Hello Lovers of Slow Living!

The Heat

We haven’t turned on the A/C at the house yet, and it hit 100 this week.  Princess Winecup does not tolerate discomfort, but she’s discovered a benefit to the heat that outweighs her greatest intolerance:  the heat gives you an excuse to slow down. 

So in the evenings, after the heat has accumulated in every corner of the house, the three of us will gravitate towards the living room under the fan, close enough to feel the breeze but far enough to avoid body heat, and be still.   We read.  We doze off.  We talk.  And in the delirium of discomfort, we find comfort in stillness, and we realize that we have somehow become one with the heat.  And suddenly the heat’s not so bad.  Until you move.

This discovery translates very easily to work.  I’ve averaged 16 hour days since March, and got into a grove of sun-up to sun-down doing some form of work.  It’s a pleasant grove when there’s reward in the work, but committing that much energy to one single thing requires some serious trade-offs.  So it’s time to slow down.

The Epic Journey

BioGardener is wrapping up spring projects, and is shifting into auto-pilot maintenance mode for summer.  We are regularly turning away new clients, and are pushing others to wait until the fall when the weather cools and new planting becomes feasible again.  The crew is taking some paid vacation, split over a two-week period.  The little family is packing up the Frankenstream, sticking our fingers to the wind, and hitting the road.  First to Montana, then to Vermont, then to North Carolina.  That’s about 600 gallons of vegetable oil, 50 pounds of books, 4 gigs of photos, 2-3 miles of writing, 350 buckets of laughter, 30 naps, and 4.5 tons of doing nothing.  A trip to remember.

During the epic journey, I will be available on email and phone, though I won’t be as responsive as usual.  Jose, Beto, Papa, Willie, Ruben, and Jake will be holding down Fort BioGardener, doing what they do, only a little slower.  There will be a couple of weeks around Independence Day when our schedule is whack, but hopefully you’ll be too busy embracing the heat and being still to notice. 

Summer Chores in the Landscape

Sometimes it’s a chore to do nothing.  If the grass isn’t growing, don’t mow it.  If the plants go dormant, don’t panic.  If a pepper is ready to harvest, don’t not eat it.  Study the response of plants to our truly dormant season, and marvel at the beauty of stillness. 

As stewards of the urban environment, there are still some responsibilities for us though.  In extreme droughts like this, trees, shrubs, perennials, and lawns that have been planted in the last 2-3 years will need some help.   Shoot for a slow, deep watering once per week, or maybe every two weeks if you’ve soaked in too many inertion rays from the sun.  For established plants, including mature trees, once a month waterings are a good idea. 

A little fish emulsion and liquid seaweed once a month, applied during the morning hours, will help keep roots stimulated, and compost tea helps replenish the microbes.  If you haven’t given a spring haircut to Salvias, Knockout Roses, and other long-blooming perennials like Bulbines and 4-nerve Daisies, now is the time.  Taking off dead blooms will encourage another round of blooming just when you need it.

Dream a little.  Use the passive season to consider changes to make in the landscape for the fall season:  vegetable gardens; more trees; larger native beds; beefy walkways; and other improvements to make your space more usable.  Take note of the parts of your lawn that struggle the most in the heat, and figure out what tree you want to plant in those spots this fall, or during our annual winter tree sale.

Please don’t hesitate to be in touch this summer.  I’m not on vacation, and you aren’t interrupting anything.  I have a competent crew, and a solid network of irrigators, arborists, mechanics, landscapers, and pot smokers who can help with anything urgent that comes up. 

Thank you for allowing me the freedom to spend some discovery time with my family, and for the crew to enjoy a little break from their hard work.  I’m fortunate, grateful, and promise to take full advantage of realizing it.  Have a neat summer.

EpicJourney

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