(This is me) Seeee the garden beeeee the garden...

My raised beds are starting to look like graveyard plots (maybe, I should have saved this entry for the month of October, ya think?!).  But, anywho, 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 front yard, back yard, side yard, on the porch-just about anywhere that I can find enough sun and space. A-a-a-a-nd, this is my journal in progress with photos of these endeavors. It is hip to be square, square foot gardening.

My empty plots (sigh...)

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 boil; because for the past few years, each month was like pick a crisis.  I mean stuff started happening on a Biblical scale,as in 'LAST DAYS'. For example, 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 because it didn't happen here, it didn't matter that much.

Then, Hurricane Katrina hit.  My husband and I were staying in a hotel up in Clarion, PA.  We had just dropped off our two daughters 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 (a song that came to mind was the one by Led Zeppelin 'When the Levee Breaks').  But it was too late for all to get out.  Well, you know the rest, people died; people got fired; and later, some people even got involved with the relief efforts. Then Spike Lee made a documentary 'Requiem for Katrina in four parts', that showed the widespread devastation of the hurricane and how it took two weeks for the Government to respond effectively. It shook up all of those who saw it.

More recently, the bees died off and that has affected pollination, crop production and yields.   Now something has 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', square foot gardening 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.

 
Nasturtuims, radishes, chives, okra and pole beans started in storage container and moved outdoors after the last frost