– of the cold. For a week or so anyway. I am feeling desperate for the warm to come. For just a touch of green. The promise of it makes it seem so much harder to wait. Do you remember that feeling when you were taking an exam and you were on the last two questions, that rise of anticipation – almost there – almost there! Your body starts to tingle and answering that last question is Interminable. Just the fact that you are almost done meant everything was so much harder to bear.
Waiting for the weather to break is a lot like the last few minutes of an exam. Soon, soon I can take off my hobnailed boots and walk like a real person.
I am the only person I know who LOVED taking exams – I loved the order of it. Did you? The quiet. The teacher walking up and down the rows, her gentle heels clicking in such a tireless comforting rhythm – eventually I was that teacher too – I loved the clean sheets of supplied paper and my wee bag of sharpened pencils, an eraser (in NZ we call them rubbers – for Rubbing Out – no smart arse comments please). I would place my Dads large-faced mans watch on the desk beside the pencils, and three peppermints. Upon reading the exam I would allot the appropriate time to each question depending on its value, and then begin when everything was in place, only when all was in order and I was settled and calm would I begin. I never hurried. I always passed. Everything was in place. Nothing mattered anymore. The knowledge was there or it was not. I had done the best I could. I never felt the weight or possibility of failure only the finite-ness of completion. Actually, though I will only admit it to you – I miss the learning and then the exam.
But we were talking about weather. Always with the weather. You know how cold it has been here. It is winter after all. And I cannot complain as I have had three separate summers during this winter. But the weather man said, on the pigs radio today, that there is only One more cold, cold day -this morning is FREEZing and tomorrow will be very cold then we will rise above freezing. ABOVE FREEZING! (The crowd Roared!) 
And as I was saying – Knowing that the weather man might be right and it might warm up for days at a time makes the next two cold days feel Interminable.
Good morning. Other news! Out here in the Mid West boonies the local Countys offer cut price native (to this area) trees, to try and encourage farmers like me to plant more trees. (Like we need encouragement). Usually I can only afford a couple. But this year they are offering packages of bare root trees. So this year the Fellowship Forest will be receiving 25 Black Walnuts and 25 American (Wild) Plums at a very reasonable price. These will be twigs, barely a foot long. So we will pot them up and grow them on and hopefully plant them along the fence lines and along the creek, that is really a ditch, in the fall. (Unless I can find a way to winter them over in this environment and plant them the following fall as bigger trees). Black walnuts are reported to grow 24 inches a year in this area. The wild plums are for the bees… of course. I have also ordered a peach tree for our John to replace the peach he lost in last years bad winter.
One of the most important objectives I have is saving the soil here on the prairies. Just my little patch. Trees can do this better than I can. When we save the soil, we save the birds, the air, the water, the butterflies. We save ourselves. And more and more. RE -forestation is the key. The Fellowship Forest is spreading.
They say the best time to plant a tree is yesterday. I am working on it! And if you have no-where to plant a tree let me know – I will plant one for you and attach a name tag. We already have a number of Fellowship trees growing here. Here and all around the world. Spring is coming. Not overnight! But it will come!
Have a lovely day,
Your friend on the farm,
celi
ps.. Do you remember Grace our wwoofer from Korea – she is on spring break from her university in Wisconsin and is coming to visit this weekend. Her U.S. home. I told her she has to share her room with Six chicks!! She has learnt to write LOL on her texts!
The Kitchen's Garden 
118 responses to “Last Days –”
Very hot here for autumn, summer was wet, stormy and coolish, so has decided to stay a bit and give us a big blast of heat…..mid to high 30s C. Opposite to you guys who are waiting for warmth, I long for the cooler days to come. I’d love to have a black walnut in my yard, the shells are great to dye with, giving a beautiful colour, but it’s too hot for them here, perhaps you could grow one for me Miss C? Thankyou. I liked exams and studying for them too, that sense of purpose and being organised and knowing what you knew. We have rubbers her too….and “rubbers” back when I was young….not that we knew much about them except they were unmentionable and therefore worth having a giggle over. A hug for Pat and a nose-kiss for old dog…..a hard time for you.
