February's Garden (2022)

 

February and January are over...finally! They were the worst two months of my life. We all survived Covid thanks to everyone's prayers.  Bill's lungs are slowly recovering from pneumonia and he is beginning to get his strength back.  Every day we celebrate any improvement no matter how small. Being so close to death for such a long time changes a person's perspective on life.  We are moving slower and everything looks different.

The storms in January and February destroyed much of the garden. I thought I had planted too much, but it seems now it was the right move. What I don't understand, is why some of the plants survived while others right beside them didn't. Why did Bill live when so many other people who were younger and healthier didn't? It doesn't make sense.

A trailer load of horse manure was delivered by the horse trainer who uses our field to board some of his mares - I must unload it alone now.  The garden chores will fall to me since our three sons are living in other cities. We have used all of the food it produced. In normal times, someone our age and in this poor of health would be cutting back on activities. However, with rising inflation, supply shortages, and food prices spiraling out of control with no stopping in sight, the garden is a necessity.

We are still eating all the fresh greens we want and have been able to share some. Once a day we try to eat a big salad for the healing nutrition.  Of course, since it tastes absolutely delicious that chore is pleasurable.  

As for what survived the winter, Serifon, Green in the Snow has lived up to its name. The side shoots are eaten like broccoli. It is in the mustard family but the flavor is mild and perfect in salads.

Some of the Swiss Chards sprang back to life after a little warmth. These were from my saved seeds so hopefully, they are adjusting to my crazy weather.

The garlic is doing fine. It laughs at bad weather.

The collard greens have always been one of the best winter survivors but this year there are only a few left.  A couple of the Frisee Endives that were protected beneath seem to have revived.

Five of the Vibrant Ultra Violet Mustards have survived much to my amazement.  Last month I didn't think a single one would make it. Now they are putting out new green growth.  

Last year the Scarlet Kale was tiny and pitiful so I planted a whole row in hopes of getting at least something.  This year, when everything else suffered, it went wild.  

Today's weather report forecasts sunshine and warmer weather for a few days.  My seed order has been placed and I am dreaming of trying new vegetables. Never in my life have I looked forward to spring as much as I do now.

Last Month's January (2022) Garden

Last Year's February's Garden (2021)

Through the Garden Gate

Nana Has Been Released

Imagine you are sick, helpless, and have a very short time left to live.  Would you prefer to spend your remaining days with strangers or with family and friends? What if an unknown, unelected, unaccountable government employee had the power to lock you in your bedroom for eight months, declare your family to be parasites, and only allow people they deem "essential" close to you.  They arrogantly decree their draconian rules are for your safety and any questions to the contrary are threatened with fines.  This is the hell my mother has endured.

She is living in a wonderful assisted living facility with the kindest people in the world.  It is where she needs to be, yet, what the government has forced upon all of them in the name of "safety" is unimaginable. 

Due to the coronavirus, the facility was forced to lockdown at the beginning of March "for only two weeks" - a lie straight from the pit of hell.  The front door was closed and none of the inmates were allowed to leave for any reason other than a doctor's appointment; however, "essential" persons by the hundreds could enter and exit at will.  In their off time, they could shop, travel, walk through crowds, spend evenings with family members (who had also been in public places), and then as soon as they clocked in, they magically became "essential."  I am family and labeled "nonessential" therefore, I am hazardous.  

The staff works intimately close with everyone because it is necessary to assist during baths, hair washing, and dressing; however, during lockdown, for some strange reason, haircuts were not allowed. No one could get a haircut even though it is hygienically necessary.  Ask any nurse, they will tell you it is important, but no one asked them because bureaucrats are in charge.

The activity room was deemed off-limits because it might be unsanitary so the daily activities were held in hard metal folding chairs in the middle of the busy hallway where the nursing, maintenance, delivery, kitchen, office staff plus "essential" visitors had to step through the middle.

Meals were no longer allowed in the dining room and were moved to the bedrooms.  That meant all of the services and the personnel performing the work had to shift.  Inside my Mother's bedroom, no fewer than 12 "essential" personnel from three different shifts entered daily yet I could never once step inside the front door.  They were:

• Morning and evening nurse - administered medications
• Kitchen staff - delivered and removed three meals.
• Medical staff - temperature was taken twice daily.
• Housekeeping - room cleaned once a week and trash removed twice daily.
• Laundry - picked up and dropped off once a week.
• Maintenance - changed light bulbs and made other repairs.
• Activities Director - checked in twice a day in an attempt to encourage socialization and ward off depression.

Every staff member was compassionate because of what had been imposed by tyrants on the helpless people they cared about.  They could see the pain caused by the loneliness but were unable to stop a government with too much power.

In an attempt to alleviate melancholy, the staff moved this couch to the front window. The occupants were able to chat on the phone while their families stood outside the window.  Mother is almost blind and this was not a comfort to her.

Finally, after eight months in jail, Mom was released last weekend...sort of.  I was allowed to visit if I promised to wear a mask, stay at a safe distance, and not touch her.  

I do believe the Chinese Coronoavirus is real and is deadly.  When it first arrived on our shores in February, extreme caution was warranted.  It was an unknown bioweapon and we were unprepared.  Now, our medical doctors have studied it, know how to treat it and the survival rate in the US is 99%.  It has become a pandemic of fear and those in power have capitalized on it to seize more power.  Will we be locked down again every time there is a dangerous flu season?  Never again should we destroy the healthy by quarantining them in hopes of stopping what might or might not happen. This cure is worse than the disease. A freedom relinquished is a freedom lost.  We have lost so many freedoms here in America it is horrifying.  

