Processing the Harvest

When do you catch up on sleep Colne? I'm an 7 -8 hour gal and like to be ZZZZZZ'ing by midnight at the latest. Though I can get a feel from your post for the difference you night people experience by being awake when most others, like me, are deep in the land of nod,
Jenny

 

I only sleep about 5 hours a night, tonight should be 3a.m. to 8. I would love to sleep more but never can go to bed, always too much to do or read to distract me. Right now it is 2:15 a.m. and the dogs and I walked a bit around here - checking out the storm aftermath; rain from 8p.m. to midnight, over 2 inches (5+cm). Strong winds were whipping it, coming from SSE and when the front passed through are now Western. Our fronts move from SW to NE in a long band coming off the Gulf going to the central and eastern States. (weather is pretty set in how it behaves. The jet stream in USA crosses from California to the East and sometimes will drag down Arctic air for winter blasts - and in the warm months pulls warm Gulf air up across us in a long South to North band giving the continent rain - we are the route the water goes North on. Winds blow towards the fronts which is counter intuitive so we mostly have SE as the fronts cross from the Pacific to the Atlantic - once past us they do not affect us, just coming.

Anyway - so much to say about weather, I think only seamen and farmers now days care about weather and lunar, and tidal conditions. But I will spare you all what I almost went off on - weather and the Mississippi Sound tidal/storm flooding.

And then we went off to the harbor for a quick jaunt. The whitecaps gone now the wind comes down the beach instead of straight onshore, the temp dropped to 66F, 19C - OK without a jacket, but cool - the second coldest night this autumn. No one was there, the 6 to 15 people camped out on the boat launch with their coolers, buckets, chairs, and nets - gone for the first time in 6 weeks. No night fishermen - not one. The inevitable night heron was around, watching from the semi-shadow - a funny looking bird who is always peering out at you from somewhere it thinks inconspicuous - knowing fishermen may leave fish sometimes. They have a humorous exaggerated sneaking kind of walk and big, goggling, eyes, not a grand bird like The Great Blue which are all over, but sort of goofy and endearing. I threw my net for fun and left that one two nice shrimp - although I know one should not.


The 4 dogs always up for a road trip, it was beautiful tonight. Then a walk to see the garden and check out the stupid opossum that spends his nights in with the chickens. He does not bother them, just eating from their hanging food trough, lounging about on the inside roof of the nest boxes. I leave him alone - it squeezes in through a tiny gap in the celling wire - it is a unbelievable trick, that opossum going through that wire - and I have watched him do it. The dogs jump at it and squeal but it moves to a safe 7 foot off the ground.

And Jenny - night is my home in some ways - I have spent thousands of hours in the forests at night, and on the water, in deserts and jungle and tundra. I feel this welcoming comfort in the outside in the night, I almost never use a light, being familiar there - like a nonsighted person can do without full vision, I can walk about in the woods with the light from a half moon.

The site has stopped again - but one day I will try to explain how there are layers of different worlds in the same place and most of us only see the one - but I see many. Not supernatural or fifth dimension silly ness - but , it is hard to write when one cannot see the words because the site has slowed - but like how a wild cat sees the other cats. A dancer or drug addict or homeless person or Mormon sees their kind and the clues of their world, wile we never notice. I have been homeless - I see the weird night people, the toughs, the oddballs - and I see the weather, the birds, the seasons and plants - all those are worlds I have been fluent in, been one of them (not the dancer, Mormon....) And one of the main ones I know and feel such a welcome back to is the night. Everything is changed, it is Wizard of Oz like - all is black and white with colour gone; sounds are so important, and the whole feeling, the gestalt, is different. One sees from one's peripheral vision, everything is not so cut and dried, so mundane and cluttered with mans things. Star's, wind, trees, water are wild again and not so tamed. All folk tales deal with this mystery of the forest at night, it is another place. (I finished in edit, no slow in edit)

 

Thank you Colne,
that was a nice post to read,
Jenny

 

Life is odd Jenny. I have seen so much that I cannot just walk about saying 'if I can hit it with a hammer I will believe in it' yet am definitely against any kind of spiritualism and silly beliefs. Yet life is not merely the chemical and physical process state secularism represents it as being.

