Rainbows and Cross Quarter Day

"I pledge allegiance to the soil

of Turtle Island

one ecosystem

in diversity

under the sun -

With joyful interpenetration for all"

Gary Snyder

6790' MuRefuge's side yard 

The cross quarter day "Lammas Day" or Lughnasadh is traditionally observed on August 1. It marks the beginning of the wheat harvest. In the Celtic view Lughnasadh was the wedding of the Sun god Lugh to the Earth goddess "causing the ripening of the crops."

Double rainbows from parking lot of Frenchy's Field 

Here in the high mountainous desert this is the time of the monsoon rains which provide much needed moisture for the native vegetation that thrives here on very little water. With the late afternoon rains come spectacular rainbows. During one week's time we were treated with a series of magnificent rainbows. All of these pictures were taken by Katie Stoyka during her recent Summer visit.

Front of 6790' MuRefuge

Backyard of 6790' MuRefuge
with Shasta

During our delightful encounters with all of the stunning rainbows, we also had a joyful

Transplant Shock

5 foot tall recently transplanted Pinon Pine (Pinus edulis).
The New Mexico State tree since 1948
and my favorite tree.

The above Pinon Pine was purchased from the Plants of the Southwest 
but grown by a man living "off the grid" in Colorado. This tree along 
with five other Pinon Pines and a number of Bristlecone Pines were
harvested and arrived in Santa Fe, NM, at the height of the Summer 
heat tree over a number of weeks to see if the evident "transplant shock" abated. This tree, like me, felt like a survivor. With subsequent forays to 
Plants of the Southwest to buy habitat plants native to the area, I noted 
new growth and fewer brown, dead needles. Several Sundays ago I 
decided indeed I would like to purchase the tree. It took 4 employees to
get the 15 gallon pot with tree out of the its hole in the ground. It fit into 
the back of our Prius with Shasta moving to the front seat and her bed 
relocated. It did weigh the back end down of Stella a lot. One of the 
employees who assisted with getting the tree into the car estimated pot,
dirt and tree weighed about 200+ pounds . . . HEAVY! He also said we
should take a picture of Stella with her 200+ pound cargo to post online 
as advertising for Prius.

The tree in her pot sat several days outside of our garage door waiting 
for the ideal "root" planting time biodynamically. With the burlap removal, 
per planting instructions, the hard red soil and a number of very large "nightcrawlers," aka worms, fell away.  It was challenging for my husband 
and me to tussle the tree, her severed roots and remaining red dirt into 
the wheelbarrow. I had already dug a HUGE hole and had 2 bags of compost 
at hand to fill the hole. Once back connected with Mother Earth's soil, she 
sighed a great sigh of relief to be free of the burlap and plastic pot. 

More compost was needed to complete the transplanting so back to Plants 
of the Southwest who make wonderful compost from steer manure, straw, 
etc. they sell by the bag. Gail Haggard, owner of the Plants of the Southwest for over 40 years, was greatly distressed with my story of planting this Pinon Pine and refunded all of the $160 paid for the tree immediately. "I do not 
want  to worry. I do not want you to worry about this survival of this tree. 
If it survives 'It is God's gift to you.'"

Well, any of you who know me personally know that "worrying" is what I do best. From the time I brought this beautiful Pinon Pine home to balance out the front with a second Pinon Pine, I was "worried" I would kill this tree . . . as if it was up to little ole me. For me the worrying often is a catalyst to seek solutions, in this case flower essences and essential oil. In a 4 ounce blue glass bottle filled with filtered water, 8 drops each of Arnica, Self Heal and Five Flower, aka Rescue Remedy, all FES Essences from Nevada City, and 8 drops of organic Lavender essential oil were added. Initially I generously sprayed the tree 6 or more times a day and watered morning and evening. The monsoon rains have begun sporadically so watering has been decreased to only in the evening. After a couple of weeks after transplanting this Pinon Pine, the "magic potent" is sprayed only 3 or 4 times per day.

This beautiful Pinon Pine loves her new home and wants to put down roots as Dwight, Shasta and I also desire to do in ours. Pine trees in general seem to send out more extensive lateral roots as opposed to Junipers which send down roots to a far greater depth. The latter survives drought much better than pines as evidenced in the local Juniper-Pinon Pine forest where one sees many large dead Pinon Pines, remnants of the drought in the 1950's, but no dead One Seed Junipers. 

In previous posts: minimizing transplant shock and rerooting I discussed the beginning of our move from California and relocation in Santa Fe, New Mexico. From my time long ago as "college professor" I was aware of the impact of changes in life or "stressors" as Hans Selye called them. Not only did this "pioneering Hungarian born Canadian endocrinologist" identify stressors, he also described the predictable stages of the body responding to stressors. He called these stages the general adaptation syndrome, aka GAS. The 3 stages are

1. Alarm stage also known as the fight or flight stage during which the body experiences a burst of energy
2. Resistance stage in which the body attempts to resist or adapt to the stressor
3. Exhaustion is the phase during which the body experiences a depletion of energy resources with impairment of the immune system

The process of moving or relocating one's home ranks as a very high stressor not only for humans but canines, too. After living at MuRefuge for over 30 years I was well aware that this move half way across the country to a high mountainous terrain would stress me, my husband and our dog. Even with my awareness of the stress of moving and implementing a wide range of support in relocating, my immune system was so taxed that after my 75th birthday hoopla, I succumbed to a virus affecting both my respiratory and digestive systems. I do not remember feeling so sick and so depleted with minimal energy that was totally used up by essential ADLs (activities of daily living). My shear will (genes from hardy female "pioneers") got me out of bed in the morning to prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner, shop for food and wash clothes. Luckily a dear friend found a wonderful woman who would walk Shasta for an hour each morning. And another friend recommended a delightful woman to clean our house including windows and refrigerator. Awesome to have these wonderful women as part of our lives just now!