All I wanted was to be an "essential" person and be allowed to spend a little time with my mother like hundreds of others.  Why was that so bad?

Scooter Visits Nana

May's Garden (2020)

We are exhausted but the whole garden is almost planted.  Seeing the grocery stores empty was a big motivator.   It is already producing more food than we can eat and with lockdown lifted, I have finally been able to share with others.

The horrible armadillos have returned and have begun destroying the garden. Since they slip in late at night under cover of darkness from the woods, we have installed a short chicken wire fence around the back half of the garden.  If they figure it out and begin entering through the front area, we will add it all the way around.  It isn't fancy but is necessary.

We love white sugar beets and never have enough so the whole first row will be dedicated to them.  Last year this was the first hoop house row and these were planted in the fall.  We are harvesting the biggest ones now.

Finding seeds was almost impossible this year due to everyone else also panicked by the empty grocery stores and starting gardens (wise decisions).  I did find one company selling sugar beets with a 40% germination rate (my rate was 30%).  To avoid wasting any of the precious seeds, each was marked.  Never before have I had any success collecting sugar beet seeds but two have bolted.  Maybe I will get seeds!

The beans in the second row are just beginning to sprout.  Egyptian Walking Onions, Elephant Garlic plus one bolting Scarlett Kale are all that is left from the second winter hoop house.  Collecting seeds this year has become a priority.

This row has onions on the outside, Chinese turnips in the center front and Red Detroit beets in the far back.

The onions are Texas Super Sweet.

White Tokinashi and Hida Beni Red turnips have been a fantastic surprise.  About half were ready in 40 days like the seed catalog bragged. The rest are still growing. Their flavor is mild, nothing like regular turnips (which I dislike). The red is a bit stronger than the white but both can be eaten raw in salads. When the last of these are picked in a few days, more will be planted.  Both varieties are going on the list of "must-have."

More unsprouted beans and Egyptian Walking Onions in the far back.

Drum roll please...look at these potatoes!  I have managed to grow large potato vines, don't know if there are potatoes underneath yet,  but look at those vines!  Wow!  Will this be the first year ever that I have a successful crop of potatoes? We'll see.

"Assorted unknowns" are on the left and "assorted knowns" are on the right.  They are either must-have favorites or those about which I'm still undecided.  Everybody deserves more than one chance.

Both Katsuona Mustard and Giant Leaf Chinese Mustard do not taste anything like Southern Mustard greens but are mild flavored.  The Chinese Giant Leaf Mustard is supposed to get 3 feet by 1 and 1/2 feet wide but is already bolting.  

Tsa tsai Round is a mustard variety that forms a bump at the base of the stem which can be eaten along with the large leaves. Supposedly the bulbs form differently according to when you plant them.  I'm still experimenting with this one.

At the far end by the field is one row of tomatoes.  

To squeeze as much out of my garden as possible this year, lettuce was planted between and in front of every tomato plant. 

We cut the long strip of fencing that was rolled into a scroll last year and made this wild-looking arch. Exactly how it will be used is still undecided.

The rest of the fencing will be used to support tomatoes in front of the woods.  It is in shade in the morning and early afternoon even though tomatoes like full sun. Rotating a garden is important but this was the best I could arrange because it is also necessary to have a safe shot from the back deck (in the middle of the night) when armadillos are shredding your garden.

So far, I am way ahead of schedule this year.  Being locked down with nowhere to go and no job has made a big difference.

Last Month's April Garden (2020)

Last Year's May Garden (2019)

Something Pretty, Something Putrid, and Something Pretty Putrid (The Armadillo Saga)

Through the Garden Gate

Locked Down No More! Columbia, Tennessee

We are free! The Chinese Coronavirus lockdown has been lifted for my area of Tennessee!  We celebrated by taking a drive to see if there was any life outside of our world.  First stop, Dollar General Store where we found the shelves stocked with a package of toilet paper; since it is back, the crisis must be over.

We drove around looking for anything opened and ended up in Columbia, Tennessee. Many businesses have not reopened but Ted's Sporting Goods was doing a brisk business. 

The sign is always upside down.

Around the corner was a grand opening of a "non-essential" store so it was "essential" for us to go shopping.

There was nothing in this store I needed but everything I wanted. Why would any brainless, government bureaucrat consider this business "non-essential?"  Wandering around was so refreshing.  Everyone social distanced and was careful to not get close.  

  

Columbia is the mule capital of the world and every year they celebrate at the Mule Day festival, which, of course, was canceled this year. City folk might be laughing but that is only because they haven't known any mules personally.  They are intelligent animals who work harder than many of my previous co-workers.

After blowing all of my allowance, we stopped by the home of James K. Polk, 11th U.S. President who was from Columbia.  

It had not reopened yet. 

It is time for the world to start revolving again. Mom is in the assisted living facility in Nashville and is still locked down. She is bored but it is the safest place for her. Two of my dearest friends have caught the virus and I'm concerned.  It isn't something anyone would want to catch. Will it return in the Fall?  Probably.  But now the doctors know better how to treat it and are discovering more each day; hopefully, by then, they will have a cure.

As for me, on our first day out, I did what I have been wanting to do for three months - I went to Walmart and got a hair cut!  Try not to scream when you see the before picture.

Before

Afterward, I think I look like a bank robber.

After - Bank Robber