There are two kinds of tofu, silken, which comes in a shelf-stable package and doesn’t need to be refrigerated, and water-packed tofu that comes in a plastic dish with a peel off plastic top. Each kind of tofu has its different uses. For making sandwiches and crumbles and stir fries—main meal sorts of dishes—we use the water-packed tofu. I hate that it is encased in plastic but there is no other way to buy it. We could make it ourselves but James already bakes all of our bread, makes our non-dairy milk and seitan, and many other things from scratch that adding a block or two of labor-intensive tofu each week when he also has a full-time job and other things to do besides be in the kitchen all day, is too much.

Luckily, the plastic tofu dish is great for things like starting seeds in spring, holding items like nails and screws, and it makes a great water dish for critters. We keep one filled with water on the deck. When we began doing this a few years ago it was mainly squirrels who stopped for a drink. Now we get all sorts of birds too.

They land in the adjacent witch hazel first to make sure the coast is clear. The more cautious ones will then hop over to the deck rail before jumping down to the water dish on the deck. But mainly, they will flit between the deck rails to the water dish. We get cardinals, goldfinches, chickadees, house wrens, red finches, sparrows, and once, a blue jay.

The other day I looked out the window onto the deck to see a sparrow in the water dish taking a vigorous bath. I have often come home at the end of the day to find the dish empty and scold James for not filling it in the morning on his way out to open the chicken coop door. He protests that he fills it all the time. Then why is it always empty? Watching the sparrow flapping their wings in the dish and flinging water everywhere, I now know why the dish is empty. It is a perfect size for a sparrow bath. And this sparrow was clearly having a grand time splashing around.

The deck surrounding the dish was soaked from the sparrow’s bath. Hopping around through the little puddles was another sparrow who was attempting to bathe in them. The little bird would sit in a damp spot and flap their wings, trying to get some water to splash up. At one point it even looked like they tried to roll on the damp wood. While not as happy as the sparrow in the dish, this one still seemed like they were having a grand time, especially when the dish bather’s splashes showered directly upon them.

Bath time lasted until there was almost no water left in the dish. Then both sparrows flitted away. I refilled the dish and I’ve been smiling ever since whenever I recall the joyful bathing of the sparrows.

We have come to late summer and the season is starting to turn. The days are shorter, some of the maples are starting to blush, and even though we still have some hot days ahead—the forecast is for 90F/32C on the weekend—it’s time to begin putting things by for the winter. The squirrels are extremely busy running through the garden with morsels in their mouths, looking for the ideal place to bury them.

I was out hanging a sheet to dry and paused to watch a squirrel who had something green the size of a large marble in their mouth. They walked around the bed that was the potato patch and is now dug up, found a satisfactory spot, and began to dig. They dug a nice hole, put the green thing in it—an unripe apple maybe?—and then, carefully pushed the dirt over the hole and covered it up. Then, to my utter surprise and delight, I watched as the squirrel actually patted down the dirt and smoothed it over. I fully expected them to then stand up and brush their hands together to clean the dirt from them while surveying their work to make sure their hiding place would not stand out to other squirrels. This did not happen, but they did look around before scampering off.

As cute as the squirrel was, I am angry with the squirrel population in general. We protected the grapevine from birds but the stinker squirrels crawled up underneath the covering and ate all the grapes! I didn’t know this was happening until I saw one running away with a grape in their mouth. I peeped under the covering and gone! All gone! I searched around and found two half bunches. Prior to this I had picked one full perfect bunch. So we did get to enjoy a few grapes, but darn those squirrels!

Currently it is elderberry time. The bunches are quick to pick but take forever to remove the little berries. The berries are easy to get off the stems, you just move your hand down a stem and gently pull, but don’t go too fast or the berries will pop off and bounce onto the floor and then you’re chasing tiny purple berries and inevitably miss one and find it when you step on it and then curse because now there is a purple berry stain on the wood floor that must immediately be addressed unless you don’t mind a purple-spotted floor. There are so many stems and little berries that after an hour, the bucket is still half full and there are even more out on the tree to pick. But I love elderberries so I don’t mind all the work.

The seeds I sowed a week and a half ago for fall harvest are sprouting fast. Within a couple days I had two lines of radish sprouts. A day later, there were cabbage sprouts. And now a few peas have sprouted, the beets have poked up their heads, and even the carrots are starting to come up. Without Little Bun in the garden I have high hopes, just like that little old ant, especially since we’ve actually been getting some rain. We are still in drought, but, fingers crossed, the rain is coming back to us in a more regular pattern. I’m grateful for it, not only because it waters my currently growing veggies, but also because it waters the trees and shrubs who are all beginning to think of going to sleep and it’s always best to go into winter sleep fully fed and hydrated.

The summer has flown by. I’m not ready for it to be over yet, and it isn’t, but there is a definite feeling of winding down, which, ironically, means more work than less at this point. I don’t bury my winter stash in holes like the squirrel in the potato bed, but there’s freezing and canning and fermenting to be done while still keeping the later season plants going. At the end of this busy time I will be so tired that the stillness of winter will be a welcome respite.

Reading

• Book: The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt. It had its moment, but overall it was so-so.
• Article: Why does your hair curl in the summer? As a curly girl, my hair curls all the time, but on humid days it is extra springy. The article explains why and also explains why people who don’t have curly hair may find some curls—or frizz—in summer.
• Article: Desperate Odds? There are those who say civilization, particularly industrial civilization and global neo-liberal capitalism, has made life for humans so much easier, better, healthier. Of course those people are at the top of the capital hierarchy and want us all to believe that life before our current system was a constant and horrific struggle for survival. But this is not true. Tom Murphy does the math.
• Article: Montana Kids Just Won Their Landmark Climate Lawsuit. Here’s Why. Kids for the win! This made my heart sing and gave me hope. Good for the kids involved in this and their parents and supporters too. Hopefully it is only the beginning.

Listening

• Podcast: Crazy Town: How to Fast-Track Collapse: Manipulating the Masses While Massaging Megalomaniacs. All about Steve Bannon and why he wants civilization to collapse, and the world he wants to see emerge when it does.
• Podcast: Imaginary Worlds: Extreme Makeover: Fairy Godmother Edition. In which I learned Fairy Godmothers were invented by the French and were originally intended to be female mentors to help young women get a leg up in society.

Watching

• Series: Good Omens. David Tennant is so very good at snark and sass.

Quote

Nature is the great teacher and always has been. Shakyamuni went to the jungle to find its teachings, Moses up the mountain, Jesus to the desert, and Muhammad to the caves. Sadly, we forget this, so it is important to have a practice that reminds us again. 

Clark Strand, “A Green Meditation Retreat”

I go to the garden. Where do you go?

James’s Kitchen Wizardry

Pizza-dilla, or as the recipe calls it, sheet pan pepperoni pizza quesadilla. Yes, it’s vegan.