The process of transplanting the Pinon Pine brought to my consciousness that I too could use the same spray. From the first spray over my entire body the shift of subtle energy with these flower essences and essential oil is palpable energetically to me.

I, like the transplanted Pinon Pine, who in the above picture shows her new growth of small green needles, am experiencing healing with potential to not only thrive but rejoice in our Santa Fe, NM, home. In addition to the flower essences and essential oil spray, I frequently

70%

Fendler’s Sundrops (Calylophus hartwegii fendleri)
flourishing along our front walkway.
The oldest of 6 plants has bloomed for months already
without any human watering.

There is research coming out about the necessity of local native flora for fauna.It is finding that the bare minimum of natives plants to support the local native fauna is 70% when landscaping one's yard. 

"Landowners are using nonnative plants in 

their yards because they're pretty and exotic, 

they're easy to maintain, 

and they tend to have fewer pests on them. 

But it turns out that a lot of those insects they see as pests 

are actually critical food resources 

for our breeding birds. 

For landowners who want to make a difference, 

our study shows that a simple change 

they make in their yards 

can be profoundly helpful for bird conservation." 

Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute researcher. 

The study is the first 

to directly link the decline of common resident bird species 

to the lack of insect prey 

that results 

from the use of nonnative plants in landscaping.

At a recent local gathering I was talking with an individual who works for the National Park Service and he reiterated that at least 70% natives in the garden is needed for the health and well BEing of our native fauna. It seems those interested in curbing the radical decline of diversity in our birds, insects and animal are well aware of the importance of native habitat. Intuitively it has always made sense to me to grow what is native to the area in which I was gardening rather than nonnatives, aka exotics. I have found it very exciting to learn about the plants of the Southwest and all the visitors they invite. And these plants are beautiful to the human eye, as well, which numerous passerbys comment to me if I am working out in the front garden.

Here at MuRefuge 6970' the front is 100% native flora so no worries about welcoming birds, insects, including butterflies and moths, as well as rabbits, skunks and raccoons. I see hummingbirds nectaring on the plethora of blooming penstamons. There is a pair of Lesser Goldfinches who I have observed eating the seeds from the dried flower pods of the Rocky Mountain Penstamons. And Dwight in the late evening has seen a hawkmoth on the Tufted Evening Primrose which is larva food for a specific type of this awesome BEing.

Praying Mantis on our adobe wall.
I have also seen one of these stunning BEings 
in the Paperflower blossoms (the mound of yellow flowers pictured below).

Since I am growing food in the back yard, however, it is a different story. 

In addition to annual edibles (pictured above) an orchard has been planted as well as berries.

Lead Plant (Amorpha canescens)

which gets its name from the

white dusting that covers the leaves

as the plant ages.

This is a nitrogen fixing plants so 

it is extremely beneficial 

to the well BEing of all the fruit trees

and berries.

Purple Prairie Clover (Dalea purpurea)
which is also a nitrogen fixing plant
hence the reason to plant it amidst the
red raspberries (depicted here) 
as well as blackberries.

I also grow herbs for salve making as well as two Chinese yellow flowering Chrysanthemums from which I gather the flowers in the Fall and dry for making a tea. This is a wonderful potent for the liver so I drink it daily to keep my exfoliating glaucoma in check. The eyes are the opening for the liver meridian in the view of Oriental Medicine.
These exotics are balanced with a variety blooming native perennials and grasses which I find very pleasing to my senses. And Shasta loves lying in the midst of the Desert 4 o'clocks which surround the Desert Willow.

Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis ‘Bubba’)
which is not really a willow at all
but of the Catalpa family. Looking closely at the
above flowers you will notice they look remarkably
like the Catalpa tree flowers as do the seeds pods
which develop in the Fall.

Serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia)
with her berries just ready for the
enjoyment of the fruit eating birds.

at absurd human behavior.

Wildflowers: Part II

Rail Trail

In late May each year the Century Race takes place. This May passed our son-in-law drove from San Francisco to participate in the race. His goal was to finish, since he had been unable to train nor spend much time adjusting to the elevation here in the Santa Fe area. Finish he did . . . yea!!!! Mike!!!!!. He shared he saw many wildflowers in bloom so after he left we drove to Eldorado, the home of Shasta's fabulous veterinary, and hiked the Rail Trail. We saw a stunning array of wildflowers in bloom and saw a bull snake slithering across our path. eek! snakes are my least favorite BEing even though I know we are beneficial to the native habitat.

 

  

As we thoroughly enjoy the beauty of these high desert wildflowers as well as the rail trail landscape, may we