The young rooster is in the pot, resting on a bed of oregano and garlic leaves. After adding some sake and whiskey it’s in the oven at just 190ºF (88ºC). It will slowly roast the rest of the afternoon. The great thing about having beds of herbs, is that I don’t have to worry about how many to use. If I want a bed of oregano, it is there for the picking. If the only place to get fresh herbs in your supermarket, you’re limited to small bunches or just a few sprigs at a time.
And yet, cities don’t need to be like that. Many herbs are prolific plants. Urban areas could be designed to grow endless quantities of herbs their citizens could pick at will. Planting strips, park hedges, sidewalk borders, rooftop gardens, apartment courtyards; all could be herb gardens available for city residents to use. Imagine getting off the subway on your way home from work, scissors in hand, snipping fresh handfuls of oregano, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, for use for that night’s salad, soup, and roast.
Category: Reflections
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In the Pot Today
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Personality
Tora-hime is one of my favorite hens. She has such piercing eyes and beautiful feathers. It’s always easy to spot her when she is on a nest.
The bark I stripped off the alder trunks when I made posts dried and curled into these beautiful shapes. These strips of bark were flat when I peeled them off the alder trunks. In the sun, they turned red and curled.A little sanding, trimming, and waxing could turn these into interesting dishes for appetizers, chopstick holders, or flower vases.
Everyday there are surprises waiting to be discovered. This is an abandoned Stellar Jay’s nest. And below are the flowers of a barberry bush.
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Bees
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All it takes is a little sunshine and the bees are out in force. There are thousands of wild bees here. On sunny days, the rosemary, mint, oregano, lavender and other herbs are buzzing with them.There are 200 species of bees in this area, some 4,000 species in North America, and nearly 20,000 species of bees worldwide.
According to Lisa Arkin, director for Beyond Toxic, “Without bees we would lose a third of the food that comes to our tables every day.”
If you look closely, you can see one of the mother hens in the background.
A Diversity of Bees Is Good for Farming—And Farmers’ Wallets ~ Smithsonian
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First Day of Summer
For parts of the world, today is the first day of summer. After torrential rains this morning, the sun came out this afternoon. The sky can be so blue here. I feel sorry for those living where the skies are polluted much of the time.
Water is pouring off the hill. The drainage ditch alongside of the road down to the post office, is a cascade of muddy water.
I’ve been by this barbed wire fence hundreds of time, but didn’t notice until today that when they strung the fence, they left loops of barbed wire. The wire is rusted so it was left a long time ago. What happened? Was it just left there in case repairs were ever needed in the fence? Did the person stringing the fence forget it? Was it their contribution to rural art?
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Rikka
According to the traditional Japanese calendar, May 5 is the start of summer this year. The traditional Japanese calendar, based on the Chinese lunisolar calendar, divides the year into 24 solar terms, which mark each 15 degree movement the earth makes around the sun. The term which just passed, April 20 through May 4 this year, was 穀雨 – Kokuu, which translates to “rains which help the grain grow”. It marks the time when the rains arrive to make the grain grow.The six terms of summer are:
- 立夏 – rikka, the start of summer 5/5~5/20
- 小満 – syoman, small fullness: the time when everything is growing well 5/21~6/5
- 芒種 – bousyu, heads of grain: the time when the heads of grain are forming 6/6~6/20
- 夏至 – geshi, summer solstice 6/21~7/6
- 小暑 – syosyo, little heat: the time when it gets hot 7/7~7/22
- 大暑 – taisyo, great heat: the hottest time of the year 7/23~8/6
Not a great deal of warmth to mark the start of summer here. The rains which helped the grain grow won’t stop falling.
The mother hens are as busy as ever.
And there is always more planting to do. Looking at a bed of freshly planted soil, it’s hard to believe that in a short time, there will be nothing but vigorous green growth here.
