There was a strange stillness. The birds, for example–where had they gone? … On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of robins, catbirds, doves, jays, wrens, and scores of other bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay over the fields and woods and marsh.

Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

Not silent yet, but nearly a whisper compared to what the dawn chorus used to be like outside my bedroom window ten years ago. The birds were so loud, so raucous, that, if James and I wanted to sleep in a little on the weekend, we’d have to get up and close the window. Now, it’s so quiet that I could easily sleep through it if I am especially tired.

It’s not one thing like Carson’s DDT silencing the birds, but an accumulation of things–pesticides of various kinds to be sure, but also, loss of habitat, other sorts of toxins like PFA “forever” chemicals, plastics, air pollution, water pollution, global warming. The birds are going silent, not in one dramatic catastrophe, but in a slow, creeping way that is easy to miss. Have you noticed?

In the Garden

More burning of prayers for rain and this time an offering of a flower from an arugula that has bolted. We got a brief shower Sunday but it wasn’t even enough to wet the top of the soil. The drought continues. Perhaps I need to be more specific, fold my prayer into a ship/ paper boat, and send it up in flames to Freyr, Norse god of weather, fertility, and bountiful harvests. Certainly can’t hurt. Desperate times and all that.

I pulled the first radishes from the garden on Thursday; only three so far, and not huge, but big enough to slice up onto sandwiches. I love sliced radish on sandwiches; they have a nice crunch and a bit of peppery kick. Yum.

Also picked the first shelling peas from the garden. These have gone into the freezer until we have enough to actually make something with them.

The sweet meat and pie pumpkin vines in the front yard are doing amazing. They are blooming like crazy. All male flowers, which had me worried. But I looked over all the vines searching for female buds and found several, much to my relief. Seems like all the male flowers are just getting the party started for when the ladies show up. The Turtle Moon winter squash in the main garden has also started flowering. And the Arachne melon vines continue to flower too. I need to give them both a look over for female flowers buds. Fingers crossed!

I’ve been giving Rhubarb water nearly everyday and it seems to be helping. There are small new leaves unfurling and not drooping. Yay! Cherry has been getting more water too and is hanging in there as is Serviceberry. Elderberry Junior did not make a comeback after my stupid mistake. On the plus side, Elder Elderberry is doing fantastic and blooming like crazy. I have decided I will take a cutting this fall/winter and see if I can root it, and if it works, then the new one really will be a Junior.

We received our first CSA box of the season. Got some lettuce, kale, scallions, rhubarb, and lots of different kinds of herbs. It will be nice to have greens other than arugula and lamb’s quarters all the time.

The wily chickens found a weak spot in the fencing between the gardens and pushed their way through it. I’m not sure how long they were scratching gleefully in the main garden before we discovered them. They gave me and James a merry time of it before we managed to catch and keep them all back in their garden. We had to keep the gate open between the gardens to herd them through it and we’d get two in and then one would run out between someone’s legs and we’d have to catch her again. I’m sure it made for some excellent comedy if any neighbors were watching.

There have been lots of people in my neighborhood whose lawns died over winter from Chafer grubs. One person’s soil was so full of grubs when they dug into it they posted an ask to our Buy Nothing group for someone to bring their chickens over for a feast. Someone did. The hens were at it for a few hours and ended up well fed and happy. A win for everyone , but I was left wondering how the person managed to round up all the chickens when it was time to leave? Mine are like unruly toddlers and if they don’t want to do something, they will do everything they can to avoid being picked up or herded. How does one raise chickens that behave otherwise?

Anyway, it seems my sneaky chickens focused their time on the potato patch that is layered in leaf mulch. Oh how they love leaf mulch! In the process they broke several potato stems. Hopefully it won’t have much effect on the tubers.

DIY project incoming! James and I have been saving our pennies and have contracted to buy new windows for the main floor of the house. This is a major expense, but in the long run will save us money on heating and cooling. We had an energy audit done on the house a few years ago and all the windows leaked. Since they are all old single-paned windows, including outside storm windows, and not tinted or tempered in any way, we are going to save all of them–we were told they take them all to the landfill, they don’t even recycle them. How ridiculous is that?

Well, we are going to recycle them by turning them into a small greenhouse! I’ve always wanted a greenhouse but never thought I’d get the chance. I’ve been looking at pictures on the internet for ideas. I don’t know what ours will look like yet, it’s certainly not going to be big and elaborate, and it will be unheated. More a place to start seeds and such than a year-round glass-enclosed jungle. But still, a greenhouse! Whoop!

The windows won’t be installed on the house until sometime in August, we’ve not gotten a date yet. So it’s not likely we will manage to get ourselves together to build it this fall. Or maybe we will? It depends on how much design planning, supply and tool assembly, and time we have before it gets too cold. Of course I will make updates!

Reading

• Article: Let’s Accept Climate Science–And Also Reimagine Our Relationship to the Earth. “Americans in the 1980s experienced natural disasters on average every 82 days, but today it’s an average of every 18 days.” Just think about that for a second. Climate change is not something that is happening somewhere else in the future. It’s happening here and now. The article insists, “The human experience isn’t just scientific; it is spiritual, artistic, literary, musical and social, so why limit our discourse on this environmental crisis to just science? By integrating different perspectives and approaches to how we understand climate change, we open up the opportunity to see the problem differently and hopefully consider other solutions.”
• Essay: Forgiveness by Wayne Dyer. A really lovely essay on the meaning of forgiveness.
• Essay: Ognosia by Olga Tokarczuk, author of The Books of Jacob. “The feeling of finitude makes everything banal, since only what does not yield to our understanding can awaken our enthusiasm and retain the wonderful status of mystery.” It’s a lengthy essay, but so very good and worth the read.

Listening

Nothing of particular note

Watching

Nothing new here either at the moment

Quote

You carry Mother Earth within you. She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment. In that insight of inter-being, it is possible to have real communication with the Earth, which is the highest form of prayer.

Thich Nhat Hanh