“You said you wanted to pick my brain about gardening” Sarah reminded her.
“Yes. My mother and I lived with my aunt in a small village in Bosnia for two years during the civil war. I was twelve at the time, so of course I didn’t pay much attention. But my aunt used to look at the trees and the flowers to decide when to plant her garden” Amira said. “I wondered if you did anything like that?”
“Civil war?” Sarah asked.
Amira shot Sarah a glance. Of course she didn’t know about the Bosnian civil war.
“After the Iron Curtain fell, Yugoslavia broke into several smaller countries. Bosnia -Herzegovina was one of those countries. No one group was in the majority. Basically, it was about a third Muslim, a third Serbian/Orthodox and a third Croat-Catholic. An election was held and the Serbs rejected the results and started a war.”
“My father had a small farm and cafe in an area that was primarily Serb. He also worked part-time in a factory. He was arrested. We were told that to get him out of prison we had to sign-over the farm and cafe to the prison warden” Amira said, bitterness creeping into her voice.
“We moved to Sarajevo, which is a very large city. We thought we could be safe. But we weren’t” she continued, her voice was flat and emotionless.
“My father sent my mother and me to stay with my aunt while he and my brother stayed in Sarajevo. I never saw them again” Amira said. “Snipers got my father. My brother was conscripted and went missing-in-action.”
Sarah continued to cut potatoes.
Amira looked over. There were tears in Sarah’s eyes.
“I am sorry” Sarah said. “I didn’t know.”
“It is not something that is easy to share” Amira admitted.
Sarah nodded her understanding.
“But we can talk about happy things...like gardening” Amira offered.
Sarah nodded, and then started talking about tulips and potatoes, lilacs or peonies and corn, Black Locust and tomatoes and beans, pumpkins and okra and wild roses*.
Evan was mesmerized as he stood between the handles of the large rotary tiller.
The rumble and shaking of the tiller drowned out everything else. The task demanded just enough attention to satisfy his OCD streak. He could see why men liked riding motorcycles!!! Video games just couldn’t capture the joy….
Blain was driving pegs and stretching cord to mark the rows across the land as soon as Evan finished tilling a strip. He was following up with a heavy hoe and making divots every fifteen inches. The seed potatoes would be planted in the divots.
“How is Walter?” Sarah asked.
“Much better” Amira said. “Copperhead Cove agrees with him.”
“He walks for hours and gets sunshine. He brings home mushrooms and greens and they go into the soup. Let me know if you need any greens. He brings home more than we can eat” Amira laughed.
“Yes, please. I would love greens. I am afraid our diet suffers during spring planting” Sarah said.
Amira paused, thoughtfully. She was looking at Evan and the tiller.
“You know, there is no reason Blain and Evan can’t split their time between my garden plots and yours” Amira observed.
“Well, there sort of is, at least for now. You need to plant at least two of your plots to potatoes and you are way behind. Maybe they can bounce back-and-forth once you are caught up” Sarah pointed out.
Amira rubbed her chin, deep in thought.
“In that case, maybe I can come over and help you plant your gardens while Blain and Evan are working on ours. Blain said it would be a train-wreck if Walter or I were in the gardens while he was working Evan” Amira said.
“I can’t think of a better way for me to learn how to garden in Tennessee than to be your helper...if you will let me” Amira concluded.
Sarah instantly saw the advantages. Having two people...her daughter Mary being too young to do everything that needed to be done, would save a lot of time in just the picking-up and putting-down of tools. And humans, especially women, are social animals. Work can be a joy when you are doing it with somebody whose company you enjoy.
"And when do you want to move the plants you sent me? I am afraid I already planted them..." Sarah asked.
"Please, keep them as a gift. I can get starts from you after they are growing but I think that to keep moving them will stunt them" Amira said. Then, as an after thought "That is, if you want them. Not everybody has room for fruit bushes."
"I will be honored to accept them" Sarah replied. Maybe Amira wasn't such a dragon after all.
*Note from ERJ: These pairings are my best guesses. Please don't take-them-to-the-bank.
The study of the order of biological progression through the season is sometimes called "Phenology". Using biological markers makes some sense but plants cannot predict the future. The timing-and-order are related to heat-accumulation and the need to be available to keystone pollinator insects and to hit the same time-window as other plants of the same species.
