Halloween: Cross quarter day

The moon is full, the autumn nights grow longer,

In the north forests startled crows cry out.

Still high overhead, the star river stretches,

The Dipper’s handle set to southwest. 

The cold cricket grieves deep in the chambers,

Of the notes of sweet birds, none remain.

Then one evening gusts of autumn come,

One who sleeps alone thinks fondly on thick quilts.

. . . .Man’s life is not as the grass and trees,

Still the season’s changes can stir the heart

WEI YING WU

“California” pepper tree, Schinus molle, originates 
from the arid regions of northern South America
 and the Peruvian Andes.

Each morning when I walk with Shasta I have the glorious opportunity to pass by my all time favorite California nonnative tree which is pictured above. Although it is not native I have been drawn to it since I relocated to  California in the '70's. In the past, on a small rental property where I lived, I planted two. They were a devil to find but I finally did purchase two in a Carlsbad nursery while visiting my now passed aunt and uncle.  At this time of the year it is especially beautiful as the "pepper" seeds turn bright red.

Halloween, short for All Hallows' Eve, descends from the ancient festival celebrated by the Celts and Druids in Britain who called this cross quarter day Samhain. It is also known as the "Witches' New Year according to Starhawk. This cross quarter day occurs half way between the Autumnal equinox when the sun sets due West and the Winter solstice when the sun sets at its most southern point on the horizon. Thus this day marks the longest night of each year for those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere.

Tradition has Halloween occurring on October 31 when the true cross quarter day is actually November 07, 2021. Another discrepancy is evidenced in the ancient Celts' practice of celebrating the beginning of the year at this time.  We in today's world say Fall begins on the Autumnal Equinox. 

The local vineyards are alive with brilliant Fall color.

However, no matter your point of view Halloween is approximately half way between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice making it an astronomical holiday. And it is also one of the four cross quarter days occurring each year.

And South of our border in Mexico the people call this Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos). This year the holiday falls on November 01 and 02. The souls of those passed are honored. Some say they are able to readily communicate with these souls at this particular time of the year when the "veil" is the thinnest. Often altars are created commemorating the dead and people prepare their favorite traditional dishes which are added to the altar. Celebratory parades are also widespread not only in Mexico but here in the United States as well.

Shasta enamored with the ghoul's recording.
The neighborhood with  new family homes located to our North
has a plethora of Halloween decorations
in both yards and front porches.

However you view this particular time of the year, may each and everyone of us have a releasing belly

BEing close to Mother Earth

Strong Heart 
created by Roxanne Swentzell

In these times, Roxanne Swentzell’ s message is "to be strong 

by staying close to the earth. 

Doing things close to our Mother Earth 

like touching Her, 

walking more in nature, 

growing gardens, 

and doing things that help us listen 

to Her better

 will help give us strength and guide 

us to do what's right. 

She helps us have a good heart 

by slowing us down and 

reminding us what is important."

As I have mentioned in an early post the entire yard has been sheet mulched. I have been to the Milo Baker (our local chapter) California Native Plant sale to purchase native plants. Although it is not my favorite place to buy natives, I have also been to California Flora Nursery in Fulton. My favorite place use to be Mostly Natives Nursery in Tomales where the climate was close to the climate of MuRefuge. The owners retired and the nursery was bought and moved to Pt. Reyes Station where the inventory is markedly smaller. However, they do have a desired shrub, Creek Dogwood (Cornus sericea ssp Occidentalis), which I plan to purchase the next time we visit Shasta's Auntie T. The red stems in the Winter are so lovely as they brighten the gloominess of the often grey skies.

Last week in spite of the severe drought I did plant a few natives in the rock hard soil. 

To the left of the walkway to our front door:
The four plants at the bottom of the picture above:
Penstemon heterophyllus (Blue Bedder Penstemon ‘Margarita BOP’)
 The 2 plants at the top of picture above:
Ceanothus thyrsiflorus (California Wild Lilac ‘Skylark’)
Ceanothus (California Wild Lilac ‘Dark Star’)

                            Clematis ligusticifolia (Western Virgin’s Bower) 
                               to the left of our front door.

Our British friends living close by voiced surprise that I was planting in the drought, but I am wanting to get on with beautifying our sheet mulched yard.

From left to right in the above picture:

Heuchera maxima (Alum Root)

Carpenteria californica (Bush Anemone) 

Heuchera maxima (Alum Root)

Corylus cornuta californica (Western Hazelnut)

This is the North side of our house

in the backyard where it is shady year around.

These are the plants awaiting their "forever" home mostly in the front yard.
Of course, the plant (cherry tomato) in the far right will not be transplanted.
I am so hopeful I have enough plants!
I am focused on not over planting as I have a tendency to do.

Rain has now finally arrived here in Cotati. So far we have gotten 2.38" of rain. The quote below is a really good summation of the almost week long rain event which began a couple of days ago. This event is predicted to go through the beginning of next week.

"After nearly a year without rain, a series of potent Pacific storms is directed at Northern California this week, potentially bringing as much as a foot of rainfall and up to three feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada. 

