October - The Get
Ready Month
One of the pieces of
folklore I remember as a kid, besides the one about the world being flat, was about spiders. The more spiders seen in the house during
the autumn months was a sure sign there was going to be a nasty winter.
Well, I have been seeing lot of spiders inside, more than I have the
fabled woolly bear caterpillars outside. But then again I don't
really pay much attention to that
groundhog either.
Although I did see a
woolly bear the other day and snapped a photo ( a spider got scared
and ran away). And I am still gunning for the ground hog who
ravished this year's garden.
In the snow belts,
winter is winter and it's going to always be cold, windy, snowy and
icy regardless of the folklore.
Accu-Weather, among
several other weather forecasters, are predicting a lot of winter
storms and heavy snows for the
Great Lakes regions. It seems La Nina
is getting stronger and the forecast is for a miserable winter. The Great Lakes are relatively warm; when the cold air from the north flows down, the
snow machines kick into high gear.
There are several
good things to do before any winter regardless of forecasts. Get the
vegetable garden in shape for the following spring. It helps to have
a head start. It is also possible to get an
early spring harvest by
planting some crops before the snow gets here.
Garlic is a natural,
but an early crop of spring potatoes can also be planted in October,
onions will do fine under the snow as will many kinds of lettuce,
Swiss Chard and Kale.
Make some plans and
build a
brush pile for wildlife. A brush pile offers both protection
and a source of food for many animals and insects. Besides, it fun to
check the pile when there is snow on the ground and check the tracks
coming and going to see what's around.
Wood ashes from wood
stoves and fireplaces are a
valuable resource for both the yard and
the garden. Just don't burn plastics and cardboard and learn about
what plants benefit for some ashes; potatoes don't care for them but
tomatoes do.
Occupy Wall Street
The movement continues
to grow and spread from city to city; it's not going to go away.
There is a lot of frustration and anger but for the most part it has
been a non-violent movement to date. Wall Street and many politicians
would do well to heed the message; the old status quo is no longer
acceptable. The mega rich may jeer with cocktails in hand but “the
times they are a changing”.
Support you local
#occupy or help out financially if possible. What is happening is the
American Spring and is as important as the Civil Rights Movement and
anti-war movement of the sixties. It's about America's future and
it's opportunities for all, and sorry, if your poor, that sure doesn't mean
a person is a failure or lazy.
What began with a few
dozen people on September 17 has now spread throughout the USA and
into Canada. Here's a list of
occupy events which have mushroomed.
My best guess is this list is updated as more events are added.
This is a good
perspective on the movement, and if your on the fence,
food for thought . Here is another
link to what is happening and it is not just
unemployed socialist hippies regardless of what some political
parties put in their Kool-Aid.
Perhaps, now is the
time for some mainstream churches to get back to the basics of
Christianity and #occupy the Gospel message.
Some Food History
The
Seneca andIroquois Nations inhabited much of western Pennsylvania and New York;
the nations were some of the earliest democracies in this
Hemisphere. They grew
many crops which we are familiar with today;
beans, corn, squash cucumbers and melons.
They also harvested
many wild food crops in the autumn months. The harvest involved everyone, young and old, rich and poor; it was for survival. Acorns, beechnuts, hickory
and butternuts were a few of the nuts gathered and saved for the long
winter.
The plentiful
oak trees provided bumper crops of acorns. The
acorns were boiled in lye
and then ground into a powder which was then used for puddings and
pounded into meat for a special meal.
Nut stones can still
be found today near older nut trees. These stones had small crevices
in which the nuts were placed and then hit with an appropriate stone,
cracking them to get the meat. Today, it is not uncommon to discover
and old nut stone.
Sunchokes , pictured above (they bloom in late September and into October) were also
gathered in the fall and the tuberous roots were baked and eaten.
Today, the
sunchokes , a member of the sunflower family, can be found
in many health food stores. It is a highly nutritious native American
food. For some odd reason, the tubers are now called
JerusalemArtichokes ; the plant has nothing at all to do with Jerusalem or
artichokes. The tall plants can still be discovered in low areas were
there is ample moisture or they can be grown in the home vegetable
garden with care; they can spread rapidly and the plants can get up
to ten feet tall.
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