The year is ending

I discarded Christmas some years ago, not being interested in either the religious or the commercial basis of the holiday. I have not yet put in place any rituals for celebrating the winter solstice, and I may not need to. This year, I walked around all day, cherishing the knowledge that it was mid-winter, and that the light WOULD begin to return. That was all I really needed.

A friend has a link to this on her blog, and I greatly appreciated it.The Christians and the Pagans, by Dar Williams.

As the seasons cycle, the year is over. I survived, with my mind more-or-less intact, through midwinter, and can now look towards the future more easily. At home, life is a little easier for having created adaptations to some of the things that broke/malfunctioned in our home this year. I cherish the donation of time and labor, for the fixing of my partner's bicycle, which is his means of transport and independence.  I have done further research on nuts I want to plant, nitrogen-fixing shrubs I want, and economical sources of Black Hawthorne to begin creation of a perimeter hedge around my property. Cob construction looks like an interesting building technique. I can make mud pies! I am having thoughts about designing and building a small mud-pie bath-house on my property. Water to be solar/Rocket Stove heated. The ideas abound.

Black Hawthorne

Bubbling brain

My brain is bubbling over with researches related to: Straw Bale Construction, a home built round house, Celtic Round Houses, willows that I would like to grow, and nut trees to buy and plant. I also sewed up some heat pads from flannel, about 8" x 15", and filled their pockets with beans, and stitched them shut. Microwaved, or heated in the oven while baking, and they make WONDERFUL foot warmers, hand warmers, or backwarmers.

The sidewalk garden needs some attention, but the kale, chives, comfrey, and Rose Campion all made it through the cold (as did I).

Gotta love youtube. Fix-it videos gave me what I needed for myself and my daughter to fix my clothes dryer together. When you've never seen it's guts, it is rather scary to contemplate surgery.

I am glad I no longer live where snow comes and stays, and melts a little bit and freezes, and MORE comes. Here, I can enjoy the snow on the evergreen trees and covering the browned grasses. I can watch my silly dog roll in it, shake it off, and roll in it again. My granddaughter learned to throw snowballs yesterday. But I can still go out and pick Swiss Chard and Kale, and there are still hardy crops, such as the Brussels Sprouts, coming out of the ground at the farm to nourish us. I love this region that I inhabit.

Cope, and cope some more.

I keep surviving. Will be trying to fix the clothes drier today, as it is now too cool to dry things hanging up anywhere. But that hasn't stopped D. So all the dishtowels, his clothes, etc., now smell of mildew, as he washed them and hung them in the living room to dry. Which took about 3 days.

The first guerrilla garden is doing all right. The kale and chives are doing wonderfully.

Reading about tree bogs, humanure, and have spotted a wonderful house.


I could build something like this, I bet! Harvest trees from the property. I have done a little bit of chiseling joints in wood. Happiness!

Heart Home

Can we have more than one heart-home? A place that lives in our heart and cells? I love this place that I live in. I come over the hill, and see my city below, and I am filled with richness. The tapestry of greens. But, browsing the location that one of my dog sitting client is visiting, I recall other riches. I remember the richness of distance, being able to look and look , over the hillsides, into folds in the hills. A richness of  beige  and ochre and buff, old gold and olive and goldenrod. Golden-red velvet draped over the folds of the hills, changing tones in the winds. Winds that whistle, and bring dust and tumbleweeds (Russian Thistle, usually). Texture, that of the velvet hillsides, the carved channels, sandy, crunchy, silky. Plants spaced at arms reach, so that each can get some water.

The summer is almost over

I won't be able to get help from RDA for housing situation, for years, if at all. D decided he would continue to live here. We've got it set up that he cannot get to any money, and his SS check is there to pay the mortgage. Today, while I am dog sitting, comes the following email from him. 

"S, you and H took me to your bank and totally locked me out of any and all money. I NEED a few things! Because you did that (and I understand why) I am NOT doing YOUR (not our) animals starting Tue the 14th in the morning. And the cats are also yours in the evening. AND starting Sun the 19th ALL the animals are yours all day on any Sun you are home. I QUIT!!!

Also I NEED a couple of things before the weather starts getting cold again. I need another pair of gloves (some good warm ones). And I will keep them in the cooler on the bike so the dogs can't get to them. I need another seat on the bike (mine is starting to come apart). And before it starts to really get cold I need one of my jackets repaired or replaced. Every one I have the zippers are broken."