Dying? hmm.. what kind of colour? a goldy brown?
Anything from a dark chocolate to lighter goldy. It depends on your fabric, the kind of water you use, the age of the walnuts when readied for dyeing, where they grown….different soils can contain different minerals. Like any eco-dyeing, it’s pot luck really 🙂 There’s lots of info online, just google walnut dyeing.
Cecilia, I delight in reading your blog and everything that is going on on the farmy. My day doesn’t feel quite right without it. I want to ask you if you would mark a black walnut tree for my Dad. He passed in 2003 and I have wanted to plant a tree for him but I haven’t had a place to put down roots let alone a tree. He was born after the first war on the west coast of BC and he lived an interesting life full of friends of all ages and from many places. He would have enjoyed the fellowship and being in touch with so many people from so many places. As for the weather, here in Ottawa it is a nice warm sunny day and Spring is in the air.
It hit 75 degrees here yesterday, and today it is plummeting to 27. Kind of scary. But that was enough to bring about the daffodils and a promise of Spring. I do hope this is the end of your frigid weather. Love that you’ll be planting trees. Especially fruit and nut trees. We can’t plant fruiting trees in our yard, sadly.
that is sad, but I am sure you have other trees..
Oh yes, many 74 year old and 100 foot tall pines with understory of dogwood and poplar. 🙂 Pretty and I love them…it’s like our own forest, but no fruit trees.
…I should have added we don’t have enough sun for fruit trees because of the other trees…but I wouldn’t cut them unless I absolutely had to.
Best of luck with your trees Celi. It is all about caring for our soil and environ ..
I try to plant at least 10 or so a year, once these are grown i hope i have some help, it will be a mammoth planting day
I am with Grannymar – I stressed way too much about tests and I never enjoyed school. We have a similar tree program here put out by the Department of Wildlife Conservation. For us it’s about creating more natural habitat for wildlife. All of the sale locations are in the eastern part of Oklahoma this year (where most of the forested areas are) so I won’t have a chance to purchase trees at an affordable price. Sometimes FD and I walk about the river area looking for young saplings to dig up before they’re rooted too deeply, and transplant them on our place. Our soil is very sandy, so the first year or two I run buckets of water all around with my electric buggy, attempting to give these younsters a fighting chance in the brutal Oklahoma heat.
an electric buggy, thats what i need!
Cecilia – i would really love to have a tree with my name on if you have a spare one.It will make me feel even more connected..
most excellent.. onto the list you go!
That’s great that you are planting trees. I know what you mean about the exams too, it’s like a time set apart, all there is is you and the exam paper, no other distractions and you can lose yourself in the thinking.
yes that is it exactly..
Oh, Viv and I seem to be so similar at the same stage in life. Actually I used to get very nervous at exam times back at school, but that may have been because of the awfully high expectations my parents had of me : there was only one place to be in class and that was first 🙂 ! And my medical degree was almost ‘forced’ on me: it was ‘practical’ after the WWII difficulties – no wonder I ‘escaped’ into my husband’s business affairs and coy directorships soon after we married! But for me too the wonder of learning returned in my late forties I’d say and at present I’m doing post-grad and ancillary streams in gerontoloy and nutrition at three universities – not so much for another degree [tho’ I’d love to finish my BA begun a decade ago] but sheer knowledge and use of the same in my present world!! Not too many exams: mostly essays and more essays 😀 !! Oh, Kate is lucky with her 35C – our first ‘cold’ change belted thru’ this morning and a jacket was definitely needed to take out the garbage!!