Going through life addressing the physical and social needs does not really teach us much other than practical, and this is of necessity how most lives are led - but there are mysteries. In say Sufism the secrets are only given to those who are ready - who have studied under a master, meditated, read, and given real energy to make him ready for the next level. Or say - like the Masons, with their Grades and Degrees, each level with the additional secrets and signs. By going into the world very seriously, to watch and learn, and studying and talking to others, you see there is layers of reality of which we can only see a very few.

Experience of War, having children, building something big, sacrificing greatly, receiving needed charity, being on a jury, Going to university, being in a fight, facing death, living in wild places, living in a huge city, having real compassion directed at us or at strangers, an endless amount of possible experiences are part of life - and each one lets us see a little more of reality. One others would not necessarily see.

Bats and whales - and even a couple kinds of birds, see by sound - imagine how different their whole world is from ours by that single thing. To see light out of our visible spectrums as many things do - ultra violet or infra red, and a whole different colour palette exists - colours we cannot even possibly envision.

But then the big mystery - death. Only two rights exist:' The right to die. The right to live till you die'. All else is a privilege or hardship given by society or nature. And we will exercise both rights, as is tautologically a given. But wile living we cannot know death - we know how it looks in others, but there is the end of our knowledge because we live.

And that is why we garden, it is life, it is also a genetic imperative of ours, hunting, gathering, growing, nurturing - it is in our DNA, and also very much in us because we have consciousness. That self awareness which sees our self, and so we empathize and appreciate life and aesthetics, and why I came onto a gardening web site after my banning on a political one. And this is the sort of thing I think of as I hangout with my dogs in the woods and with strangers fishing in the night.
Must go, someone here......

 

God, what a sophomoric stream of consciousness the above was, please ignore - but I just downloaded my camera of some pictures - and the whole rest of the camera's memory was blank film with the random noises where it was accidently set to record and left on the dash of the car with the shutter closed. But then I remembered watching a baptizing this Sunday as I fished when they downloaded. This was taken from the place I go on the harbor which faces west looking down the sand, and a number of people were walking around in white robes in the parking lot behind me; and then they went along the beach and five waded in, most staying on the shore witnessing the ceremony. And after walking out they immersed one man and had a group huddle and then all applauded. I felt a bit awkward taking this picture, but they had it in public so I hope that means they wish for others to witness their commitment to god. A man and woman lead and then a man who just looks so priestly, and the one in the rear with dreadlocks and black head covering rounds the composition off. The picture before it the lead man looks straight into my eyes with a stern expression which is somewhat disconcerting, but this is from a distance with some zoom so I hope not too intrusive. They definitely carry much more body language than a typical group, one can feel they are doing something serious.



I remember back in the 1970's when living in my tent in some Florida woods and attending the local college I had a priest for my teacher in comparative religion. A charming man, a hippy priest. I sometimes used to talk to him after class in the atrium and we would talk of god and religion and life - and I asked him wither I should be baptized - and he offered to do it right then and there - in the water fountain that hung on the wall. In a life of missed opportunities I had told him I should think about it a bit, I guess a shyness we have from living in such a secular society was the reason, and so I still am unbaptized - it did not come up again and I am sorry it did not. I was offered the chance to join the Danish army and so get citizenship (because of my birth) - and fluffed that and always have a regret. Life just pops these things at us and then moves quickly on. Chose now.... no? OK, too late.

And fishing is honorable, and here are some weekend shrimp - massive ones, being processed on my table.



And on the tailgate of my truck



And all around town are these ephemeral 'naked lady' lilies. Their leaves came and went in Spring and are gone months before flowers so they just pop out of lawns like magic. We have marked a few on lots of houses destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and will sneak out and get them tomorrow to plant here. Belladonna (beautiful lady) lily.

 

they are in bloom here in the UK right now too. We call them Nerines Colne,
Jenny

 

Nerines - I wonder if that is the origin of Nimue?

The peppers are all turning red with this fall weather finally arriving. My poor scraggly molting chickens are beginning to get their handsome winter plumage and should soon return to good egg laying - which will then slow with shortened day length for winter - oh well, selling excess eggs is always a bit of a chore. My wife takes them to Yoga and Tai Chi and asks around but any left over and then they have to be pushed elsewhere.

