Notes: Week of March 9

We humans tend to make patterns where there are none - this is a normal quartz intrusion

Photos this week are a collection representing the artistry to be found in rocks...Each rock has a story to tell, as well as beauty in itself. These rock were once sedimentary sand and gravel, then compressed and heated deep in the earth. The Sierra Mts. are mostly composed of granite, but this is typical of the older cap rock found above the granite... these are all metamorphic rocks from over 10000 ft. in Tuolumne.

Quartz veins injected into fractured granite rock

Under great pressure, the rock mass was super heated so that liquified quartz could be injected into rock cracks. The metamorphic rock was heated to a softened condition but keeping some of its original sedimentary character… At some later time conditions changed and it was able to cool.

A metamorphosed sedimentarty rock heated and contorted to produce folds

Later the rocks were raised over long periods of time by the shifting earth crust to elevate it to its present height… then erosion by water and ice have exposed it… Last, the surfaces were cut and polished by the action of glaciers into the surfaces we today…

Iron compounds leached out of parent rock and deposited on metamorphic rock

TAKING A CHANCE...

I am a gambler this time of year – We may still have cold nights with light frost – but maybe not… So I think its time to plant tomatoes!

Metamorphosed sedimentary rock, cut and smoothed by glacier action - note striations

I know the common wisdom to wit until late April or early May – but we have a south-facing wall with great heat even now – and my early tomatoes take off.

Metamorphosed sedimentary rock with quartz intrusions, then folded to form striations

Starting tomatoes is all about preparing the soil! I dig a hole for each plant at more than a foot deep and a foot wide and refill with a rich blend of organic material mixed with soil. I use compost, horse manure but you can add any good organic material.

Quartz intrusions through granitic rock, then iron compounds added

Small plants are available in the nursery now – For several years I have grown Ace and Early Girl varieties… Here in the bay area we just don’t have the heat for a good crop of most of the “heirloom varieties –

Granite was fractured, then large heated quartz intrusions added

I have tried them and while I get a few tomatoes – its just not a good crop. I can count on lots of tomatoes over the entire season. Ace tomatoes are about tennis ball size and Early Girls are a bit smaller.

Rhyolitic flow: Obsidian with a lot of ash suspended in the liquid rock, cooled at surface

I plant the small plants deep so that at least two inches of the stem above the original soil line is covered with my soil. As you plant them, create a watering ring around each one. Then soak well.

Higher quality obsidian

With my dogs I also surround each plant with 4 vertical sticks to prevent them “accidentally” lying on top of them.

The bottom end of a small glacier - Ice causes much faster shaping of rock than flowing water

And don’t forget to treat each plant with snail pellets!

Now should it be that a frost wipes them out – I’ll just do it again!

Sedimentary metamorphic rock turned 90 degrees and then cut and by glacieral action

Notes - March 2

Note: Photos this week are a random collection of odd and interesting images that I have collected over time - they have nothing to do with the content of the blog...

Note Two: I have included 3 links in the blog and urge you to open them all!

At a time when fear of foreign intervention had been “whipped up” by the party in power, the following legislation was approved and passed by the democratically elected government ... to promote “public safety and order” within the country. This “Fundamental Rights” bill was approved to temporarily suspend a number of constitutional freedoms for the "good of the people". The bill placed restrictions on or eliminated:

Personal liberty,

The right of free expression of opinion,

Freedom of the press,

The right of assembly

The right of association,

Permitted violations of the privacy of postal, telegraphic, and telephonic communications,

Permitted warrants for house-searchers,

Permitted confiscations as well as restrictions on property,

Balance performer - Circa 1920

All this was permissible beyond "the legal limits otherwise prescribed".

The government was the German Reich “ … and the guiding force behind the new law was Adolph Hitler. The "danger" was later found to have been contrived - but the law stayed.

