End of Season

Democracy in play, we breathe a sigh of relief after the election.  What would be good to address now, is our Establishment structure.  Why are we oppressed under the Protestant Work Ethic (read “work one to death”).  Why does everything have to be fast?  I have spent my life pressing pause wanting the Establishment to STOP.  I have gotten off.  Why do we proceed through our day like rats?  How about the human race, human pace, organic growth.  Our dear milennials seek student debt relief.  Why is there not debt forgiveness as has occurred in the ENTIRE course of human civilization?  Why are we paying taxes that provide a pension at 80% of their salary to those holding public office.  Why doesn’t everyone get 80% of their salary at retirement?  Why don’t our tax dollars provide Universal Basic Income and Universal Healthcare, instead of funding the Defense Department who now has surplus weapons that they can pass on to our police departments who will never have a use for them.

Democracy is alive and well and living on Turtle Island!  I couldn’t see the pathway to fascism for us anyway.  The fascist, the rascist, the sexist, the misogynist, always forget the nature of the human spirit.  We fight, we show up, we turn out for what we believe in!  Whitefolks, if you wanted this to be a white country you should have never brought our black asses to these shores (with whom without, by the way, you wouldn’t have a country!). You should have accepted diversity then because you should have known we weren’t going to stand for slavery for long.  We were plotting our escape (kidnapped) the moment our feet hit these shores.  We are the backbone, hell, the entire skeleton of the Amerikkkan Empire.  It is our ancestors who made Amerikkka great, make no mistake.  And we did it with swag, which ultimately is the most confounding thing of all, isn’t it?  We are the heart and soul of  Amerikkka, revolutionizing the entire world throughout every industry with style and grace which may be the crux of the matter.  Is all this hate just about the cool kids and the uncool?  Blackfolks, let’s come to terms with the fact that our Empire (Africa) occurred BCE and we had a white slave trade coming out of Europe, which means we are experiencing what very well may be the original oppressed becoming the oppressor.  So now that Empire has run its course across the entire planet (Europe in last place) where do we go from here?  How do we assess world capabilities and provide for us all, because there is enough you know.  We just have to focus on abundance. 
 
Let’s have a look back at some of the glory of the season:

Holly, Ilex aquifolium

Holly, Ilex aquifolium

In the community garden (SDG) we are putting beds to sleep.  A remarkable season.  We found tiny Squash, some dried, some mushy beans in Three Sisters bed.  Some of our Tomatoes have ripened and I’ll make some more sauce after all.  It was a beautiful sunny 67º in the garden.  Love and gratitude well up in my breast immediately.  Eeery temperature for November, more like Indigenous Summer in October.  Last Winter here in the Northeast, December was 60º and we got no snow.  Perhaps we should let go of expectations around weather and ride Mother’s waves?  Surrender to the change that is upon us.  There is certainly no stopping it now.  And what if climate change is inevitable?  What if it is the nature of Earth?  Like the dinosaurs, we’ve eaten all the vegetation and are about to be wiped out?  Now don’t get your panties in a bunch.  Some form of human will survive.  We are as intrinsic to Earth as every other creature on the planet.  Accept the end of one world and the beginning of a new one. 

I wanted Shiso from Hiddenbrooke to add to my Sauerkraut this season, but I may be too late.  I’m sure I mentioned our Cabbage crop at SDG was decimated by slugs so I will have to buy Red Cabbage at the Farmer’s Market.  I want to weed Skullcap one more time to close out the season.  I wanted to have plants to add to the bed, but I got nothing from seed.  I think July was just too damn hot.  Closing out Hiddenbrooke this week.

St. Johnswort (St. Joanswort), Hypericum perforatum

Sally Garden of Eden comes to a close.  We will manage the compost, layering it with leaves.  Last season we had enough Compost to cover two of Sally’s raised beds in her vegetable garden.  Last month we did use some compost to transplant sun loving plants into the sunniest spot in the garden.  I have had Sally Garden of Eden for five years and it has been a learning curve.  Always happy to introduce my Plant Family to every garden, I have had to accept over the years that Sally Garden is a shade garden so we have shifted our focus introducing plants like Ramps and Elecampane.  I wanted Skullcap and Ginseng for the garden, but as I mentioned I didn’t get Skullcap and Territorial Seed’s Ginseng crop did not make it this season.  A difficult season across the board.

Wild Bergamot, Monarda fistulosa

Misha Cottage Garden also draws to a close.  What a delightful romp through the ornamental world with some herbs dotted throughout as well.  Last month, wonder of wonders, I transplanted invasive Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus) volunteers into a hedge on the west side of the garden.  My final project for my Landscape Design class at Brooklyn Botanic Garden was a Burning Bush hedge on each side of the garden!  Twenty-years later my design comes to life!  Gift of Spirit!  Thank you!

Wormwood, Artemisia absinthium

SDG will be the lone garden left to go down to the end of the month weather permitting.  I usually start closing the beds in August when I’m alone, but with four members, it will be easy to put the beds to sleep this month.  When the sun hits my face at SDG, I am humbled by my engagement with Spirit.

Sunroot (Jerusulam artichoke), Helianthus tuberosus

Benevolence and compassion is what we seek.  Empire produces these sad, miserable beings.  Humans are by nature full of joy, love and peace.  We all just want to be happy.  One’s happiness should not infringe upon anothers to the point of oppression.  Live and let live.  No one is better than anyone else.  We all bleed red.  We have more things in common than things that make us different.  Personally, I believe dividing us into dancers and non-dancers will reveal much more about our characters than gender, class and race.