I know the local free range egg sellers and they really just keep them penned and fed on commercial feeds. I would just buy the cheapest eggs instead if I did not keep my own chickens. Mine are forest chickens - pogie fed, bursting with omega 3s and every kind of obscure nutrient, and I appreciate that - but people just equate all 'free range'. The grocery store $4.50 dozen eggs labeled 'cage free, organic' are no different to any of the cheaper ones ($1.75 for a cheap dozen), both just a massive scale industrial agricultural product. Marketing mostly, and price inflated by the reduced quantity sold, yet requiring expensive shelf space and handling.

I keep pressure cooker custards in the fridge, my favorite is the brown rice pudding and raisin one with a cinnamon and nutmeg/clove sprinkling; my wife likes the chocolate syrup on the bottom one, we both like the coconut ones - so I make a selection. They do use up eggs.

Crabs and more crabs - 3 dozen in the fridge, steamed and ready to process. The crabs are moving about as the cooling weather is stirring them to move deeper and bury for the cool seasons.

My gumbo soup making is not keeping up with the okra and peppers that are the main ingredients - I took a few days off from making that and now I doubt I can catch up as it all is having its last flush and getting over ripe; getting ready for winter. Seasons are amazing, one can feel them turning - the leaves are still on the deciduous trees, but the masses of goldenrod, the massed white cotton flower covered bushes, and poison ivy leaves turning scarlet. Like the crabs and chickens, we are a product of hundreds of millions of years of living and feel the seasons just innately. The salmon go up the rivers to spawn, the eels return to the sea for their boggling return to the Sargasso sea, and spawning, and to die - the insects here are migrating and another season has come so fast. Without my plantings of the different crops, fishing for the seasonal things, the grass growing and then not, fruit and leaves dropping - I would have nothing to punctuate my year and they would just slide away un-noticed. I still remember as a child - the different season's ritualized events and how pronounced they were, how exciting.

 

So last evening I got a call from my wife, she was right below me under the house and was telling me to hurry, a snake was under the oak by the house where we keep delicate plants and she washes outdoor stuff. When going out to wash a chicken food pot a snake was right there - and so she ran to her car and called me. And I grabbed my handy gun and was down in seconds but the snake was gone. There are lots of deep grasses and thicket stuff so I was very carefully looking for it, one must be slow and cautious - a cottonmouth is a terrible bite, and in about 5 minutes of looking I had covered about 20 foot and she shrieked - It had been under a large, droopy, potted fern right by the water tap and she had lifted the pot by its hook (it is a hanging plant under there getting care) and there it was 2 foot from her. The snake moved off about 6 foot and paused, I obviously heard all that, being about 10 foot from her, and shot it in the head.

(I mention I am the best shot of anyone I know, and always have been, I have shot a vast amount in my past and my father was captain of a major pistol team when he was young, and like his father before him, a Army marksman (WWI, WWII) - also I took professional lessons when young to avoid picking up bad tendencies in my form, I also worked at a top shooting range when young and shot all the time - and had a high powered air rifle range in my loft in London and shot 10,000s of rounds up there. I am good with a rifle but shotgun was my real expertise. I got my first gun at 9, my shotgun certificate (UK) at 16 - the day I was old enough I applied, then immediately bought the first gun I bought my self with money from a summer job. - I say this because firearms have been a huge part of my life, I have shot many things. I do not talk about guns much because people think you are a survivalist/redneck/loon, especially on British forums and I do not shoot anymore, but have guns and still am very good - it is instinctive in me. I also mention my deceased brother, whom I am exceedingly proud of, very proud - he was a Special Forces solider and was absolutely amazing with any firearm, but I could beat him with a shotgun. Anyway, from yesterday



But harvesting, yesterday I went with my wife to her Tai Chi on the beach and took a couple live shrimp and caught this nice flounder, then after dark it was so nice out I just had to get on the water, winter is coming, so went the next bayou over - which is a canal now, and sitting on a friends porch you can watch the trout under that green underwater light, and caught half a dozen of those using shrimp I would net right off the dock. I would have shrimped but they were scarce and small - I kept only 4 but one was huge, using the others for bait. I just threw the net half a dozen times.



And so yet again I cannot talk of my garden - the site is saying long enough - but one day I will get back to the garden talk. And I have a chicken adventure story too......I guess this stopping me from going on and on is a good thing - I can be very long winded.

