Steev's stuff

[steev]

NorCal's water issue is that agribus pumps out the aquifer, causing dropping of the land, leading to damage to water projects that supply water to SoCal, roads, and building foundations; once the aquifers are pumped out, they collapse; they will never be re-filled, having collapsed. Short-term profit destroys the goose-laying-gold once again. The people making these decisions don't care about sustainability, only grab it right now. Clearly, they don't really give a husky fuck about their kids or grandkids. One wonders whether their kids have enough sense to see how they're being screwed by their parents, or are they dumb enough to think that the money being made will protect them from environmental degradation. If one has any grasp of history, one is aware of more than one instance when a culture has destroyed itself; the notion that we may not be doing so is hubris and incredibly stupid.

[flowerbug]

the recent ground water laws that they passed finally put an end to the poor planning and abuse in the future, but it will take some adjusting to get to sustainable use/re-use of their ground water.

they surely can do a lot more with capturing and soaking in storm run-off.

[steev]

I have no more optimism about people dealing sustainably with water and other resources than I do about people realizing that they should make fewer people. What the hell, let's just breed ourselves into environmental collapse and put it all down to the will of "God" so it's not our own damned fault. I admit to a sour opinion of humanity. "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do". I think somebody is alleged to have said that. Nobody I believe in, being a heathen and a pagan, but I can dig the concept, not that I'm that much into the forgiveness part; I think reaping what you sow is just and proper. Honestly, as a zoologist, I am more upset about the many blameless species that are paying for our thoughtlessness, to their extinction. If one buys the construct that "God" created all the species, is not our thoughtlessness destroying the Divine Creation, in disrespect of His holy work?

Beg pardon; I rant. This is why I started my thread, so people wouldn't have to be exposed to my aggravations, if they didn't choose to be. Please understand that if I didn't respect the opinions and beliefs of all who come here, I wouldn't speak openly, as I welcome the honest input of all others.

[flowerbug]

i'm quite in line with what you wrote there.

we do need to breed less people but the current system is geared towards doing more with more, but that can't continue indefinitely and the sooner we stop breaking things the better for everyone and everthing that is left.

we do need more people who will do clean up and restoration work instead of destruction.

me, i've done my part.  i've had no children and live a simple life and hope to leave as much as possible for the future generations in charge of people who care about this world and all the creatures and not just the greedy and destructive humans.

[steev]

Yes. I've only one child; she will have none; when she dies there goes me and my mother, who had only me. I have no reason to suppose that that will be any significant loss to the species. At least we aren't locusts.

I get emotional about this, thinking about our cousins in their incredible diversity and how we are impacting them. Granted, this is a plant-based forum, but I cannot ignore the connection between plants and critters; the ecosphere is all of a piece! Our Great Mother does not divide motile from sessile; all are Her children and worthy of respect, being family to us. Well, maybe not gophers and cockroaches.

[flowerbug]

i had never dealt with cockroaches before until i moved down south for a few years. the apartment building was so poorly built that roaches would crawl through the walls or fall from the ceilings. i learned how to deal with them without using bug sprays of any kinds. i'm pretty sure some of the neighbors set off bug bombs and never told anyone. i woke up a few times with my eyes burning.

to clear them out of my apartment i'd put drops of sugar water in the middle of the kitchen counter and then walk in there about every half hour and smush any cockroach that i could catch. once that was done i caulked up some of the cracks they were hiding in and removed all water sources they could easily use. any new cockroaches that showed up were from then on only ones that came in from the surrounding apartments. often carrying an egg case. once the adult was smushed then i just had to wait for the little ones to hatch and catch all of those. not too hard, but you had to be consistent about keeping food cleaned up and water away from them.

i told the landlord that i had it completely under control and that there was no need to spray my apartment. i left some sprinkled baking soda around so i could see if there was any disturbance/crawlies when i was away. he came in and sprayed anyways. i could tell by how the baking soda looked when i got back from vacation.

for other reasons i eventually moved on. i loved the area but apartment living there was really horrid.

[steev]

Boric acid is good sprinkled at the backs of cupboards and such; it isn't toxic to us or our pets in that use, but it gets the roaches (the little darlings are actually quite fastidious, so when they walk on it, they clean their feet and it zaps them); having had no use of it for decades (the co-op hall I lived in at Cal had plenty of roaches but we weren't big on pesticides), I'm a tad unsure, but I think I knew it sold as "Landlords Friend".

[steev]

OTF it was lovely weather; took Sukie out for a short canter, planted three favas (Windsor, Ful, and "small"), Taichung 11 snow peas, Taichung 13 snap peas, a little garlic, and cippolini onions (both red and yellow); picked three Oxheart carrots, couldn't stand to leave them all for seed.

[steev]

I expect next weekend I'll see the peas and favas sprouted; narcissus is coming into bloom; peaches are nearly in bloom; brome is growing rapidly; I want to get many more things seeded, but rain does not look promising; I'll be surprised if we get more than half "normal" rainfall; there's little snow to be seen on the Coast Range; ran the riega to encourage the legumes.

[steev]

This could be the year I stop procrastinating (don't put off until tomorrow what you can put off until next week) and start some redbud for food and landscaping OTF; need to do black locust for the same.

[steev]

Favas are sprouting; plums and peaches are in full bloom, to the bees' delight; cut a quantity of narcissus, mostly daffodils.