You two have much in common. Viv is a linguist too and you both have a great thirst for learning. I love essays, and am looking forward to the days when i have the time to study more.. it wold be english i think.. I would like to use words better.. What is gerontology? I could ask Mr google but I am sure you will say it better.. c
[laughing] Yes Mr Google would say it better than me too BUT it is a composite term for all the studies and sciences regarding old age: what is usual when aging, what can be done [especially naturally] to slow it down, how to best cope with the various facets etc . . . . for me rather a natural progression . . . . am most interested in the nutritional aspects as you will have gathered and all the ‘tricks of the trade’ to keep one’s mind young!! Of course the studies themselves help 🙂 ! Am also ‘doing’ straight out mind-body medicine, Buddhism and meditation . . . but have this year picked up two facets of modern history as a personal interest as well, hence my being very much ‘quieter’ on line: am certain many are saying ‘thank God’ 😀 !!! Not that much into writing and I only speak 3 languages and can manage another two sort-of – everybody has to cope with that in Europe . . . .
Everyone sounds giddy with the thought of spring, me included! We have quite a few black walnut trees, the squirrels take them into the barn to eat them so there are shells all over the place. You also have to watch your step in the long grass, they’re real ankle twisters! The juglone in the roots is toxic to many plants and is known to cause horses to founder if shavings from the trees are used as bedding. We had a 5 yr. old gelding who died of liver problems, after he was gone I saw that he had chewed on the bark of some of the black walnut trees. I don’t know if there was a connection or not. On a brighter note I have seen buttons made of slices of black walnut shells, really pretty! We are fortunate that we have a lot of trees, all different kinds, one silver maple that has a diameter of 6′ and two burr oaks fully as large as well as willows and hickories and many softwood trees. The only ones I dislike are the box elders, giant weeds they are.
Your trees sound wonderful.. I kind of respect how the black walnut has created a system where he does not have too much competition for his canopy. But a silver maple that large around sounds fantastic. Sadly around here more trees are taken out than planted. It is all about the corn and beans and the Extra Row.. It is a grievous loss to us all. So as we take back small slices of field so must we add the trees to start the healing. And the walnut loves to grow around here.. and his roots go wide and deep drawing up and holding the moisture. c
While this winter was cold, it didn’t seem to be as stressful on the animals as last year. That has to be a blessing.
Oh, sun today! With 30’s, but SUN. Palms are in coats just in case for a few days, still spring is refusing to wait much longer. (and I have to look for some new (to wear out of the house and yard and presentable so as not to embarrass my daughter) sandals as by old favs have finally died. Not a fan of shopping. May have found some online.
I always did tests in reverse: started at the back and worked forward. Had a bad problem with going totally blanks from stress and worry and forgot every single thing I knew. Working backwards helped. Later found out that most standardized tests start with easier questions getting more difficult as yo go along ( and some value rank the latter questions more). In any case, finding a comfortable starting point and working systematically in little chunks to the end accomplishes much in life, too.
We had a giant old black walnut tree in the “yard” at our last farm. It had been struck by lightning, but kept growing. Mom wanted dad to cut it, but her wouldn’t. We’d crack those walnuts – as well as throw them at each other. While there were cattle in the pasture, we mainly farmed trees. Planted thousands of pines about a foot tall ever January – by hand. Sometimes the ground frozen so hard it was difficult to stab the shovel-thingy into the ground. Thousands and thousands. As they grew and were harvested, we replanted – in January. By hand. Trees paid for my college. Ci, could you plant a black walnut tree for my dad? Of all the kids in is family, he’s the one who would have been happiest to stay and live forever on the farm. (retired and went back to it). His name was an old fashion one: Harmon. Somehow seems in tune with the farmy? would appreciate it. Thanks
I’m waiting for some warmer weather too to start planting the terrace below Casa Debbio. Last autumn I planted 40 fruit trees and I can see tiny buds appearing. Fortunately plants are quite cheap here as I will need at least 200 for the terrace. I will plant lavender, peonies, roses, hydrangea an anything else I can find that is pink, lilac or white. Spring is like magic.
Wonderful news about the black walnuts and wild plums. I am moving back to San Leandro where I can have a tree or two, but I don’t want to plant trees until the drought is over in California. Once we get some real rain again, I will have a Gravenstein apple tree and a Meyer lemon. Right now what I have out there is chard that re-seeded itself (I’d rather have chard than weeds!) and a few shelling beans that started up by themselves. I’ll be moved in a couple of weeks and am already dreaming about what I can grow.