Baseball: my other life. Part II

October 8  
"Exile has helped me.  When, at some point in our lives, we meet a real tragedy - which could happen to any one of us - we can react in two ways.  Obviously, we can lose hope, let ourselves slip into discouragement, into alcohol , drug, and unending sadness.  Or else we can wake ourselves up, discover in ourselves an energy that was hidden there, and act with more clarity, more force."
From The Path to Tranquility: Daily Wisdom by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.  Complied and editedby Renuka Singh.

Tranquility by Dwight

Watching October baseball (and rooting for the Texas Rangers because they won the American League West, I like Ron Washington and his commitment to "playing the game right way", and Josh Hamilton, hopefully the American League MVP), I am drawn to share with you the latter's book, Beyond Baseball: Finding the Strength to Come Back with Tim Keown.


Several months ago I was walking through our local bookstore on my way to Main Street. 
I was drawn to a table with baseball books and my focus fell on Josh Hamilton's picture on the book noted above.  During baseball season I usually do not read baseball books, saving them for enjoyment during the "off" season.   Nolan Ryan says on the back cover, "Josh is one of the most talented baseball players I've ever seen, but his life experiences transcend baseball.  His ability to be one of the best players in the game after all he's been though is amazing and inspiring for everyone who knows his story."  I was hooked! making this book the exception.  Upon arriving home, I put Josh's book on "hold' at our local library system.  About a month later it arrived for my pickup and immediate consumption.


I am a sucker for happy endings.  And I know this book had a happy ending because I saw him in the 2009 Home Run Derby in fine form.  I found the book riveting, enlightening and tragic all at once.

Flowering Clarkia with Balls

Josh tells of meeting Clay Council, who was his pitcher in the 2009 Home Run Derby, at the age of 13.  Clay was 60ish and worked at the Raleigh-Durham airport spending "much of his free time helping kids.  He loved baseball more than anything in the world. . . I never felt as happy as I did when I was on the ball field and he looked like he felt the same way. . . .  After I got drafted, I saw Clay on the the field during a Legion game and I told him right there.  If I ever get asked to be in the Home Run Derby, I'm going to ask you to throw to me."  The first call Josh made after the call he received asking him if he wanted to participate in the 2009 Home Run Derby in Yankee Stadium was to Clay Council.  Watching the first round of the Derby was so exciting:  Clay threw, Josh hit home runs!


In this book Josh shares his visions, literally, of Light/good (God in his words) and Dark/evil (devil in Josh's paradigm), and his descent into darkness where consumption first of cocaine then crack became his addiction. His family saddened and despaired.  
With his maternal grandmother as a rudder, the Bible and God as a beacon, Josh manage to turn his back on drugs and once again embrace baseball, honoring God constantly.  
How this young man has touched the lives of many is joyous, as well as how he was befriended by his Texas Rangers team mates especially Hank Blalock, Ian Kinsler, Michael Young.  And for those of you who remember watching the 2009 Home Run Derby, Milton Bradley coming out during Josh's monstrous home run hitting to wipe his brow.  Josh relates that he had not had friends until he became a part of the this professional baseball team.

Joy with Dwight

So I am enjoying all the postseason baseball, especially Josh Hamilton, who amazed all the baseball pundits with his ability to play after his recent stint on the DL.  When we are whole/in tune with All, The Divine, God, our natural abilities seem to be honed in way that as singular individual humans we cannot even imagine.  As the Dalai Lama says,  " we can wake ourselves up, discover in ourselves an energy that was hidden there, and act with more clarity, more force."  To me, Josh Hamilton is a living, breathing human exemplar of this process.

Rose in her Hug-A-Dog Harness
http://www.doxidelight.com//hugadog.htm


KEEP LAUGHING

Carpenter Bees and Pink Pearl Apples

A few days ago during our Fifth Season heat wave I hung a load of clothes out on the clothesline in the late afternoon to dry overnight.  The following day I gathered the dried clothes off the line.  Once inside beginning to fold up the clothes,  I heard a buzzing sound coming from inside a pair of jeans just removed from the clothesline.  Then I noticed four very large what looked like bumble bees flying around with buzzing continuing from the pair of jeans.  After about fifteen minutes of removing the flying insects outside and shaking the buzzing from the pair of jeans, I moved to the Bugs of Northern California by John Acorn, illustrations by Ian Sheldon in search of identifying these insects. On page 87 I found a picture of what I had just seen in bedroom . . . Carpenter Bees often misidentified as "big, black Bumble Bees."  This reference goes onto to explain these insects burrow into wood to make their nests,  but a pair of blue jeans?????


