gardening

in the spring, i sifted my compost pile and dumped the sifted compost into a pile in the middle of my backyard, which gets the most sun. i leveled it and planted stuff right in it: carrots, kale, lettuces, and spinach. just finished eating the carrots last week.

when these early spring crops were done, i planted herbs: lemongrass, 4 varieties of basil, then later, green bush beans. i put down a spiral of soaker hose.

it's definitely pesto time, and the beans are laden with tiny beans. will be making lemongrass tea as well, experimenting with using it in stir fries and curries.

a few weeks ago, i found a brief set of instructions online for creating a no-dig garden: layer 10-20 sheets of newspaper, 3 inches of alfalfa hay, 8 inches of straw, and 4 inches of compost. dust each layer with bone and blood meal and water it. plant right in the compost.

that's pretty inspiring! digging is extremely laborious, and renting a tiller is expensive. an easy way to create planting beds sounded like just the ticket for a fall garden. so i've been working on that--dreaming, planning, picking up supplies.

local tips: you can get free newspapers from ecology action, the recycling center at 9th and i-35. you'll have to dig in the paper recycling binds.

you can get bales of alfalfa hay and coastal hay at callahan's general store for $13 and $9 respectively. to get the right ratio, you probably need 3-4 bales of coastal hay to 1 bale of alfalfa hay. if you can keep it dry, it lasts for a long time, so you can just use what you need.

the natural gardener in oak hill has a variety of organic fertilizers and the best selection of veggie transplants i've seen, especially this time of year. i got feather meal in lieu of blood meal (which stinks), bone meal, and mineral mix, as well as a bale of pine needles. their acidity will eventually lower the pH of my soil. it's pretty alkaline in austin, though i haven't had my eastside loam tested.

i'm inspired by the garden at eastside cafe. i'd like to get some of that stiff fencing they use on some of their beds. it looks like sturdy wire panels, cut down to size. holds the layers in nicely. cutting the wire to fit looks labor-intensive, though, so i'm still checking this out. i need something 15 inches high. of course the no-dig garden will shrink rapidly but 15" will hold mulch in place. if anyone has any ideas, please comment!

this morning i mixed fertilizers to make enough for 100 square feet and fertilized the existing plants and planted the transplants i bought yesterday at the natural gardener--red- and green-stemmed malabar spinach, a patio tomato, two california wonder bell peppers, and italian parsley. i mulched it all with pine straw. i put layers of newspaper around the edges and covered that with coastal hay and watered, for a path that will suppress weeds and eventually become humus that i can turn onto the beds.

i feel satisfied when i look at it out my kitchen window now, and also dream of the future garden.

the travis county extension service has a list of proven varieties for austin and a vegetable garden planting calendar.

based on that, i just ordered seeds. i can plant kentucky wonder pole beans, straight eight cucumbers, amaranthus cruentis, and summer crookneck squash as soon as they arrive, in empty spaces in my existing garden.

i plan to have the no-dig extension of that bed ready for planting september 1. i ordered chioggia beets, scarlet nantes carrots, rhubarb chard, lolla rossa looseleaf lettuce, forellenschuss romaine, bloomsdale spinach, and evergreen white bunching onions, all for planting in september.

i'll also be buying heads of texas white and elephant garlic to plant and buying transplants of the brassicas: broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, chinese cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, and kohlrabi, or as many as i have room for.

i plan to visit boggy creek farm next weekend to check out what they're planting and selling, because they grow nontraditional varieties that do well in austin.

so i'm reactivating my gardening gene. it will be fun to make and watch the garden change. nature does the most elegant work!

most of the cost is up front, and i'll be eating from this garden for months. the experience, though, is priceless--the fresh air and exercise, the great organic food, the learning, and the sense of connection to the earth and its abundance and mystery. chow, y'all!

fragrant downtown

Kudos to whomever at the city decided to put planters of mountain laurel at each corner on Congress between Cesar Chavez and 11th St. Those mountain laurels are in bloom now, and what a pleasant surprise it was to take a mid-day stroll up and down Congress and occasionally get a noseful of their delightful purple perfume.

