"They have but a poor knowledge of God, who suppose Him to be only capable of doing what comes within the compass of their own thoughts."

-- Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh

Hidden Treasure

Found this today about a hundred yards from my house: a mature American Chestnut! I'd estimate its height at about 30 ft. It's got catkins on it, which means it's old enough to bear nuts. Don't know if it will, as they usually require another tree nearby as a pollinator. But there's got to be something else out here that I haven't found yet, for all these young chestnuts to be growing: an older parent tree that is producing nuts. Because these trees are growing directly out of the ground, not sprouting from old stumps.

Psalm 62 - John Michael Talbot

I was singing this on my back porch this morning, and the birds gathered round and joined in. I felt like Orpheus or St. Francis.

That's my girl: get them started right early.

Orchard Complete

Finished building the grape trellis. All my grapes, berries, and fruit trees are planted. I already have blossoms on my strawberries and one apple tree. 

I still have to finish clearing and cleaning up the ground, to make it nice aesthetically and easier to get around on and maintain. Then fence it in, put the border frames around the trees, mulch, and plant my ground cover. But that can all be done at a more leisurely pace over the rest of the summer; the most urgent and important work is done.

Strawberry beds built. I'll plant this evening when it cools off.

Next up: grapes. I'm going to put them just below the strawberries. Grapes love rocky slopes, which is just fine with me; I have those in spades. So they won't be nearly as much work. Then I'll turn the area inside the retaing wall at the bottom of this section into another planter for the blueberries and cranberries. They both need acid soil (they're related) and have shallow roots, so for them I won't have to dig as deep: just clear out the rocks around where each bush is going, then fill the hole with good soil, compost, and peat moss.

After all the planting is done, I'll build a square frame around each tree, bush, and vine and lay down mulch. Then I'm going to clear out the big rocks from the entire area to create a relatively smooth surface, and let the grass, clover, and wood sorrel grow back over it, and add some lavender. Then fence it in and plant marigolds and crysanthemums along the fenceline: those two and lavender and clover repel pests and attract bees and butterflies.

Next project will be to bring in some more fill dirt and topsoil, and get the grass planted behind the house. Need to do that before working the vegetable garden so I can get the dump truck back here. Then, probably this fall, I'll have the guy in with the tractor to clear the rocks and plow up the subsoil in the garden, then bring in the topsoil and compost for that, and let it sit over the winter, during which time I'll put up fences for the garden and yard, and use some of this rock to build retaining walls where they're needed around those areas.

I've added a native plants area off to the side of the orchard. I've got hazelnuts, chinkapins (American dwarf chestnuts), and mulberries in now, and have wild plums and wild strawberries on the way. I'll also let the wild grapes, wineberries, and blackberries come back in there. I'm not going to fence that part. The idea is: a) have the wild fruit and nuts growing in a convenient location where I can get some; b) create a diversion for the wildlife to help keep them from my garden and orchard; c) share with them, because I like them; and d) let the native species spread and re-establish themselves in this forest. I'm also going to sow some deer feed mix down in the meadow below my orchard. I'm thinking I'll keep the taller trees cut back in that area to keep it as a meadow rather than letting it go back to forest.

Yesterday evening as I was out watering my trees, a yearling buck came out into the clearing and just browsed around, casual as could be, about twenty paces from me. I talked to him, and he looked up at me then just went about his business, completely unalarmed.

220...

Recalculating

I'm thinking that it may be best not to try and plant the vegetable garden this summer. Getting an idea of the amount of work and expense it's going to be to get it ready, it may just be impractical at this point to try and force it--it's almost too late to plant summer vegetables already. Judging by yesterday's labors, doing the entire vegetable garden by hand is going to be next to impossible--the strawberry plants only need 8-12 inches for their roots, but the garden needs to be worked to about 2 feet. So I'm looking at options, like hiring a guy with a tractor to come and drag the plot with a rock rake and/or bringing in some quality topsoil to put down. Parts of the garden have been cut down to the clay anyway in leveling it out, so they're going to need some good soil added back in.

Also, I need to bring in some topsoil to finish the yard area and plant the grass, and if I've already got the garden in, it's going to block access for the truck, and I'll have to cart the soil from the driveway one wheelbarrow full at a time.

Probably the best thing is to be patient, get it done right, and plant next spring. I may get some cool-weather fall vegetables in, in August--lettuces and broccoli and such. And I think I'll put some tomatoes in the large pots I've got the grapevines in now, once they're planted in the ground, and time them so that they'll be ready at the same time as the lettuce; at least get a few salads out of it this year. The key to a good plan is flexibility. I'd rather take longer and do it right than rush and do it poorly.

