Sunday afternoon. Sitting on the patio with a fresh cup of coffee in the Elephant mug I love, looking at the Eucalyptus trees that invited me to buy this house in 1981. These trees are threatened in Topanga, CA because they ignite, spark and burn hot and so many locals wish them cut down. Since I moved here, the original trees have self-seeded and what was a single line is on its way to being a grove.
There has been a heat “dome” over the Southwest where I live. A screaming reminder of our greed as humans. Always more, means always more extraction thus always more extinction. For the first time in thirty years my garden is not growing. Stunted and dry I scour the reasons this might be. I wade through the list over again and again. Is it the heat? Too much water as an over compensation? Did I use the wrong wood in my huglekulture? Too much fertilizer? I could not figure it out as I daily adjusted and rethought the problem. It dawned on me I had not asked the plants! Silly me, I know better but the habit of separation is sadly still strong . So I went inside and got quiet and I ask them. What is the problem? Almost immediately I got the image of the new water softener we put in early in spring. It is the sodium that is now in the water to keep the minerals from blocking our plumbing fixtures that is hurting us. The plants had responded and gave me the answer immediately. I switched off the softener and within a few days the plants looked much better. It is late in the season now for much of a harvest but I have harvested something of even greater value. A reminder of the profound reciprocal relationship with the plants. All I had to do was ask.
There has been a heat “dome” over the Southwest where I live. A screaming reminder of our greed as humans. Always more, means always more extraction thus always more extinction. For the first time in thirty years my garden is not growing. Stunted and dry I scour the reasons this might be. I wade through the list over again and again. Is it the heat? Too much water as an over compensation? Did I use the wrong wood in my huglekulture? Too much fertilizer? I could not figure it out as I daily adjusted and rethought the problem. It dawned on me I had not asked the plants! Silly me, I know better but the habit of separation is sadly still strong . So I went inside and got quiet and I ask them. What is the problem? Almost immediately I got the image of the new water softener we put in early in spring. It is the sodium that is now in the water to keep the minerals from blocking our plumbing fixtures that is hurting us. The plants had responded and gave me the answer immediately. I switched off the softener and within a few days the plants looked much better. It is late in the season now for much of a harvest but I have harvested something of even greater value. A reminder of the profound reciprocal relationship with the plants. All I had to do was ask.