It was so balmy today, I considered whether it was a perfect day. I remembered Maui and decided that it was perfect for Austin today. It's balmy and fragrant year-round in Maui.

Sixth Street is blocked off for SWSX, I saw as I was riding my bike. Parking anywhere central is going to be expensive or impossible tonight.

I'll be biking over to Flipnotics in a bit to catch Sarah Temple's show, and also Michael Fracasso, Jane Bond, and maybe even Matt the Electrician and Beaver Nelson, if I stay that late.

Sarah Temple is a fabulous young Latin singer--she sings in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and her native Catalan. For a listen, go to her MySpace page: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=288467281

Just hope that the SWSXers smitten with Austin know about the terrible summer heat and humidity here and decide it's better to visit Austin than to live here.

another thing to love about austin--clean water

I have a filter on my kitchen faucet at home and a filtered pitcher at work for my drinking water.

I have drunk local tap water after reading that the standards for bottled water are not as high as for municipal drinking water. But there is chlorine in the municipal water supply. Chlorine can kill probiotics in the gut. I worked hard to get my gut microflora balanced and don't want to jeopardize that. Filters do remove chlorine, so I began filtering my drinking water again.

I just read something in today's Statesman that was at first shocking, but on second thought, understandable. Many cities and towns in America have been found to have pharmaceuticals in their drinking water, including antibiotics, anticonvulsants, mood stabilizers, and sex hormones.

AP (Associated Press) did the study. That was also surprising. I didn't know AP did investigative research. (Back in the day, AP and UPI were the two sources of news sent "over the wire" to daily newspaper newsrooms around the world. I remember it coming in, seeing it being typed on yellow paper before my very eyes.)

I would have expected a study like this to come from Consumer Reports or the Environmental Working Group. Things change.

Anyway, they studied 50 major metropolitan areas. Austin was one of three with no pharmaceuticals in its water supply. Austin's water also had no herbicides. So yay! Here's another reason to love Austin. Clean water.

The water supplies of 41 million people are affected. Even though the dosage is far smaller than prescription strength, scientists are (rightly, in my opinion) concerned about the long-term effects. There are a lot of things happening, like the huge increase in autism, that there is no explanation for.

And if Austin's water had pharmaceuticals in it, filters would be useless. They don't screen for drugs. So those 41 million Americans are kind of helpless about this. I think they might be angry and demand action from elected officials. I am, and it doesn't even affect me.

How do pharmaceuticals get into the water supply? People take pills, and livestock growers give pharmaceuticals to chickens, cattle, pigs, etc. The body absorbs some, and the rest goes down the toilet (or out into the field, where rain washes it into surface water and aquifers).

Municipal wastewater is treated before being released (usually into rivers), and drinking water also gets treated before being sent through the pipes to our faucets. But treatments do not completely purify the water. They also don't screen for pharmaceuticals.

The reasons given for Austin's clean water is that our water supply comes from the Highland Lakes, and there are no major cities upstream.

Philadelphia had 56 pharmaceuticals in its water supply. Washington DC had 6. San Francisco (do I hear snickers?) had sex hormones in its water.

Tellingly, officials at several municipal or regional water providers told AP there were no pharmaceuticals in their supplies, but AP, through independent testing, found otherwise. So people are lying about this. And, get this. Some officials are refusing to release results because of post-9-11 concerns. With this news, I'm imagining terrorists laughing their asses off.

The article says, "...small amounts of medication have affected human embryonic kidney cells, human blood cells and human breast cancer cells. The cancer cells proliferated too quickly, the kidney cells grew too slowly, and the blood cells showed biological activity associated with inflammation."

People drink a lot of water every day.