I thought Carpenter Bees were small.  I am so happy to have come face to face, so to speak, with real live Carpenter Bees!

Rose

Several weeks ago I drove with Rose to Pt. Reyes Station to pick Pink Pearls from my baseball buddy and dear friend's large apple tree.  Here at MuRefuge the two 10 year old Pink Pearl Apple trees' roots were eaten by gophers leaving nothing but listing stakes. The newly planted replacement trees are not yet producing enough apples to make a Winter's supply of applesauce.  A lovely excuse to visit Rose's Auntie T's magical place.  


Pearly colored skin and luscious marbled dark pink flesh identify this just right apple for pink applesauce.

No other word but abundance can describe what we picked and brought back to MuRefuge for our enjoyment.

The following day all these extraordinarily beautiful apples, my very favorite apple, this Pink Pearl, were made into applesauce. 

These quart jars were added to the pantry for Winter use.

Pink Pearl Applecake

• 3 C. organic sprouted flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1 T. organic ground cinnamon
• 4 organic duck eggs                                                              
• 1 C. organic maple sugar
• 1 C. organic ghee
• 2/3 quart Pink Pearl Applesauce
• 1/2 C. water or organic Kefir milk
• 1 C. organic chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease with organic ghee a 9" by 13" cake pan, set aside.  In large mixing bowl add all dry ingredients and wisk.  In quart glass measuring cup add ghee and sugar, beating well with hand mixer until the sugar has dissolved, then add eggs, one at a time until well beaten.  Make well in the dry ingredients into which pour the egg mixture and applesauce, nuts too if you have chosen to include them in your cake.  Mix well and pour into greased cake pan.  Spinkle with  cinnamon and maple sugar (1:4 ratio) and set in oven to bake for 35" to 45" when a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes clean.  I often serve this for breakfast with the remainder of the quart of Pink Pearl Applesauce warmed and pour over each individual piece.  This will provide 10 generous servings.

Please add your comments below on your experiences with beneficial insects, food preservation or heirloom apple cultivation.  Your experiences with gophers would be an addition, as well.

KEEP LAUGHING

"Fifth Season" when native plants rest Talk with Rainy Tour

This past Sunday a few inquisitive, hardy souls joined me at MuRefuge for a talk sharing thoughts about BE-ing Rooted here in the Mediterranean Biome (see previous post for information about this region).  We gathered inside for talk then ventured outside to the garden and rain.  Here are some pictures Harmony
Susalla.  Through www.harmonyart.com  you can read about Harmony's adventure into the fabric design world and see pictures of her lovely organic fabric.

Dwight's sculpture amidst rhubarb

Raindrops on the showy native clematis by MuRefuge's front entryway

Vegetable beds in transition from old recycled redwood to cinder blocks which will  hopefully deter gophers

Perennial sunflowers in bloom

New Evening Primrose plant

View of MuRefuge looking West from South patio

Estivation or Summer Dormancy, aka the Fifth Season

Muhlenbergia rigens (Deergrass) glowing in the sun, September 13, 2010
In Judith Larner Lowry's The Landscaping Ideas of Jays she discusses the "fifth season"
or "quiet time".  She suggests this time "can be a time of planning strategy for fall.

Those of us who are fortunate to live in Sonoma County are inhabiting part of what is referred to as the Mediterranean Biome which is composed, as many of you are aware, of California/Baja California, Chile, the Mediterranean Basin, Australia and South Africa.  This unique portion of Earth's land mass composes only 2.2%, yet contains 20% of the world's vascular plants.      http://www.mediterraneanaction.net/ma_v2/home.jsp 
provided this information and more about our place to which many of us have been transplanted.  

This estivating or Summer dormant Ribes speciosum
(Fushsia-flowerrd gooseberry) looks like a brown dead bramble.

Often, driving about or even BE-ing Rooted in place, we see an agricultural region since many before us as well as many of us presently have brought/bring plants and their childhood experiences of plants with us from other places.  These experiences bring us comfort . . . having a green lawn or a blooming, fragrant cottage garden midSummer.  Or we visit someplace and fall in love, so to speak, with a plant that flourishes there.  Oh, I have had that experience myself, most recently in the early 1990's.  At the time I was spending a week or so every month in Santa Barbara, "learning to laugh at what's not funny in my life" with Dr. Annette Goodheart as my laughing coach.  You can check out http://www.laughtercoach.com/home.html for more information if you so wish, although she is no longer in Santa Barbara, but an expatriate in Mexico.