The pairing that is shakiest is Black Locust-tomatoes. Every once in a while, the Black Locust gets whacked by the frost. If you roll-the-dice and plant your tomatoes early, it is good practice to have extra plants that you keep under cover...just in case.
Typos-
ReplyDeletePara 3, “..(s)my aunt…
Your story is the first thing I check for each morning- you’re doing a fine job.
On my SW MI acreage I’ve found (in 40 years of trial and mostly error) that some trees pair nicely. Black walnut trees kill most nearby, but not mulberry and pawpaw trees. And black raspberry thrive beneath all of them.
I also pair Canadian hemlock with oak, in close proximity. I back a lawn chair into them, and have outstanding camouflage for deer hunting. Much of the oaks’ dead leaves stay put for most of the winter.
We have a local plant that predicts the future, it is a trusted marker: When mesquite trees start to leaf, the danger of frost is over. I don't remember a year when they were wrong.
ReplyDeleteI learned to garden in up in the panhandle of Texas. Moving south messed up my timing. I am always late. Tomatoes can hit the dirt as early as March, here. Some years February....
I would expect these people might use phases of the moon and stars to time planting. I’ve read some people used to do that. It’s in the Foxfire books and elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteI usually plant snow peas at Easter, but this year it snowed and I’m behind schedule.
Southern NH
How is it that Sarah did not know of the balkanization and war? This especially since the U.S. got involved.
ReplyDeleteMy g-grandfather was an MD and university professor in Moscow. In 1917, the family hastily moved to Lithuania. A few years later, only one of eight children, left for the U.S. The others perished by the iron fist. (several cousins later joined him in the U.S.)
Nigh twenty years ago I discovered the benefits of planting in pairs. It is very delightful to watch. ERJ, thank you for expanding the knowledge of your readers in diverse subjects.
Plenty of folks know little about events beyond the USA.
DeleteThe USA has been involved in nearly every "little war" since WW2, and we have bases nearly everywhere to show-support that effort.
And we wonder why our country is functionally broke? War is expensive in both blood and treasures.
Yet some 90% of Americans have no knowledge why so many nations dislike us so much.
Plant corn when the oak tree leaves are the size of squirrel's ears. I'd guess that phrase would probably work anywhere there are oak trees.
ReplyDeleteWere I to need a counter-intelligence officer, or a professional assassin, Amira is my hire. She is accomplished in setting up situations and manipulating (not meant in a negative way) people to her benefit. Constanzes house for example. Knows how to gather intel without being obvious, and when to use it to forge connections, e.g. Blaine's beard. Now how she wound up with two slacker teenagers, I can't figure as I would think she would be able to get them sorted. Maybe that will become more clear over time.
ReplyDeleteAlan E.
Amira's character kind of took over. She came from an environment where survival demanded that she use whichever tools would be most effective, even if those "tools" were not in the middle of her comfort zone.
DeleteI suppose that is Amira's primary characteristic: She is "effective".
That is refreshing in a culture where every snowflake demands that reality be bent to accommodate them. Amira is the opposite of that.
And as you noted. She is not manipulative in the normal sense of the word. She is a chameleon, a horse-trader, an expediter, a person who does not quail at doing what needs to be done in the moment even as she avoids polluting future possibilities.
We ARE products of our environments where and how we grow up
ReplyDeleteTeenagers are skilled at learning how to slack from their friends, especially when living in the city. When the mom is working and trying to keep her husband alive, the boys managed to slip through the cracks.
ReplyDeleteAlso, she's used to the men handling discipline, but Walter is too sick to do the job. A friend asked me to help with his son, being sick and having a rebellious teen that took advantage of his condition. The boy decided to behave, but it was a difficult time.
Up north in Alaska tomatoes mostly go in green house. Last night it got down to 18 but today it got up to 64 and 94 in he green house. I’ll try and put the tomatoes and peppers in the green house about May 10 and be prepared to supply heat on cold nights and cloudy days . I’m running a bit behind because of a surgery and injury. Still lots of chances of frost until June 1. Hope snow is off and he ground dried out by then to plant potatoes. Will put onion plants and early cole crops in hoop houses as soon as the tomato’s etc are in and plant early carrots, beets turnips, radishes etc in hoop house raised beds.
ReplyDelete