a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

Category: Reflections

Solstice Evening Near the Center of the Universe

It’s the summer solstice. The two mother hens aren’t staying up to watch the sun set on this longest day of the year. They have gone to bed early. I wonder where the two chicks they share are sleeping. During the night do the chicks sneak from one mother to the other?

On this longest day, the dogwood is in full bloom.

From the top of the roof, I watch the last of the sun rays climb to the top of the trees and disappear. There is still the heat of summer to come, but we all feel a little sadness as the days start to shorten.

This far north, the solstice must be celebrated. In Seattle, in Fremont, the center of the universe, the Solstice Festivities are in full swing. From their website about the parade:

The Fremont Solstice Parade welcomes the Solstice Cyclists to ride in our parade. Please be advised that riders will not be wearing clothes and full nudity is to be expected. All cyclists are required to be painted and costumed for the ride. Most are. The Parade is not a nudist event, it is an Art event that recognizes the human body as a canvas and the joy of riding as a part of our community’s creative expression.

The Fremont Solstice Parade is a special event that makes Seattle special. If you’ve never been, mark next year’s calendar for the summer solstice and plan a trip to Seattle. And if you don’t believe Fremont is the center of the universe, there is a guidepost in Fremont, marking the exact spot. The Metropolitan King County Council officially proclaimed Fremont as the Center of the Universe on July 25, 1994.

Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Council of King County;
The Artistic Republic of Fremont is hereby declared, decreed, and determined to be an Independent ImagiNation and a Mecca for those of independent minds and spirits, and is forever and fervently empowered with all the rights and privileges thereto accruing. Further, the Metropolitan King County Council plainly postulates and proclaims Fremont to be Center of the Universe, indeed, and hereby supports Fremont in its gallant endeavors to apply to the United Nations for sovereign status under international law.

A Man and His Hoe is about an hour and a half away from The Center of the Universe, but when you consider how many trillions of light years across the universe is, being just an hour and a half away from the center is like practically being right there.

June 21, 2014
Solstice Eve

It’s the eve of the summer solstice. I’m not ready for the days to start getting shorter. The summer solstice comes too early. Days should keep getting longer until mid or late August. Many Iris are in bloom, and the apples are growing past their baby stage.

Driving home from picking up a truckload of supplies, two ducks forced me to stop. They were in no rush to cross the road. Such is life around here. This is no place to live if you are in a hurry.

June 20, 2014
Out of the Garden Today – June 18, 2014

In his Parasites, Killing Their Host – The Food Industry’s Solution to Obesity article yesterday, New York Time’s op-ed writer, Mark Bittman describes how food corporations are killing their customers by producing highly processed food that is causing the obesity and diabetes epidemic.

Aware that finding solutions to this epidemic is important, some of these food corporations want to re-engineer their food and work with communities to solve the epidemic. Of course, much of this new food is highly processed and as far from real food as the many of the products that line supermarket shelves today.

A more long term solution is to enable everyone to have easy access to real food, fresh out of the garden like I have every day. When you have real food this sumptuous, settling for something that comes out of can or box doesn’t cross your mind. Even picking up produce picked a day or two or a week ago loses it’s appeal. Nothing compares to eating raspberries off the vine or munching on peas that you’ve just picked. Everyone should be able to do this.

Organizations like Seattle Urban Farm Company and Urban Harvest show that this is possible. You can grow a lot of food in the city. And the more people eat real food, fresh out of the garden, the more they will demand it.

June 18, 2014
In the Woods Today

Recent rains have made the woods cool and damp. The smell of decomposing leaves, twigs, and branches on the forest floor is so fresh. Any day is a good day for a walk through the woods. It takes just a few steps out of the house to be in the woods. It’s easy to take such luxury for granted.

Many years ago, I lived in a desert country for a time. The mountains and valleys were barren. Not a speck of green to the horizon and beyond. I’d close my eyes and dream of green. I met a local person who saw photographs of lush, green mountains of distant countries, and he told me that he thought the photographs weren’t real. Only knowing desert mountains, he thought that someone had painted the green on the photographs. It wasn’t until he traveled and saw the forested mountains for himself that he realized there are places in the world that are so green.

Stepping out of the woods, I see that the blueberries are forming. This is how blueberries look like before they turn blue. Another month and they will be as blue as the sky.

June 17, 2014
Olympia Farmers Market
On a drive home from Vancouver, WA, we stopped in Olympia for a break and visited the Olympia Farmers Market. It wasn’t our intention to go to the Olympia Farmers Market, but when we drove to the bottom of Capitol Way, the main street of Olympia, we discovered the market and had to explore it.

The Olympia Farmers Market is the second largest farmers market in Washington State. From April through October it is open Thursday through Sunday. November through December it is open Saturday and Sunday.

It is housed in a large, wooden building, and has vendors selling produce (really great produce), meat, dairy, condiments, homemade crafts, nurseries, fresh flowers, artisans and restaurants. It’s amazing that a small town like Olympia has such an outstanding farmers market. In 2016 it will be forty years old.

With all the fresh produce we grow, I don’t need to buy vegetables, but I did get some plump kohlrabi which were very sweet and delicious. I also picked up a variety of unusual beans to plant for late summer picking. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, markets such as these will be the norm everywhere.
June 12, 2014