Could someone explain what finances have to do with who cares for the animals? Two dogs, 4 cats, 2 chickens. THERE ISN'T ANY MONEY. I will buy him another pair of gloves at the $1 store, and we will see how long it is before he looses them. This summer, he lost a bunch of passes for the movie theater, (regained), his glasses (not regained), and as usual, multiple travel coffee cups. Of course, if you put cups in the water bottle holder on the bike, they are likely to fall out somewhere. On the trail, off the front of the bus, wherever. And then I am expected to immediately replace it all. Bike seats are expensive. Use duct tape.


When I met him at the coffee shop, last Sunday, to refill his medication containers for the week, he was in one location, his coat and reflective vest were in another. When I had him move to join me, he left behind the medication containers, which someone kindly brought over to him.


And, he can't get his computer to work. Last time, it was because he didn't give it enough time to open a program, and re-opened it 27 times! The time he couldn't get the cds to play, he had turned the sound entirely off, using the sound icon. And he just doesn't get that DVD's won't play in the CD player.


He likes to spend his days at the Senior Center. I have finally figured out why. They serve lunch there, and he doesn't even have to assemble it himself. Plus, he can get on their computers, and play Solitaire as long as he likes. I watched him play repeated games of Solitaire for 5 hours, one day.


I had hoped to get the entire main garden dug, mulched, weeded, planted, cover cropped. Partly planted. No cover crops in. Bunnies eating the bean plants, cause I haven't been able to get the weeds around the garden cut down. The best tool for that is the hand sickle. We now own 3 of them. Only one of them can be located. D will set tools down anywhere, and not remember where, by the time he has gotten a drink of water. Somewhere on the front half of the property is a yellow plastic sheath hanging up with the sharpening stone for the scythe in it. We've never been able to find it. Or the live trap, of the "trap the raccoon" size. Or the round file to sharpen the sling blade for cutting the grass. 


I wanted to sort boxes of stuff, and GET RID OF SOME OF IT. It needs to happen when I can have someone keep me supplied with fluid, and move the boxes I am done with, so that I can get up again. I also have to be able to take the stuff I am done with away, RIGHT THEN, or D piles more things on top, and we loose track of what has or has not been sorted.


I wanted to work on getting stuff out of the way of the sewing machine. I want to make some clothes. There is stuff between me and the sewing machine that is full of cat pee, because D didn't keep track of where cats were. And no ability to machine wash anything, unless we go to the laundromat. He can't even smell when it is clean or not. Last time we were washing cat-despoiled items, he was wearing a shirt that had been assaulted, and couldn't smell it. And was putting laundry into a laundry basket that had been similarly assaulted. (Juvenile male, now neutered).


Summer is almost over, and I have not eaten my fill of raspberries. I think I only got one batch of them this year. And only a few strawberries. One of my blueberry bushes produced some nice handfuls of berries, And I have taken cuttings from the blueberry plants. At $7 to $10 per bush, I can't buy any more. And this was not a good year for the plum tree. Pollination? Lack of? Last year there were about 5 gallons of Shiro plums, which I love. This year there were 2 plums.


I wanted to do some bud grafting, in august, of plums to the plum suckers, to give to friends. I may still try it when I get home, but it is probably too late in the season.


I wanted to check the base of the fig tree, where I piled wood chips, and see if any pieces have rooted, and dig them up/cut them off. And then stick some in the ground and PRUNE HARD to keep them at a better height.


I still have not dug up the available off shoots from a friend's fig tree, which is a different variety than mine, and ripens about a month before mine.


I want to go the market and buy a bunch of juvenile nut trees, the cheap ones, and plant them out in the back area (if I can get there). That area is big enough for quite a few nut trees, and I like nuts for protein. 