 

Cleaning fish on the tailgate

It is odd to come here and talk to my self, and the occasional recommend from Sheal and Jenny, bus I seem to kind of like it, if one does a quick review of ones day in writing one gets a quick logging into the brain of the experiences which otherwise just have gone away passively. Socrates and the 'life unexamined' and all that.



And so last night - again, I went out fishing off the harbor wall, into a thicket of about 15 fishermen under that 1 light. Getting there about 8p.m. nothing was happening with the live shrimp (my live shrimp tank made from that washing machine drum works fanatically, just bag a bunch when running around and then they live in that till needed.) People were catching the little white trout with cut bait (slices cut from a dead white trout, they are very cannibalistic) but I did not want those - and I waited till we began to see a few specks showing up and then in an hour I got 8 - the rest are under the ice.



And my garden veg has been neglected - the okra left to get too long, too tough, to eat - but the peppers are fine! My gumbo soup will have 4-6 peppers in it for two servings and I love it.



We are really eating lots of seafood, and putting lots away, something I have resisted doing all my life because it would slow my desire to go fishing If the freezer was full - but now it is here thick so I am aiming at getting about 70 pounds of shrimp and fish fillets put away so we can cut down on meat hugely. I am getting there very fast. We gave an organic gardener a frozen bag of fillets and one of shrimp and they gave us a bag of okra and a bag of lovely green beans. Selling - or bartering - sport caught fish is illegal, but I am giving fish as a friend, and they are giving me the veg for the same reason.

I have been thinking a bit of just how bad the vast majority of fishermen are - really bad. I always catch the most fish, pretty much every time, when fishing around others. I have a lot of outdoor skills - and I wondered if I should mentor a couple kids from single parent families at fishing. There are some programs for that - but I cannot stand sullen kids - and am not very tolerant of ones who are not very bright as well, to be truthful. Many years ago I used to tutor young people at math, chemistry, and general subjects and was good at it.

 

We are not ignoring you Colne, I for one enjoy reading what you write but it isn't always necessary to reply as your posts read a little like a diary, so I hit the 'like' button in acknowledgement. Much of your posting (not a criticism) is about fishing or food and I have very little interest in both. I do enjoy the jaunts around your land with yourself and your dogs, seeing what you have growing and also having to contend with from wildlife. Also, the occasional subject you bring to light that I find interesting other than the two above mentioned.

 

I just said I did not mind talking to my self, but then realized I should acknowledge those who do make some note that they read my stuff.

I do miss good debate on political issues, being pretty rabid in my beliefs - and well informed, and by nature aggressive. But I am just parked here on GC for the time; letting my political brain atrophy, not looking for a fight. No matter how well my arguments defeated the others arguments they won because I am banned and they still spout their Quisling madness.

And my wife has just walked in before I could get on to todays talk of a hawk/chicken/dog fight story - a pretty wild thing; and we are off to buy carrot seed after my 3 year old seed has failed to germinate, and visit a friend of hers to give them a fish......

 

You should try involving yourself in our 'Off Topic Discussion' area, perhaps on the lighter subjects so that you don't get to wound up. Our admin staff are very good at keeping things under control and members are asked to cool it if things start to get a little heated.

I think your three year old carrot seed was just a little to old for germination but was worth a try.

 

Yep, keep posting Colne, all good stuff

Did I ever tell you why the Eels make such a long trek to the Sargasso sea?

 

Well I'm glad you are in the sun some of the time- the photos are very cool, my favorites being the magnifcent pelican, and the heron sneaking about. Really Nice night thoughts. I'm so envious you can encompass all those perceptual levels. Did you see the Calvin and Hobbs where they're outside in the darkness, looking up at the stars: Calvin: Yes, we're just tiny specks on a planet particle, hurling through the infinite blackness. (They look at each other in sudden terror!)Let's go in and turn on all the lights.
Next frame- through the window, tv on, every appliance on, lights blazing. theyre laughing at a cartoon. I can relate to that.

 

Incidentally, my tomato plant won't harvest. I planted it in a corner of my house with the herbs and flowers and it thinks it is an ornamental! blossoming maddly and fruiting eternally. the branches crowding all the other pots, but not one single fruit ever ripens. And its almost November, silly thing.