A few decades ago there was a general fear of intervention from the Communists. Let us remember that we have every bit as much to fear from an over zealous Right Wing government intruding into our lives in the near future as we had from a Communist leaning government – I listen to the candidates who would be out national leader and they give me shivers.

An abandoned mining camp - Death Valley Ca.

Do you know about "doublespeak"? It was introduced in the book "1984" about an imagined dictatorship... Read about doublespeak here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublespeak

Watch for the examples of douplespeak coming from our Republican candidates. There cry for reducing the size of our government and decry the influence that government has in our lives.

Golden Gate Bridge - Fog

At the same time the candidates speak in support of invasive laws that would exert far greater control over the private choices of the American people...that would require a larger government to maintain. They are saying in effect, “I want my areas of big government I just don’t want your areas of big government.”

Bolivian Children - 1880

I fear for America when I see candidates calling for ever-lower taxes – You can't run a car with no fuel. Every one of our past presidents recognized the need for taking in adequate taxes to provide for the common good. The issue is really who would benefit from smaller taxes... Why, it's the same big businesses and banking industries who are paying the bills to promoting the social engineering of the American people! We know…

Graffiti Art - San Francisco Beach

The Republican party sends a memo to Fox news suggesting to them how to “spin” their news coverage to degrade the improved economic news that has surfaced in recent weeks. RNC paper suggested focusing on three things:

1. The increasing price of oil

2. National Debt

3. Unemployment

Early Coke Ad - Circa 1990

Whatever you think of John Stewart – take a look: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/01/1069337/-Jon-Stewart-exposes-RNC-collusion-memo-to-Fox-News-on-economic-talking-points Many of us have strongly suspected a link between the Republican party and Fox. This is just more evidence to support that knowledge.

Freight yard - Ship to Railcar... Portland Or.

1. Just to emphasize – No president – past present or future has the power to control the price of gasoline: Prices have increased because:

Roughly 70% of increase: Oil trades in financial markets, where Wall street firms and other big financial players dominate the trading of oil – even if they have no intention of ever taking possession of the oil whose contracts they are trading

30% Producrs and processors have control on the amount released

(Note these percentages fluctuate wildly)

Another factor is the fear of supply disruptions because of refinery problems in the US and other countries and tensions in the Persian Gulf

It is just plain dirty pool to try to pin this on the US president!

In Great Britain the price for gasoline is $7.91 for a US gallon.

2. If you want to understand why out National Debt is increasing, for goodness sakes check this site! http://costofwar.com/en/

Stonehenge ( I haven't seen this yet)

3, Employment news continues to improve:

Total nonfarm employment rose by 243,000 in January 2012, compared to an average increase of 152,000 per month in 2011.

The January employment gained in total nonfarm brings the number of net jobs recovered since a trough in February 2010 to 3.2 million jobs, or 36 percent of the 8.8 million jobs lost between January 2008 and February 2010.

So the RNC decides to focus on trumped up women’s reproductive health issues and same sex marriages as the burning issues of our time…

Commuter train - India

Revolution doesn’t have to be a swift military operation – it can be a methodical gradual building of a “critical mass” conservative mass – then the legislation to restrict freedoms can take place and hold…

Flowering Plum in blossom now!

Early Spring in the Zlatnik Garden

"What is to rare as a day in... February?.... I dont think this is what Shakespear was thinking of... but today the temperature is currently 72... and so calm and spring like! What a strange year!!

In a Northern California garden the busy season is in full swing – the little bit of rain we had this winter has been enough to sprout weeds that have been lying dormant – in some cases for years! I do my best to remove weed plants before they seed – so these new plants are coming either from bird poop or from old seeds. Its ridiculous but this year I have had to water all through the winter due to our lack of rain.

On cold mornings the trees steam when the sun dries the dew

Daffodils are in full bloom right now and some little white star flowers that I got a year ago from some German friends. Also plum trees are in full swing. A few summer plants are thinking about waking up – with a few sprouts and buds. One of my jobs now is to prune shrubs and herbaceous plants in preparation for the “big spring burst”.