Back to plants.  I fell in love with the trumpet vines growing it seemed every where in the city with Spanish architecture.  Over the course of a few months, I bought from nurseries there these trumpet vines in every color available and proceeded to plant them here at MuRefuge.  Now for you savvy individuals, you're saying, "West Sonoma County's climate is nothing like Santa Barbara's."
True!  AND only one of these vines survived, struggling to do so, dying back with each cold, rainy season.  This plant no longer lives here.  I found it a new home, yet even in a warmer Sonoma County location, it did not thrive.

Single blossom Tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa)

A few of my memory plants, I'll call them because when I look at them, and smell their fragrance, I am transported to another time and place, and usually to a cherished person in my life.  Like this single blossom tuberose which came from my Grandmother Howard's place in Southwestern Iowa.  She was such a "good" person, someone whose qualities I would like to incorporate more of into my BE-ing

Bear Claw Acacia with tiny
green leaves & flowers

And the Bear Claw Acacia, grown from seeds gathered in the Sonoran Desert, that has toughed out many uprooting, replanting, uprooting, replanting.  Each Summer when it gets hot enough it presents me with fuzzy little blooms that transport me back to my hikes in both the Catalina Mountains and the Chiricahua Mountains.  Unfortunately my maternal Grandma Haynes's jade plant did not fare as well as the previous two plants.  This glorious 3' tall and wide plant succumbed to death after being buried in 3 feet of snow during an unusual Winter storm while I lived in San Antonio, Texas.


As you have read in earlier blog entries here, I have lived in many places diverse from one another.  I recall a memory from living in Tucson, an area a half a mile high in the Sonoran Desert, that in the 1950's and even into the the 1970's, was known as a healthy place to live for those experiencing lung difficulties.  Earlier in the 20th century the area boosted some of the best TB sanitariums in the country.  Many people, most Midwesterners, with respiratory problems moved to the Tucson area for relief of symptoms, alas, bringing with them plants they loved.  Can you hear the next words?  Yup!  Bermuda grass flourished, releasing pollens into the previously pristine air.  By the 1980's, when I lived there, the city government banned Bermuda grass and other such plants that produce repirataory allergens.

Grindelia stricta or Salt Marsh Gumplant with bud and open flower

So perhaps you, like me, could entertain shifting your/my perspective about "place" i.e. Sonoma County which is a part of this "most inhabitable place we love to live," 2.2% of the Earth's land. We can make a difference by considering the natural cycle. BE-ing Rooted: a practice of essential living embodies examining our "baggage", plant attachments included. Planting plants native to here, wherever "here" is for each of us, not only is about the enjoyment of the plant(s) but of the entire ecological system of which the plant is only one part. Wingeds, 4 leggeds, mammals, insects, birds, beneficial and predatory, all evolve with their food source. As we introduce plants from outside our home region, not only does the plant itself struggle but all the other inhabitants as well.

Scrophularia californica (Bee Plant, Figwort) with raindrops

We are fortunate to have great resources for gathering local plants onto our place.  For me, living just North of the Petaluma Wind Gap, Mostly Natives Nursery   http://www.mostlynatives.com/   in Tomales most closely matches the microclimate here at MuRefuge.  For those of you who live in the hotter spots of Sonoma County there's California Flora Nursery in Fulton.  http://www.calfloranursery.com/  


And if you are so inclined to start your natives from seed, you can check out Larner Seeds  http://www.larnerseeds.com/  in Bolinas.  The owner, Judith Larner Lowry, also has her own blog.   http://judithlarnerlowry.blogspot.com/

The second Saturday of each October Milo Baker, the local chapter of the California Native Plant Society, has its annual native plant sale at the Veteran's Building in Santa Rosa across from the the Fair Grounds.  A suggestion, arrive early if you want to choose from a vast array which quickly dwindles!


For those of you who live further South, one of the largest and oldest native plant nurseries in California is located in the hills above Woodside.  
  http://www.yerbabuenanursery.com/
Perhaps you have already visited this nursery, founded in 1955 by Gerda Isenberg? 

Volunteer sunflower on our septic mound . . . see the pollinator?

