it look too hot to go out there and work in the garden this morning? Yes. I thought so, too. Which is what I get for waiting until 7:30 a.m. to consider the possibility. Besides, Will and I were outside yesterday evening...I was mowing and he was weed-eating. We just kept it up until almost dark. And I'm feeling kind of blasted from it today. Like a fool, I got too close to him while he was working around the pond, and as I passed him on the mower, a rock went 'TWANG!' against the side of my neck. It was stupid, besides being alarming and painful. What does all of this have to do with volunteers in the garden? nothing. We'll just put that in our personal 'Department of Lessons Learned'...Volunteer plants in the garden can be something surprising that you never planted in the first place, or something that you planted in the past that has re-seeded itself and springs up once again. Sometimes it comes up in the same place you planted it. And sometimes it comes up in an altogether different place. We like our volunteers, and they provide interesting interplay in the garde, so many times we just leave them alone. In the back of the garden, on the very last row next to the fenceline, we set out a row of Mexican Sunflowers last year. These are fabulous flowering plants, and get very tall, sometimes 8 feet or more, covered with beautiful big, orange flowers. The bees and the butterflies absolutely love them, and we tend to let them grow wherever they appear. They have sprung up back there with the eggplants and black-eyed peas. These are the ones the bunnies didn't eat when they were small. We also planted an entire fenceline of them several years ago, in preparation for our daughter's wedding. No matter what I plant on that fenceline (zinnias this year and last), there are always Mexican Sunflowers in the mix. These we don't mind. Then there are things we kind of do mind, but there's not much we can do about...like the poly-headed
sunflowers. When we planted these (again, for the wedding), we didn't know they were perrenials, or if we did, we didn't think about it much. We were in a planting craze at the time, and when we sat with the 'kids' and ordered all of the flowers we would plant for the wedding, more than a dozen different types of sunflowers were chosen. These we put on a different fenceline, and when they re-appeared the following year, we were pleasantly surprised. But they were leggy and got out of control, and didn't bloom well the second year, so we thought we'd get rid of them and plant something else. HA. The roots are very deep, and send runners and we have decided that they cannot be conquered, short of a major plowing operation. So, looks like they will be part of the permanent landscape! And then, there is the Evening Primrose...ah, me. I hardley know what to do about this one. As yet another experimental herb-growing adventure, I thought I'd plant a flat of Evening Primrose and make a row in the permanent herb beds. Actually, I had so many plants that I made TWO rows of it. It behaved itself last year, and made beautiful plants and stunning flowers. Again, I thought that maybe I would do away with it, or narrow it down to one bed rather than two. I didn't give it much thought at first....I didn't know that evening primrose is a HEDGE! And a migrating hedge at that! This year, the plants came up in rows, yes they did...but outside of the rows I planted them in, and to top it all off, there are stray bushes of primrose here and there all over the herb beds! I'm not sure what the ultimate solution is, but after they've played themselves out, I'll see if I can't formulate a plan. I don't want to get rid of it altogether, but I sure would like to think I have some control over the situation!