Yard Sale Finds

I've rarely gone to yard sales on my own. I used to go with a friend of mine, who would map them out, and head out early Saturday morning, to get to all of them via the most efficient route. She would stop, pop in, cruise the tables quickly, and take off. I always felt guilty if I didn't buy anything, as I figured that people must REALLY NEED the money, to be selling their stuff. Having spent, oh, about twenty-one years working on that issue, I have realized that it is just a way of getting rid of TOO MUCH STUFF. Which we all have (too much stuff, that is). So, when I spotted a yard sale on the way downtown yesterday morning, that looked as if it might have chairs (of which I have given myself permission to look for one), I decided that I would be brave and stop. Bravery? what does that have to do with anything, you ask. Well, you are listening to the rambles of someone who used to be unable to call a movie theater to find out how much the movie was, and what time it was at. What did I think might happen to me over the phone? I don't recall. But it has taken decades to heal from that one. So, the fact that I CIRCLED THE BLOCK on the way home, to get to the yard sale, was extremely forward of me. And, lo and behold, there were three chair-type chairs, a table and four chairs set, two easy chairs, and two sofas for sale. Having shopped for chair with a friend of mine who is not very tall, I knew at least a little bit about actually trying on chairs for fit. And a little bit about inspecting them for durability. So, the one chair on the end, which looks rather like a patio chair, that has been repainted red, and the paint is chipping, didn't look really great, but I sat down in it, and it fit quite well! The seat is big enough that I do not feel cramped. The armrests are just about the right height, and the seat actually reaches the back of my knees. (Before shopping with my friend, I didn't know that the chair seat was SUPPOSED reach the back of your knees). And the chair was part of the "Free" lineup. So, in to the car it got loaded. It has now had an evening trial, and it is still quite comfortable, though not the PERFECT chair for sitting at the kitchen table, but better than what I had. I then browsed the other free stuff, and got free broken coffee cups with pretty pictures, and broken pottery tiles, all to go in the "pottery" bin in the garage, which will someday be a materials source for artwork. Stepping stones, a cafe table to drink coffee at, water holders for bird-baths. I then ventured to the table, which was very much the size I want, and round, and had four chairs. But the chairs seats were not long enough. So I left it there. Some storage units were very much something that I wanted, but realistically, there is no-where to put them. So, I did not burden myself with them. Several plates looked interesting. One is a simple china platter in blue, with a light brown edge. A very good "Deviled Eggs to the potluck" kind of plate. The other is more dished, with flowers and leaves on the inside. It just took chips to a potluck today, but might morp into a bird bath? No, too deep. And I don't want to cover the pretty flowers with moss gardens, or anything like that. And then, and THEN, I looked in the box under the table! 11 of the 2-3 oz. jars of fiber-reactive dyes! and two of the weird widgets for Batik! and wax and two nesting pots for melting the wax! I have always wanted to do arts and crafts, and it never seemed to be a priority in our household when I was growing up. In retrospect, my dad liked to make things, and would sometimes start a "make a gift for the newspaper boy, the mailman, the milkman, and the paperboy" back when my dad was in medical school (with a wife and three kids), and we didn't have much money. But there was never money to buy materials, and no guidance on how to make things. I fell in love with Batik as a teenager, but have never gotten to do it. And I will have to think small projects through, as Batik operates backwards from how I think, so I'll have to stretch my brain around it. Then, I saw some jewelry bits, two squares from a bracelet perhaps, of abalone set in silver. I LOVE abalone. But what to do with the pieces? not really useable for a piece of jewelry. but wait-what about assembling a cool piece of sculpture to place somewhere, using the abalone squares! Yes! and wait-some of those other bits-single earrings-they would work well in different sculptural creations. So, I came home with many treasures, and left behind many treasures that I just couldn't store for now, and wrote my earlier blog, about what I will be when I grow up.

Eating Locally

25 May

When I got home, I made the most wonderful salad! Lettuce from a local organic farm, kale leaves from volunteers in my garden, Indian Plum growing tip leaves, dandelion greens. Added chive blossoms, curly marjoram tips, lemon balm tips, and sweet cicely seeds.  Vinagrette from the store. Lettuce was grown 15 miles away, harvested by me about 12 hours ago. Other bits grown on my property, harvested by me about 10 minutes ago. Dressing was the only thing to travel. I am definitley going to manage the Indian Plum in the orchard more, to provide more tasty tips. This was from one that I had simply cut to ground level about 6 weeks ago. I may cut more of them down, while the rains are still here. Indian Plum and dandelions are bitter flavors, which I like. The Indian Plum has undertones of cucumber. The Sweet Cicely seeds are at the green and chewy stage, and taste like licorice.

When I Grow Up

When I grow up I will be an artist. My woods will have things that make wonderful sounds in the wind. There will be assortments of strange objects, that anyone can use to create music. In the gardens will be assemblies of water-catchers, catching and holding and passing around water, allowing the water to speak. When the sun shines, I will have dangling objects which shine and sparkle and reflect. There will be banners of fabrics, painted or dyed or bejeweled, aging softly through the years. Stumps in the shade will have mosses and ferns growing from them, and vines of honeysuckle stretching, reaching, waving, until they can touch a branch, and continue beyond.