We are cautioned not to mix pharmaceuticals, to be sure our pharmacist and doctor know about every prescription we are taking, because they can negatively interact.

Well, who knows what kind of cocktails people are innocently consuming every time they go to the water fountain?

Think about that, and then do something. Demand change.

biking in the rain

On Friday, I was riding my bike home from work and felt like I had just not had enough riding yet, so I decided to hit the Lady Bird Lake trail. The sky was dark with gray clouds, and I felt a few small drops on reaching the trail and decided to ride in the opposite direction from the storm.

I headed west toward the MoPac bridge. Not a lot of people were out. Maybe it was because of the threatening skies, or maybe Friday evening just isn't a very popular time to be on the trail. Whatever.

I caught some great views of the downtown skyline just lighting up as the day began to end, with dark clouds behind the skyscrapers. Wonderful view!

I was on the south side of the lake and crossed the MoPac bridge. Somewhere east of the kayak rental place, I felt raindrops again. I wasn't feeling too happy about getting wet, and there was no place to take cover, except under trees, which wouldn't keep me dry for long.

So I kept riding and decided to just surrender to the rain. As I headed toward the Pfluger bridge, the fronts of my thighs got wet. My whole front side was damp.

I noticed the faces of those I met, running, walking, or on bikes. Mostly they were smiling, delighted--as I was by now--to be out in the rain.

Can't remember how many years it's been since I rode my bike in the rain. Maybe since I was 12? Anyway, it felt like a delicious thrill, a return to childhood, a joyful exemption from being an adult, to be pedaling and rained upon. How sweet it felt to be able to do that again.

what a fine day!

today, saurday, is a fine february day. sunny, breezy, currently 76 degrees.

rode over to castle hill fitness for a yoga class this morning. my friend marco schneider has spoken highly of gioconda's healing in yoga class, patterned after murti's class at casa de luz, which is no longer offered. good class, with two spotters to help people adjust postures, for which i am grateful.

we did some flows. worked with a partner assisting. used wall and ropes for hanging down dog, then for inversions. ended with savasana.

i liked gioconda. she read "the invitation" by oriah mountain dreamer at the end and was moved during her reading. i liked that. the class was crowded, though. i was the last person in, and there was not room for another person.

i'm on a venture to check out various saturday yoga classes in austin. i'd like to add a class to the two iyengar/hatha flow classes i do with eleanor harris each week. i've done mostly iyengar since 1998. i appreciate what it's done for me--and there's a lot more out there i'd like to try: anusara, ashtanga, bikram, svaroopa, kripalu, integral, and others.

i found the shoal creek trail at 12th just east of lamar and followed it down to town lake. nice trail, not crowded at all. goes below street level, so it's a fast way to go south,avoiding lamar, avoiding having to cross 6th, 5th, and cesar chavez. it wound through the new condo high rises south of 5th, through the city power plant. nice bike trail. it nearly hooks up to the pease park trail that starts about 12th and lamar.

then i pedaled to bicycle sport shop for a new helmet. mine was 8 years old and not fitting well. donated the old helmet to their bike rental program.

stopped back by the wonderful new coliseum park to watch the fountain. that fountain is so playful, i started laughing out loud! it's plumb goofy. someone had a blast designing its dance.

i've been biking a lot lately. commuted to work via bike 3 days last week. i'm getting used to riding on downtown streets. trinity and san jacinto have well-marked bike lanes for most of their lengths. 4th is an east-west bikeway. once i got a bike map i could ride on bike lanes.

i did decide to wear a helmet on the streets, even though i don't really like to. it's just that riding a bike amidst traffic is a very vulnerable position to be in. i don't plan to have any accidents, but if i cannot avoid one, at least i can minimize any possible injuries by wearing a helmet and gloves.

i'm enjoying the hell out of riding my bike! the interval training of riding up hills is great. i can feel my quadriceps and my cardiovascular system getting stronger each day. i like pushing my breath and heart to work harder for short times. it helps me feel really really good.

