a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

Month: August 2014

Alektoropomorphize

Anthropomorphizing, attributing human characteristics to animals or objects, is a no-no. Somehow, even though we humans share common ancestors with our fellow animals in our evolutionary past, we’re supposedly so different that we’ve magically developed characteristics which fellow animals don’t have.

What about alektoropomorphizing, attributing the characteristics of roosters to humans? It’s the time of year when I need to thin out the roosters for the sake of the hens, so I’m thinking about roosters a lot. This morning I butchered my fourth one this week. There are at least another five more to go to bring sufficient peace and quiet for the hens.
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I swear, watching roosters grow and behave has given me a keen insight into the behavior of straight men. Their behavior is so much like roosters that it’s uncanny. This drive to impress the ladies, possess them, lord it over other men, compete and fight, it’s exactly what roosters do.

The common perception is that we humans have evolved such complex brains, that our behavior can’t be explained by instinct. And yet, why do so many men behave exactly like roosters? A comparison of male behavior across animal species, including us, could be illuminating. No doubt there must be a genetic basis to explain much of this similarity.

I think we’re fooling ourselves when we think instincts have no effect on us. Why is it that civilizations keep repeating the same story over and over again? It may be that our instincts keep us enslaved to play out the same story, generation after generation. Perhaps a genetic evolution is required to allow us to act out a different story where we figure out a way to live in peace and harmony.

August 17, 2014
Grapes and kusakanmuri

The grapes are looking more delicious every day. We are hoping for warm, sunny weather through September so that they will ripen this year. As the climate warms, this Skagit Valley may become the new Napa: Napa on the Sound: Climate change turning Puget Sound area into prime terrain to grow valuable vines

The Japanese word for grape is budou. Written with Chinese characters, it is written 葡萄. 葡-bu means grape, and so does 萄-dou. In essence, grape-grape. If you look closely, at the top of both of these characters is a horizontal line with two short, vertical strokes. You can see this more clearly in the chart below. This three stroke radical is known as the kusakanmuri or grass crown. When you see a Chinese character with these three strokes on the top, chances are, the character means something related to plants.

And what about the characters that mean to fall and store house? What do they have to do with grass or plants? In the case of the to fall character, the portion below the grass crown means water dripping. Combined with the grass radical, it meant leaves falling off of trees and plants, and eventually took on the meaning of to fall. Look at the other parts of that character. See the part that means water? You’ll find the answer here. And a simplified history of the character is below:

The store house character illustrates a store house with a grass roof. The part of the character under the grass radical means to cover something. In ancient times, people stored things under grass thatch roofs. Over time, the character came to mean a place where you store valuables.

This should give you an idea that Chinese characters, called kanji in Japanese, are not a bunch of random squiggles. There is a framework of radicals supplying an base reference which is refined with components adding the meaning and the sound.

August 16, 2014
In the Sink Today – August 15, 2014

I spend much of my life around the kitchen sink. The Japanese word for a kitchen sink is 流し-nagashi, which loosely translates to the flowing place, in reference to flowing water.

When I was growing up, honeysuckle vines grew on the wall outside the kitchen sink. In the summer when they were blooming, their sweet fragrance filled the kitchen. I can remember smelling them as I washed the dishes in the sink. Much of my grade school years were spent in a dormitory. We children took turns helping our dorm parents make the meals and wash the dishes. I have many memories of that kitchen sink in the dorm.

Now when I look out the window over the kitchen sink, I see flowers, chickens walking about, and beautiful alder trees. Every day, I bring in a variety of produce out of the garden to eat. It all passes through the sink to be washed and prepared. Here are some of the foods which were in my sink today.

The character 流 is a beautiful one made of the radical on the left side which means water, and the part of the right which adds the meaning of movement. Together they mean water flowing.

The word 流し-nagashi has many meanings in Japanese besides a sink.

August 15, 2014
Trip to My Grocery Store

Preparing lunch meant a trip to my grocery store for vine-ripened tomatoes and some chard. There are no fluorescent lights, no other customers, no music, no cash registerers dinging. This is where I go to get much of my produce, straight from the source.

And I can’t help but admire the beauty of budding tomato leaves, or the artful curve a growing squash makes. Look at the intricate design on the squash. It would take someone hours and hours to paint that, and yet a squash skillfully adorns its skin without a thought.

But what was a welcome surprise were the flower buds on the purple pod bean plant. Such vibrant colors. In a few days the bean vines will be loaded with these tiny dancing purple flowers. You miss so much of the beauty of how food grows when you only see the final product in your grocer or in a can on the shelf. Half the joy of eating a bean is watching it bloom.

August 15, 2014
Forest Birds

My chickens spend a lot of time in the woods. They find plenty of things to eat on the forest floor, and low branches make great places to hang out and gossip.

August 15, 2014