Can You Guess?

What do you think these might be?

Choices: Made for Us or By Us

It's planting season, actually most of the planting has been done. The hens are laying and meals usually have some component that we have raised. This led us to the question, what would our parents think of our gardens and hens?

All four of our parents have passed on and some knew of our gardening before doing so, but we never discussed what they thought of our projects. Our parents were children of the Depression and three of them moved to California for better opportunities. My grandmothers both had gardens and at times raised animals for food. One set of grandparents had a turkey farm at one time. Gardening, canning, raising animals was a part of their life. It was done to support themselves. As a child I remember eating fresh fruit and vegetables from both grandma's gardens, one in town and one in the country. I never thought about it being a choice.

Move forward a generation and our parents didn't grow gardens for food. Both fathers went to college and moved into jobs utilizing their education. Our mothers worked outside the home, but worked harder at raising families. Both of our families helped when some of the children raised animals for the county fair and FFA. But it seemed more like they were helping their children with a project. I remember my father making a comment about "filthy" sheep when I chose to raise a lamb. He didn't go into the reason he believed that, but his stories of milking cows before school and using draft horses on the farm hinted that there had been some experience with sheep that gave the comment some validity.

Ultimately the short answer we came to is that our parents would have looked at our efforts in a positive light. We thought my father might even have joined in and helped some. All of them would have enjoyed the food.

Over the next few days I started pondering the question deeper. I was at a baseball game when the topic came up with some family friends. The mother talked about growing up on a farm and raising and harvesting chickens. She wasn't against what we were doing, but there was a distance in her voice that raised some flags in my mind. I am helping one of her sons get set up to have some laying hens.

As I thought more about this subject I stumbled into the idea that what for us is a choice and a decision to raise good safe food might be considered a step back by our parents generation. In my family my grandparents worked on a farm and drove truck and saved so their children could go to college to have a better life. Our parents did the same, but we were choosing to step back and live like our grandparents. The difference is that our grandparents didn't have a choice. We made the choice after living a life made possible by a college education.

What now will happen to our children?

Just Remember

Today is a day to remember. My father-in-law, a Navy pilot for 28 years, was in Vietnam in 1966-67. Agent Orange blown off shore to the ship he was flying from. Died at the age of 67 of a chemically caused cancer. The neighbor across the street same place, same year, same result.

The seven others from our small town that died in Vietnam. The 41 from a nearby town. The eight from our town that died in WWII and the 6 in WWI.

It is right to remember at least one day.

Cleaning a Little

We spent yesterday rearranging and organizing. Used a misty overcast day to stay inside and move shelving around in the pantry so the room would be a workroom and a better storage place. Some of the reclaimed office cabinets got used and this should be a good place.

Some of the many offshoots of organizing one spot in our house is other places get rearranged also. The tool room and outside work area are getting revamped also. Though it will take a while to get things settled, it definitely will make life simpler.

Surprise From Across the Pond, And From Our City

"Your garden is such a delight to look at," is nice to hear. Spoken with a French accent makes it wonderful.

We were in the front yard planting peppers and tomatoes this morning when a woman walked by and commented on our front yard. It turns out she lives most of the year in Paris. Don't have a clue why she is in dry Central CA when the other option is north central France, but we talked about the flowers and plantings. She said she loved the flowers and when told they were Sweet Peas, she repeated the name over and over to remember the name in English. She commented that the garden reminded her of her Grandmother's. Regardless of what country you are speaking of, mentioning "Grandmother's Garden" and yours in the same breath is a fine compliment.

Adding more frosting, this afternoon a local gentleman rode by on his bike and stopped to comment on the "garden the whole town talks about."

Doesn't get much better.

Life at This Time

My season as a JV baseball coach has come to an end. Last Friday we tied a team that had previously beaten us twice, a tie is a step in the right direction. It was a tough season for the players and a redemptive one for me. I started out unable to throw or hit a ball and ended by throwing batting practice and coaching with a nephew for the first time. I tire easier than before, but did things I hadn't expected to be able to do. Along the way the team improved and the players seemed to want to be at practice instead of dreading the time. I believe they walked away with more baseball knowledge than they started with, even if it only is knowing the distance from home to second base is 127 feet 3 3/8 inches.

Most of the planting is done, but Maureen would be better to address the specifics. We have less room across the street, but things are progressing there. The new driveway bed is growing. The fence in the back hasn't been finished but will be soon.

With the storage reorganized the cleaning of the white shed will commence sometime. That will free up space to rearrange the back concrete slab for better use. That will happen also with the cleaning up of the tool room. In general the cleaning and reorganizing will help us.

We now have a trailer and when we get the hitch for the Subaru we will have our version of a pickup. Or at least something that can be use to haul stuff. The idea is a compromise but a less expensive way to do the dirty work we need to do from time to time.

The replacement laying chicks are growing. They are outside now and progressing nicely. The meat birds have been outside a a bit longer and are only a few weeks away from harvest. I'm still surprised what slobs they are. At this point they are still mobile, but soon they will start waddling around slowly and spreading their manure less around the pen. Still a fun experience.

Even though I'm done with the JV baseball team, I am helping with the varsity in the playoffs. They were seeded first in their division and have a good chance to go far in the playoffs. Just depends how the ball bounces.

Wils is back in the national park. He left yesterday and is back doing what he wants in leading cave tours. He finished his job with a national coffee chain on Sunday. I wonder sometimes about how jobs for young people have changed. I worked for two different farms, a packing house, a cannery and a truck spring manufacturing plant growing up. This is in addition to the surveying and land leveling work I did for my father year round on the side. Not that manual labor is bad, but I learned that there are other types of work to be done. Clearing out a ditch with a shovel in 100 degrees will teaching you many things. Our children have had these physical jobs part time, but their jobs have been in customer service. Two have delivered pizza, the coffee serving barista is another, and one works for a national clothing chain while working two days a week as a receptionist at a dental practice. I am glad they did get to prune grapes for their uncle. I know our children have the ability to work hard and that means something.

More fun stuff is to come I'm sure. Peace. Out.

Ya Hoo!

5 May 2015, or Cinco de Mayo in some parts of the country. Contrary to what many people believe, Cinco de Mayo is not celebrating the Independence of Mexico, that is 16 September. It celebrates the victory of a group of Mexicans over the French at Puebla, a battle in which the Mexicans were greatly outnumbered.

Today I am celebrating life. Six months ago my heart and brain were stopped for hours as the doctors, PAs and nurses repaired some plumbing issues with my heart. Around noon on 5 November I was given an IV and fell asleep. I sort of woke up ten hours later and began an often strange train ride to recovery that couldn't have happened without the help of family (Garvers, Derrs and Kelloggs), Dr. Woo and the staff of the Stanford Medical Center, my local cardiologist Dr. Gupta, friends too many to name and the community I live in. Thank you all!