Devil Moo

Just a little apres-Halloween hilarity.

Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve, New Hope PA

Every day you play with the light of the universe.
Subtle visitor, you arrive in the flower and the water.
You are more than this white head that I hold tightly
as a cluster of fruit, every day, between my hands.

You are like nobody since I love you.
Let me spread you out among yellow garlands.
Who writes your name in letters of smoke among the stars of the south?
Oh let me remember you as you were before you existed.

Suddenly the wind howls and bangs at my shut window.
The sky is a net crammed with shadowy fish.
Here all the winds let go sooner or later, all of them.
The rain takes off her clothes.

The birds go by, fleeing.
The wind. The wind.
I can contend only against the power of men.
The storm whirls dark leaves
and turns loose all the boats that were moored last night to the sky.

You are here. Oh, you do not run away.
You will answer me to the last cry.
Cling to me as though you were frightened.
Even so, at one time a strange shadow ran through your eyes.

Now, now too, little one, you bring me honeysuckle,
and even your breasts smell of it.
While the sad wind goes slaughtering butterflies
I love you, and my happiness bites the plum of your mouth.

How you must have suffered getting accustomed to me,
my savage, solitary soul, my name that sends them all running.
So many times we have seen the morning star burn, kissing our eyes,
and over our heads the gray light unwind in turning fans.

My words rained over you, stroking you.
A long time I have loved the sunned mother-of-pearl of your body.
I go so far as to think that you own the universe.
I will bring you happy flowers from the mountains, bluebells,
dark hazels, and rustic baskets of kisses.

I want
to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees.

--Pablo Neruda

Compost and Woodchips and Fencing, Oh My!

It's been about a month since I started working full time at the Camden Children's Garden. Basically my job is to work with community groups to start gardens and then act as a resource to them to help maintain those gardens. Sometimes this means building a garden and handing it off to a capable group of people, sending them loads of compost or mulch when they request it and visiting to see the progress every now and then. And sometimes it means building a garden and handing it off to someone who doesn't quite know what they are getting themselves into, then checking up on it at the end of the season and finding a jungle. And in both cases, learning is happening. I really enjoy what I am doing right now.

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Here's one of our newest gardens in Camden, on the corner of 3rd and Beckett Streets on the waterfront. There's a cocoa bean storage facility across the street, and the smell of bitter chocolate is often in the air.



In the picture above you can see the pile of soil, rocks, and debris that was created when we scraped the top layer of soil off of the empty lot. We do this for every garden to level the surface and to cut down on the amount of weeds we will tackle later in the year.



Here you can see the fence we build around all of our gardens. We pound metal posts into the ground and attach wire fencing, leaving a door that's large enough for a dump truck to drive in and dump a load of compost or mulch.



We build raised beds with mushroom compost from PA, and cover the paths with woodchips. The woodchips come from all over the city and include lots of different trees, which create a rainbow effect when they are all piled together.



The pile also makes a great chair.



This garden is growing larger every day and we have big plans for it. I'll share more as the plans unfold!

Pumpkin Carving Party!

Last weekend we threw an end-of-season party at the community garden. We carved pumpkins, ate home-made sweets (carrot spice muffins, gingerbread cookies, and several kinds of delicious chocolate chip cookies) and drank home-made hot spiced apple cider!! Mmmmmmmm.



The garden looked great and it was really fun to show it off to friends and family. My parents came to town for the event and I was so proud to show them what I've been doing all summer.





One of our gardening families came with a gaggle of friends and relatives and the kids ran around the garden examining everyone's pumpkins and adding the perfect amount of unbridled enthusiasm to the event.





We carved 34 pumpkins in all and most of the people stayed so we could line them up and light them. Remember that this garden is in a cemetery, so it was a nice touch to be able to stay until after dark and enjoy the spookiness of jack-o-lanterns among the graves. It really gets you into the Halloween spirit.



Here are our masterpieces. Mine is on the right and the other two were made by J and M (duh).



It was the perfect fall event.

Bartram Blackberry Jelly

Back in July when I was working at Bartram's Garden I foraged several quarts of blackberries from the blackberry bush (more like blackberry hedge) in the parking lot. I suffered sunburn and mosquito bites to harvest those berries, then I let them sit in the freezer for several months before getting around to processing them. Wild berries are notoriously seedy, so I decided to make jelly.


**thawed blackberries**




**straining the juice through cheesecloth**



When I squeezed all of the juice out of the berries I came up a little short, so I ended up using 4 cups of blackberry juice and 2 cups of peach simple syrup left over from the preserving I did earlier this month. The peach syrup thing was just a whim, I was shocked that there wasn't enough berry juice from all of those berries so I just improvised to finish the recipe.



In total, I used 4 cups blackberry juice, 2 cups peach simple syrup, 7 cups sugar, and 1 box pectin. And I found out that that is waaaaaaay too much sugar. So much that it almost didn't set (it did, but it's very liquidy). I would have thought that the more sugar you put in the better it would set, but that's not what happened.

I brought the juice to a boil, added sugar and pectin, returned to a boil, and poured into clean jars.


**Clean jars, fresh from the dishwasher.**


**18 cups final product.**



After pouring the hot jelly into jars, the last step is a 10 minute sterilization in boiling water, which is still very difficult because of a lack of jar lifters and rack for the pot (though I hear that that might change come Christmas :) ). I usually put a dish towel on the bottom of the pot and use tongs to lift the jars in and out.



A few of my coworkers at Bartram's took this jelly home with them, of course. It's only fair, considering they helped me pick the berries and they suffered the same mosquitoes and sunburn! Ah, what I wouldn't give for a little sunburn right now, it's been in the 40s and raining recently. We actually turned the heat on in the house, not a good sign. But eating this jelly on my toast every morning (in my new work space!) makes me smile. It gives me a little summer to start my day.

A Carrot Grows in Camden

Again and Again

Again and again, however we know the landscape of love
and the little churchyard there, with it's sorrowing names,
and the frighteningly silent abyss into which the others
fall: again and again the two of us walk out together
under the ancient trees, lie down again and again
among the flowers, face to face with the sky.

- Rainer Maria Rilke

You should live in West Philly . . .

And here's why. (Ahem, Jaja, I'm talking to you). The places profiled on this little video are all of my favorite places. My farmer's market, my food co-op, my corner store with tofu hoagies.

Wild Bill, Ladykiller

Hi. This is Wild Bill.



I know. Seriously.



He is about one month old and he is being raised by my housemate Mike (who is moving out soon, so I'm trying not to get attached, HA). There's really nothing more to say until I can get a good video of him, then he will speak for himself. You think you're prepared for it, but you're not.

A Garden in Trouble!

One of our local community gardens is being threatened by a developer (shocking, I know). Check out their fundraising website where they are trying to raise money to stay on the land that they have tended for almost 10 years. There are adorable gifts for each pledge amount, like homemade baked goods, garden cards, tutoring, paintings and other art, a violin concert, and more!

Leaves on the Tree

This week I was sitting next to a woman in the doctor's office, passively eavesdropping as she spoke to someone on her cell phone. She seemed to be consoling the person about something that had happened recently in his/her life, and my ears perked up when she said this:

"It's just one leaf on the tree. Let it fall."

Yes. Yes yes yes. As my life has changed and shifted in the last few years there have been many leaves. But the tree is healthy and strong, and for that I am grateful.