If I Were a Poet: Reflections on a Fall Walk with Son and Falling Leaves.

October 11, 2009

If I Wrote Poetry, I would describe well, the beauty and the sound of the serviceberry leaves falling from their branches as my son and I walked along a wooded path. With words, I would simulate how at peace I felt when I recognized the sound similarities between these leaves falling and that of a gentle rain.

If I Wrote Poetry, I would also describe the joy that I felt when my son and I paused and stood still, to witness the serviceberry leaves as they slowly glided downward, with their slight ruffling as they nudged each other to the ground or ran into an unsuspecting goldenrod or wild aster.

If I Wrote Poetry, I would speak to you of the love I felt for my son, my life, and that rare moment when I took the time to stop and listen to the leaves falling, while holding my son close to my chest.

If I Wrote Poetry, I would tell you of the almost constant turmoil within my mind. The confusion, anger, fear, and sadness, that I did not feel at that moment when I observed the serviceberry leaves disengaging from their branches.

What I felt was joy, love, and happiness especially when my son laughed at the leaves falling and pointed to the bird above and said “whas-dat?” “Its a bird” I said, “a beautiful bird”.

Got Tomatoes!

I recently emailed a friend with the very cryptic message, “I’ve got tomatoes,” telling him about my harvesting bounty, he was generous with his response but was a little ambivalent about the tomatoes.

I guess, that maybe I am also a little ambivalent about them as well, or at least overwhelmed by the shear quantity of tomatoes that I have harvested and preserved this year. In fact, I have three five-gallon buckets of them on my porch as I compose this blog entry, most of which my son and I will take to the local food pantry tomorrow. I might even give a few to my son to pop open. He loves to squash them in his hand and squirt the seeds and juices all over his bare feet. One day I will to teach him about the importance of not wasting food, but not now. At the moment, I enjoy watching him experiment with his environment and world, a few lost tomatoes to his budding intellect and curiosity is well worth sacrificing. When he starts throwing rotten tomatoes at unsuspecting pedestrians, I might attempt to put a stop to the wasting of this precious fruit, but then again maybe I won’t! Such an act has great potential to reveal some very interesting aspects about the human condition. I know that, I wouldn’t mind lobbing a few tomatoes at some members of society. Alas, I digress.

The truth is, I feel very fortunate and thankful for such an abundant harvest this year, and that I have had the time and the opportunity to grow and store so much food for the coming winter months. If all goes well, and the root vegetables and squash store adequately, we should have enough veggies to supply us until spring, when we will harvest asparagus for the first time, and until I can once again plant some spinach and early lettuce.

Fall is definitely here and the weather report for next week calls for nights in the mid 30’s to 40’s. I will have to clean up the squashes and bring them inside soon, and I hope we won’t have a frost quite yet. Since my spouse and I have decided to downsize our income, living by the seasons as well as planting and preserving food will most likely become a very intricate part of our lives, especially mine.

For those of you who are interested in food preservation, I thought I would give you a visual crash course in the caning and preserving of tomato sauce. More in-depth technical information can be found in the book list provided below. I found the Ball Blue Book of Preserving to be a great starter text for canning information, though I often call home for tips from mom.

Canning Crash Course

Boiling down diced tomatoes

Blending tomatoes with antique hand mixer

Straining tomatoes with hand strainer

Pouring hot tomato sauce in sterilized canning jars

Placing tomato sauce in water bath to be boiled for 40 minutes

Fully processed tomato sauce

Canning tools used

Teaching Son the joys of canning

Got Tomatoes Reading List

Ball Blue Book of Preserving Ball Brothers Company, Inc.

The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest, by Carol W. Costenbader

Canning and Preserving without Sugar, by Norma M. MacRAE, R.D.

Got Tomatoes Tool List

Water Bath Processing Pot and Jar Holder

Large Stainless-steel Pot

Hand Mixer

Hand Strainer

Canning Tongs

Lid Tightening Tongs

Large Mouth Funnel

Canning Jars/Lids

Got Tomatoes Play List

Nick Drake,  A Treasury

Johnny Cash,  At Folsom Prison

Steve Earle, Jerusalem

What my Son Could Have Contributed but Didn’t

One of the ways I am able to tire my son out for his afternoon nap is to put him in his bright yellow pouch on my back. This is the time of day when I am able to get a few things done around the house, like mixing up bread dough, sweeping the floor, and doing dishes. One of his requirements for allowing me to put him in his pouch is to allow him to hold onto a toy. Most of the time, this is one of his toy cars, which he holds onto until the opportune time comes to toss it into the dishwater, a mixing bowl, or any random container. I am then required to retrieve the toy car and return it to its owner so that he can continue to practice his exceptional aim. Thanks to my spouse’s excellent parenting abilities, I was free of the yellow pack and my son’s curve-ball/car which most definitely would have ended up in the tomato sauce.