watched hannah while lela went to a yoga class at yoga yoga, for which bruce joined her. hannah and i drove lela's car to the barton creek trail off barton hills drive. h climbed rocks and was happy. she's a real nature girl, rarely fearful and comfortable in her body, also comfortable leading.

tonight i'm going to my friend stephanie ruloph's 39th birthday celebration at stubb's to dance to g. love and special sauce. haven't been out dancing in ages!

i love riding my bike

sunday i biked across downtown during the marathon hoopla, and it was a breeze. road closures? hah! only to cars!

i got to dance and had a great dance. stamina is up, due to all the walking and biking.

after lunch at whole foods, i noodled down to the lady bird lake trail. watched the leash-free dogs catch tennis balls in the lake at auditorium shores.

then i went to the new park--does it have a name?--where the city coliseum used to be.

i was impressed.

it has a nice hill with a great view of the downtown skyline. there were some great puffy little clouds framing it on sunday afternoon.

also, the park has one of the coolest fountains ever! it looks like a spiral galaxy with about 8 arms, and the spouts on the arms and in the center are about 4 inches apart. a very playful program sets them off. the fountain area is flat, so playing in the water is encouraged. a good number of barefoot children were getting wet (in february!).

i love austin!

redbuds!

the redbuds are blooming!

when i walked home today, i checked out the redbuds on 2nd between congress and brazos. there, on the north side of the street, west of the alley, those gorgeous red-purple flowers are JUST STARTING to bloom!

in fact, only one branch, the highest branch on the southernmost side of the easternmost tree, was blooming. but there it was, that beautiful color. i noticed, and god ain't pissed off, and life is good.

waiting for redbuds...

yesterday and today my energy has been low. low for me, that is. i still walked to and from work, but monday, i caught a dillo once i got to congress in the morning.

it seems like this happens every year in february. we have some spectacularly springlike days, with sunshine and temps in the high 70s/low 80s. people are outside soaking up the sun. the trails are crowded. lots of people are outdoors, riding bikes, walking, skateboarding, wearing shorts, flip flops, etc. you can feel spring in the air.

then winter comes back to bite us on the ass, and this time it really hurts, not like in december or january. ow! i just want to withdraw. stay home with a good book, make stew, take long hot baths, go to bed early, sleep in. the cold, the gusty north wind--enough already! let it be spring!

my paperwhites are finally blooming. they are later than usual. they've bloomed in mid-january before. the yellow jasmine blossoms near the street are popping out.

my redbud remains bloomless and leafless, though. it's on the north side, and i usually see them in bloom elsewhere before at my house.

february is always the month when i spot the first redbud in full bloom, and that is a major milestone that spring is coming, in my map of the seasons.

the north side of 2nd street, in the block just east of congress (where tesoro's and las manitas are/were) has some redbuds with unusual dark reddish/purple blossoms, i've noticed in years past. notice them, if you can (and say a little prayer that marriott leaves them there when it builds what it has to build).

here's a quote from the color purple:

i think it pisses god off when you walk by the color purple in a field and don't notice it.

maybe i'll take a detour on my way to/from work tomorrow and check those redbuds out.

two firsts in biking around austin

i rode my bike to the farmer's market and jo's coffee shop on west second street mid-day. i used 4th street, which has a bike lane. then i went on the hike & bike trail to south lamar to bicycle sport shop, where i got an austin bike map and the cutest horn--it is a plastic parrot that sounds like a squeeze toy but mounts to the handlebar.

now i can be renegade biker PIRATE grandma! AAARGH, matey! i plan to take full advantage of becoming more eccentric in my old age. i'd like to push the edge on that. going carless at 55 feels like such a gleefully subversive act. i love it!

i like going by the dog park at auditorium shores. those dogs and their owners are having so much fun running around. some dogs retrieve things from the water. it's quite a scene on a mild winter weekend day like today.