This time of the year my garden looks dead, as a number of people who have visited share.  I use to catch my breath, feel the fear and rush out with the garden hose to water.  Now, even thought the catch of the breath and wave of fear enters my awareness, I take a deep breath and remember that I live in the unique and small amount of land mass know as Mediterraean Biome where the plants rest, go dormant this time of the year.  I further remind myself that the plants do not need me "to rescue thirsty, dying plants".  The plants are simply resting as each of us are meant to do with the sympathetic nervous system (activity) cycling with the parasympathetic nervous system (rest).


I was reminded of the effect of my watering hose on plants of the ecologic niche here, when I recently visited Mostly Natives Nursery reading a sign on a Bay Area native plant which stated that water will provide many blooms in the summer but shortens the life of the plant from many years to 2 or 3 years.


I encourage each of you to share, in the comment section below, your experience with natives and your attention to the whole of garden ecology.
And anyone interested in viewing a huge project reflecting this process, visit the "upper reach of the Laguna de Santa Rosa that runs through Cotati and a small section of Rohnert Park" being restored by Cotati Creek Critters with the help of many volunteers over the past 12 years.  You can contact Jenny Blaker or Wade Belew through http://www.cotaticreekcritters.info/ .

Cathie & Rose soaking in the healing of MuRefuge
This picture obviously was not taken during the Fifith Season
since the Clarkia and Red Fescue are in spectacular bloom.
Resting seems like a valuable practice no matter
the season.

Joy

In the flower realm Calendula officinalis signifies "joy" according to Flora's Dictionary by Kathleen Gips. This joyful, sunny flower, aka Pot Marigold and not to be confused with Tagetes, has long been a favorite of herbalists. Penelope Ody In The Complete Medicinal Herbal gives a lovely brief overview of this versatile medicinal herb. The petals can be dried for Winter use. Fresh petals are edible. Gathering upon arising the Calendula blossom then pulling the petals from the center of the flower or disk, makes a wonderful addition to morning muffins for a joyful beginning to your day.

Here's the recipe I use:

1 1/2 C. organic sprouted flour - I like Kamut

1/2 C. organic maple syrup

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. soda

1/4 tsp. sea salt

2 organic duck eggs, of course you can use chicken eggs if duck eggs are not available to you!

2/3 C. organic low fat kefir milk

1/2 C. organic ghee

1/2 C. Calendula petals

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In another bowl, I like to use my glass quart measuring cup, beat all of the wet ingredients together. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ones mixing together well. Then fold in the Calendula petals being sure they are equally distributed. I have an old cast iron muffin pan which is well seasoned with organic ghee. Into this I spoon the batter, sprinkle with organic maple sugar and fresh Calendula petals then bake at 400 degrees for about 18 or 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. The muffins release from the pan if they cool a few minutes first.

Serve warm for breakfast joy. OR take to the ball park for afternoon enjoyment. And they are also joyfully delicious with an afternoon herbal infusion of Lemon verbena, Lemon Gem marigold blossoms, Lemon thyme, Lemon basil and Lemon balm.

My Calendula plants are in what I call my confetti flower bed. I harvest Borage, Edible Chrysanthemum, Pineapple Sage and Calendula petals tossing them together then sprinkling the glorious colored confetti on a fresh, organic baby lettuce salad.

What's your favorite uses of edible flowers?

What We Can Learn about Ourselves from Observing Our Transplants

Having lived in many different places without BE-ing rooted I have come to realize that incessant moving about prevents BE-ing rooted and requires a rather unconscious state of mind. I remember when I was an Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona's College of Nursing teaching about Selye's model of stress and the consequences of major life changes on one's health, I was very cavalier about my good health not being affected by my many moves and unfortunate work experiences. I rather saw myself in a constant state like these vibrant and healthy starts in my greenhouse in spite of my workaholic nature. I was a vegetarian, ran 40 miles a week, swam a couple of times a week, hiked in nature to enjoy the beauty and peacefulness of the desert and mountains. Sasha and Tatiana (Siberian Huskies) were my wonderful companions in many of these activities.

More transplanting of myself ensued to locations less and less hospitable. With each move I found myself dipping into the well of pioneer woman to continue working. Finally I arrived in Sonoma County with the well close to dry and me wilted just like these transplants in my greenhouse. A change, big change, was in order. Maybe making choices more consciously? Considering the consequences of my choices?