Equisetum- an ancient plant without true roots or seeds - very invasive so I grow it is the middle of a pond!

Many of my plants set new offshoots from the roots and cuttings can easily be removed with a bit of root attached and can then be transplanted. I sometimes buy one prize specimen and then in later years divide it many times – some for my own use and some to give away.

What the garden will look like in 2 months...

Also here is a trick I learned in Spain – and it works well in my garden. I surround a perennial plant with four bricks leaving an empty square in the middle as the bricks meet at the corners – I bury about one third of the bricks and pile some dirt around the perimeter – this serves as an excellent watering space for the plant, the bricks also act as a sort of mulch, and I can control plants that want to spread.

Lettuce growing in my raised bed - coming back after the cold of winter

We have a neighborhood internet “group send” that can be used to share information, share things you want to give away, or make requests for free stuff you want… I have received all the bricks I can use in this way. It makes watering so much easier! My garden is almost entirely Mediterranean climate low water plants, with a large number of California natives.

I have introduced a variety of cactus both in pots and interspersed in the garden

Our son Peter and his wife Marila came from Portland a couple of weeks ago and in two days did all the heavy pruning – the “up in a tree” pruning … They are such a pleasure to spend time with – conversation while working together in the garden is special…

Then if that wasn’t enough, they picked up all the cuttings and moved them onto the front driveway – it looked like a massive beaver dam! My neighbor was having tree work done and I negotiated with their tree guy to chip up all my twigs and I was done with them.

Spring flowers ( soon to be) in Febraury they are still much diminished!

Do you remember that I wrote about my big winter experiment? I made large planter boxes filled with a mixture of compost, soil, and manure – down to 20 inches deep. Last summer they were productive, but I wondered how they would fare in the cold months of winter. Here is my “official report. Once it got really cold the lettuce didn’t die, but it quite growing – right now it is warmer and is beginning to grow again. My big success was greens – 3 varieties of Kale. Collards, Spinach…

Salvia - many in this family do well with minimal summer water

In late December and January, early February was pretty heavy frost most nights. The spinach quickly gave up – but all varieties of Kale and the Collards grew like gangbusters. My favorite varieties are Red winter Kale and Italian Rapini – the Curled leaf kale is also nice but it’s the only variety that the Aphids seem to like. As far as lettuce varieties – We found the Manoa variety to be excellent ( but not in the coldest months), and my other favorite is Forellenschluss. I’m sure you can find these varieties in any good garden store or from the internet. Swiss Chard would also grow well – it’s just not our favorite.

My garden in February

Some people plant gardens with the idea of leaving the same plant in the same place for as long as the plant is alive. I view landscaping as a much more dynamic process - Like my sister-in-law Deb once said, “plants should come with wheels”. I buy a plant and live with it for a while – a year or two – and learn about it.

Our bamboo "forest" ( Mosa bamboo )

Once you really know what it needs to be happy, and what its growth patterns are – then it may be good to move it to a place where it will grow better or where it looks better. Late winter (right now!) is the time to make these moves… cold nights…some heat in the day… nice moist soil… Many plants can even be transplanted at bare roots and made to grow.

Along with my garden I am culturing compost – made from every blade of grass,clippings, and fallen leaves ( but no weed seeds ). I have two bins – I try to keep them moist, but not soggy (“like a moist sponge feels”),

Another view

if it is just sitting there doing nothing it probably needs more Nitrogen rich green material added in – that or a handful of nitrogen sulfate – either one would cause the pile to warm up with metabolic activity. If there is too much green material and not enough carbon material it will get slimy – then add more dry leaves, straw, and newspapers well mixed in… If it is starting to smell “bad” it has gone anaerobic ( bacterial decay without oxygen) due to not enough high carbon material – like straw, fallen leaves, etc. I love a nice active (warm), sweetly fragrant compost pile ( "like a walk over the forest floor after a rain")