[steev]

The peas are sprouting, and I found a few volunteers where I'd had peas last year; I should transplant them so I can till that area, if I can identify their variety from my records; cut a more varied bunch of narcissus, the King Alfreds being nearly all past bud stage; I don't like to try to transport fully open blooms; spent some time repairing veggie-fence which had recently blown down (it's deer fencing attached to posts and top-wire with zip-ties, which are failing, due to age; this fencing was not intended to be more than temporary); while it's been down in places, something has gotten in to browse; they didn't do any damage; not deer, since there aren't any "smart pills"; rather, there are what look like cow-pies, so I'm thinking elk. There seems to be a badger digging both in and out of the veggie corral; that's cool; get those gophers!

Pretty soon I've got to start harvesting the patience dock, the leaves are getting big, cardoon is also growing apace; I'm eager for the first asparagus spear!

They suggest the possibility of our second hump of rainy season starting Sunday; given the lack of real cold, I'm considering the possibility of starting to plant summer veggies in March, fully two months earlier than "normal"; regrettably, this is shaping up to be a relative drought year. This is another reason to get things planted early; I'm especially thinking of corn, squash, teparies, urd, and mat beans; I have a number of potted trees, both apples and various Japanese maples which the past rainy season was not encouraging to plant out, so I moved them into the veggie corral where I can reliably water them and keep them from critters, hoping for better conditions next Fall.

[steev]

Labor problems could give me whiplash; The helper I've had lately was a very good and hard worker, but he neither came nor called last week; my once long-time helper who finds me prospects called Friday to say his youngest brother (same age he was when he came) needs work; little brother starts tomorrow; I'm greatly relieved.

They both may come for Saturdays OTF, which is where my personal need is greatest, there being things that just aren't one-man jobs, heavy-lifting things like installing granite slabs I scrounged years ago for a platform and backing to put the wood-stove (that I collected years ago) on (after the house is on a foundation, so I can beef up that corner of the living-room floor to bear the weight); living as a hunter-gatherer is a great game and an exercise in logistics: first, do A, then B is possible, then materials gathered pre-A can be used for C, making it possible to install D, gathered pre-any-of-this. At this point, I can start to tile the floors with designer tile gathered over 4-5 years, before tile stores stopped giving their samples away. I love bricks, tiles, and stone slabs; they don't rot while one gets around to using them, and they're spendy to just go out and buy.

Gotta call the guy at that coffee roastery to see if he has any bags of chaff; he might gift me another bag or two of gourmet coffee.

Mulched the garlic, peas and some favas with sawdust; it only rained a trace OTF; doesn't look good; some rodent got all my Joseph's Cherry Sweet off-types before I could plant them. I re-cheesed the trap.

Scored a coyote carcass, shot and hung on a fence T-post; now to get the skull cleaned; don't want to boil it; not sure where to get some dermestid beetles to do it for me; the guy who ran The Bone Room in Albany died several years ago. My skull collection grows; my nephews don't feel comfortable adding me to it; wusses! I'll have spent my whole life developing it, and they'd just burn it! They don't even want to take my gold crowns; there's at least $3K in there, and they'll leave it for someone in the crematorium, despite my wishes.

[flowerbug]

how you described your collecting of materials and how you prefer bricks and tile sounds very familiar. i have things here that are going towards certain projects we've not gotten to yet. every once in a while Mom says, "We should do x..." and i have to remind her that if we keep doing that then i won't have materials for when i finally do get to that project after all. i'm sure there will be more conversations like that this season.

and, yes, gold crowns, seems that the crematorium would have such services as part of their business, can probably arrange to have it all done so that nobody has to do it themselves.

[steev]

I'll look into that, having no compunctions about my remains being anything but dead meat, preferably to be utilized, rather than discarded; hell, they can can me for stew if they want, so far as I care; it'd be better than being cremated, to no benefit; don't suppose my bitter attitude would carry over to my flesh. I am reminded that the only survivor of the Donner Party who admitted to cannibalism opened an eatery in Sacramento.

Found the first asparagus sprout and observed the Spring ceremony of eating it raw.

My older once-helper Paco and his youngest brother Francisco came to the farm Saturday and we got lots done; the kid has his head so far up his ass that he's looking at the world through his navel, but he's wearing a T-shirt, so it's not enough. God, in whom I don't believe, give me patience.

Got stone pines planted, very late but well mulched with bunny bedding for ferts and water conservation, to grow so I don't have to see my neighbor's barn eventually,
also a blue agave. Got a lot of trees pruned and cleaned up. Got to do fence repair; lots of zip-ties out-dating. Will I ever be able to deer-fence the farm and no longer need the veggie corral, which is going to collapse eventually?

Something has eaten all my peas; damn. Narcissus are petering out. Pears and quince are blooming.

Cut patience dock for Paco; think I'll make some "dolmades" with it next week.

It's predicted showers OTF Tues and Wed, but who knows; certainly needed; this is clearly shaping up to another drought year.

Drove home the back way, through Bear Valley; hadn't for many months; lovely, although the lack of rain has left a lot of last year's brome standing, so the green is muted and the flow in Bear Creek hasn't been enough to knock down last year's dry tules; much through there is very dry. Western Redbud, lupins, and Tamarisk very pretty.