          I will get to work with beads and sequins and rainbows of fabric, and all the arts that I wanted to play with as a child, teenager, adult, mother. I will sew wonderous velvet appliques on my clothing. The piece of Nepalese mirrored embroidery that I have will become the yoke of a shirt with full sleeves pleated into cuffs decorated, perhaps, with more Nepalese embroidery. Or possibly something else. Metallic tracery of some sort.
          Right now, I am looking at a brooch shaped like a ladies garden hat, with a ribbon and a bow on it. It is done in silver and brass. I also have a brooch that is a silver and brass rose. Somehow, I envision an appliqued lady, wearing the hat, and having just picked the rose from her garden. No, the rose is too big for the hat. But an interesting earing almost looks like a circular garden basket to put the rose into. The rose and hat and basket work so well together, that I may just have to do it, and play with the perspective.

Garden One

The chives originate from ones I got from a friend of mine, who was/is a master gardener in Mason County. They have a darker red flower, and grow more robust leaves than chives commonly do. The salad burnet is coming back, just a thread of it, but the white alpine strawberry has one flower on it! The white-flowered rose campion is doing fine. The elephant garlic got crunched over, but will probably come back. I've planted more small ones near it. My preference is to simply cut the elephant garlic stalk off at the ground, and use it like a leek. That leaves the bulb to regrow (hopefully). I think that the Jostaberry is going to do fine. My parent Jostaberry fruited two years ago, for the first time, and I really like the complex flavor. I am not watering the garden very much, as I want the plants to send their roots VERY DEEP, to keep themselves watered. I also planted comfrey in the hole next to the nearby telephone pole, to bring up deep nutrients, and provide mulch for Garden One. Or chicken food for urban chickens. Or poultices for people. Just don't eat or brew the comfrey for yourself! One swiss chard, and one kale plant are doing ok. When they get bigger, people can harvest them, for eating raw (please wash in the artisan well) or taking home and cooking.

My partner has confirmed that he is getting his SS check, and moving out. 30 years, a daughter and granddaughter, have all vanished in the fog of his brain injury. All that is important is his current pleasure. Thus, nothing is important except what free movies he can find in town, free lectures, free meals at the senior center.

I have gotten a packet of information to file for a legal separation, which I think will protect me from any money-handling crisis he may precipitate.

"Send me your poor, your weary"

Do you have poultry that would like to retire to two acres of grasses, orchard, native woods? I need more birds, to help keep the grasses down.

Well, my partner spent one night at Salvation Army, and then forgot their instructions to sign out before leaving, so is banned from using their facilities for some time. So, he came home. He says he is willing to try and work things out with me, but I hear that he has applied to Social Security to get his S.S check sent to him so that he can rent a room somewhere. Do I just let him go, and get a divorce, so that the inevitable $$$ crash does not affect me, or do I go through getting him declared mentally incapable of handling his own affairs, which is true? He couldn't handle budgeting and paying bills BEFORE the brain injury.

One of the weeks that you wish would vanish

Some weeks are more hurtful than others. This is one of the more difficult ones to stay smiling through. Sunday morning I called my co-grandmother, as I wanted to visit her, 10 days into recovery after major surgery. She was receiving, so I scurried over. I was greeted at the door by our joint grand-daughter, an opinionated, bright 2 year old. She and my daughter were over there, having a visit with Nana and Papa (grandma and grandpa). We all 5 had a nice visit, then 2 year old began to need a nap. I volunteered to drop daughter and granddaughter near their home. I had been trying for 2 weeks to get a visitation with either/both of them, and was very pissed off that they could visit one set of grandparents, but not both. It grieves me that I cannot have more time with grand-daughter. My daughter may not want to see me, as there is much history (not all of it good) between us, but why can't I see my darling bug of a grand-daughter?

Monday, I listened to NPR on the way to my volunteer work. It was a segment with tribal elders from Prince Rupert Sound area (of the Exxon-Valdez spill) talking with indigenous people in the Gulf area, where a way of life is AGAIN being damaged by petrochemicals. I raged in the car, and cried, as I listened to the recitation of the damages done, bird varieties never seen again, cancer upswings, lives and livelihoods damaged, reduction of awards to survivors, etc.