Living Close

Digging Potatoes in the Community Garden

Three weeks ago I officially began my role as stay-at-home dad, and so far I love it. My son and I both spend most of our time barefoot. For me, this is a recent phenomenon that my beautiful little boy has reintroduced me to. In the past, I have had a very serious issue with having dirt on my feet, and I would cringe when walking around the house barefoot if the floors hadn’t been recently swept. Going to bed with dirty feet was absolutely out of the question (I have been known to hand wash my feet prior to going to bed; I know, this is neurotic!) Lately, my feet are unshod unless absolutely necessary.

Other than walking around with my feet directly touching the ground, what does living closer mean to me, and why is it important? I clarified this question for myself during a conversation that I had with my spouse, when she asked me “What do you want to accomplish in your life?” I replied by explaining that I wanted to spend my life making good artwork, being a decent/good human, helping to raise a decent/good (e.g. liberal open minded humanist) child, and live close to the earth.

All these aspects of living close require much diligence, time, and consideration. However, lately I have placed much of my time, energy, and focus on gardening and food preservation. Which to me is a very obvious and direct way to live closer. I am gardening and preserving food for a variety of reasons:

• I enjoy the results of my labor, good wholesome vegetables and hand-canned foods are exceptionally tasty.
• I was raised in a large one income family and my parents gardened and preserved food to supplement their grocery bill; so, it is in my blood.
• As many of us know, the world’s economic, environmental, and, social climate seems to be pointing to humanity’s need to live more locally, with a deeper ecological awareness, and closer to our food sources.
• I want to contribute to this revolution based on healthy food and land preservation. I garden, because I love working with the dirt, plants, and the seasons. Helping feed my family from vegetables that the dirt and I have grown together, just seems to make sense to me.
• Lastly, with my family’s decreased income, raising vegetables has dramatically cut our grocery bill.

My family and I have been eating out of our garden since May, and I anticipate pulling vegetables out of the ground until mid-October, and possibly into early November. Once we are unable to harvest directly from the ground we will start using our supply of canned, frozen, and stored food. I am proud of our work as gardeners and food preservationists, and I am even happier to be slowly teaching and watching my son take an interest in garden plants, wild berries, and dirt! I am thankful to be able and willing to live so close to much of my food; I love harvesting food with my son and in our bare feet!

Living Close Tool Tips
Growing up on “the farm”, as some of my relatives used to refer to my childhood home (¾ acre house plot with a large garden) had, as I recall, only meager, old, and dilapidated hand gardening tools, and a well-worked tiller. The one tool that I do not remember using was a file. Filing my shovels, hoes, and spades has made a huge difference in their functionality. Most of the garden tools that I have purchased did not come sharpened, and until I started studying various gardening techniques, I never knew that these tools are supposed to be filed on a regular basis. If you are interested in gardening and you are going to buy your first shovel, buy a good file to sharpen it with. Steve Solomon in his book, Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times has a good explanation on how to file and take care of your tolls.

Living Close Reading List
Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times by Steve Solomon

Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits and Vegetables by Mike and Nancy Bubel

Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners by Suzanne Ashworth and Kenty Whealy

The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest by Carol W. Costenbader

Ball, Blue Book of Preserving by Ball Brothers Company, Inc.

Living Close Playlist
“The Birds and the Bees” by Mother Nature

My Son’s Contributions

• Many smashed and pulverized tomatoes, the seeds and innards seem to fascinate him and gives him much pleasure, as is evident by his laughs and giggles with each squeezed tomato.
• A bucket of produce: full one moment, and then quickly emptied by small but vigorous hands.

Welcome!

Creating: a Life, is one aspect of my attempt to redesign my life, with much help from my spouse, I might add. Recently, I became a father, resigned from my tenured teaching position, become a stay-at-home dad, joined a community garden, and I am starting a new series of artworks related to raising my child on this ecologically polluted planet.

I should also add that before my pay check ran out this month, I bought an awesome STIHL weed-eater*. This machine is capable of transforming into a tree-trimmer, cultivator, hedger, and I think it can also become a snow blower. It rocks! The only problem is that it has a two-cycle engine which is a notorious environmental polluter and I bought it new, ouch! Yes I am sometimes a hypocrite, but I am a sucker for a new tool!

*STIHL did not pay me to say nice things about their products.