The End of Fake Spring Part Two

It was 60F /15.5 C a week ago and close to that on the day after! I even dried laundry out on the clothesline. Then fake spring the second came to a screeching halt last Tuesday night while James and I were out on neighborhood patrol. The wind was already gusting and then it started sleeting. If you have ever had sleet slamming into your face you are currently cringing and thinking, ouch! If you have never had the pleasure, perhaps you have had sand or small bits of gravel grit whipped against your bare skin? Now pretend they are ice instead. It’s a barrage of cold needle pricks. And when you think it can’t get any worse, one hits you in the eye.

We stuck it out a little longer because we had reported two ICE-y vehicles prowling the neighborhood and we wanted to be able to send an update if they slunk by again. But when you have to put your hands up over your eyes to protect them from the sleet, it is kind of hard to see what else is happening on the other side of your mittens. So we reluctantly called it a night and went home and crawled into bed early for a little relaxing reading time.

Minneapolis has dropped like a stone out of the headlines since the government announced the anti-immigration surge was over. But, while there are fewer Department of Homeland Security agents here—nobody knows how many, some report 180 and some 900 and both got these numbers from the government (my guess is closer to 900)—there are still abductions happening every day. Since Bovino and Noem have been fired the abductions have become quieter and more targeted rather than the in-your-face performances requiring tear gas thrown into peaceful crowds and gallons of pepper spray aimed at anyone who dares to stop and look and question what is going on.

But they are getting ready for something and we don’t know what, though there are guesses. Over the last several days ICE has taken delivery of over 100 new SUVs at headquarters. None of them have yet been driven off the base. I suspect they are planning on something for March 17th, the day the protected status for Somali refugees expires. Thing is though, something like 90-95% of Somalis in Minnesota are United States citizens, having either been naturalized or born here. However, according to the Star Tribune (local paper), there are 2,500 Somalis who currently have protected status in the United States and most of them live in Minnesota (gift link). If you have been paying attention, you know the disgusting things the President has said about Somalia and Somali people, including Ilhan Omar my Congressional Representative. Except none of this is about immigration to begin with, but rather a terror campaign conducted in an effort to consolidate authoritarian power.

Kind of like the war Trump started against Iran, which by a number of reports, appears that Trump was pressed into it by the Israeli government.  Spend a little time thinking about what that means. And while you’re at it, take a look at some recent reporting about plans for Gaza. If those reconstruction plans go through some people will be making a lot of money and they won’t be Palestinian.

It’s hard to know what is going on with Trump these days, he is seriously boffo and even more incoherent by the second. He accuses people of covering up for Biden and his problems, I can only imagine how much is being covered up with Trump. Actually, I don’t want to try and imagine it because it is just too horrific. It will all come out eventually but by then it will be far too late. So we continue to suffer from his incomprehensible whims and desire for revenge and self-aggrandizement. We’re spending over a billion dollars a day on an unnecessary war but somehow have no money to fund health care or food stamps or anything for people who actually need help instead of billionaires whose only goal in life is to have the biggest bank account, everyone and everything else be damned. What sad, broken men they are, and they are pretty much all men. 

I wish I could say fake spring part 3 or even real spring has arrived, but there is currently a blizzard going on outside my windows. We were on foot patrol Saturday afternoon and in an amazingly accurate for a change forecast, it began snowing only ten minutes before the winter storm watch went into effect. It’s been snowing since then, though I can’t tell how much has fallen because the 24 mph winds are whipping it all around.

I did a first round of shoveling early this morning after breakfast and there was about 6 inches/ 15 cm of heavy, sticky snow. I haven’t been out since, but will need to venture out at some point. Added to the insult of the snow and wind, temperatures by Monday night will be subzero F /-18 C.

Meanwhile, indoors, the seedlings are doing great. I have already had to raise the grow light above the tomatoes. It might not be spring outside, but it is spring in my kitchen and in my heart.

One of the best things about getting connected with neighbors for ICE watch and mutual aid, is also finding other ways to connect. I am now part of a neighborhood garden group who will be raising extra veg for the purpose of donating it to the neighborhood food shelf. A couple folks have organized a seed swap for next weekend. Yesterday I went through all my seeds and made up quite a few envelopes of tomato, bean, squash, herb and flower seeds to share. In sharing my seeds I have no plans to bring home any new seeds. Does anyone want to wager on how many seed packets I come home with?