Then, I arrived at my volunteer work, where I try to work on my own computer as much as possible, as I have modified many settings, so that my aging eyes can see the screen. Well, I had arrived too early, and couldn't work in the office, so worked outside, (not a hardship as the day was WONDERFUL), until my battery got very low. I went in, and tried to plug my 'puter in to recharge, and I couldn't get a good connection (due to a previous injury to the plug), so had to continue my work on the resident computer. I changed their screen resolution, which is a quick way to make it readable for me, and I FORGOT TO PUT IT BACK! This, on a computer used by MANY people, who are not necessarily computer savvy. I also found that the yougurt that I had brought for lunch (courtesy of the food bank), was spoiled, so ate bread and boring food bank cheese. I got lots of work done, and then headed out, hoping to get my computer checked/repaired before work. Naturally, when I get to the computer fix-it place, the problem was gone. Intermittent electricals, how I love thee, let me count the ways. NOT. The tech discussed the repair options with me, depending on what the problem turns out to be. If it is the male part of the jack, it will be $70.00 to fix, if it is the computer receiver part of the jack, it will be in excess of $200.00 to fix it!

Tuesday dawned, with NO RAIN. I had been planning to work in the garden if it didn't rain. I had told my partner I wanted his help in the garden. He agreed, and I said I would drop him at the noon bus, to make it to his afternoon class on time. We had oatmeal for breakfast (which I despise, but we get from the food bank), and got out to the garden at 9:00 am. We worked for about 45 minutes, and then my partner declared he was done. I said no, we needed to work more, as it was due to rain for days again, and we need the food we will produce. He had a hissy fit, but agreed to work longer. A few minutes later, he went inside. After several minutes, I called in to him, and he said that he was getting a drink. A few more minutes, and I decided I would go in and have a drink, as I know that I am always so happy to get to the garden, that I frequently overdo it, and forget to eat or drink, for hours. I got inside to find a note at the table, from my partner, bitching about having to work in the garden, and saying that he was hitchhiking to the bus, and would be home later. I drove after him, and caught up with him. He refused to get in to the car, and we had a running argument, for a quarter of a mile. I told him that I could not deal any longer with his unwillingness to cooperate with me, and that if he was not going to come back and finish in the garden, he needed to find another place to live. He decided that he would move out.

 In thinking about his decision, I realize that with his damaged memory, he probably does not remember most of the years that we have spent together, when we really did have some very good times. I suspect that what he remembers is mostly the last several years, during which we have had a very difficult time. The brain injury he sustained almost ten years ago has damaged memory, and his logic abilities. Several years ago, he got a credit card, and discovered that he could get cash advances and go to the casino, which he likes. Before I caught on to what was happening, he had aquired two credit cards, had maxed out the cash advance limit on one, joined four book clubs, gotten several magazine subscriptions, and ordered about seven cell phones. We also started receiving daily calls from every get-rich-quick scheme, every "Learn online and make $50, 000 per year", every "Free vacation to..." marketing ploy. I started limiting how much he could be out and about, and started limiting his access to money. I tried to limit his access to online computers. (he was receiving about sixty emails a day from similar junk). "But I only take $5 to the casino". The record shows multiple cash advances to him at a machine at the correct address to be at an ATM at the casino. "But the cell phone was free". Service is not free, though.  TANSTAFL. Right now, all he wants to do is go to the library, see free films wherever, and have the free lunch at the Senior Center.

Tuesday night I learned that a dancer that I know slightly, who did an amazing Pas de Deux with another dancer that I know, lost her boyfriend to a mountain climbing accident over the weekend. I lost a teacher to an avalanche, some years ago.

Tonight, I learned that friends of mine lost a beloved dog, hit and killed by a car last night. I have lost both a beloved cat, and a loved but difficult dog to my 50 mile per hour road.

Could we make this week not be?

Garden One

Well, I really need to get a baby fence up, as the elephant garlic got broken off at the base. The chives are still there, though! The salad burnet is poking up a new shoot, the strawberry looks ok, and the white flowered rose campion look fine. The kale start, and the two swiss chard starts look acceptable, at least. I need more mulch on    the garden, to keep down weeds, and keep in the moisture.

Beginnings

So, I am going to try to put something up here, on a regular basis. Among other things, I need help, and the universe can't help me, unless I let it know what I need.

Garden One

Just replanted the chives, and added 1 kale, and 2 Swiss Chard seedlings. And the rains came down!