later i rode to my friend clarita's near live oak and south congress. this is the first time i've biked on south congress. it's not bad until you hit the diagonal parking just south of guero's. you have to share a lane with cars for a few blocks. it was a little nerve-wracking, but i made it through.

after the very nice party to bless lara and mat on their upcoming wedding, i biked home going north on south congress after dark. i have a little red light that i clipped to the back of my backpack and set to a steady blink. i also have a white light on my handlebar that can blink or shine solidly. so i was visible. it was downhill most of the way and pretty easy. i got alert around the continental club about the possibility of diagonally parked cars suddenly pulling out, but all was cool.

i got my first bike at age 10, and it represented freedom. it feels like this now, the more i learn to negotiate austin via pedal power. to freedom!

what i did on my summer vacation

i took the whole week before labor day off from work, and i didn't go anywhere. since i'm going to maui for three weeks in december, i was fine with that. i used my time off to get caught up around the house and yard. luckily i have a lot of comp and vacation time at work.

i worked on my studio, cleaning and sorting my CDs, organizing my exercise props, hanging photos of ramana, papaji, and gangaji. i then used my studio to meditate and exercise and do free movement/dance, to listen to music and to paint. i got tempera paints, and one evening, hannah and i painted pictures.

i cleaned the entry hall and my room. took a load of stuff to goodwill. scraped candle wax off the marble-topped furniture in my room. made it a nicer place to spend time.

i cleaned and rearranged furniture in my living room and enjoyed watching videos--the three burials of melquiades estrada and children of men. i cleaned my kitchen well, then enjoyed cooking and eating in it too.

i got a haircut and a lip wax at jr salon. i did cranio-sacral therapy for the first time, with nina davis, LMT and CST, working on my lymphatic system and cerebrospinal fluid. felt great, wonders of subtlety. i noticed that i was gentler with myself after that, and not so driven.

i went to a potluck/games party at my friend zoe's and had a blast playing rummi-qub, a new game to me.

i had ordered some raw goat milk from ringger farms. i picked that up. it's delicious.

i attended an NLP meetup and learned about timelines.

i went out on a date with james, whom i met on plentyoffish.com. we saw stardust. i like him so far and want to see him again.

one day i picked hannah up from school and gave her her first bike-riding lesson. it's hard, balancing, steering, and pedalling with control, and especially hard to get started. she got a feel of what it will be like. one of these days i'll let go, and she'll be doing it by herself.

another day i ate lunch with her at school. i brought my lunch, and she hardly touched hers. i got a real sense of how much order is required for a class of second-graders. i appreciate her teacher, mr. karabaic. he's got his job down, and nine months of work ahead of him with the 19 kids in his class.

i went to liquid sol and loved sharing that big space at the mexican-american cultural center with only two others. i moved in ways that pleased me and didn't try to be social. what a gift.

i worked in my yard, weeding, transplanting, pruning. got into something that irritated my arms, though.

i sealed my metal roof where it leaked! yea for me!

i washed my car.

i had lunch with my friend spike gillespie on friday. i'm working on writing a 3,000 word essay on grief for an anthology spike is putting together. got the first draft done this week.

i sent an email to friends, offering my NLP skills for free. another email offering agave plants.

on saturday, i went to ikea. it's 22 miles away, in round rock. i got a few things, but some things i saw in their catalog were not in stock. i got a number i can call before making the trip next time. it's a huge store and can be exhausting.

i didn't get as much done as i had envisioned at the start of the week, but there's always next weekend. there's always yard work, and inside, i need to work on my bathroom and study. maybe even the dreaded utility room!

my home feels so much better, and so does my energy!


reading: the disobedience of the daughter of the sun, by martin prechtel, and NLP: the new technology of achievement, edited by steve andreas.

listening to: sufi traveler by mercan dede

watching: the children of men.

