Dear garden friends,
Last week during the warm spell I was up at the garden every day watering beds
in hopes that a late cover crop of winter rye and crimson clover would
germinate. Around mid-afternoon I was taking a break, sitting in the sun on the
deck reading the new Pevear/Volokhonsky translation of "War and Peace" and
wondering if Natasha would accept Denisov's marriage proposal, when I heard some
strange garbling noises coming from the woods. It was a sound I knew but
couldn't place until I walked down the hill toward the creek. The garbling
continued and then I saw a flash of brown across the far bank.
Turkeys. Wild Turkeys.
They were perhaps 200 yards away and were partially hidden by trees. In order to
get a closer look I decided I would stalk them in the dry creekbed. This allowed
me to move steadily toward them without being seen, my body below ground and
only my eyes above. When I got within 50 yards the creekbed was too shallow to
hide me any longer. I stood up. There in front of me were 10-12 turkeys, mostly
hens with maybe a few toms, it was hard to tell for all the trees. Their bronze
backs glinted in the light. They were obviously enjoying themselves in the
mid-afternoon sun, scraping and pecking and speaking to each other in little
contented chirps. When they saw me the whole bunch (gaggle? flock?) took flight,
and left me to return to my reading and watering.
I can report that the rye and clover did germinate and Denisov was spurned
by Natasha (she was only 16 and too flighty and skiddish, like the turkeys). As
for the turkeys, well, with all the guns blazing in northern Orange county I
suspect a few of them have turned up on somebody's dinner plate. But the thought
of those turkeys gleaning the woods behind the garden will stay with me for a
long time.
The big end-of-the-year news is that Anathoth Community Garden, along with
Covenant Community Garden at Fugua-Varina UMC and Seagrove UMC's community
garden, have received a joint $10,000 grant from Heifer Project. The grant is to
support our newly-minted collective of church-sponsored community gardens called
PING--Piedmont Interfaith Network of Gardens. Our goal with this grant is to:
Part of our plan is to host 6 workshops next spring and summer, once a month.
Each workshop will feature a different theme such as how to start community
gardens, how to build a compost pile, etc. The workshops will be free. If you
have further questions about these, or want to get put on a mailing list,
contact Claire Hermann at
claire@rafiusa.org
Harvest note: garden members are welcome to continue harvesting anything in the
field until it's gone. We still have several hundred head lettuces, lots of
tatsoi and pac choi, and of course everything in the greenhouse. call Fred with
any questions. 919-357-8107
Advent peace,
Fred