It's showing some green.

This week the garden finally began showing some green. Most of the seeds we planted are emerging, albeit, slowly - except for the peas. For some reason they are acting as if someone shot a starting gun at a race, whereas last year we had a poor germination rate. We've planted several varieties of onions, hoping to score with a couple and to have plenty to harvest early. The next step is potato planting.

It's time to plant a second wave of greens and radishes, so if someone is interested, come over.

Mickey's making plans for the herb garden and we purchased a few plants for it. That garden will be established in stages as is appropriate for each herb.

We will soon need some straw. Now that we have a better idea of how much straw we use in a season (10-12 bales), I think that it may be easier to purchase all the straw at once. If someone has access to a truck and is willing to tackle this, let me know.

Temple of Awesome

OK, so what's with the Temple of Awesome? Let me try to explain while I try to avoid offending the creators, one of which is a close family member.

A few New York artists are midway through an art project that involves their friends and acquaintances. The basic idea is that they are making thousands of small white origami cubes, which they will ultimately inflate and assemble into the Temple of Awesome.

Upon visiting the website, Penny's response is probably typical. She thought that I might have sent another incorrect web address. She responded with, "that web address just had someone making a cube from paper."

The project was inspired by a Japanese temple, and of course there is the link between Japan and origami . . . but WHAT?!?!?!?

Well, here's how I interpreted the project.

Humans have an innate need to assemble. Back in the day (way back) we used to do it out of physical necessity for protection, to gather food, to share resources or shelter - to satisfy genuinely basic needs. Now, we no longer need close community involvement to meet those needs. We are now free from the necessity of relying on close personal relationships to sustain life, but we haven't lost the psychological need to interact with others.

The need is fixed so firmly in our makeup that you see evidence of it in many of the institutions we create. Think of an antique car owners club, for example. Can you imagine one of these poor souls toiling away in their garage all alone and never going to one of those shows, never sitting under the tree watching people admire his (is it ever a her?) car, and never talking about his car with people that share the same passion? It's hard to envision the hobby apart from a group.

I suspect that sometimes the primary purpose and motivation for gathering is not the stated purpose of the event but the gathering itself. The TOA artists and their friends meet, interact, have fun, talk about what they are up to - and fold paper.

Similarly, a community garden's greatest benefit is not the fresh vegetables, the knowledge we gain, the exercise we get, the new food practices we develop, its reduced ecological impact, etc. It's that it provides a setting for forming and nurturing personal relationships. It's simply an excuse with plenty of other benefits.

Regards,

Kim

PS (for Penny) - No snake sightings this week.