This will probably work out best anyway. It's looking like it will be at least August before I'm ready to start eating again, maybe later. I never know when I'm going to hit a plateau in my weight loss, and I don't really know exactly at what weight I'll be when I've reached my goal of proper bodyfat percentage; I'm judging by visual appearance more than scale weight.

A little disappointing, but the rewards will be worth it next year. I'm not going to get any fruit off my trees and vines this year anyway, so I'll just treat this as a preparatory year and next year it will begin paying off.

Rocks

Only managed to get the strawberry bed mostly done today. Spent all day digging up rocks...mostly pick and mattock work; my soil seems to be about 50% rock. I'm tired.

Some of the rocks I dug up today.

The rest of them. I'm going to use the rock to reinforce this bank.

Oh, and roots. That's the other thing I"ve been digging up.

Planting!

Today I finally got to go out and start digging and planting. There's nothing like working the land. It was man's first occupation, and still carries a resonance in the soul that brings one closer to God, nature, and one's self.

Today's work: got all my trees planted (except the two that haven't been delivered yet).

Tomorrow's work: gotta move all these rocks and prepare the beds for the grapes and berries.

My nosy neighbor came by to see what was going on around here.

It doesnt look like much yet--still a lot of work to be done. I'll make it look nice later. First things first.

Mike's rules for successful gardening:

1. Plan what you're going to grow, how much space you'll need, and where you're going to put it.

2. Purchase quality seeds and plants of the best varieties for your soil, space, and climate.

3. Prepare the soil. Can't stress this enough: it's what makes the difference between success and failure.

4. Plant. Do it right, and then water, water, water.

5. Protect your plants from animals, bugs, weeds, weather, and disease.

6. Then make it Pretty, if you have time.

7. Last but not least: my super-secret practice for healthy, abundant gardens--I Pray over my crops and bless them in Jesus' name.

Shakespeare: Original Pronunciation

THIS is what they should be doing at the American Shakespeare Center here in Staunton. Not these bastardized, modernized, dumbed-down, pandering, abstract-costuming things they're doing now: as the gentleman in the video so aptly puts it, "trying to drag Shakespeare into the 21st century".

Progress...

This Is What a $45 Million Viola Sounds Like

People endlessly debate whether there's a real difference. They've tried to do "scientific" testing, and all sorts of things, and the naysayers insist it's all in people's heads.

There is a difference. But, a) It takes a true master to bring it out; and b) The difference is not in the ear, but in the heart.

"He had perhaps been bruised too often. The peace of the vast aloof scrub had drawn him with the beneficence of its silence. Something in him was raw and tender. The touch of men was hurtful upon it, but the touch of the pines was healing. Making a living came harder there, distances were troublesome in the buying of supplies and the marketing of crops. But the clearing was peculiarly his own. The wild animals seemed less predatory to him than people he had known. The forays of bear and wolf and wildcat and panther on stock was understandable, which was more than he could say for human cruelties." -- Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, The Yearling

Waiting....

Seems to be the predominant theme in my life right now.

The grading work has been held up by the constant rain. So I've planted all my live plants in pots so they'll survive a couple more weeks until I can get them in the ground.

Today was a nice cool, rainy, low-stress day for them to transition. I'll keep them on the porch in partial sun for a while, then move them out onto the sunny part of the deck.

I'm probably not going to have time to build the raised planters this year. If we're delayed much more, I may not get the vegetables in at all. But right now the plan is to do the vegetable garden in regular mounded rows this year, then build the frames over the winter and next spring. I'll have to do one for the strawberries, because they're perrenials, and once they're in, they're in. The most urgent thing is to get these trees, vines, and bushes in the ground before summer really hits.

Forestry

I've been exploring my forest, and discovering what a wonder and a blessing God has given me in this land. This is genuine old-growth forest, with an intact ecosystem--not the barren band of trees and undergrowth you find between suburban housing developments. I've only begun to uncover its secrets and treasures, and have probably only explored one or two of the six acres I own. Things I've found so far:

Shellbark Hickory, aka Kingnut. Because it has the best nuts of all the hickories.

White Walnut, aka Butternut.

Chestnuts! In case you don't know, the chestnut used to be the predominant tree in all the eastern hardwood forests in North America, until they were all killed by Chinese Chestnut Blight in the early 20th century. These are all seedlings and saplings, and may not grow to bearing age. But there have been recent finds of naturally blight-resistant trees, so they seem to be fighting back. Most significantly, a stand of around 500 healthy ones, including mature, bearing trees, was found very near here, down near Staunton. I'm going to transplant a couple of these into my clearing, and see if I can nurse them through to maturity.