eating and drinking: unsweetened carob almonds, tuna salad with grapes and walnuts, hibiscus mint tea with stevia

on vacation

i am off work until after labor day! this is an "at home" vacation, using up some comp time from the legislative session. i'm spending my time off getting caught up on chores around the house and yard, doing some writing, and doing some fun stuff. the writing will result in new posts when ready. i'm cookin'!

yesterday i went with lela to see hannah start off second grade. i'm going to pick hannah up after school tomorrow and we'll go swimming or bike-riding if it isn't raining. wednesday i will have lunch with her at school. when i asked her if she'd like that, she got a huge smile on her face.

did a lot of weeding this morning. my arms are itchy and scratched up. i like gardening, but i'd hire a gardener for some of the work if i could afford it.

bussing life

originally posted jul 13 2007 on myspace

yesterday morning i took my car into the mechanic's. i take it to duratune, at 38-1/2 and I-35. they've worked on my old, paid-for miata for years and have good experience with keeping older cars running.

i explain to philip, the owner, that one of my miata's retractable headlights has jammed, and the passenger window is stuck in the "up" position, and the crank broke when i tried using force.
he writes this down and says he'll call me once he gets into it and has an idea of how to fix these problems. i fill out the rest of the form, leave the key, and start walking.

i'm walking south on red river towards my workplace in the capitol complex. i could, and have, walked this before, but i think i might want to catch a bus if i don't have to wait.

i approach a young man at the st. david's bus stop to ask if i can get directly downtown from there. he says yes. and just then, the red river bus pulls up!

i love these moments of serendipity or synchronicity or whatever you want to call it when what i desire shows up right when i desire it, and everything is a greenlight GO. i feel blessed, like the universe is smiling on me.

i stuff my dollar into the slot and take a seat. i have an attitude about riding the bus, that it is a good thing to do occasionally. don't get me wrong--i love having a car, but riding the bus is a broadening experience.

people ride the bus for many reasons. they are poor and don't have a car, or perhaps they can't drive, or they really do care that much about the environment, or they are like most of the rest of they world, accustomed to using mass transit daily. whatever. it's an opportunity to sit among a diverse assortment of people.

and capital metro buses are clean and air conditioned.

i am on the bus, looking at my fellow bus riders, seeing who's there. a young couple with a baby, a well-dressed man from india or the middle east, an older man wearing glasses and a hat who was reading a book, a young woman, and so forth. everyone is minding their own business. even the young couple doesn't talk.

the bus crosses MLK, and i pull the cord to get off at the next stop, which is the UT school of nursing 3 blocks from work. i exit the bus and start walking down the sidewalk. the young woman disembarks too and is walking behind me in the same direction.

then i hear her say, "excuse me, ma'am."

i turn. "yes?"

"did you know your shirt is on inside out?"

"pardon me?"

"your shirt is on inside out. the tag is on the outside."

i feel the tag myself, confirming her observation. i am walking down the sidewalk just like a normal person, but with my shirt on inside out.

i thank her for telling me. then i feel embarrassed. how did this come to be?

i remember reaching in my closet, grabbing the shirt off a hanger, and hurriedly putting it on. it's a hippie shirt. not vintage but in that style--made of gauze with a mostly blue patchwork print, three-quarter bell sleeves, slits at the side seams, embroidery around the neckline, and a tie of embroidery thread. looks good with my bell-cut jeans, reminds me of my youth. it's hard to tell the seams are on the outside, but they are.

it must have been on the hanger inside out, because when i put away laundry, i was in a hurry and didn't notice. that's my story, and i'm sticking to it.

i laugh at the wonder of myself, and realize i can change it to right-side out when i get to work. i enjoy the rest of my walk, across waterloo park and into the REJ building.

and so now i have a new category of people to add to those who you might encounter riding the bus or walking down the street: perfectly normal people with their clothing on inside out. i am amongst them.