Life has gotten increasingly busier and rewarding, but I have also made sure to take time to rest. Some days I don’t feel like I have rested enough, but I do what I can. Yesterday, life was a pie full of cherries. Well, and today too because leftovers. Saturday was Pi Day y’all, at least in the weird way Americans write our dates. To celebrate the magic of 3.14, James made cherry pie. The cherries are from the garden cherry bushes and have been waiting quietly in the freezer since August. James also made vanilla ice cream. Not exactly ice cream weather as it turned out, but with hot coffee and tea and warm pie it was all perfect. And there is still some leftover so I will get to enjoy it a third time.

I’ve also been enjoying some great books. I am in the midst of Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor, and enjoying it immensely. Also reading Fear Less: Poetry in Perilous Times by Tracy K. Smith. I enjoy reading poets analyzing poetry and Smith is really good at it, meaning she doesn’t write in academic jargon but everyday language. The book is about overcoming the fear of poetry, which I don’t have but I know many people do, as well as a discussion about the importance of poetry, especially in uncertain times. It is a slim book that I am slowly savoring.

Then there is Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney and Mothers of the Novel by Dale Spender both of which I am reading because of Marcie at Buried in Print, darn her! I’m not far along in either book, but they are tickling something I need at the moment, and I find myself thinking about them and the novelists they write about even when I am not reading the books. I have already made a reading date with a friend to do a summer read together of Frances Burney’s Evelina. No doubt, there will be other novels sneaking onto my TBR pile.

As for poetry, I am reading June Jordan, Marie Howe, and Wendy Barker. All of them very different and all of them very good.

And with that, I have a few handwritten notes yet to write, some snow to assess, a couple chores to finish, some yoga to ease my tired muscles, and some books to fall into. And perhaps a second helping of pie.

Send warm, melty spring thoughts my way please!

Fake Spring

Fake Spring came to Minnesota last week. Fake spring usually happens a couple times in late winter before real spring arrives. Temperatures soared to 50F / 10C and a few degrees above. Now that might not sound warm to you, but for us, that meant going out on neighborhood foot patrol in sneakers and a hoodie. It was glorious. And then Wednesday temperatures crashed, and the forecasted 2 inches/ 5 cm of snow turned into 7.6 inches/ 19 cm. And today the windchill is currently -9F /-23C. The garden had almost been clear of snow and the chickens were loving wandering around and scratching in the mud. They are extra grumpy right now at the sudden return of winter. I don’t blame them.

Along with the fake spring season came the fake spring of DHS drawing down federal agents in Minneapolis. We were hopeful, but continued to be vigilant. And while there are fewer agents—I’ve seen it suggested there are now less than 1,000 (pre-surge ICE staffing in Minnesota was 150 agents in the entire state)—they remain active. They are continuing to change tactics, and have shifted out to the suburbs where people are more spread out, making keeping eyes on them harder. They are still plenty active in Minneapolis though, just much quieter about it than previously. So while the broader media has looked away because the surge here is “over,” it isn’t over.

The Bulwark has a good article, Special Saturday Triad: What I Saw at the Battle of Minneapolis, that gives an overview of what has been happening in the city and where we are now. My neighborhood is right next to the Federal building where DHS operates from, and a Lord of the Rings loving neighbor compared us to Gondor and the Whipple Building to Mordor. It made me laugh, but also, it’s kind of true. Except we have no wizards or kings or armies, just a bunch of Hobbits mostly. But Hobbits can do great things.

Real spring will eventually arrive, and we’ll have ice out on the lakes and hopefully ICE out of the state. However, while the melted lake ice doesn’t invade another city or state, I hope ICE doesn’t take their thuggery elsewhere. Perhaps Congress will actually manage to do something worthwhile and not cave in during this partial government shutdown.

Ice out on my neighborhood lake is generally around the last week of March to the first week of April. Not long now. In anticipation of real spring, I have begun indoor seed starting. I dragged my seed starting shelves, heat mats, grow lights, pots and trays up from the basement yesterday and set it up in front of my kitchen window. Sorry James. This makes things a bit tight in our kitchen for the next few months, but there is nowhere else to set this up, so…

I hadn’t yet opened the envelopes my new seeds came in and got a surprise. Two of the seed companies unexpectedly sent me free seeds and they were all tomatoes. I was already set with four tomato varieties I grew last year and saved seeds, so these new choices caused a conundrum. Do I try them? How could I not? So I went from planning on 10 tomato plants to planting 18. Um where will they all go? Don’t ask such silly questions!