Finding a home, like these seedling trays that essentially eliminate transplant shock, where I could be comfortable seemed like an appropriate place to start. Done. And both Sasha and Tatiana seemed really happy living in the country, with a morning run on country roads and an occasional chasing of skunks or a feral cat. The expansive views seemed to feed me.

Then my long dead grandmother visited saying, "Do the hard work while you can or you'll have to do it on your death bed." Well, that was a wake up call!

How to be conscious? Becoming aware of habits learned seemed like the next step. An introduction to the Enneagram (a map for the emotional, psychological, spiritual AND for how to tell the difference between unconscious/learned habits and conscious BE-ing) was a blessing. I discovered my point of view and perception of the world as well as others' points of view and ways of perceiving. Ah ha, "everyone doesn't think like I do," so maybe, just maybe I can be more open.

This process of being more open, opens doors heretofore closed. For me this "allowing" brings to me consciousness, seeing what previously was hidden. One of these wonderful gifts came in the form of a nearby organization, the Flower Essence Society located in Nevada City, CA.

http://www.fesflowers.com/

Their Five-Flower Formula, aka Bach Flower Remedy Rescue, is a combination flower essence from five flowers: Cherry Plum, Clematis, Impatiens, Rock Rose and Star of Bethlehem. This wonderful elixir provides the opportunity for "calmness and stability in any emergency or time of high stress" for any sentient BE-ing.

To mitigate transplant shock, I find this remedy works well diluted 4 drops/1 ounce of spring water, shaking then add 8 drops of brandy, again shaking, Using this preparation in a spray bottle is a lovely way to support these tiny starts adjusting to their new home, the seedling trays.

So I have learned that transplantation, whether of ourselves or plants, produces evidence of shock IF we observe. BE-ing conscious in the uprooting and rerooting, we each can minimize the degree of the shock and the consequential reverberations. My plants provide me wisdom. I only have to observe and BE conscious.

Please share your experiences in the comment section.

Baseball: my other life

My baseball buddy & I have an opportuntiy to enjoy a season ticket holder party at the Oakland Coliseum. For the afternoon, midweek games we have season tickets, loving to have a day at the ballpart. We think it would be fun to meet the players. If it is not a terrible inconvenience for those of you who have already signed up for the Sunday, September 12 talk/tour here at MuRefuge, I'd like to change the date to the following Sunday, September 19.

The socks featured are from the Sock Lady

http://www.socklady.com

Peaches & new babies

Yesterday I was standing at the kitchen sink peeling Frost peaches to can. Rose began to make her hysterical noises so I looked up, out onto the field to the South of us. There was Mom Deer with a wee one. Mom came down right in Rose's face with only the wire fence between. She'd stomp her foot, Rose would back up speedily. This repeated until we brought Rose in. Mom crossed the field to the eucalyptus trees with baby bouncing after.

This morning during my early morning sitting practice, Rose began the hysterical barking again. Just Mom this time. But towards the end of my qi gong practice, Mom traversed the field with not one baby but TWO.

We have seen mom & babies in the Spring. Rose & Mom:

In addition to canning yesterday, I made Dwight a Peach Upsidedown Cake. Here's the recipe which I have modified from the 1974 Roberts Cookbook:

UPSIDEDOWN

3 medium fresh organic peaches

1/8 C. organic butter or ghee

6 T. organic maple sugar

1 T. fresh organic lemon juice

Pare & slice the peaches then pour the lemon juice over the peaches.

Melt butter or ghee in a 9x9x2 inch glass baking pan set into 350 degree oven. Once the butter is melted remove pan from oven and mix in sugar & salt, spreading evenly in pan. Place peach slices with lemon juice on top, set aside.

CAKE aka Cottage Pudding

1/4 C. organic butter or ghee

3/4 C. organic maple sugar

1 duck egg

1 tsp. organic vanilla extract

1 1/2 C. organic sprouted spelt flour

2 1/2 tsp. nonaluminum baking powder

1/2 tsp. unrefined sea salt

2/3 C. Nancy's low fat, organic kefir milk

Cream butter/ghee well then gradually add sugar beating until fluffy. Add egg beating well then vanilla beating well. Alternatively add dry ingredients

which have been well mix in another bowl with kefir milk beating well and

scraping the sides between each addition.

For fresh organic duck eggs

www.salmoncreekranch.com

And for more information about Essential Eating & sprouted flour

www.essentialeating.com