Garden One

May 2010 Started a plot in the hole in the sidewalk, e side of street. Dug it up, removed trash (not much). Did find that there was a layer of potting soil a few inches deep, and tried to mix it much deeper. The rest of the soil is very sandy/gravelly. I planted a P-22 apple rootstock, Jostaberry cutting, elephant garlic, chives, salad burnet, forget-me-nots, rose campion (probably the white variety), and alpine strawberry. I left a bit of chickweed, to reseed as a rainy-season annual. There is room for a Stella de Oro re-blooming daylily, a sorrel, and some kale and swiss chard.



May 2010 Someone dug up the chives and stole them. And the P-22 didn’t make it. Even though I planted it in the middle of a rainy day, I must not have checked the forecast, and we got lots of sun for a bit. The salad burnet is just barely making it. The elephant garlic looks forlorn, but will survive.


May 26, 2010 The jostaberry feels very firmly anchored, and is sending up a new sprout. Happiness! There is a lush crop of weeds, which I shall pull. I also have a kale start, and a swiss chard start to transplant there. As well as more chives. I’m going to wait a bit to replace the P-22, as I want to make sure that the replacement is firmly rooted. It may possibly have to wait until fall rains. :-(

Tuesday food thoughts

When I got home, I made the most wonderful salad! Lettuce from a local organic farm, kale leaves from volunteers in my garden, Indian Plum growing tip leaves, dandelion greens. Added chive blossoms, curly marjoram tips, lemon balm tips, and sweet cicely seeds.  Vinagrette from the store. Lettuce was grown 15 miles away, harvested by me about 12 hours ago. Other bits grown on my property, harvested by me about 10 minutes ago. Dressing was the only thing to travel. I am definitley going to manage the Indian Plum in the orchard more, to provide more tasty tips. This was from one that I had simply cut to ground level about 6 weeks ago. I may cut more of them down, while the rains are still here. Indian Plum and dandelions are bitter flavors, which I like. The Indian Plum has undertones of cucumber. The Sweet Cicely seeds are at the green and chewy stage, and taste like licorice.

Guerilla Gardening

May 2010 Why am I guerilla gardening? What is my aim? I really can’t bear to see bits of land in an urban setting growing nothing but weeds. I want to see something attractive/useful growing in those settings. Urban areas need more plant life, to mitigate rain, pollution, provide wildlife habitat, and encourage the spirit. I also love the idea of having food available to all who want to harvest it. I first thought about this years ago, when being aggravated about all the double-flowering plums/cherries planted in town for their flowers. If they were the single-flowering varieties, they would be producing massive amounts of FOOD. Why can’t public spaces be planted to food-bearing plants, and volunteer gleaning groups founded to harvest the fruit for the food bank? Why can’t churches grow fruit trees, berry bushes, strawberries for ground-cover, fruiting vines on trellises, and have the congregation help harvest it? The food could go first to anyone in the congregation who wants it, and then to the food bank. And if anybody else wants to harvest some for their own use-offer it freely. Why is there not an article in guidelines to urban forestry, that encourages nut and fruit bearing trees, fruit-bearing shrubs, food-bearing groundcovers? I want to establish plant guilds that provide food, and that produce seed for annuals, that can be then dropped into the next hole over. By the next telephone pole. In the next abandoned street planter. At the base of the next chain-link security fence. There are many plants that will establish themselves, be harvestable, and produce seed at the appropriate time for replanting, if given the chance. I have noticed flowers in several places in town, that are second-year salsify plants going to seed. Knowing that it is established in several locations, a person could look for the first year plants in the same locations, and harvest them to cook.

Garden One

Two weeks ago, I started my first Guerilla Gardening project. In a small square hole in the sidewalk, I planted an offshoot of my P-22 apple rootstock (to be grafted upon later), jostaberry, chives, elephant garlic, forget-me-nots, and salad burnet. I left room for a sorrel, and I left a bit of chickweed, to be a winter annual. Forlorn-ness, as a bicycle has been parked upon it once, and the chives were simply stolen. I will replant them, but hope to add a sign, saying that this is a food garden, and people are welcome to harvest, but to please leave plants themselves behind. I really want to start food gardening in the planters and sidewalk holes of the city I live near to. I have lots of food plants growing on my own acres, and can propagate more, to put in the city. I've just realized that the small trees I am finding near the plum tree, are offshoots from the rootstock, and I can graft on to them. I've got a four-in-one plum tree of my own to provide scionwood. I'm making more P-22 apple rootstocks, as they are a very dwarfing variety, and then my friend B and myself, can graft apples on to those.