Hazelnut

Wild Black Cherry

Blueberry

Mulberry (I think)

Wild Grapes

Witch Hazel. Not edible, but you can extract an excellent astringent from it--my grandmother swore by it. She put Sea Breeze on everything.

Hornbeam, aka Ironwood. If you can manage to work it, you can fashion very hard tools of this. I'm going to make myself a new walking stick.

King of the Oaks

Lord of the Maples

Gnome Home

Things I'm still hoping to find:

Black Walnut
Beechnut
Wild Plum
Wild Strawberries
A cave with a hidden cache of Confederate gold. Or a trove of silver dollars buried in mason jars by an old mountaineer. :)

My First Crop!

This little guy isn't even waiting to be transplanted to bear fruit. I may have to make exception from my diet for a single blueberry.

Geek Bread

I got to thinking the other day, after writing about my new diet, about making my own Ezekiel bread, so I went and started looking up recipes and stuff. But of course, being the ginormous book geek and Bible pedant that I am, that wasn't good enough for me. I immediately started asking critical linguistic and historical questions; for instance, all the recipes I found take the word "beans" in the verse and interpret it at face value, and just throw in a bunch of different beans from our modern diet, like kidney beans, navy beans, and pinto beans.

But not me: no, I've got to go and research what kind of beans the historical and archaeological record shows were eaten by the ancient Israelites, and then sort out which Hebrew word means which kind of beans, and which of those words is used in Ezekiel 4:9 where the recipe is given. (Long story short: fava beans.) And then I start thinking that, in order to really make it the most accurate Bible bread possible, I'll use olive oil, sea salt, and honey, all good Old Testament foods. And I'm going to call the yeast "leaven" instead of "yeast".

So what's the point of this post? I think I may have way too much time on my hands.

230!

I hit 230 pounds today. First time in this millennium I've been this low.

Today also marks 10 weeks on my protein-sparing modified fast. That puts me halfway to my goal from where I was when I started the fast. It took me some time to break through that plateau I had been stuck in for so long, but now it's coming off pretty steadily.

I'm thinking that I'm going to keep at this until I've gone 10-15 pounds below my goal of 200, so that when I get the inevitable bounce-back after I start eating again, I'll end up where I need to be. So probably somewhere between 10 and 16 more weeks.

This is based on what doctors give patients who are morbidly obese before bariatric surgery, and on the Cambridge Diet. My diet currently consists of:

Protein shakes: 3x/day

Super Greens 1x/day

Fiber 1x/day

Multi-Vitamin/Mineral supplement

Creatine powder--to maintain as much muscle mass as possible

Plus coffee, tea, herbal tea with stevia, and lots of water. 

I started out around 2000 calories per day, then reduced it by 200-300 periodically when I stopped losing. Currently at around 1000, and seem to have hit the sweet spot. I'll reduce it again if I stall again--will probably be at around 300 per day at the very end.

Tricks to help stay on it: broth and gum. I make some broth once or twice a day, and add salt, pepper, garlic, sage, and tabasco, so I get the feeling of tasting something savory, which is very satisfying. And sugar-free gum helps curb the urge to chew on something, as well as soothing that metallic ketosis taste in my mouth with something fruity.

In addition to planning and preparing my garden, I've been refurnishing my kitchen. Not re-modelling--I'm not putting in new cabinets or major appliances--just getting new pots, pans, and utensils, and the rest of the dishes and glassware I needed: I started buying new dishes and things when I bought the house, but then never finished. The idea is that when I start eating again, everything is new and different, to help me start on a new and even better way of eating. I was already eating pretty healthy; but this is a way to help me psychologically completely break with the past. Like buying a new wardrobe after you've lost weight. Plus, it doesn't take a psychiatrist to figure out that my subconscious is currently preoccupied with food, and the garden and kitchen are ways to express it without breaking my diet.

I actually don't feel bad at all. I have to take a little fruit juice for a carb boost when I'm going to be doing heavy work outside, and I had a smoothie the day I helped my daughter move, but it's really surprisingly easy at this point. I find that it's far easier to deny the appetite altogether than to give it a little satisfaction by eating small amounts of diet food, then try to shut it off.

"Christendom has made two efforts to deal with the evil of war--chivalry and pacifism. Neither succeeded. But I doubt whether chivalry has such an unbroken record of failure as pacifism."

-- C.S. Lewis