It’s been a quiet week here in the valley. The big rain did make the river roar through. It has also caused problems with my driveway. Our driveway is very long and half of it is on a steep hill, so when there is a lot of water coming down the hill, it naturally ends up running down the wheel ruts. I now have a lot of sand where it shouldn’t be. I am going to use it to lighten up my strawberry soil.
It is getting time to think garden. We are cutting back on vegetables of the nightshade family, which means no more potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and many greens. Nightshades are thought to precipitate the deposit of calcium in the joints. For what it is worth, I rarely now have to take painkillers and analgesics.
We have to work at getting whole grains. I rely on brown rice and whole-grain breads.
I noticed that the birds are checking out the bird boxes which we have scattered around the farm. I like to have lots of bird parents feeding their babies on my black flies and mosquitoes, so we have lots of birdhouses here on the grounds of the monastery. It is nice to lie in the sun without being ravaged by those insufferable bloodsuckers!
Robin and I have suffered from cabin fever in the last few weeks. We get on each other’s nerves. However, outside work is now correcting that situation. I am 75 and he is 42. He parented himself from age 12. I can’t help but fill in the cracks in his schooling. He resists it, saying at least three times a day, “I want a partner, not a parent!”
History was made today. Robin cut his fingernails. He has sported long nails painted up in various ways. It could be startling to see a giant skidder being operated by a tall, skinny guy with bright pink nails, but he can do it!
(Doug Wright lives over Head Tide Hill in Whitefield. He welcomes feedback at douglas.wright22@yahoo.com.)
