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

Love Vigilantes

Orchard in a Box

My fruits arrived yesterday! I had no idea when I ordered that you could send live plants this way: I thought they would have to send a special delivery truck, like they did with my furniture. But they came by FedEx sealed up in boxes. Crazy.

 Fruit trees and grape vines

 Blueberry bushes

Strawberry plants. They told me to store them in the crisper drawer of my refrigerator until I'm ready to plant!

I'm taking a bit of a chance here, because I won't be ready to plant for a few weeks. But I had to order now, because the season is closing for ordering live plants, and they only do it once a year. As it was, a lot of places were already sold out. So for now, the strawberries are in my fridge, and the other plants are in a dark, cool room in the basement, sleeping peacefully.

Gardening

I'm finally getting to some of the projects I had in mind when I first bought this place. Currently number one on the agenda: building level terraces in my back yard, and putting in a garden and mini-orchard.

Fruit trees: Pink Lady and Granny Smith Apples, Honeysweet Pears, Elberta Peaches, Damson European Plums, Sweetheart Cherries, Santa Rosa Asian Plums, and Moorpark Apricots. I wanted Bing Cherries and Flemish Beauty Pears, but neither are self-pollinating and I'm only planting one tree of each fruit (except apples).

 Vines and Bushes: Canadice Red, Interlaken White, and Glenora Purple Grapes; Ozark Beauty (everbearing) and Sparkle (June-bearing) Strawberries; and Sweetheart Blueberries.

Melons: Crimson Sweet Watermelon, Tuscan Cantaloupe, Tam Dew Honeydew, and Canary Casaba.

In the vegetable garden I'm going to grow:

Corn	Bell Peppers	Spinach
Beans	Celery	Cucumbers
Peas	Yellow Onions	Radishes
Carrots	Red Onions	Yellow Potatoes
Brocolli	Green Onions	Red Potatoes
Cauliflower	Plum Tomatoes	Sweet Potatoes
Brussel Sprouts	Grape Tomatoes	Butternut Squash
Yellow Squash	Head Lettuce	Acorn Squash
Zuchhini	Leaf Lettuce	Pumpkins
Eggplant	Spring Mix	Garlic

I'm planting all heirloom varieties, so I can save my own seed and do my small part to resist Monsanto and all the evil GMO mega corporations. And save the world by saving the bees.

Here's the plan I drew up:

Each section is going to be a separate terrace, getting lower as you move away from the house. And to the left of where the vegetable garden is, I'm putting in a fourth terrace, a nice flat space with grass that I can use as a little bit of yard. Here's what it looks like now:

I've...er...let things slide for a while. But this shows what fantastic soil I've got: this is two or three years' growth, and those trees are 12-16 feet tall! My soil is rich, black, loamy, and perfect in every way except for the abundant rocks. It's been forest floor for thousands of years, and has never been stripped, contaminated by inferior fill dirt, or poisoned by commercial farming.

Got all my tools ready to go. I discovered Mintcraft years ago when I found the double-bit axe at an old-timey hardware store, and found that it was the best tool I'd ever owned. Now I buy all my long tools from them. The hand tools I found in the Burpee seed catalog, and I'm very pleased with them: heavy duty stainless steel and solid hardwood. I tried buying cheap garden tools at the local department store years ago, and most of them broke within one season, so I go with quality now. Except for one shovel and one axe, which I somehow lucked out on, and used for years and years, until I worked the poor things down to the nub. My shovel actually had holes worn in the steel of the blade.

For the vegetables, melons, and strawberries I'm going to build raised beds, and for the bushes, vines, and trees I'm going to frame them in with landscaping ties. Then I'll mulch the walkways in between with cedar mulch (repels many pests and deters the growth of bacteria and certain diseases), then fence each section in to try and keep the deer and rabbits out. Also for deer discouragement, I'm going to sit on my back porch at dusk and dawn sometimes with my rifle. I love venison! I'm also thinking about getting a dog, and having him sleep out in the garden area in the summer, to scare the nibblers away. 

I'm also all organic. I make my own insect-repellent spray out of hot peppers, garlic, and tobacco (they hate nicotine), and a few other ingredients. And around the borders, outside the fences, I'm going to plant chrysanthemums , marigolds, lavender, and clover, all of which repel certain garden pests, as well as attracting bees and butterflies, which help with pollination.

So with venison and wild turkey, trout from the stream nearby, the produce from my garden and orchard, and the wild raspberries, blackberries, grapes, black cherries, hazelnuts, hickory nuts, and (keeping my fingers crossed that the trees I found can be kept alive and healthy to bearing age) CHESTNUTS!, I'll be able to produce most of my own food. And over the winter, I'll be working on rebuilding the half-assed chicken coop the guy I bought the place from put in, and next spring I'll get me some baby chicks, and then have my own eggs too. Still exploring my forest, and hoping to find a black walnut tree and a butternut. Also would love to find wild strawberries, blueberries, and plums. Things I'll still have to buy at the store:

Grains and legumes--what little I eat. Mostly just the flours to make my own Ezekiel bread, and some Basmati rice and Irish oatmeal.

Chicken--I have no interest in the amount of butchering and processing it would take to keep me in chicken. Not to mention the numbers that I'd have to raise. Also what little beef and pork I'll need, with the venison filling most of the red meat requirement.

Dairy--this isn't the right place for a cow, and I dislike both goats and goat milk. And I have no experience with dairy. I'll get all that from Homestead Creamery, except for the imported cheeses.

Citrus and bananas--too cold to grow them here.

Imports and exotics--coffee, tea, spices, and anything else I can't produce myself.

Beer and Wine--I may try home brewing and vinting at some point in the future, but not yet.

I'm also thinking I'd like to get some bees next year or so. Fresh bread with real butter and honey might be my favorite thing to eat. I know my neighbor Ralph would like that too. Have to come up with ways to keep him out of the hives, hopefully short of shooting him. And out of the chicken pen and garden too, come to that.

I'll upload pictures as the work progresses.

More of the World's Best Reading

I came across, by sheer accident, a copy of Little Men in the nicely-bound series I collect, which I wrote about some time ago. I had wondered, when I finished Little Women, if the sequel had been published in this series. But then I got to thinking, that Miss Alcott had done such a superb job writing about girls, that I doubted whether she could really understand boys well enough to do as well by them. But just a few pages in, my fears are well laid to rest, and I'm hooked. Father Bhaer's boisterous but firm hoisehold perfectly exemplifies the best environment for raising healthy boys.

And as I read, I've been thinking about Jo, and how it takes a rare and special kind of woman to be good with boys. Most women teachers lack that quality, and so many boys suffer because they're being forced into a mold that doesn't fit them.

But I'm thinking about my daughter, and how she's got the perfect temperament for it. And about another lady I know, who has raised seven boys (and one girl) with extraordinary success, and what a remarkable woman that makes her.

C.S. Lewis on the Same Subject

"A great deal of what is being published by writers in the religious tradition is a scandal and is actually turning people away from the church. The liberal writers who are continually accommodating and whittling down the truth of the Gospel are responsible. I cannot understand how a man can appear in print claiming to disbelieve everything that he presupposes when he puts on the surplice. I feel it is a form of prostitution."