Daffodils and Actions-vs.-Words

I planted the first plants into the satellite or "Dacha" orchards. They weren't fruit trees. They weren't even food-producing plants. They were daffodils to serve as early pollen sources and as row markers. It was a battle driving the shovel through the roots of the goldenrod, grasses and vines.

Other perennials that I have penciled in for the ground-cover in the rows beneath the trees include horseradish, lovage, asparagus and rhubarb (and possibly Jerusalem Artichoke). None of them will be tall enough to compete with the trees and they compliment the trees from an ecological and production standpoint. An important consideration is that they are not attractive to deer in terms of browsing.

Fruiting bushes that I am considering include primocane fruiting raspberries/blackberries, gooseberries or currants.

Back when it was common practice to plant orchards on 30'-by-30' or 40'-by-40' grids, it was very common to plant strawberries or grain between the trees so the land was productive while the trees formed their canopies and before they reached peak-production.

A comparison between the economics of commercial orchards and homestead orchards

Commercial orchards hire their labor. They come in. They pick-pick-pick. Then they leave. 

A homestead orchard might have children who will happily go out and pick fruit any week of the summer or fall...because they are hungry. Not all of the fruit will fall into the basket but that is a feature, not a fault. So while a commercial orchard must be optimized for labor and markets, a home orchard is likely to be optimized for having some type of fruit ripening from mid-June until November (strawberries-to-persimmons) and even beyond in the root-cellar. And if you consider rhubarb a fruit, it could even be from early-May until November (rhubarb-to-persimmons).

Source

The challenge of most summer tree fruits is that they come-and-go in a heated rush. A tree full of Yellow Transparent, for instance, is a daunting amount of fruit to deal with due to its very short shelf-life. The fruits of late autumn, by comparison, are a "slow hand". A few bushes of raspberries, on the other hand, don't ripen their fruit all at once.

Winter pears and late apples are very forgiving in terms of harvest timing.

One of the shortest parables in the Bible

A father asked his first son to work in the vineyard. The son said "No." but changed his mind and went to work in the vineyard. The father asked his second son and he said "Yes!" but never went to work. Which son did the will of his father?

This is actually a parable-of-hope for those of us who have children who fell away from the faith. Secular culture will seem to pry many of them off of the rock-that-is-faith. In time, some of those children will see the promises of secular culture as hollow and will return.

We will not be judged by where we start. We will not be judged by where we are at this heart-beat. We will be judged by where we are when our life's breath leaves our body. 

This particular parable is a very nice "closer" for the parable of the Sower where some seed fell on the path, some among the rocks. Others fell in the thorns while some fell in fertile soil. That parable paints a bleak picture for those who are tantalized by the glamor of modern life with all of its glitter, lies and distractions. The parable of the two sons softens that picture.

Running notes

My discipline lapsed.

I dipped a toe back into running Sunday morning.

I ran a half-mile out and a half-mile back.

As I started chugging up the last grade on the way out, it occurred to me that my dismal times were largely due to my choosing comfort while running up hills. I was slowing WAY down.

I leaned into my discomfort. I changed my gait by taking shorter steps and increasing my step-rate. My half-mile time was a blistering 5:41 vs the typical 6:30.

I grabbed a minute of re-oxygenating before starting back. I consciously "worked" while running uphill. My half-mile time on the way back was 5:06.

Between that, planting, harvesting, unilateral farmer's-carries on Friday and Saturday...I was pretty much wiped out on Sunday. 

Since I will not be running a sanctioned 5k race in early-October, I will mimic the experience by running 5k on a suitably flat section of local, gravel road. What that means is finding about a 1/2 mile of flat road and running 3 out-and-backs.

Stay tuned for more adventures.