My raised beds are starting to look like graveyard plots. Most of the vegetables have been harvested and anything remaining is dying off. And once again I am back to square one, literally. I've been square footin' it (square foot gardening) in my yard in Pittsburgh. A-a-a-a-nd, this is my journal in progress with photos of these endeavors.
My empty plots
It began, innocently enough I suppose, as many good things often do, as a project to overcome my apathy and sense of helplessness over what was going on in the world that was emotionally, economically and environmentally impacting me and everyone else. It wasn't just that oil was $120 a barrel in April and was predicted to go to $200. Or, that gas at the pumps was creeping steadily up and $4 a gallon was well in sight. But even before this, it had been just a slow build up; cuz for the past few years, each month was like pick a crisis. I mean stuff started happening on a biblical scale. A tsunami hit the coasts off the Indian Ocean and overnight, wiped out over a quarter of a million people and the next day at work it wasn't e-e-e-even the topic of conversation. So I turned around and asked those in my work group, "Did anyone else,besides me, hear about the tsunami that killed over a quarter of a million people along the coasts of the Indian Ocean, yesterday? The news said that there were so many bodies, that they could not bury them all, so they had to stack them one on top of the other,throw them into pits and burn them." Only two nodded, and one said "Oh yeah, that's right." I guess cuz it didn't happen here, it didn't matter that much.
Then, Hurricane Katrina hit. My husband and I were in a hotel up in Clarion, PA. We had just dropped off our two children at the University and I was suffering from a little separation anxiety. However, when the news came on, I sat straight up in bed because I had never seen hurricane winds cover an entire state and parts of others before. The Governor of Louisiana came on the air and told the people to get out, leave their homes, because the place would fill up like a water bowl if the levees broke. But it was too late for some to get out. Well, you know the rest, it took two weeks for the government to respond affectively. People died and people got fired and people got involved with the relief efforts, then Spike Lee made a documentary that showed the widespread devastation of the hurricane and it emotionally shook up all of those who saw it.
More recently, the bees died off and that affects pollination and crop production and yields. Now something happened to the hops, maybe there will be public outcry when beer prices go up. So my garden has become my public protest; my way of fighting back. And 'Though this be madness (this garden), yet there is a method to it.' That method is the square foot method made famous by a retired engineer name Mel Bartholomew. So, until next time, square footin' in da Burgh!
P.S.
I know, I got a little bit heavy there on the doom, gloom and devastation...and I promise I'll try not to lay it on so heavy in the future. Then, again, it's my blog and I can cry if I want to. Welcome and enjoy the pictures. Up next: Playing with Dead Things...