Here are the tomatoes I am starting:

• Hungarian Heart—This quickly became our favorite tomato when I first grew it three years ago. They are huge and make great sauce, salsa, and sliced on a sandwich. Saved seeds.
• Grappoli D’Inverno—Another one that became a favorite when I first grew it three years ago. This is a plum tomato that makes great sauce and also roasts up nicely. Saved seeds.
• Orange Peach—I grew this for the first time last year. They are sweet small to medium-sized tomatoes. They struggled in the cool spring and then got overwhelmed by the monster tomatillo, but still managed to fruit enough to try them again and see if they do better a second time around. Saved seeds.
• Alley Tomato—This is a small cherry tomato that we found growing from a crack in the alley pavement behind our house three years ago. We moved it into the garden and it grew big and strong and produced an abundance of marble-sized red tomatoes that were quite tasty. I have no idea what actual variety it is, so we just call it Alley Tomato. Saved seeds.
• Kathy’s Red Barn—One of the free packets. This is a large red beefsteak tomato that is intended for slicing. The description says it has outstanding flavor and is great for BLTs, but in my house that would be TLT—tofu or tempeh, lettuce and tomato.
• Yellow Ping Pong—This came free from Sandhill Preservation. It’s a 2-inch yellow cherry tomato, which makes it about the size of a ping pong ball. The description says it is sweet and juicy and has a lemon-like finish to the flavor. Yum
• Goose Creek—Another free one from Sandhill. This is a small pink tomato. It’s an heirloom that has been grown since the 1800s. The story is that the seeds were smuggled in the pocket of a Caribbean slave woman on a ship that docked at Charleston near Goose Creek, South Carolina. The seeds were passed down through her family and her great-great grandson, Jimmy Williams, owner of Hayground Organic Gardening in California, has offered the seeds to the rest of the world.

That’s all the tomatoes. Now for the 15 pepper plants:

• Early Jalapeño—I had to buy new seeds because the ones I had been saving from jalapeños we got in our csa box three years ago didn’t sprout last year and I had to buy plants at the May plant sale. These seeds are open-pollinated so I will be able to save them and grow them on for years and years. They are also a variety adapted to Minnesota, even better! I’ve got six pots planted with these. We love us some jalapeños!
• Ancho Poblano—I have never grown poblanos before so we’ll see how it goes. James wanted something good for roasting and stuffing.
• Lunchbox Orange Sweet Pepper—This is a small sweet snacking pepper. I’ve never grown these before either.
• Long Red Cayenne—Third year growing these and they do really well in the garden. They make great hot sauce and add a spicy kick to other dishes. We have a small jar of dried ones from last summer that we crush up for spice. Saved seeds.

And, I’ve got three pots planted with zebra eggplant. It’s a small green and white striped fruit used in a lot of traditional African recipes. The flavor is semi-sweet and it is good raw, boiled, sautéed, in soup, or grilled—very versatile! This has been northern climate adapted over the last seven years in Fargo, North Dakota, by grower Simeon Bakunda, an immigrant from Congo. Also, apparently, the leaves of the plant are edible and highly nutritious and make a delicious side dish when sautéed with onion, garlic, anise, mushrooms, hot pepper, parsley , and nutmeg. I have never grown these before and the last time I tried to grow eggplant was in the early 2000s. I grew the big purple kind and had only one plant, carefully nursing along a single fruit that a thieving squirrel came along and tore apart just days before it was ripe. Never tried eggplant again after that. I’m hoping because these are smaller and green that it tricks the squirrels into thinking they aren’t ripe. If the squirrels aren’t fooled, at least I know I can eat the leaves.

Planting all these seeds felt so good, a balm for my soul. I love the cusp of gardening season when everything is full of possibility and abundance and nothing has yet gone awry. Last year was cooler than usual with plentiful and regular rain. The Climate Prediction Center outlook for this summer indicates a likelihood of a warmer than usual summer with precipitation at equal chances to be higher or lower than average. The cool weather plants will not be happy but the tomatoes and peppers will be.

For now though, everything is beautiful potential and I’m just gonna sit with that joy for awhile.

From 24C to 9C. Maybe I'm not putting that coat in the closet just yet.

#feelsColderThanThat #brrr #iLoveSweaters #fakeSpring #iFearJunuary

I was optimistic in thinking once I got back from vacation that the weather would be good enough to get my bicycle out.
Hahahahaha
Nope.
Cold, rainy, and even some snow.
It was a movie and popcorn afternoon instead.

#bicycle #cycling #canada #FakeSpring

It’s Spring they said……

#FakeSpring #Boston #weather