Supercharged by a classic atmospheric river pattern, the storms could lead to flash floods and dangerous debris flows in a wide swath of the region already devastated by recent wildfires. 

With each successive storm, the moisture potential increases, peaking with possibly a rare category 5 atmospheric river event on Sunday.

"An atmospheric river marked as a category 4 or a 5 is capable of producing remarkable rainfall totals over three or more days, likely to exceed 10-15% of a typical year's precipitation in some locations," said Marty Ralph, director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at UC San Diego.

Atmospheric rivers are a narrow band of concentrated moisture in the atmosphere, cruising more than two miles above the ocean; they can transport as vapor, more than 20 times the water that the Mississippi River does, as a liquid. 

By the time Monday morning arrives, the parade of storms could drop as much as 8 to 12 inches of rainfall in parts of Northern California and add another 1 to 3 feet of snow to the high Sierra. For an area plagued by drought, a foot of rain is too much, too fast and too soon and will likely lead to run off, flash floods and debris flow in burn scar areas."                                                         Pedram Javaheri, CNN

So now I have on my calendar the completion of settling the purchased native plants into their permanent homes in the ground here at PageRefuge. I use biodynamic gardening principles in which planting days are chosen to enhance certain parts of the plants. The perennials, shrubs and trees are all flowering flora, so my intention is to plant on "Flower" Northern Hemisphere transplanting days: October 26 and 27. I am hopeful with the rains softening the hardpan soil that I will be able to accomplish this task within these two days. 

This joyful, to me, activity of planting a mostly native habitat does indeed connect me with Mother Earth. And I am optimistic that all who walk by will enjoy the beauty of the natives as they flourish.

May we all 

Unlikely

The front yard sheet mulching is now all complete.

As I was finishing up the front yard sheet mulching an Xfinity truck pulled up to the utility pole at the sidewalk to the East. The driver seemed interested in what I was doing. I launched into an explanation of the benefits of sheet mulching. He shared he was going to be putting down landscape cloth and cover it with plastic. EEK! I thought to myself but explained the benefits of regenerating the soil with the sheet mulching. The process of the breakdown of cardboard and woodchips encourages microorganisms in the soil which in turns draws carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Much to my surprise a few days later the same truck drove up to our driveway. The driver stopped by to let me know he was now planning on sheet mulching. He had delivered to his home 4 cubic yards of woodchips from Wheeler Zamaroni. He said it was really expensive so I suggested he call companies that do tree care and get free woodchips as I did. He was so surprised one could do that.

Shasta laying atop the white yarrow.

I must say it is rather satisfying to see an unlikely convert to a Permaculture practice of soil regeneration and carbon sequestration.  Well, lots of people walk by and ask what I am about with the cardboard and woodchips. Unfortunately no one has let me know that they were the least bit interested in duplicating the activity. But an Xfinity employee seems the most unlikely. Once I really thought about it perhaps not so unlikely since he was already planning to remove his lawn. Obviously this man has an open mind in how to accomplish this activity which is ever so exciting to me. 

Since so many just want their previous to the pandemic lives back, this man is aware we all need to move forward differently as we become aware of more healthy practices to combat the climate catastrophe.  Mother Earth depends on each of us doing so AND all of us depend on one another to embrace change with the prevailing evidence of climate catastrophe planet wide. Already the climate catastrophe is becoming way more rapidly destructive than any of the climate scientist had previously thought.

Each of us have the ability to change and change quickly and drastically. Let each and everyone of us set about doing just that and have a frequent good 

 

Delightful

Recently I visited Ruby and James's almost three acre property and home. Unfortunately Sage was not available since James was making a lot of racket in his space.

Sage went to live here just
down the road from
MuRefuge when we
moved to Santa Fe, NM.
Here he has lots of space for his avid hunting.
However, now that he is in his
senior years mostly he lounges
in a cozy chair on which there
is a heating pad during the Winter.
He has a good life here! AND 
has had a good long life as he nears 20.

One adult (in the far back left)
with five five week old Indian Runner ducks.
So sorry this is picture is so dark but
as I approached to take the picture
their surrogate mom lead them to a safe corner.

I love going to visit here! There is a real menagerie of animals all of whom come to greet you, even the Desert Tortoise who lumbers right up to you! He's huge and quite the stunning BEing.

The dog in the middle is named Moishe.
Rosco follows him everywhere!

Rosco, an Anatolian Shepherd
from Salmon Creek Ranch, is getting big. 
It is hard to remember
he is only five months old.
He and his family are off to
puppy school this weekend.

The specific reason for this particular visit was to pick some Arkansas Black apples (pictured below) to make apple crisp.

These apples are one of my all time favorites for apple crisp. In a few weeks I will return to pick more of the delicious apples to make an abundance of crisp to store in our freezer. And I plan to take one  of these crisps with us when we take a sojourn down the peninsula to Courtney's for a visit and lunch. Since whip cream is one of Courtney's basic food groups, along with chocolate, we will have the crisp topped with whip cream m-m-m-m I can hardly wait!

So wonderful to visit and see all the animals plus have a wonderful visit with Ruby. I even got to briefly chat with James which is a first since our return to California. Of course, while thoroughly enjoying this delightful space I engaged frequently in a good